John 16:23 - Meaning and Application

Here Christ promises an answer to their requests, for their further comfort. There are two kinds of asking: asking by way of inquiry, which is what the ignorant do, and asking by way of request, which is what those in need do. Christ speaks of both here.

First, he says they would no longer need to ask questions, or make inquiries. “In that day you will ask me nothing” means they would not need to keep asking questions. They would have such clear knowledge of gospel truth, through the opening of their minds, that they would not need to inquire further, as in Hebrews 8:11, where people no longer need to teach one another. They would know more in a moment than they had learned before through long listening.

The disciples had asked foolish questions, ambitious questions, doubtful questions, irrelevant questions, and curious questions. They asked like this in John 9:2, Matthew 18:1, Matthew 19:27, John 21:21, and Acts 1:6. But after the Spirit was given, this kind of asking stopped. In the story of the apostles in Acts, we rarely see them asking questions. They were under constant divine guidance. In the important matter of taking the gospel to the Gentiles, Peter went without hesitation, as in Acts 10:20.

Asking questions shows that we are at a loss, or at least uncertain. Even the best of us still need to ask questions. But we should aim for such a full understanding that we do not hesitate, and are led steadily in the plain path of truth and duty. Christ gives the reason for this in John 16:25. He had spoken to them in proverbs, meaning sayings that were wise but not fully clear. Yet the time was coming when he would show them plainly about the Father, so they would not need to ask questions.

The great thing Christ wanted to lead them into was the knowledge of God. “I will show you the Father” means, “I will bring you to know him.” This is what Christ gives, and what all true Christians long for. When Christ speaks of the greatest blessing for his disciples, he says it will be that he will show them plainly of the Father. For what is heaven, but seeing God directly and forever? To know God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest mystery for the mind to enjoy. To know him as our Father is the greatest happiness for our will and affections.

Christ had spoken to them in proverbs, that is, in wise sayings that often used figures and general ideas. He had spoken many things clearly, and he had explained his parables privately to the disciples. Yet, compared with what was to come, his words were still like proverbs. This was partly because of their dullness and slow understanding. What he said to them was like a sealed book, as in Isaiah 29:11.

It was also true when his earlier teaching is compared with what he would later give them through his Spirit. When he put his Spirit into their hearts, they would think of all their former ideas as confused and unclear. Their present knowledge of divine things would seem like living in a new world. The ministry of the letter was nothing compared with the ministry of the Spirit, as in 2 Corinthians 3:8-11. Christ had also spoken darkly when compared with the fuller light that was soon to come, as in Colossians 2:2. He would speak to them plainly about the Father, with freedom and openness.

When the Spirit was poured out, the apostles gained far greater understanding of divine things than they had before, as seen in the speech the Spirit gave them in Acts 2:4. They were led into the meaning of things they had once understood only dimly. What the Spirit showed them, Christ is said here to show them, for just as the Father speaks through the Son, so the Son speaks through the Spirit.

Yet this promise will be fully completed in heaven, where we shall see the Father as he is, face to face, not dimly as now, as in 1 Corinthians 13:12. That is a comfort to us while we live under the cloud of present darkness, when we cannot always speak rightly because our understanding is still limited. While we are here, we have many questions about the unseen God and the unseen world. But in that day, we shall see all things clearly and ask no more questions.

Second, Christ promises that when they ask in prayer, they will ask nothing in vain. It is assumed that all Christ’s disciples pray. He has taught them by both command and example to be people of prayer. Prayer must be their support and comfort after he leaves them. Their instruction, direction, strength, and success must all be sought through prayer.

Here is a clear promise of an answer in John 16:23. Christ begins with “Truly, truly,” which makes the promise completely sure and leaves no room to doubt it. The promise itself is rich and comforting. It is like the king holding out the golden scepter and saying, “What is your request?” He says, “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you.” We had this promise before in John 14:13. What more could we want?

We are here taught how to pray. We must ask the Father in Christ’s name. We must look to God as a Father and come to him as children. We must also come to Christ as Mediator, the one who stands between God and us, and come as his clients or dependents. Asking the Father includes seeing that spiritual blessings come from God alone. It also includes humble speech and trusting confidence in him as a Father who is able and willing to help.

Asking in Christ’s name includes admitting that we do not deserve any favor from God. It means delighting in the way God keeps fellowship with us through his Son. It also means resting fully on Christ as our righteousness, the one who puts us right with God. We are also told how well we shall succeed: “He will give it to you.” What more could we wish than to receive what we need, indeed what we ask for in line with God’s will?

God gives from the one from whom every good and perfect gift comes. What Christ bought by the merit of his death, he did not need for himself. He intended it for his faithful followers and passed it on to them. Since he paid a full and worthy price for it, this promise is like drawing a bill on the treasury of heaven. We present it in prayer, asking in his name for what has been purchased and promised, according to the true meaning of the new covenant. Christ had promised them great light through the Spirit, but they still had to pray for it, and they did so in Acts 1:14. God wants to be asked for these things.

He had promised them perfection in the life to come, but what were they to do in the meantime? They must keep praying. Full enjoyment belongs to the land of our rest. Asking and receiving are the comfort of the land where we are still traveling.

Here is an invitation for them to ask. People often think it is enough if great men allow others to make requests, but Christ actually calls us to ask, (John 16:24). He first looks back at their past practice: “Until now you have asked nothing in my name.” This may mean one of two things. It may refer to the kind of prayers they had offered. They had asked for much, but only a little compared with what they could have asked, and what they would ask after the Spirit was given. See what a generous giver our Lord Jesus is, greater than all other givers. He gives freely, and he is far from blaming us for asking too often or too much. Instead, he blames us for asking too little. We have asked nothing compared with what we need, what he has to give, and what he has promised to give. We are told to open our mouths wide.

Or it may refer to the name in which they prayed. They had offered many prayers, but not yet so clearly in the name of Christ as he was now teaching them to do. He had not yet offered that great sacrifice that makes our prayers acceptable, nor had he begun his intercession for us, the sweet fragrance of which would perfume all our prayers and let us pray in his name. Up to that point, they had cast out demons and healed diseases in Christ’s name, as King and Prophet, but they could not yet clearly pray in his name as Priest.

He then looks ahead to what would be true for them in the future: “Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be full.” Here he directs them to ask for all they need and all he has promised. He also assures them that they will receive. What we ask from a heart of grace, God will graciously give: “You will receive it.” That promise is even fuller than simply saying he will give it. He will not only give the gift, but also give us the ability to receive it, to feel its comfort and benefit, and to have a heart that can truly enjoy it, (Ecclesiastes 6:2).

This is how their joy will be made full. First, this is the blessed result of faith-filled prayer. It helps fill up the joy that comes from faith. If we want our joy to be as full as it can be in this world, we must pray much. Right after we are told to rejoice always, we are told to pray without stopping. See how high we should aim in prayer, not only for peace, but for joy, for a full joy. Or, second, this points to the blessed result of answered prayer: “Ask, and you will receive what will fill your joy.” God’s gifts through Christ fill the soul’s storehouse and fill its joy, (Proverbs 8:21). “Ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and you will receive him. Other kinds of knowledge increase sorrow, (Ecclesiastes 1:18), but the knowledge he gives will increase, and fill, your joy.”

Here are the reasons they could hope to succeed, (John 16:26, John 16:27), summed up briefly by the apostle: “We have an advocate with the Father,” that is, one who speaks in our favor, (1 John 2:1). We have such an advocate, though Christ says he will not press that point here. He does this to make the next encouragement stand out more clearly: “I do not say that I will ask the Father for you.” As if he were saying, even if I should not say plainly that I will intercede for you, or that I will take up every one of your cases before the Father, it is still enough comfort to know that I have opened a way between you and God. I have set up a throne of grace, and I have made a new and living way into the holy place for you.

He speaks as if they needed no more help, because he had obtained the gift of the Holy Spirit, who would pray within them as the Spirit of adoption, crying, “Abba, Father.” It is as if they would no longer need him to pray for them, yet we find that he does far more for us than he says here. Human promises often fall short of what was expected, but Christ’s promises go beyond them.

We also have to deal with a Father, and that is such a strong encouragement that it almost makes the other one unnecessary. “For the Father himself loves you.” The Greek wording means he is friendly toward you, and you could not be better supported than that. The disciples of Christ are loved by God himself. Christ did more than turn away God’s anger and bring us into peace and reconciliation. He also won God’s favor for us and brought us into a covenant of friendship.

Notice the emphasis in the words, “The Father himself loves you.” The Father is fully happy in himself. His love for himself is both his perfect righteousness and his perfect blessedness, yet he is pleased to love you. This is the Father himself, the one whose favor you had lost, whose anger you had brought on yourself, and before whom you needed an advocate. He himself now loves you.

Why does the Father love Christ’s disciples? Because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God, that is, because you are truly my disciples. This does not mean their love started first. Rather, when Christ’s grace has worked love for him in us, God is pleased with the work of his own hands. Here we see what marks Christ’s disciples. They love him because they believe he came from God, is the only Son of the Father, and his appointed messenger to the world. Faith in Christ works through love to him, (Galatians 5:6). If we believe he is the Son of God, we must love him as one who is beautiful in himself. If we believe he is our Savior, we must love him as the kindest friend we have.

Notice also how Christ speaks of his disciples’ love with such warmth, and how gladly he receives it. He speaks of it as something that recommends them to his Father’s favor: “You have loved me and believed in me while the world has hated and rejected me, and you will be honored.” See the blessing faithful disciples enjoy. The Father loves them, and he loves them because they love Christ. He is so pleased with Christ that he is pleased with all who belong to him.

This should encourage them in prayer. They need not fear that they will fail when they come to one who loves them and wants their good. First, this guards us against thinking harshly of God. When we are taught in prayer to depend on Christ’s merit and intercession, it is not because all the kindness is in Christ and only anger and fury are in God. That is not the case. The Father’s love and good will appointed Christ to be the Mediator, the one who stands between God and people. So we owe Christ’s saving work to God’s mercy in giving him for us.

Second, this should warm and strengthen good thoughts about God. Believers who love Christ should know that God loves them too, and so they should come boldly to him as children coming to a loving Father.