March 23, 2025 - John 16:20-22 - "The Completed Work of the LORD Jesus"

John 16:20-22

"...and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned to joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you."

Here the LORD Jesus speaks of the death that He was to die to the satisfaction of God the Father. This is the truth of Christ having died and risen again, whereby He would see His disciples again when He was raised from the dead. It is more than a mere story; it is the foundation of the completed work of the LORD Jesus that brings rest to all for whom He died. To know that He finished the work is a source of great comfort to the child of God. If that work were not complete, if even a single thread of righteousness were left for us to add, it would not be righteousness at all.

He declares, “Your sorrow shall be turned to joy.” When? At His resurrection, when they would see Him again, fear would turn to joy. The LORD gives a simple yet profound illustration: “A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow because her hour is come.” What a fitting picture of Christ’s sufferings! Those women who have experienced the pains of childbirth know the sorrow and anguish that accompany it. It is a pain because her hour has arrived. “But as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.” (John 16:21)

Now, pause to consider this illustration in light of Christ’s sufferings. Was there not joy in the birth of a Man into this world, the God-Man? His coming into the world required not only the birth in Bethlehem, but also the travail of His soul. Isaiah speaks of the travail of His soul, saying, “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11). As significant as His physical birth was, there was yet a greater travail He endured—a spiritual travail that He had to experience, that He might be delivered and justify His people. This is what Christ spoke of to His disciples.

We know that Christ's travail did not end in death. He did not live just to die and not come back to life. He arose victorious from the grave. The sins of His people were imputed to Him, and, being risen, this is evidence that God had imputed that very righteousness to the spiritual account of everyone for whom Christ died. This is salvation! It is not a work that we complete individually; it was accomplished once, in one place, at one time. Christ Himself declared that He must go to Jerusalem and accomplish His death (Luke 9:22). Did He go? Yes. Was it accomplished? Yes. He continues, “And ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you” (John 16:22). When was the joy of the disciples made complete? When they saw the risen Savior, after His death, in revealing Himself to them (Luke 24:13-32). This was not a fleeting joy that came and went. When He says, “No man taketh it from you,” He means that this joy is divinely wrought. It is God’s work, and it is forever.

In this life, we do nonetheless endure sorrow. As God's redeemed and justified children, we sadly continue to sin. We sorrow over unbelief. We sorrow over many fretful thoughts of heart and mind. Yet there is a joy that no man can take from us. And that joy is the knowledge, by God's sovereign grace, that when Christ died, He died for us and effectually put away our sins. When He rose, He rose on our behalf as proof that God the Father was satisfied with the work of the Son, and so complete was that work that when He raised from the dead, it was the declaration of the Father's satisfaction (Romans 4:25). He now sits at the right hand of the Father, having returned to His rightful place. He sat down, for the work was finished (Hebrews 1:3). What a blessed joy this is!

"He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.

He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!

You ask me how I know He lives?

It’s written in His Word!"