John 16:5 Commentary and Bible Study

The disciples had previously asked him where he was going, but they had stopped asking. This is said to show that they were far more concerned about their personal sense of grief and loss. Well, yes, they would certainly suffer that; they loved the Saviour, they loved Christ, and the fact that he was telling them he was going to return to heaven to the Father, even if they had fully understood that, naturally caused them grief – he would not be with them, they would lose him.But instead of thinking to themselves, ‘Well then, this means his mission is ended, he will do something now, marvellous and astonishing, and then he will return to heaven, and we will continue as his representatives’, they had stopped with the fact that he was leaving them, and they were just lamenting that and suffering that sadness. They were not saying, ‘Why are you going? What is about to happen?’ Because they were losing him, and also because he did not appear to have set up the kingdom, they were sad. They hoped he would set up his glorious reign on earth. But he had told them many times, ‘No, no, that is for the future. I go to save souls. I go to be the Saviour of the world.’ They had heard John the Baptist say, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ There is a great deed about to be accomplished which will enable people to be forgiven, to be saved. But they are not following that at this juncture.