A Little While

Re:Verse passage – John 16:5-16 (day four)

Jesus said to them, “A little while, and you will no longer see me; and again a little while, and you will see me.” He seems to hold a loose definition of “a little while,” doesn’t he? We might agree that it was only a little while between when Jesus said this and when he ascended to heaven. But seeing him again? It feels like more than a little time has passed.

When I look at the world around me, I long for Jesus to return. The reality of sin and death can feel like too much to bear. I want Jesus to return in “a little while,” which is about the same amount of time I mean when I say “these cookies only need a little while longer in the oven.” But I operate in a finite, earthly sense of time, the Lord does not. When Jesus says “a little while,” he’s not talking about our earthly sense of time, but rather heavenly time, the fullness of time. He promises to return exactly on time, but this sense of time is too wonderful for us to understand on this side of heaven.

We hold to this promise, though, in verse 22, “Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”

We only have to wait a little while.