They thought they were starting to get it . . . He knew they were about to lose it. They were growing confident in their belief . . . He knew there was one more testing of fire before they would be ready to take on changing the world. As I read the latter part of John 16 . . . as I approach John 18 and Jesus’ betrayal which begins the series of events leading to His crucifixion . . . my heart goes out to the disciples who so wanted to get it . . . who so wanted to believe it . . . who so thought they were starting to hit stride . . . and whose world would be so rocked by the events that would occur in the next 24 hours.

Jesus last words to them, it seems, were intended to encourage them, to prepare them, and to comfort them. They would be encouraged that, through Jesus’ name, they had direct access to the Father “for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me” (16:27). “Yes!” they may have thought, “The Father loves me! Holy, holy, holy God is accessible to me in the name of His Son Jesus! I get it! I see how this can work!” They would also be prepared . . . prepared to see Jesus leave. They thought He had been somewhat cryptic about it up until know, but now He was being very clear . . . “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father” (16:28). It only made sense, that the Son of God who had come from heaven’s glory would, at some point, return. “We believe,” they said, “We’re ready.” But they weren’t really.

Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone.” (16:31-32a)

They weren’t ready to hear this . . . how could this be? . . . they were gaining confidence that they were understanding . . . why would they abandon Him? Answer: Because of the cross. They weren’t expecting it . . . they couldn’t imagine it. The Son of God return to heaven? . . . sure, I can get that. But the Son of God be taken at the hands of men . . . run through a joke of a trial . . . be flogged and mocked by pagans . . . and then be stripped and hung on a cross with common thieves . . . they didn’t see that coming. Again, their world was about to be rocked . . . turned upside down . . . too much information to process much less make sense of . . . and what do you do when you don’t know what to do . . . run . . . high tail it outta’ there . . . that’s what they’d do . . . though the couldn’t imagine it happening at this moment.

And so Jesus sought to comfort them, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (16:33)

While the cross would at first appear to be absolute unanticipated defeat, in three days they would understand the unmitigated victory won through that “tribulation.” Though they would forsake Him and flee, He would gather them around Himself again as the Risen One, and then, they would understand at the very depth of their being that He had overcome the world. And in this, there is peace.

Oh, not all tribulations are of the magnitude of seeing Jesus going to the cross. But there are some pretty big tribulations in the world for the believer . . . and, maybe some not so big ones, that seem to hurt or rock our world just as much. And, because He lives . . . because He has overcome . . . He says that, even in these trying times, we can be of good cheer, “For in Me you have peace.”

Paul says it’s a peace that surpasses and transcends understanding (Php. 4:7) . . . and that’s because it’s a peace that comes from being in Him. We, through the wonders of salvation, and the mysterious workings of the indwelling Spirit, are intrinsically interwoven with the risen life of Christ. We are in the Overcomer . . . the Overcome lives within us . . . such that, when the storms come . . . when our world gets rocked . . . when we find we don’t understand as much as we thought we did . . . when our confidence is rattled . . . when our failure is still fresh . . . then, we can hear His voice . . . and we can be of good cheer, and take heart, and be encouraged . . . and we can know the peace of God . . . that passes all understanding . . . “that in Me you may have peace.” Thank you, Father.