John 16:25 (b)- 26 (a)
“…but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in My name…”
Now is the day in which Jesus speaks to us in plain language about the Father instead of figurative language.
Sometimes when we ask the Lord for an answer, He answers us in a somewhat illusory manner. For instance, in my past, I made a very destructive decision and I knew that if I did not get to the root of that, then I would likely repeat it or at least have thoughts of repeating it. So, I asked God to show me why I made that decision. His answer was, what I thought at the time, vague. He responded to me with a verse address…. He said, “Proverbs 27:7” So I read the verse and did not understand what He was talking about… I pressed Him and He gave me a very clear and concise answer to my inquiry. Since that instance I find that God always answers me, and He generally does so in a way that at first seems vague but becomes clearer when I press a bit more. In our study verse for today, we see that I am not the only one who has become frustrated with the “figurative language” used by the Lord. However, Jesus gives a promise that explains why I am able to hear the Lord and understand Him plainly. Jesus said that the “time was coming when {He} would no longer speak in figurative language.” So the question becomes then, when is that time?
The answer is found in John 14:12-14
“Most assuredly, I say to you , he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also, and greater works than these he will do because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name I will do it."
Jesus said that the time that we should ask the Father for things in the name of Jesus was after He “went to His Father.” This is speaking of Jesus’ ascension into Heaven after He was resurrected. The time to ask the Father instead of the person of Jesus is now. We ask the Father in the name of Jesus. The reason that we ask the Father in the name of Jesus is because we, on our own without Jesus, have no right to approach the Father for anything. It is the name of Jesus that gives us the right of entry into the Holy of Holies to inquire of the Lord.
When Jesus speaks to us, He tells us about the Father. This may seem odd because we hear the “Word of God” about all sorts of things. You see, when we are born again, we gain the mind of Christ. One attribute of the mind of Christ is to only do and say what you see the Father do and say. We of course do not always manifest this because of our free will but that is how the mind of Christ was created to function. God knows all things; He knows what we need to do, what we need to know, where we need to go, where we have been etc. So when we ask God for wisdom about any situation at all, the Word of God {ie Jesus} will always respond with God’s take on things. This is Jesus Christ “telling us” about the Father. This is the only way we can navigate life effectively. That is why Jesus said that once He went up to the right hand of the Father, He would tell us plainly. What we find then is that “plainly” can be heard the closer we draw to the Word of God. When Jesus stated that He spoke “figuratively” about the Father, it was translated this way in the Old King James-
“I have spoken unto you in Proverbs…”
He literally spoke to me in a Proverb! But what Jesus meant was that He had been speaking to them regarding the Father metaphorically. The reason that He did this is because spiritually they were still children. It is similar to when we try to teach a child a lesson- we generally do not lay out the subject matter for them in scientific, and factual terms. Rather we tell them a story that they can recall easily, identify the moral and apply that moral to their situation. This is what Jesus did and still does for those who are spiritually children. One thing to note here is that a person can be saved and be spiritually mature in one area and yet still be immature in another. The same way they can in their natural lives. This is why it took me, and usually does take me pressing into God on a matter that yields the “plain” speech. Only a spiritually mature person digs deeper, all others simply receive the Word of God at face value and move on. I encourage you to grow your spiritual adeptness by pressing into God until you hear Jesus speak to you about the Father plainly.
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