John 16:25-28 – “I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. But the time is coming when I will no more speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name; and I don’t say to you, that I will pray to the Father for you, for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from God. I came out from the Father, and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.”
It is very good to see here, that Jesus admits, plainly, that He has been speaking in figures of speech. This demonstrates that not all of the Bible is to be taken literally. Some things are to be taken figuratively. Some parts of the Bible are poetic, some are historical, and some are symbolic. It is important that we understand the intent of the writers. That helps us to know what God was intending to communicate through them. Fortunately, Jesus makes it very plain here that He has been talking to them in “codes.”
The New Testament of the Bible is full of very plain teachings that were carefully described. Jesus gave these messages to the people like Paul who later wrote it down. He spoke to us through these men in plain language.
Notice that the Father Himself loves us because we have loved Jesus. He is able to have an open relationship to us because of Jesus death and resurrection and our acceptance of the Salvation that He has given. We have seen this theme throughout the book.
Now Jesus says, very plainly, to them that He came from the Father into the world and is going to return. This probably confused many people who thought they understood Jesus program before He came. Many thought that Jesus would be staying to kick Rome out of Jerusalem, but He wasn’t. First, He was to die and return to the Father. This return might not have been extremely obvious in the prophetic writings, but it was real.
Many people today don’t think that there is going to be a rapture of the church. I think that, once again, this may be a prophesy that is difficult to discern without being careful. Jesus did say that He would return and receive us unto Himself when He was talking to the disciples. He also told them that He would come to reign on the earth. It appears that there are at least two more times that Jesus will make an appearance on earth. We can’t leave out any part of the Bible for an idea that we have. I also realize that I have made many mistakes in the past regarding my interpretations of scripture and there clearly are things I don’t yet understand. I am still willing to learn as the Holy Spirit makes it clear, but we must take hold of that which we do understand until then. Just because a little child can’t run yet, doesn’t mean that he should stop crawling. Eventually, God reveals to him how to run also. I believe it is the same with us as we learn about God.