john 16

Read John 16 at Bible Gateway.

John 16 is a mass of overlapping chiastic structures, all on top of each other. There may be a unifying structure for the whole chapter, but there is a job mapping all the various smaller structures first, before it becomes apparent. Today I found this one:

Joh 16:5-24 chiastic structure:

1a.1) Joh 16:5a, Jesus: But now I go away to Him who sent Me;

1a.2) Joh 16:5b, And none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’

1a.3) Joh 16:6, But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart;

1b) Joh 16:7-11, When the Helper has come, He will convict the world;

central axis) Joh 16:12, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now;”

2b) Joh 16:13-15, When the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth;

2a.1) Joh 16:16, Jesus: A little while + you will not see Me/ a little while + you will see Me, because I go to the Father;

2a.2) Joh 16:17-18, The disciples questioned among themselves what His saying meant;

2a.3) Joh 16:19-24, Jesus: Your sorrow will be turned to joy which no one will take from you;

1a) Joh 16:19, Jesus knew they desired to ask Him concerning His saying;
1b) Joh 16:20, Jesus: You will weep but the world will rejoice/ you will be sorrowful but your sorrow will be turned into joy;
central axis) Joh 16:21, “A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world;”
2b) Joh 16:22, Jesus: You now have sorrow but I will see you again + you will have joy no one will take from you;
2a) Joh 16:23-24, Jesus: In that day you will ask Me nothing/ whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.

As disciples, we should expect to still hear Yeshua’s voice (Joh 10:27) since He has many things to say to us from the Father, through the agency of the Holy Spirit. God desires to speak to us! Last chapter, we saw that Yeshua calls us friends. Don’t friends talk to each other? They have many two- way conversations. If you are not hearing His voice, take Yeshua’s advice: ASK to hear Him, that He may give it to you!