Your Sorrow Will Turn Into Joy (2024)

Can joy be found in times of sorrow? We face a variety of griefs in this life—creaky knees, job loss, a depleted checking account, a relationship severed by betrayal, or the loss of a loved one. Life in this fallen world continues to pelt us with the twin stones of heartache and suffering. But when you are pummeled with an intense barrage of pain, could you endure it with joy? Does your joy in the Lord buoy according to the fluctuating level of your circumstances? When the waters of blessing rise, does your joy rise with it? When the drought dries up the reservoir, does your joy sink into the mud?

God has ordered our lives to follow the course of our savior—first suffering, then glory. In this world, we will have trouble. In our lives, the tides of our suffering ebb and flow, but suffering has come and will continue to come on this side of eternity. You are either exiting suffering, preparing for suffering, or entering into suffering. But while the certainty of coming trouble looms over us in this life, because of Jesus, our suffering will turn into joy, so much so that we can have full and permanent joy because of Jesus. In John 16:16–24, Jesus encourages his disciples by telling them that though they will face coming sorrow, he will provide them fullness of joy. First, we will see how sorrow creates confusion within us. Second, we will see how Christ transforms our sorrows into joy. Thirdly, we will learn how Christ’s work eliminates sorrow and gives us permanent and full joy.

1. Sorrow’s Confusion: “What Does He Mean?” (16–19)

On the Thursday night of Jesus’ arrest, the Lord gives his disciples a final word of instruction before his coming death. As we have seen in this Farewell Discourse, Jesus is preparing and instructing his disciples for his departure. The events of the cross will trigger the dawning of a new age—the age of the Holy Spirit. The way Jesus will relate to his disciples will soon change. Jesus will rise from the grave and then ascend into heaven. He and the Father will send the Holy Spirit to the disciples to empower them to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

However, the disciples struggle to understand much of the beauty and gravity of Jesus’ teaching. Jesus has so much to teach them, but they are unable to bear it now. All will soon make sense once the Holy Spirit illuminates their minds to understand Jesus’s teaching. One of the barriers to the disciples’ understanding is their grief. They are troubled by Jesus’ departure.

They believed Jesus to be the promised Messiah, promised by the prophets. But they had no category of a messiah who would come and then leave them behind only to send “another Counselor” (John 15:16).1 And so as Jesus speaks to them with the weightiness of his coming crucifixion impressed on his heart, the disciples fail to understand what Jesus is teaching them. They are dumbfounded with confusion. In verse 16, Jesus spoke in what sounded like a riddle:

“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” (Jn 16:16)

In the hindsight of the cross and resurrection of Christ, along with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can comprehend Jesus’ words here. He’s referring to the coming weekend. In just a little while, Jesus will go to the cross and die. But then in just a little while longer, Jesus will rise again. On Good Friday, they will see Jesus no longer. On Resurrection Sunday, they will see him again.

But the disciples do not yet understand this, and if we were in their shoes, neither would we. The mystery of the gospel that Jesus, the Son of God and Son of David, would die a substitutionary death in our place on the cross, providing atonement for sin by his blood and triumphing from the grave on the third day—that glorious gospel was not even plausible to their minds. So, as they hear what they reckon is a riddle from Jesus, the fog of confusion thickens.

But Jesus’ words in verse 16 are so crucial to the aims of the gospel writer that the riddle gets repeated three times in just a few verses (vv. 16, 17, and 19.) John wants us to pay attention to these words, even as the disciples flounder to understand them. Look at verses 17 and 18:

“So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.”” (Jn 16:17–18)

After Jesus’ extended teaching, we now hear the disciples’ response. And their response is bewilderment. One day, this will all make sense to them once the Spirit of truth guides them into all truth, but on this night before the cross, they whisper to one another, inquiring if their fellow disciples are just as confused. None of them want to be the student who asks a silly question that exposes their failure to listen carefully when the teacher has already given the answer. Perhaps with the seriousness of Jesus’ teaching combined with his heaviness of heart about his coming death, the disciples fear dishonoring him by openly asking his meaning. But their ignorance is shared. All of the disciples struggle to understand Jesus’ meaning. What does he mean about his going to the Father? And what does “a little while” mean? They bluntly state their lack of understanding to one another: “We do not know what he is talking about.” Sorrow and confusion are anxiety-inducing, soul-trembling problems. They don’t want their beloved rabbi to leave them. But why is Jesus going? Isn’t he the Messiah? How could he leave them now?

In this life, you will face sorrow. You will experience pain and suffering, grief and heartache. And as difficult as those seasons can be, it can be a disaster if you enter those seasons in confusion. Many Christians, primarily due to false teachings, have adopted a version of the Christian life where they think following Jesus means ease, comfort, and prosperity. However, their understanding of Christian life is fundamentally confused. The Lord makes it clear by his Word that such trials are a normal part of our Christian lives. In those trials, the Lord refines us, purifies us, and uses us to testify to the world of our treasure, which is Christ.

In James 1:2–3, we are told to “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” So, as we go through the Christian life, we shouldn’t be surprised by sorrow or suffering. Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:12, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” (1 Pe 4:12)

The disciples are about to experience a season of profound sorrow, but their confusion makes them unequipped to endure it faithfully. As the world strikes the good shepherd, his sheep will scatter (Mark 14:27; Zech 13:7). They will all run away in fear, and Peter will deny his Lord three times. Their sorrow, combined with their confusion, will lead to their collective failure. It is one thing to be sorrowful; after all, such seasons are a normal part of the Christian life. It is one thing to be confused; we all start immature in the faith and lack sound doctrine. But the combination of the two becomes dangerous. Bleach has its purpose. Vinegar has its purpose. But when you mix the two, you get the hazardous and deadly Chlorine gas. Similarly, it is dangerous to combine sorrow with confusion in the Christian life.

While the disciples’ confusion is understandable, ours is not. We live in the age of the Holy Spirit, who has come to guide us into all truth. Scripture has revealed the full mystery of the gospel. We have no excuse. We must all be well acquainted with the Scriptures, have the stability of sound doctrine, and rest on the wisdom of Christ, who is the anchor of our souls in times of trouble.

A crisis is often the catalyst that pushes many Christians to press deeper into the Lord. But I fear that in times of still waters, far too many Christians squander that time rather than prepare themselves for the coming trial. We must prepare well for the hour of our sorrow. The best way to prepare is to root and ground yourself in the Word of God so that you will be spared from confusion when the sorrow comes. Are you growing in the Lord now before suffering comes? Will you abide in Jesus today before the hour of your trial begins? Will you prepare yourself with the wisdom of God’s Word, filling your mind with his truth so you can endure your coming suffering with faithfulness? The winds of suffering are difficult to weather on their own! How much more destabilizing is it when you also have the crosswinds of confusion? And sadly, many crash their so-called faith in the vortex of the crosswinds of sorrow and confusion.

Perhaps it’s a little too late to prepare for your coming suffering because you are currently experiencing it. But our savior is tender and gracious. Even amid sorrow and confusion, the Lord sees our turmoil and speaks with his wisdom of our clarity. Jesus, who knows what is in man, vocalizes the confusion he knows is going on in the hearts of his friends.

“Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’?” (Jn 16:19)

Just as Jesus knew the questions brewing in the hearts of his disciples, so does he see the confusion in your own soul. The Lord Jesus speaks to clarify that confusion. As the disciples face the sorrow of the cross, Jesus tells them that this sorrow is the pathway to joy. Here is the clarity we need in our sorrow and the good news that will help us endure it—sorrow will be transformed into joy.

2. Sorrow’s Transformation: “Your Sorrow Will Turn to Joy” (20–21)

The Lord Jesus is so kind to his disciples. He directly speaks to their confusion so they might understand what they will experience in the coming days. Look at verse 20:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” (Jn 16:20)

Jesus refers to his coming crucifixion and resurrection. As the weekend unfolds, Jesus tells them what they will experience. First, they will “weep and lament.” The word for lament (θρηνέω) occurs only here in this gospel. You could also translate it as mourn. The term refers to singing songs of mourning for a funeral.2 The other word, “weep,” is used in five other instances in John’s gospel, always expressing grief over death.3Indeed, the disciples will be overcome with intense sorrow in the coming days. They will sing their funeral dirge for their Lord with tears streaming down their face.

In just a few moments, they will see one of their own, Judas Iscariot, enter the garden to betray Jesus with a kiss. Jesus will be arrested by a band of soldiers as if he were a dangerous criminal. He will be brought before the priests for a mock trial, conspiring for a made-up charge that might stick so that he can execute Jesus. The disciples will hear their Lord attacked and slandered. And rather than stick by him, they will scatter. Peter will deny him. And in slanderous accusation of his powerful and murderous accusers, he will be flung before Pilate to approve the state-ordered execution. Jesus will be beaten to a pulp and ordered to carry his cross out of the gates up to the hill called Golgotha. And with their own eyes, his trembling and sorrowful disciples will watch their Lord crucified. The naked Jesus, beaten to such a bloody mess that he looked more like a carcass than a man, was nailed to the cross. Suspended between heaven and earth, Jesus hung before the mocking crowd, hurling insults and laughing at his suffering. The disciples saw the one they loved, the one they gave up everything to follow, the one they believed to be the Messiah, the one they believed to be the Son of God, suffer and die in the humiliation and agony of crucifixion.

Oh, what horrific sorrow those disciples experienced! What crushing agony it would have been to watch their Lord die! They wept and mourned, but the world rejoiced and celebrated. The sorrowful disciples grieved and mourned in agonizing pain as they watched the man of sorrows die.

If you have the courage, call to your mind the most sorrowful moment of your life. Where were you? What grief afflicted you? Who were you with? Can you number the tears that were shed? Have you felt the weight of sorrow so heavy that you felt crushed, immobilized, paralyzed? Even the heaviest of sorrows we’ve experienced in this life is lesser than the sorrow of the holy and righteous Son of God dying for us. Our sorrows are like boulders strapped to our feet, and then we are tossed into the ocean above the Mariana Trench. Powerless, our sorrows drag us into the most bottomless abyss.

But as deep as sorrows drag us down, that sorrow will explode in equal and greater measure to new heights of joy! Jesus tells them, “You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.” The disciples’ sorrow of watching Jesus die will be transformed by Jesus’ resurrection. Tears of joy will replace their tears of sorrow. Though in a “little while,” Jesus will die, in a “little while,” Jesus will rise in glorious victory over death! That which caused the greatest grief will produce in them the greatest joy. Their sorrow will be transformed by the good news of Jesus’ resurrection! The grief they experienced at having lost Jesus would burst with delight as he not only returned to them alive but with a glorious, resurrected body. Though they felt as if the darkness had won in Jesus’ defeat, they would celebrate the victory of the King who triumphs in resurrection. What a swing—from pain to delight, from defeat to victory, from despair to hope, and from sorrow to joy! The resurrection of Christ transforms every sorrow into joy!

To help the disciples understand the transformation of their sorrows, he gives the illustration of childbirth as an example. Look at verse 21:

“When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.” (Jn 16:21)

An expectant mother must go through nine grueling months as they carry their baby until delivery. From the early weeks of morning sickness to the anxiety of possible miscarriage to the constant hunger to the persistent fatigue to uncomfortable, sleepless nights to the pain of the body changing, shifting, and stretching to accommodate the child growing in the womb—pregnancy itself is its own labor! But then the hour of labor comes. All the sorrows of pregnancy culminate in the climax of pain. But through the shrieks of anguish, the joy of the child comes. And the mother’s sorrow fades for the joy of holding their precious baby in their arms for the first time. It’s not as if the memory of the anguish of labor disappears, but that its anguish is no longer remembered because the joy of the child displaces the sorrow.

Jesus constantly refers to the Scriptures in his ministry, and he adapts this childbearing illustration from well-known prophetic passages, where the coming of the deliverance of God is compared to childbirth.4 But let me give you two examples. First from Micah 4:9–10:

“Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pain seized you like a woman in labor? Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. There you shall be rescued; there the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.” (Mic 4:9–10)

However, I think Jesus most directly references Isaiah 26:17–21. In it, Isaiah describes the suffering of childbirth and the waiting for “a little while.”

“Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O LORD; we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind. We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen. Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead. Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by. For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain.” (Is 26:17–21)

The writhing of pregnancy’s labor anticipates the deliverance of the Lord. The sorrow must be endured for “a little while until his fury has passed by” until the Lord brings the deliverance of atonement. And at the cross of Christ, the Lord Jesus endures the sorrow of the cross, bearing the fury of God’s wrath against sin, so that as he bears our sorrows, we might share in his joy. The cross is the labor of our Lord to birth a new humanity— a humanity redeemed from sin and filled with his Spirit. And so Jesus, as the author of Hebrews, tells us, “For the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Heb 12:2). Jesus went into his hour, the hour of his suffering on the cross, for the joy of his Father’s glory and our salvation! Because though he suffered in anguish, he rose again in victorious joy!

What sorrow do you currently face? If you trust in the resurrected Christ, you can know that your sorrow will turn to joy in due time!

Are you afflicted with the sorrow of sin’s conviction? Do you feel the burden of your guilt? Does your deserved shame cause your spine to shiver with fear? The resurrection of Christ means your sins can be forgiven. It means his blood payment for sin was accepted by God. The resurrection means that if you repent of your sin and put your faith in Jesus, you can be forgiven, cleansed from all unrighteousness, declared innocent of every guilt, and stand before God cloaked in the righteousness of Jesus. Though you are afflicted with the sorrow of your sin, come to the resurrected Christ and have your sorrow turned to joy!

Are you afflicted with bodily pain? Do you know the sorrow of the weakness of the flesh, the decaying of the body, the breakdown of bone and muscle returning to the dust? The resurrection of Christ turns the sorrow of the body into the joy of coming resurrected life. All who repent and believe in the Lord Jesus will one day experience a new body—no longer tainted by the effects of the fall. Every misery in the flesh in this life will be turned to joyous wholeness in the next!

Are you afflicted with the grief of loss? Have you lost everything? Has the enemy of death slain those you love? Do you know all too well the weeping and lament wrought by the merciless grave? In your heart, has death lodged its terrible sting? Rejoice, for the resurrection of Christ ensures death’s defeat. His resurrection is the promise that all who are in Christ Jesus will live with him in glory. His resurrection is the first fruits to come and the guarantee that death will be swallowed up in victory. And every sorrowful tear sowed in this life will reap unceasing shouts of joy and gladness on the day of resurrection!

All our sorrows find their solace in the resurrection of Christ. Every hope, every longing, every desire finds its joy in the resurrected Christ who is risen and will soon come again. And in due time, the Lord Jesus, who is faithful and true, will fulfill every promise. Every sorrow will be turned to joy!

However, Jesus’ life is also the pattern of all who trust in him. First comes suffering, then glory. But because Christ has risen, we can endure our suffering now with joy because we know that one day, sorrow will be eliminated once and for all.

3. Sorrow’s Elimination: “Your Joy May Be Full” (22–24)

The resurrection of Christ is the answer to sorrow’s confusion. Jesus’ triumph over the grave brings lasting, permanent joy. Look at verse 22:

“So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” (Jn 16:22)

The disciples’ present sorrow is temporary. Jesus tells them that though they have sorrow now, their hearts will rejoice when they see the resurrected Christ. Their hearts will be so full of resurrection joy that Jesus tells them, “No one will take your joy from you.” The resurrection of Christ provides us with an unending reservoir of joy, no matter our circumstances or sufferings.

This is all the more remarkable as we consider the lives of these disciples. After the resurrection of Christ and the giving of the Holy Spirit, each of these apostles would face intense suffering and persecution. They will be arrested, beaten, stoned, and executed. Jesus just told these men in John 16:2 that these men will not only be put out of the synagogues, but they will be so hated that those who will kill them will do so, thinking they are pleasing God. But though they face a life of suffering and persecution, Jesus tells them that their sorrow is forever ended on resurrection Sunday. The hope of the resurrection of Christ will fill them with permanent and abiding joy that cannot be dampened even by the most severe persecution. Every coming sorrow they endure will be done with Christ’s unending joy.

Do you have joy like this? A joy that persists even in the darkest moments? Sorrow has a way of exposing the true source of our joy. The afflictions of this life are a furnace that burns away the twigs and clay of earthly things that we assemble for our happiness. Most of us would like to think that all of our joy is found in Jesus, that he is the great delight of our hearts above our possessions, above our family, and above our comfort. But when the fires consume our lives, we discover that the treasure of our hearts doesn’t always match what we say. And it is gracious of the Lord to burn our idols away by suffering to refine our hearts and showcase Christ, who must be our rightful and lasting treasure.

But if your joy is in Christ and the hope of his resurrection is the ballast to your soul, then you will know the permanent joy of Christ even amid the tears of sorrow. Yes, as a Christian, you will feel the pain and anguish of this fallen world. But those with resurrected hope should have unshakeable and untakeable joy.

Though Christians have this permanent reservoir of joy in Christ through the indwelling Holy Spirit, we often struggle to experience that joy during sorrow. While the devil cannot steal the Christian’s joy, he doesn’t want us to experience that joy. And the enemy will tempt us to put our happiness in things that cannot produce abiding joy. One pastor put it this way,

Placing our joy in things like relationships, work, events, security, and health is like putting your life savings in a piggy bank, leaving it in a high-crime district at night with a hammer, and adding a note asking people to leave it alone because it’s really valuable. You’re a fool if you think it will be safe. But if our joy is in Jesus, we trade the piggy bank for Fort Knox, and the devil gets a plastic spoon instead of a hammer. You’re a fool if you think he can touch it.5

If you are struggling to find joy in your sorrow, then it’s an indication that your wayward heart is putting too much hope in the things of earth than the Christ of heaven. And if you live your life with the deep and abiding joy God has given you in Christ, then you will, by the Spirit, know a joy that the world and the devil cannot touch.

The good news of the gospel is that those of us united to Christ by faith have access to fullness of joy forever available to us in Jesus. When we go through those times of sorrow, Jesus invites us to ask him for it. Look at verses 23–24:

“In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (Jn 16:23–24)

On the day when all that Jesus is teaching in this Farewell Discourse comes to pass, the disciples are urged to pray to the Father in Jesus’ name. Once Jesus departs, they cannot ask anything of Jesus directly—as he will rise from the grave and ascend to the Father. But Jesus tells his disciples that we can go to the Father directly with the same privilege and intimacy he enjoyed. Because we go to the Father in Jesus’ name. With access in Jesus’ name, we come to the Father.

Jesus is returning to a teaching he introduced earlier in John 14:13–14: “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” The Christian has the remarkable privilege of intimacy in prayer. To pray in Jesus’ name is to communicate the means of our access and the aims of our requests. Jesus is the means of our access before the Father. He is our intercessor, and we dare approach the throne of God with such confidence in prayer because Christ has opened up heaven to us by his atoning blood. But we also pray according to Jesus’ aims. We pray according to Jesus’ priorities. We make requests on his behalf, according to the goal of his work, to advance his kingdom. The promise is that as we pray through the intercession of Christ according to Christ’s priorities, God the Father will give us our requests.

Throughout this teaching, Jesus has clarified how we are to pray. We pray to God the Father in the name of the Son by the Holy Spirit. Such prayer is the culmination of our abiding in Jesus. By the indwelling Spirit of God, we abide in Jesus’ Word. As we obey him and live for him according to the power he provides us, it produces in the Christian intimate and rich communion with God.

Until now, the disciples had not prayed in Jesus’ name and did not ask for anything in his name. But praying in Jesus’ name and putting into practice the dynamics of the Christian life taught by Jesus in this Farewell Discourse is how we experience the fullness of joy Christ provides.

So, in the Christian life, when we find our joy struggling and waning, we must check how diligently we are abiding in Christ. We must also examine our prayer life. A prayerless life will be a joyless life. Christians who fail to commune with the Lord will not experience the resurrected joy Christ has given them. So, when we find ourselves bombarded by sorrow and afflicted by suffering, we must get to work on our knees.

We ask the Lord for his help. We pray, “Lord, help me to endure this trial with joy! Renew your joy within me and supply me with your strength so that I might show the world that you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever. May all the world see that I have nothing on earth or in heaven that I desire besides you. So, Lord, I ask you to fill me with your joy so that in even this sorrow, I might show your supreme value and worth!”

May we devote ourselves to this sort of prayer when trials come! May we pray in the confidence of the gospel. “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

Is your joy depleted today? Call upon the Lord today. Spend the afternoon in private prayer, communing with your God. Repent of your self-reliance and go before God in Jesus’ name. Pray for joy in sorrow. And as you abide in Christ, the Lord will cause your joy to be full.

The resurrection of Jesus has now brought permanent joy to the heart of every Christian. The resurrection ensures sorrow’s elimination. We still face sorrows now—and we know that all too well. Our lives will follow the pattern of Jesus. First comes suffering, then glory! However, Christians can experience future joy in present sorrows. The resurrection means joy today, not just joy tomorrow. May we all walk in the joy of Christ in every trial, for we know that the day is coming when the source of our joy will return for us. And on that day, every sorrow will be eliminated once and for all. Every tear will be wiped away. And by his forever reign of glory, we will dwell with him in resurrected glory and unending joy. Christian, take heart—“Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Ps 30:5). Until the dawn of that bright morning of Christ’s return, may the Lord give us fullness of joy that day. And on that day, trust that every sorrow you now experience will be turned to eternal joy.

1. D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 543. ↩︎

2. Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, in Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996) 401. ↩︎

3. John 11:31, 33; 16:20;20:11, 13, 15 ↩︎

4. Is. 31:2–3; 26:16–21; 66:7–14; Je. 13:21). ↩︎

5. Matt Carter and Josh Wredberg, Exalting Jesus in John (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2017), 330. ↩︎