John 14:19

John 14:19. Yet a little while, and the world beholdeth me no longer; but ye behold me. The ‘little while' here spoken of is that of chap, John 13:33, extending from the moment immediately at hand to the resurrection. After that ‘little while' the world beholdeth Jesus no more, but His disciples behold Him, the present tense being used in both clauses absolutely, and not as the mere present of time. In the first clause ‘beholdeth' can be understood only of physical vision, for in no other way had the world ever beheld Jesus, and it is thus impossible to exclude a reference to the fact that the risen Saviour did not show Himself to the world. In the second clause ‘behold' must be so far at least used in the same sense, and the appearance of the risen Jesus must again be thought of. Yet the meaning of the second ‘behold' is not thus exhausted, for it obviously includes a vision of the Redeemer not limited by the forty days between the resurrection and the ascension, but stretching onward into the eternal future. The difference of vision, however, does not lie directly in the word itself: it is conditioned by the state in which Jesus is supposed to be, and by the necessities of the case. The ‘Me' of the verse is Jesus glorified: Him, because He is glorified, the world unfit for the vision ‘beholdeth no longer.' But the disciples, one with Him not only in His humiliation but in His ‘glory,' behold Him, first from time to time with the eye of sense, always with the eye of faith and in the power of the Spirit. It need only be further remarked that this intensifying of the meaning of the second ‘behold' may be indicated by the order of the original, which gives the place of emphasis to the word in the second clause; and that, by the view now taken, we at once see the connection of the words that follow: only the ‘living' can behold the risen Lord, or have the abiding spiritual sight.

Because I live and ye shall live. Not, ‘Because I live ye shall live also,' which would divert the thoughts to something entirely foreign to the course of our Lord's remarks; but, Because I live glorified, and ye, in this respect wholly different from the world, shall live in the power of Me your risen Lord, therefore shall this intimacy of intercourse, implied in My coming and your beholding, last unbroken and for ever.