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The Sixteenth Chapter of John (Rabel)

(Back) Whatever You Ask of the Father Jesus Prays for His Disciples (Next)

METAPHYSICAL BIBLE INTERPRETATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
This is a series of lectures given by Mr. Edward Rabel, member of the faculty of S.M.R.S.
Winter semester 1976 - 2nd. Yr. Class. Lecture given on June 4, 1976

John 16:1-33, pp. 296-297 of transcript.

16:1These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be caused to stumble. 16:2They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God. 16:3And these things will they do, because they have not known the Father, nor me. 16:4But these things have I spoken unto you, that when their hour is come, ye may remember them, how that I told you.

And these things I said not unto you from the beginning, because I was with you. 16:5But now I go unto him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?16:6But because I have spoken these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. 16:7Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send him unto you.16:8And he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 16:9of sin, because they believe not on me; 16:10of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye behold me no more; 16:11of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged.

16:12I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 16:13Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but what things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak: and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come. 16:14He shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you. 16:15All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he taketh of mine, and shall declare it unto you.

16:16A little while, and ye behold me no more; and again a little while, and ye shall see me. 16:17Some of his disciples therefore said one to another, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye behold me not; and again a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? 16:18They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? We know not what he saith. 16:19Jesus perceived that they were desirous to ask him, and he said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said, A little while, and ye behold me not, and again a little while, and ye shall see me? 16:20Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.16:21A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but when she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for the joy that a man is born into the world. 16:22And ye therefore now have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one taketh away from you. 16:23And in that day ye shall ask me no question. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in my name. 16:24Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full.

16:25These things have I spoken unto you in dark sayings: the hour cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in dark sayings, but shall tell you plainly of the Father. 16:26In that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; 16:27for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from the Father. 16:28I came out from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father.

16:29His disciples say, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no dark saying. 16:30Now know we that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. 16:31Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? 16:32Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. 16:33These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

He makes another statement in Chapter 16, verses 11-13: “I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth."

Now, one of the things that you probably have or will notice in your ministry is the large number of persons who waste time worrying about Truth that we do not know yet, and remember the only reason why there is Truth we do not know yet, is that there is no reason why we have to know certain things yet. There are certain things that we once knew but have forgotten and for the reason that we no longer need that knowledge. That knowledge has been incorporated into other knowledge. Nothing is lost in Spirit, but forms come and go. It is the essence of knowledge which matters, not the current factual form of knowledge which one must preserve forever. It is the essence of knowledge that will be preserved forever. For instance, what were human beings like prior to the Adamic evolutionary life wave? That is no longer necessary knowledge, the fact or details of it, but knowledge of that is still preserved in us in another form. The essence of that knowledge is now a part of our current heritage of knowledge, but in another form pertinent to our purposes now.

Just like, what is it going to be like after all our realizations become instantaneously manifested? We do not know now because we do not need that knowledge yet. We just know it is going to happen, and when it does, then the knowledge that we have now will be incorporated into knowing in that dimension of awareness, etc. So we do not want to waste time worrying about facts of Truth that we do not know. Instead, let us do the best we can with the facts of knowledge of Truth that we do know. You see, we have a big enough job right there to utilize the facts of Truth that we already know.

Remember this, dear ones, when we have developed the capacity to know more, more knowledge is always given unto us. Nothing is held back by Divine Mind from its children. The moment a child of Divine Mind has a greater capacity to know, Divine Mind, itself, sees to it that that greater capacity is filled, and greater illumination or revelations come and are transformed into facts, knowledge. Never, never worry about what you do not know yet. Just work on your capacity to know, and knowledge will be attracted to you just like bees are attracted to flowers. There is nothing to worry about. When we really have need of any new form of knowledge, we will be given it without fail.

Now, the question was once asked, "How about when a whole bunch of people come ready for greater knowledge; will they all get it, like the scattering of confetti at a wedding?” No, usually what happens is that one individual who represents the greater capacity developed in a group of mankind will be the recipient, you see. It is just like in healing; healing consciousness is growing rapidly in the human race, but all persons do not get greater healing know-how in a bunch. Some kind of breakthrough will often occur. One person will seem to have made a discovery of some kind, which makes healing work easier in different fields. Then the whole race can benefit by this discovery, and if a person is not alert, he might say, "Well, why was he the one that discovered insulin?” I had a grandmother who had diabetes, and I prayed and prayed and prayed for her. Now some guy in Topeka discovers insulin. Well. Just like saying, "Why should Jesus have come to save the race. I've been a good boy all my life. Why couldn't it have been. Why?" The chosen vessel, the chosen channel is always the right one. Then we all partake of the benefits, these breakthroughs of greater knowledge, greater facts of knowledge. No-one is cheated. No-one is left out. The main thing is now put to constructive use the Truth-knowledge that we do have.

Now, in Chapter 16, verses 28 and 29, Jesus says, "I came out from the Father and am come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father." This is a very tantalizing statement. It concerns something that all of us, I think, are curious about. Where did He come from? What was his pre-natal state and where did He go to? Where did He go from the transition? Jesus does not explain or elaborate. He simply calls his pre-incarnation state the Father, and He leaves it up to our intuitive understanding to guess what this means. He says the same thing in reference to where He is now, the Father. Now, to me, the Father does not sound like the place where one goes to rest between incarnations. It sounds to me like something much greater than that, higher than that, and to come into the world from the Father is something that we should think about. What does the Father mean? He also says "again, I leave the world". That tells me that He has been here before and that this was a return visit by Him, but He does not explain the state or the Father from which He came and to which He returned.

Text of the original transcript at the 6th paragraph of p.296 through the 2nd paragraph of p.297.
Transcribed by Margaret Garvin on 04-14-2014