Pastor Bill's Blog - “In that day …”
I recently noticed something in John 14 that, once I started pulling on it, got larger and took on more meaning - although I’m still not completely sure what it all means.
The verse that first got my attention was John 14:18-20:
John 14:18–20
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, also you will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
The little phrase that got my attention was: “In that day ...”
The implication, of course, is that “that day” will be different than any day that preceded it. Because “in that day you will know …” They were about to know something that they could not have known - at least as clearly - prior to “that day” taking place.
We get a hint of what this ‘something’ is in the preceding sentence:
“Because I live, also you will live.”
The disciples were certainly living when Jesus was telling them this - at least their hearts were beating, and they were having a conversation with him. So Jesus must have been referring to being ‘alive’ in some other way.
And then I noticed that this new ‘alive’ would initiate them into something of paramount importance:
“In that day … you will know … that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
That’s pretty important ...
It’s no small thing that this passage appears right after Jesus promised the Holy Spirit:
John 14:15–17
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
He will be “in you”.
And with him in us we will, or at least should, begin to unravel the rest of the equation:
“that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
Q Why is all this important? Because this is how it’s all going to work - from the inside out.
Consider these similar references within this same conversation:
John 16:23
“In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.”
John 16:26–28
“In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”
Q. What’s your take? Click the “here” link and join the conversation.
Posted by Bill Jastram on Feb 11, 2010, 8:25:51 PM
Comments
Chris Skaggs wrote on Feb 12, 2010, 4:55:15 PM:
The phrase still also suggests a future date. "that day" instead of something like "from now on" - perhaps he has Pentecost in mind and the indwelling of the holy spirit.
Bill Jastram wrote on Feb 12, 2010, 5:52:19 PM:
Hey Chris, I think you're right on with the Pentecost thing. The greatest insight into the 'inside resource' is the arrival of the Holy Spirit inside the believer. And thereafter, being regularly filled with the Holy Spirit.
Janet Carey wrote on Feb 12, 2010, 6:09:08 PM:
"in that day" is another paradigm shift notice. Like Truly, truly tells the disciples you're in for a major shift. In that day says something is coming that will be good but it will also change everything. It's comforting to know that Jesus sees that changes take time and warning for us to receive, accept, and believe.
Bill Jastram wrote on Feb 12, 2010, 6:27:57 PM:
Good point Janet. Knowing that another day was coming, when the disciples were totally stressed the day Jesus was sharing this with them, most have given them some sense of comfort, even hope.
Pat Mohney wrote on Feb 20, 2010, 4:05:25 PM:
Words that jumped out at me were "orphan" and "Father" (Jn 14:18-20). The contrasting words promise relationship and restoration as an orphan would long for a father who provides, guides, protects, and all that a father is and does. "In that day" points to a specific time that gives us the assurance of things hoped for.
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