28 ¶ Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away,
and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go
unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it come to
pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. 30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for
the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the
Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go
hence.
Again, Jesus reinforces that He is leaving them to go to the
Father. Their proper attitude is to rejoice not mourn as our proper attitude
when a believer dies should be to rejoice. If our faith was sure we, too, would
rejoice when a family member or dear friend who is trusting Christ died. We
would rejoice that they were in the presence of the Lord.
2Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather
to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
The fact that we don’t is a token of our humanity, our
temporal view of life, and our weak faith. What a great witnessing opportunity,
what a great testimony to a lost and dying world, if we were able to say,
“Hallelujah,” when a brother or sister
in the Lord goes to be with Him! Next to rejoicing when told we are
probably going to die from a disease there are very few more clear ways to
manifest complete and total trust in God.
Jesus Christ, as a man, has subordinated His standing as God
to God the Father on the throne of Heaven. Therefore, He can be a perfect
example to us in obedience and faith.
Jesus gives them the reason that He is telling them now, so
that they will understand and believe when He does ascend to the throne of God.
See how Peter goes from receiving the rebuke for his lack of understanding of
Christ’s mission in Matthew 16:23 and then can give the speech that begins in
Acts 2:14.
Warning them that the prince
of this world is coming, He says that this individual has nothing in Jesus.
The prince of this
world is the god of this world, Satan aka Lucifer. A prince is a ruler, of
course, and not necessarily a specific title of nobility just as a god,
lowercase g, refers to a deity,
imagined, or a devil, as well as The
Devil in 2Corinthians 4:4. In two other places, the phrase, ‘the prince of
this world,’ apparently referring to Satan, is mentioned in this gospel.
John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall
the prince of this world be cast out.
John 16:11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world
is judged.
While we give Satan far too much credit for the works of our
flesh it is clear that he is instrumental in the leadership activities of the
princes, presidents, kings, and prime ministers of this world’s governments, as
well as in the institutions followed in this world, including churches.
“Arise, let us go hence.” The believer is always to be
looking ahead, moving forward. Your best time with the Lord is right now and
going forward. This constant morbid, looking backwards at a time when you felt
really close to God accomplishes nothing. If you are dissatisfied or feel cold
now is the time to get down on your face in prayer, speaking to God, or open
His Bible and ask Him to speak to you. Stop letting preachers with an agenda
manipulate you emotionally in regret and self-loathing, which is just morbid,
self-attention. Arise, let us go hence.
Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have
apprehended [to know or understand in the context]: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
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