John 7-33-34 Back to the future
Then Jesus said to them, “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.”
John 7:33-34 NKJV
Jesus’ coming crucifixion, resurrection, and departure from this planet and his physical body did not take him by surprise. He told his his disciples about the dramatic events in the days ahead many times — and now this crowd. Yet even when he told them, because a man is focused on what I am seeing and feeling at this moment in the flesh it didn’t even cross their mind that he was referring to life after his death. Even so, he was speaking from their perspective… “you will seek me.” In other words: you will hear that I’m alive. Those that should be grieving now seem strangely over it, exuberant and emboldened. People will be looking for me, but because I’m not physically on earth any longer, you will sense that I’m still here, yet you won’t find me. But I am here. I told my disciples I would return (John 14:18) and I did — in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
The way he said this makes me think of a son, supremely confident in the future his father has shown him. There is no reason for Jesus to doubt what his Father had told him. And he boldly tells those in Jerusalem the same — although not in the detail he tells his disciples.
He told the crowd:
You will not find me, and where I am, you cannot come.
He tells his disciples:
A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.
John14:19 NKJV
Not only will they see him, but Jesus asks the Father that they may be there with him — without leaving their bodies or the earth like he did!
But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
John17:13, 15, 24 NKJV
Knowing about coming events, turbulent times, even unthinkable tragedy seems extraordinary, but deeply comforting. Maybe with God the randomness is not as random are chaotic as they appear. If he knows about them He may also work with purpose through them — as awful as they may seem. Just like Jesus knew what was coming he said to his disciples that they would too through the Holy Spirit:
But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future].
John 16:13 AMPC
He said this for a specific purpose:
And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.
John 14:29 NKJV
There are some things in life that shake us to the core. Most are unthinkable. Unanticipatable. Ask Job. Ask the disciples. Ask Mary. Ask Abraham. Ask David. God knows that if we know He knew beforehand, then we may be comforted in that knowledge. Life’s trauma affects all humans and the most comforting, reassuring way to approach the ambiguous unknowable is to recognize my identity as a son — connected to the one who is not caught off guard by anyone or anything. The crucifixion was no random accident. It was tragic. Horrifying. Brutal. Filled with evil dread. But what happened did not take Him by surprise, nor did Jesus want it to take those most affected by it by surprise either — even though it did. And this is a lesson for me today. I recognize that they did not want to hear what he said — even when he spoke plainly. The crucifixion did not fit anyone’s grid for the Messiah — even though Daniel spoke about it years in advance:
Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary…
Daniel 9:26a NASB1995
Our willingness open our ears to hear — even when we’d prefer to hear a different message. When we are tuned in and listening, He is able to warn us so unsettling events don’t shake our equilibrium. Foreknowledge is not merely a tool for coping and being comforted, it also provides a context in which wisdom may direct the best route forward. The Holy Spirit was purposeful and intentional when sharing the the coming days with Jesus. The result? That we and others may believe.