Instead of offering more details or more information, he does something even better: he promises his very presence.
Near the end of Jesus’s series of Upper Room discourses, which stretches from Chapter 13 through 17 of John’s Gospel, we are treated to perhaps the most curious remark the Lord ever uttered. “I still have many things to say to you,” he divulges, “but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). Despite the fact that Jesus has addressed a great number of things through these discourses, he alludes to the fact that there is more he has to say and wants to say but can’t bring himself to say. Why? Because of the heaviness of his followers’ hearts (John 16:6).
This is both fascinating and touching, especially when you consider everything he’s already told them. Jesus has already mentioned several items that surely grieved and perplexed everyone within earshot, not the least of which is that the one who would betray him was at that very table, that he would be leaving them, and that they would soon face all manner of hardship, persecution, and even death. This begs the question: What couldn’t they bear to hear?
1. When Words Are Withheld
Bible scholars and commentators are quick to offer their ideas and interpretations of what he might have meant by this, often suggesting that what they could not bear had to do with the End Times. That is, Jesus wanted to reveal to them what he would end up revealing to John, but they couldn’t handle the weight of all that at that moment. Maybe, but Jesus has already offered insight into the End of All Things previously, in what is commonly referred to as “The Olivet Discourse” (cf. Matt. 24—25; Mark 13; Luke 21). The apostles, by this time, were well aware of the day of judgment that was coming, when the Son of God would return “on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:31). So, what was so unbearable that Jesus couldn’t bring himself to say it?
I’m not here to tell you that I’ve cracked that mystery. Jesus might as well have been referring to the unbearable details of his impending crucifixion and death, or to the untold burden and blessing that would be the church age, or even something else. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter all that much what these unbearable details are, especially when compared to what Jesus actually said. Instead of offering more details or more information, he does something even better: he promises his very presence. “When the Spirit of truth comes,” the Lord reveals, “he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (John 16:13).
What Jesus doesn’t want for those who follow him is for them to rely on the comfort of mere information, or even the comfort of their own recall. Rather, he wants them to be reliant on his words, which is why he discloses the imminent arrival of the Holy Spirit, who would come to administer his words to the hearts, souls, and minds. They could carry on, even knowing that their revered Rabbi would soon be gone, because the Comforter would be with them (John 16:7; cf. 14:16–17, 25–26; 15:26).
In many ways, we find ourselves facing a world of uncertainties just like Jesus’s disciples did. The days ahead are just as unbearable and unknown as were those hours leading up to the cross. Jesus’s words, therefore, not only clarify what the Spirit does but also console us so that we are made to endure whatever unknowns are in front of us.
2. The Grace of Not Knowing
Our first response to being told that there are things we don’t and can’t know is a protest full of pride. Even if we don’t do it literally, we shake our internal fists at whoever suggests such a notion for insulting our intelligence. Put yourself in this scene, therefore, and imagine being told by the Teacher with whom you’ve spent the better part of three years that you aren’t ready for everything he has to say. Scripture might not make it explicit, but I can certainly imagine more than a few of the disciples taking offense at this. “What do you mean I can’t bear that right now, Jesus?” Peter might’ve retorted. “I walked on the water with you. I was there when you brought that little girl back to life. I was there when you were transfigured in glory on the mountaintop. What can’t I handle?”
Jesus, who is God in the flesh, was sent to the world to let it be known who God is (John 1:18). He came to disclose what God is like, what’s in his heart, and how much love he has for us. And yet, for as much as he divulged, he didn’t reveal everything. The inner workings of his providence are not completely open to us.
As much as we might want to be like the Greek god Atlas, we weren’t created to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. Indeed, part of living by faith is recognizing that this, too, is part of the gift of grace God bestows on us. God’s unmerited and unlimited favor, which is splattered upon every page of his word, helps us to see the freedom of not knowing everything. The things we cannot bear right now are the very things we can entrust to the God whose presence and providence abide for us. It is his Holy Spirit who bears us up through all of life’s unbearable seasons.
3. The Spirit Who Stays
Jesus’s comments regarding the Holy Spirit assure us that he never intended for us to be the ones to figure it all out. It was never in the cards for the Lord to duck out, go back to heaven, and shout from the gallery up there, “Okay, now you figure out the rest from here.” Christ did not abandon his church to make heads or tails of everything by themselves. In fact, just the opposite is true, as he assures his followers that he will be closer to them than they ever thought possible (John 14:16–17). Although they had experienced enjoyable proximity to the Son of God for all those years, they would soon have the Spirit of God living inside of them.
This is why he tells them that it is to everyone’s advantage (συμφέρω) that he goes away (John 16:7). The most profitable outcome of the next few days and hours would be for him to depart, so that instead of being in a localized body, his Spirit could reside in the heart of every believer, all at once. It is the ministry of the Spirit, therefore, to help us know what we need to know. He is our guide “into all the truth” (John 16:13). Instead of some sanguine “let your conscience be your guide,” the Lord leaves us with an all-wise and all-sufficient Counselor.
The Spirit of truth makes us sure of the truth as it is revealed and contained in the person of Jesus. He is not consumed with his own glory or authority, nor does he seek to draw any attention to himself. Instead, the Spirit of Christ is poured out to direct the gaze of everyone onto the Christ of God (John 16:13–14). He comes to minister God’s words to us, to either convict or console us by placing the person and work of Jesus before our eyes and into our hearts.
4. What the Spirit Declares
Much of what we don’t know, of course, revolves around the subject of Christ’s return We just don’t know how things will shake out in the end or what that will look like. We can read about it in books like The Revelation of St. John, but even then, it isn’t obvious. Agreements on how to read Revelation are few and far between. What do we do with Jesus’s remark that his Spirit “will declare to [us] the things that are to come”? (John 16:13).
We shouldn’t flip through the leaves of the Bible expecting to find God’s blueprint for the end of the world. This isn’t what the Spirit was dispatched to help us with. According to Jesus, the Spirit is supposed to “take what is [his] and declare it to [us].” What belongs to the Son is the same as what belongs to the Father, which is what the Spirit declares to us (John 16:14–15). Consequently, the Spirit’s role in bearing us up is primarily concerned with telling us all about God’s heart for us. Who is this God who works so mightily and mercifully in all these uncertain days? Who is this God who delights to be known by the likes of us?
The Spirit’s role in bearing us up is primarily concerned with telling us all about God’s heart for us.
He is a God whose perfection and holiness are unfathomable. He is a God whose grace is extravagant. He is a God who can’t put up with sin, who makes promises, who cannot lie, who gives unendingly, and who cannot die. He is a God whose very name means Peace. Everything with him is to the fullest degree. Nothing is lacking. He is not only infinite in wisdom; he is wisdom. He not only abounds in love for us; he is love. “Heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain [him],” King Solomon rightly declared (1 Kings 8:27).
And yet, despite all of that, we are told that this infinitely holy, perfectly righteous, abundantly wise, and uncontainable God came here. He took on flesh, dwelt with us, and died for us. The God who can’t put up with sin came to the Earth to become sin for us. He came to give us his glory by giving up his life for our sake. He came to make peace for us by suffering the pain of the cross. He came to show us that the heart of the Triune God wants you and me to be with him forever, and he came to make that possible.
5. The One Who Bore What We Cannot
By giving us his Spirit, Jesus doesn’t give us a roadmap for the future, nor does he explain the mechanics of his providence. Rather, by giving us his Spirit, he gives us himself. “Living by faith” or “walking in the Spirit” isn’t about having all the answers. Rather, it’s about being held fast by the one who is the answer, Christ alone. And as his Spirit dwells in us and guides us into all truth, he reminds us that the things we can’t bear, the Son has already borne for us.
By giving us his Spirit, he gives us himself.
The weight of your failures, losses, and griefs, not to mention the weight of the world, is on his shoulders, not yours. Christ puts on himself the heaviness of your sin, along with the unbearable heaviness of the future. And he leaves us his Spirit to whisper all this to us. He puts the Word into our hearts, souls, and ears until we believe it.
Jesus’s words, therefore, are an invitation to stop trying to carry what we weren’t meant to carry. We don’t need more bullet points to face whatever the future might have in store. We need Christ’s person and work, which is all we are given through Christ’s Word and Spirit.
