What does it mean that "now is your time of grief" (John 16:22)?

The Lord's words clearly speak of two short intervals of time, and intimate that soon the disciples would not see Him, and then that they would see Him again. In the light of the events that follow can we not say that these words indicate that, at that moment, there were but a few short hours before the Lord would leave His disciples to pass out of the sight of man, as He goes into the darkness of the Cross and the tomb? Again after a second "little while" the disciples would see the Lord, and yet not as before, in the days of His flesh, but in resurrection. If they would see Him no more as in the days of His humiliation, they would see Him for evermore in the new and glorious resurrection condition beyond death and the grave. It would however, be the same Jesus, who had dwelt among them, borne with their weakness, sustained their faith, and won their hearts, that would come into their midst and say, "Behold My hands and My feet that it is I Myself."

Moreover the Lord tells His disciples how these changing events will affect them in sorrow and joy. The little while during which they will not see Him, will be a time of overwhelming grief for the disciples — a time of weeping and lamenting for one dead, whose grave was the end of all their earthly hopes. The world, indeed, would rejoice, thinking they had triumphed over One whose presence exposed the evil of their deeds. Nevertheless, when the little while is ended, their sorrow will be turned to joy.

To bring home to the hearts of the disciples these coming events, the Lord uses the illustration of the woman bringing forth her child. The sudden sorrow, the change from anguish to joy, and the birth of the child, exactly sets forth the sudden anguish which would overwhelm the disciples when the Lord has passed into death, even as it illustrates the quick change from anguish to joy, when once again they see the risen Lord as the Firstborn from the dead.

Now He tells them only that they would weep and lament while the world would rejoice. This of course would be at the time of their not seeing Him. “But,” He hastens to add, “your sorrow shall be turned into joy.” His illustration of the travailing of a mother in childbirth is lovely (v. 21). The pain and sorrow must come before the joy. How wonderful though that the Lord speaks here of the sorrow of His disciples, not at all of His own sorrow, which in fact was infinitely deeper than theirs. In the face of all that He knew lay before Him, He occupied Himself in tender grace on behalf of them in their sorrow. This is pure, unaffected love. He encourages them in the knowledge that the result of the travail in birth of a child is such joy that the sorrow is forgotten.

They now had sorrow in being told He would leave them. Of course that sorrow would increase greatly in their witnessing the dread experience of His crucifixion. But He would see them again in resurrection and bring great joy to their hearts such as none could ever take away (v. 22). This was true though He Himself would then leave them to return to His Father. For His seeing them implies a nearness continued throughout this dispensation of grace, by the power of the Spirit of God.

What follows shows that the disciples did not grasp the significance of the Lord's words. In verses 19 and 20 He graciously explains that their time of sorrow and weeping, which they experienced when He was taken from them in death, would be "turned into joy". As empowered by the Spirit they would bear witness to what they had seen before His death, witness to what they had seen when He came forth from among the dead, and witness to the fact that they had actually seen Him ascending to the Father.

Now the disciples had sorrow, for the cross seemed to them to rob them of all that their faith had looked for; but He would see them again, and their hearts should rejoice; and this joy no one would be able to rob them of. On that joy the shadow of death could never fall. In resurrection they would have the Lord in a way they never before had looked for Him, or thought of Him.

273 The Lord answers the hidden desire of the heart of His disciples, who sought in vain to solve the enigma lying in His words, and who feared to ask Him anything; but it is by shewing them first of all, the feelings that would possess their hearts, and then the true character of His coming and of His departure. Their hearts would be deeply afflicted; they were going to lose Him for whom they had left everything: hope founded upon Him was fading away. The world, on the contrary, would be quite happy to be rid of Him who troubled it by the testimony of the truth. But Jesus tells His own that He would see them again, and that their sorrow should be turned into joy, as when a woman brings forth. And in fact it was the child-birth of the new creation. Thus the joy with which they should be filled in seeing Him again would be an eternal joy - a joy that nothing could take from them.

There He should be hidden for a while: the disciples should afterwards see Him, for it was only the accomplishment of the ways of God; it was no question of being, as it were, lost by death. He was going to His Father. On this point the disciples understood nothing. The Lord develops the fact and its consequences, without yet showing them the whole import of what He said. He takes it up on the human and historical side. The world would rejoice at having got rid of Him. Miserable joy! The disciples would lament, although it was the true source of joy for them; but their sorrow should be turned into joy. As testimony, this took place when He showed Himself to them after His resurrection; it will be fully accomplished when He shall return to receive them unto Himself. But when they had seen Him again, they should understand the relationship in which He has placed them with His Father, they should enjoy it by the Holy Ghost. It should not be as though they could not themselves draw nigh to the Father, while Christ could do so (as Martha said, "I know that whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, he will give it thee"). They might themselves go directly to the Father, who loved them, because they had believed in Jesus, and had received Him when He had humbled Himself in this world of sin (in principle it is always thus); and asking what they would in His name they should receive it, so that their joy might be full in the consciousness of the blessed position of unfailing favour into which they were brought, and of the value of all that they possessed in Christ.

The point in the "little while" is that the Lord is not going to be lost, but as soon as God's purposes are accomplished He will come again. It is a great thing to take what is in a passage. And it was accomplished as far as resurrection went. The statement is that they would see Him again, for He was not gone and lost. The world rejoiced when He went away, as gone and done with. As far as it went, it was verified when He rose again, His disciples did rejoice greatly then; but it was not confined to that. It says, "your sorrow shall be turned into joy." And it was. In the sense of verse 16 we have seen Him. It does not say, we are sorrowing at His being lost; but they did sorrow, and it speaks of the condition of the disciples in their place. The world was delighted to get rid of Him, but He comes up again, and His disciples see Him and rejoice. We have not got into the one or the other case entirely. Christ is gone in a certain sense, and yet we have seen Him so that we are always rejoicing. The entire fulfilment will not be until Christ returns.

I was referring to verse 22. As to the present they have lost Him again, after they had been glad when they saw the Lord, but they never got back into the sorrow they had had. I think the passage refers mainly to the resurrection, the then present thing, though it is not entirely fulfilled until we see Him. As we were saying before, I have eternal life, and am looking for it, and even for justification in one sense as in Philippians 3, "that I may be found in him not having mine own righteousness." The disciples then were wonderfully dull of heart about it, and they had no understanding because the Holy Ghost was not given. The point to me is, they would see Him again which they did when He arose. The world would see Him no more, but they see Him again, and have a consciousness that, instead of a lost Saviour of Israel, they had got a complete one for the eternal purposes of God.

This saying of His was dark at the moment to the disciples and therefore further explanation was given. The world was going to have its way with Him and His death was impending. It would rejoice in getting rid of Him, but for them the outlook was one of weeping and lamentation. Yet beyond death lay resurrection and His ascension to the Father. This would reverse everything. The travail of childbirth is used as an illustration, for not only does it set forth the idea of joy supervening on sorrow, but also that of new life springing up. Now their sorrow was just a reflex of His sorrow, and His was so deep and of such a nature as to be called "the travail of His soul" in Isaiah 53:11, whilst the previous verse predicts, "He shall see His seed," evidently in resurrection and in glory. They could not share His atoning sufferings yet they were dimly sharing His sorrow, though largely, without a doubt, in a selfish way. They should soon very really share His joy.

The context of verse 22 would indicate that the Lord was referring, not only to the gladness that would fill the disciples when they met Him in resurrection, but also to their joy when, by the Spirit given, they should have the knowledge of His glory. This is yet more plain when we consider verse 23, for "In that day" does not indicate merely the forty days during which they saw Him before Pentecost, but rather the whole period characterized by His absence and the Spirit's personal presence in the church. That day has not yet run its course, and it is still our privilege to pray in the Holy Ghost, and thus to ask of the Father in the name of the Son.

Thereupon the Lord, aware of their two difficulties, first notices that of the "little while," though speaking still in proverbs, or allegorically: "Verily, verily I say to you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy" (20). And as a woman in travail has anguish because her hour is come, but the anguish is forgotten when a man-child is born, so would it be with them. Sorrow now, but joy afterwards; and their joy be consequent on seeing Him again. "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man takes from you" (22). The woman's anguish is all forgotten in the joy of a son. Their sorrow would be like a passing cloud, never to return. A joy then would be theirs of which none could deprive them. Here we have the prediction. In chapter 20:20 we read of its fulfilment. Then again have we from the Lord a word about prayer. No longer would they be questioning Him, as they had hitherto done; but taught of the Spirit, they would approach the Father in prayer (Rom. 8:15; Eph. 2:18), and pray to Him in the name of Christ, which they had never done before. For atonement then, effected by the Lord's sacrifice of Himself, they could in His name present their petitions, making use of an all-prevailing plea with God, and such as no saint before the cross had ever been instructed to urge. "Verily, verily, I say to you, If ye shall ask the Father anything, He will give it you in My name." So seems the best punctuation. "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full [i.e. completed]" (23, 24).

He purposely draws out their hearts again after Himself. That they desired to know what all this meant would bring cheer to the Lord. Love and truth beautifully combine to lead them on from sorrow to joy. For if there must be a time of sorrow it is not forever, and joy also must come. In speaking of a woman in travail He shows clearly the course of events that must take place. Then sorrow gives place to joy. He was still preparing them for the events they were about to experience. But He gives them this absolute assurance that, "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice." This took place after His resurrection when He showed Himself to them.

The joy of seeing Him again-the Lord out of death, alive for evermore-was a joy they could never lose. He leads them on still further, for joy in Himself and asking in His Name would lead to fulness of joy.