There are a couple possible interpretations of this statement, depending on whether you think the Lord is referring to the near future (he saw the disciples again shortly after his Resurrection) or in the far future (yet to come).
And you now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man takes from you. John 16:22
That's not what I want to comment on right now, though; it's something else this verse just happened to remind me of. You know, it's the joy of the Christian that separates him from everyone else in the world, and that joy no one can really take from him, not if he's really aware of his filial relationship to God and what Christ's sacrifice has done for him. They can take our money and our land and our safety and our freedom and even our bodies and even our children, but despite all that, they can never take our joy. God has forbidden Satan and his followers from taking that. Many martyrs have died singing.
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Jesus' last words with his disciples before his death must have had a profound effect on John. Christ's words recorded in John 15:10-12:
If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken to you, that your joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you. John 15:10-12
These words of the Lord's are practically quoted by John also in I John (which was written about ten years before the Gospel account); they're perhaps John's strongest theme in that letter, and his quoted purpose for writing it ("These things I write to you, that your joy may be full.")
Parenthetically... I hear people wonder aloud, 'How do I abide in Christ's love?' Well-meaning preachers constantly encourage Christians to abide in Christ. But they never really touch on how to do that; in fact, many of them explain that, really, I can't abide in Christ, on my own, but I have to just pray that Christ will keep my heart, and etc. That results in circular reasoning; Christ commanded me to abide in his love, which I do by asking him to keep me in his love, but he told me I have to keep myself in his love... it goes round and round.
The Book offers no such confusion. The Book couldn't possibly be clearer: You stay in the love of Christ by keeping his commandments. His commandments are few and not difficult or frustrating; in fact, the only commandment Christ attached to this particular statement was that of verse 12, That you love one another, as I loved you. That's the essence of the Christian life; that's the commandment to keep. Do that and you're sure to please God. It's the most godlike thing anyone can do, loving the brethren in particular and all your fellow men in general.
So, short version: Want to abide in Christ? Love your fellows. See, people all over the world, in every conceivable religion (definitely including the various strains of Christianity) are constantly looking for religious things to do to please God, because it's easier, or at least less troublesome, than changing their heart. God goes directly to the heart.
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You read the Gospels, and... well, consider the Lord's prayer, recorded by John in chapter 18.* John provided a very detailed account of the words Jesus spoke to the Father, and he's quite specific about them; and remember, when John wrote this account, he was recalling a prayer that the Lord uttered in John's hearing nearly 60 years before. That requires a wholly supernatural memory. Now, it's possible that God, when John was in his nineties, provided him a special revelation so he could record the words of God for the Book. But I wonder whether this crystal-clear memory of John's (and Matthew's) wasn't something the Holy Spirit kept constantly fresh in his mind throughout his life and ministry. What a motivation that vivid recollection would be!
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