[Jesus spoke very frankly to His disciples about His going away:] "I leave behind with you - peace; I give you My own peace and My gift is nothing like the peace of this world. You must not be distressed and you must not be daunted. You have heard Me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you' . . .

   "And I have told you of it now, before it happens, so that when it does happen, your faith in Me will not be shaken. I shall not be able to talk much longer to you, for the spirit that rules this world is coming very close. He has no hold over Me, but I go on My way to show the world that I love the Father and do what He sent Me to do . . .

   "Yes, the time is coming when a man who kills you will think he is thereby serving God! They will excommunicate you from their synagogues. They will act like this because they have never had any true knowledge of the Father or of Me, but I have told you all this so that when the time comes for such things to happen, you may remember that I told you about them. I have not spoken like this to you before, because I have been with you; but now the time has come for Me to go away to the One Who sent Me.

   "None of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?' That is because you are so distressed at what I have told you. Yet I am telling you the simple truth when I assure you that it is a good thing for you that I should go away. For if I did not go away, the divine Helper would not come to you. But if I go, then I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will convince the world of the meaning of sin, of true goodness and of judgment. He will expose their sin because they do not believe in Me; He will reveal true goodness for I am going away to the Father and you will see Me no longer; and He will show them the meaning of judgment, for the spirit which rules this world will have been judged . . .

   "In a little while you will not see Me any longer, and again, in a little while you will see Me . . . Now you are going through pain, but I shall see you again and your hearts will thrill with joy - the joy that no one can take away from you . . . Yes, I did come from the Father and I came into the world. Now I leave the world behind and return to the Father."

Taken from John 14, 16, The Phillips Translation. For free Lifescope book,
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