John 1:51

1:51 He continued, ¹  “I tell all of you the solemn truth ²  – you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” ³ 

John 3:36

3:36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects ⁴  the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath ⁵  remains ⁶  on him.

John 16:17

16:17 Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What is the meaning of what he is saying, ⁷  ‘In a little while you ⁸  will not see me; again after a little while, you ⁹  will see me,’ and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁰ 

John 16:19

16:19 Jesus could see ¹¹  that they wanted to ask him about these things, ¹²  so ¹³  he said to them, “Are you asking ¹⁴  each other about this – that I said, ‘In a little while you ¹⁵  will not see me; again after a little while, you ¹⁶  will see me’?

John 16:22

16:22 So also you have sorrow ¹⁷  now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. ¹⁸ 

¹ tn Grk “and he said to him.”

² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

³ sn The title Son of Man appears 13 times in John’s Gospel. It is associated especially with the themes of crucifixion (3:14; 8:28), revelation (6:27; 6:53), and eschatological authority (5:27; 9:35). The title as used in John’s Gospel has for its background the son of man figure who appears in Dan 7:13-14 and is granted universal regal authority. Thus for the author, the emphasis in this title is not on Jesus’ humanity, but on his heavenly origin and divine authority.

⁴ tn Or “refuses to believe,” or “disobeys.”

⁵ tn Or “anger because of evil,” or “punishment.”

⁶ tn Or “resides.”

⁷ tn Grk “What is this that he is saying to us.”

⁸ tn Grk “A little while, and you.”

⁹ tn Grk “and again a little while, and you.”

¹⁰ sn These fragmentary quotations of Jesus’ statements are from 16:16 and 16:10, and indicate that the disciples heard only part of what Jesus had to say to them on this occasion.

¹⁰ tn Grk “knew.”

¹¹ tn The words “about these things” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

¹² tn Καί (kai) has been translated as “so” here to indicate the following statement is a result of Jesus’ observation in v. 19a.

¹³ tn Grk “inquiring” or “seeking.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “A little while, and you.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “and again a little while, and you.”

¹³ tn Or “distress.”

¹⁴ sn An allusion to Isa 66:14 LXX, which reads: “Then you will see, and your heart will be glad, and your bones will flourish like the new grass; and the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, but he will be indignant toward his enemies.” The change from “you will see [me]” to I will see you places more emphasis on Jesus as the one who reinitiates the relationship with the disciples after his resurrection, but v. 16 (you will see me) is more like Isa 66:14. Further support for seeing this allusion as intentional is found in Isa 66:7, which uses the same imagery of the woman giving birth found in John 16:21. In the context of Isa 66 the passages refer to the institution of the messianic kingdom, and in fact the last clause of 66:14 along with the following verses (15-17) have yet to be fulfilled. This is part of the tension of present and future eschatological fulfillment that runs throughout the NT, by virtue of the fact that there are two advents. Some prophecies are fulfilled or partially fulfilled at the first advent, while other prophecies or parts of prophecies await fulfillment at the second.