A Little While

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

A LITTLE WHILE

John 16:16-18

16 "In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me."  17 Some of his disciples said to one another, "What does he mean by saying, 'In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,' and 'Because I am going to the Father'?" 18 They kept asking, "What does he mean by 'a little while'? We don't understand what he is saying."

NIV

 A little while has, in the mind of some people, been over two thousand years now and still counting, but perhaps they do not know the truth concerning a little while. Perhaps they believe Jesus was talking about the time between his return to the Father and when he comes back for his bride, us. Of course the response of Jesus which we will see next give us a clue to the truth, and it appears it did in fact reveal the truth to his disciples, and thus it reveals the truth to us. But we should not get ahead of ourselves on this point, yet this little while does have need to be understood. If the little while is the time between Jesus returning to the Father and then coming back for us, in the course of eternity which has no time, several thousand years might just be a little while. Then again we could also view our lifespan in contrast to eternity and our puny seventy, eighty, ninety or even one hundred years is but a very little while. Although he was speaking directly to his disciples who were able to physically see him and would no longer be able to see him after his ascension, it is still true for us, that we cannot see him, but we will see him again in a little while. For some of us that little while is littler then for others. The older we get the littler it becomes. One day soon we all will take that step into eternity and when we do, we will see Jesus. For now his disciples did not understand, but we do simply because we know the rest of the story. Jesus is going to explain it more clearly to them, and they will get it, so we already having heard his explanation and understand it will be in a little while then we will be able to see Jesus. It does seem strange that after those years of walking and talking, learning from Jesus they would have a better understanding of how he teaches them, and what is means, but they did not. Is there a truth in that for us? Is it possible we could after spending as much time as we do reading the scriptures not understand what he meant? Perhaps that is why there are so many denominations because they cannot agree on what he meant and therefor really do not understand what he meant. Perhaps that is the mystery he talked about. Yet it is plain, he was here, he went back to the Father, and some day, whatever a little while is, we will see Jesus. Whether it is when he raptures his church, or when we are finished with this body, we who believe will see Jesus. Now it is also true that those who do not believe we see Jesus at some point in time, and that will be the time of judgment when he separates the sheep from the goats. But for now we should be content to know we who believe will be present with the lord when we are absent from this body. So we live joyfully for a little while.