“After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me.” Those are some of the most exclusive words ever spoken. Jesus doesn’t say the world might have trouble seeing Him, or that they’ll need to look harder. He says they will no longer see Him—period. But His followers? You will see Me. This isn’t about different perspectives on spirituality. This is Jesus drawing a sharp, unmistakable line between two kinds of people: those who can see Him and those who cannot.
We’re picking up in the middle of a private conversation between Jesus and His disciples on the night before the cross. Jesus’ earthly ministry is winding down. Judas has already gone out to betray Him. Peter has been told he will deny Him. And Jesus has just said, “I am going away.”
The disciples are confused and afraid. How can their relationship with Jesus continue when He’s gone? Jesus’ answer reveals one of Scripture’s most profound truths: after His resurrection, He will create an exclusive spiritual reality for those who truly love Him—a reality that the world cannot see, cannot understand, and cannot enter.
Here in John 14:19–24, Jesus explains what distinguishes His followers from everyone else. And the difference isn’t superficial. It’s not about outward morality, religious language, or church attendance. The difference runs deeper than behavior—it goes to the core of what you can perceive about reality itself.
The world cannot see Jesus. The world cannot understand your life. The world cannot grasp the love God has for you. But you can. And you do. Why? Because of who Jesus is—and because of what He’s done to unite you to Himself.
Jesus reveals seven spiritual realities that distinguish your relationship with Christ from everything the world around you can comprehend. Seven things that are completely invisible to unbelievers, but clearly visible to those whose eyes have been opened by the grace of God.
And it all begins with the most fundamental reality of all:
The world cannot see that Jesus is still alive and present.
John 14:19 NASB “After a little while the world will no longer see Me…
Jesus knew exactly what He was saying. “After a little while”—after the cross, after the burial—”the world will no longer see Me.” Once that tomb was sealed the world’s physical sight of Jesus would be over forever. After His resurrection, Jesus didn’t parade Himself through the streets of Jerusalem. He didn’t appear to Pilate or the Jewish religious court to prove He was right. Instead, He intentionally chose who could see His resurrected body—only those He selected to be His witnesses. (Acts 10:40-41).
Even then, it wasn’t always obvious. When two disciples walked with Him on the road to Emmaus, they didn’t recognize Him at first (Luke 24:16). Mary Magdalene mistook Him for a gardener (John 20:14). On one occasion, over 500 people saw the resurrected Jesus at the same time (1 Corinthians 15:6).
But can we know their testimony was true? If Jesus was still dead, the authorities had every motivation to produce His body. The Jewish leaders desperately wanted to end this “Jesus movement”—all they had to do was drag His corpse through the streets. Game over. But no one ever produced a body. No one ever recanted, even when facing execution.
And here’s what’s crucial: the disciples weren’t expecting resurrection. When the women reported the empty tomb, the disciples thought it was “nonsense.” These weren’t gullible people looking to be deceived—they were skeptical men who had to be convinced by overwhelming evidence.
Something transformed them from hiding in fear to boldly proclaiming resurrection, even unto death. People don’t die for what they know is a lie. They had nothing to gain and everything to lose.
The world looks at Christians and thinks we’re chasing shadows, believing in fairy tales. They can’t see what we see because they’ve already decided resurrection is impossible. But the believer? You can see Him—not with your physical eyes, but with eyes opened by the Spirit. You know He’s alive because His Spirit has made Him real to you.
That’s the first thing the world cannot see: that Jesus conquered death and lives forever.
The world cannot see the life you have in Him.
John 14:19 NASB …but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.
What kind of life is Jesus talking about? Not mere existence—the world has that. Not just forgiveness of sins—though that’s part of it. This is deeper, more mysterious. Jesus is talking about His life living through you.
In the movie Inside Out, we get to see inside a young girl’s mind where different emotions—Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear—are like little people living in her head, all fighting for control. One minute Joy is at the controls and she’s happy, then Anger takes over and she explodes, then Fear jumps in and she’s paralyzed. The movie assumes we’re basically victims—helpless prisoners of whatever emotion happens to be winning the fight in our heads.
Christianity offers something different. The Christian is not a victim of chaotic emotions or being controlled like in demonic possession. Instead, you have perfect love, wisdom, and power living inside you. Not to control you, but to empower you to live as God designed you to live.
When Christ lives in you, He doesn’t erase who you are—He makes you who you were meant to be. He doesn’t control you—He empowers you to live freely. Paul captures this perfectly:
Galatians 2:20 NASB: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Notice what Paul says: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me”—yet in the very next breath, “The life I now live…” So who’s living? Both. It’s Christ living His life through Paul, but Paul still has a part to play. It’s supernatural life through human personality.
This is resurrection-union life—life that flows from the risen Christ into His people through the Holy Spirit. You live because He lives. Just as a branch draws life from the vine, you draw life from Christ. His strength becomes your strength. His peace becomes your peace. His love becomes your love.
The world cannot see this. They see your energy, maybe even admire your character, but they cannot see the Source. They don’t understand that the life you have is not your own—it’s His life living through you.
When you partake of communion, you’re declaring: “I live because He lives. My hope isn’t in my effort or emotion—but in my union with the crucified and risen Christ.” But there’s something deeper that the world cannot perceive. It’s not just that Christ lives His life through you—it’s that you are actually connected to God Himself in the most intimate way possible:
The world cannot see your connection to God.
John 14:20 NASB “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
Jesus is pulling back the veil to show what is invisible to the world but essential for the believer: union with the Triune God. Do you understand what that means? If you do, it can reshape how you view your whole life.
“In that day…” What day? Most likely the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to live in believers. That’s when the disciples would grasp what was always true—that Christ’s life wasn’t just for them, but in them. That the Father wasn’t just above them, but with them. And that Jesus Himself would take up residence within them, through the Holy Spirit.
Jesus says: “You will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” This is you in Him and He in you, closeness with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit given to forgiven sinners. It’s not metaphor or mysticism. It’s a Spirit-wrought reality. If you belong to Christ, then you are in Him—and He is in you.
Does the world see that? Of course not. The world doesn’t see the Father. It doesn’t see the Son. It certainly doesn’t understand the Spirit. So it has no category for this kind of connection. The world will call it emotionalism, delusion, or religious experience. But the believer knows better because the Spirit has opened their eyes.
This is especially relevant when you’ve experienced spiritual highs. Maybe you’ve sensed a closeness with God you’d never felt before. That’s not something you have to “chase back down.” Jesus didn’t promise a weekend spark—He promised indwelling union. If you’re in Christ, He is in you—and nothing can undo that.
And this is why communion is so sacred. We don’t merely remember a dead Savior—we commune with a living Lord. The bread and the cup are tangible reminders of a spiritual reality: Christ is in you, and you are in Him. And in Him, you are connected to the Father forever. When you’re connected to someone that intimately, love flows both ways. This connection produces something beautiful that the world cannot comprehend…
The world cannot see why He loves you.
John 14:21 NASB “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”
Jesus describes two kinds of love and the world can only see one. They observe human religious devotion. They can analyze church attendance, charitable giving, and moral behavior. But they cannot see the intimate, personal love that flows from Christ to those who belong to Him.
Notice the progression: “he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” This isn’t God’s general love for humanity, this is His family love, reserved for those who have been adopted as His children through faith.
A father might be kind to neighborhood children, but there’s special affection for his own. He shares family secrets, tells them their heritage, opens his heart in ways he never would with strangers. The world observes his general kindness but cannot see the private moments, the deep father-child bond he shares with his own.
That’s what Jesus promises. Yes, God loves the world (John 3:16). But there’s a deeper love, a revealing love, that He reserves for His adopted children. “I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” This is the love that opens mysteries, that grants spiritual insight, that reveals the very heart of the Father.
The world sees Christians and thinks they’re just another religious group with another set of rules. They cannot perceive that behind our imperfect obedience lies the tender affection of Christ Himself. They don’t see Him delighting in us, drawing near to us, sharing His family secrets with us.
When you struggle with sin, when you feel distant from God, when your faith feels weak, the world looks at you and sees failure. But Christ sees His beloved child. The love He promises here isn’t based on your performance, it’s based on the fact that you’re His child. This is the love that motivated Him to go to the cross. This is the love that ensures He will never leave you nor forsake you. And when you experience this kind of personal love from Christ, it raises an obvious question that even the disciples struggled with…
The world cannot see why Christ would disclose Himself to you and not to them.
John 14:22 NASB Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?”
This question captures the tension we’ve been building. He hears Jesus say, “I will disclose Myself to the one who loves Me,” and he asks—“Why just us? Why not everyone?”
This is an honest question. Judas doesn’t yet understand why the risen Christ wouldn’t appear to the whole world in blazing glory. Why wouldn’t Jesus go back to the temple, confront the Sanhedrin, silence the skeptics, and prove Himself beyond all doubt?
But Jesus had no intention of staging a public reappearance. Instead, He would reveal Himself privately, spiritually, and personally—to those who loved Him. And that kind of self-disclosure is something the world simply cannot understand. It’s hidden from the proud. It’s veiled to the indifferent. It’s invisible to those who do not love Him. That’s the answer to Judas’ question: Christ shows Himself to those whose hearts are drawn to Him.
This confronts the modern assumption that if God is real, He ought to reveal Himself to everyone the same way. But He doesn’t. Not because He’s unfair, but because He’s personal. He doesn’t relate to humanity the same way for everyone. He reveals Himself where there is faith, where there is love, where there is trusting faith that obeys.
Your experience of Christ, His nearness, His peace, His voice in the Word, may make no sense to your unbelieving friends. You could explain every verse that’s impacted you, every truth that’s broken you open, and still, they wouldn’t get it. Why? Because Christ has not yet disclosed Himself to them. But He has to you. And that’s grace.
This mystery is also what communion declares. Why is it that some eat the bread and drink the cup and walk away unchanged—while others weep under the weight of glory? Because Jesus doesn’t reveal Himself generically. Christ shows Himself to those whose hearts are drawn to Him. And when He does reveal Himself to you, He doesn’t just visit occasionally or help from a distance. He makes His home only with those who love Him—something else the world cannot see.
The world cannot see that God has made His home with you.
John 14:23 NASB Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
Jesus doesn’t merely say, “I will be with you,” or even “I will help you.” He says, “We”—meaning the Father and the Son—“will come to him and make Our home with him.” This is God making His promised home in you. It fulfills every temple where God dwelt with His people—God, dwelling not beside His people, but within them.
And yet, the world sees none of this. The world sees your weakness, your flaws, your ordinary life. It may admire your discipline or mock your convictions—but it does not see that the living God has made His home in you. That’s invisible, but it’s real and glorious.
Notice Jesus’ condition: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.” Again, obedience flows from love, not from guilt or obligation. This is the life of someone transformed by grace. And what does God do for such a person? He doesn’t just visit them or help them cope—He moves in.
This is the intimacy the disciples would experience after Pentecost. It’s the truth that reshaped their whole worldview: they weren’t simply following a Teacher anymore. The very presence of God was living inside them. The Father and the Son, by the Spirit, had made their permanent residence in them.
This is also the answer to Judas’s question in the previous verse: Why not the world? Because the world does not love Christ. And where there is no love for Christ, there is no obedience. And where there is no obedience, there is no room for God to dwell.
But for you, beloved, if you love Him and keep His Word—even imperfectly—this promise is yours. God is not far off or abstract. He is not just in heaven. He is in you and you are His dwelling place. And that’s what communion celebrates. The Holy One didn’t just die for you. He didn’t just rise for you. He made His home in you. But this raises one final distinction between you and the world—a difference that explains everything we’ve seen…
The world cannot obey because it does not love Christ.
John 14:24 NASB “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.
Jesus ends this section with a sobering contrast. After holding out promises of intimacy, love, and indwelling, He turns to describe those who remain outside. “He who does not love Me does not keep My words…” It’s not that the world merely fails to understand Jesus—it rejects Him. And because it rejects Him, it cannot obey Him. The world is not neutral ground.
This is not harsh judgment—but clear-eyed diagnosis. The reason the world cannot obey Jesus is not because His teachings are too complicated, but because the world does not love Him. The obedience Jesus seeks is not moral behavior—it’s relational surrender. And love for Jesus is the fountain of all true obedience. Without it, the heart will not yield.
This is important because our culture believes you can have morality without Christ. That you can live a “good life” apart from knowing and loving the One who defines goodness. But Jesus says otherwise. You cannot obey what you do not love. And you will not love whom you do not know.
Jesus goes one step further: “The word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.” In other words, to reject Jesus is to reject God. To dismiss His commands is to turn your back on the Father Himself. That means the world’s rejection of Jesus is not a small matter. It is rebellion against God’s very Word.
And yet—here’s where grace breaks through—some of you are not among those who reject Him. If you truly belong to Christ, it is because God opened your heart to love Him. That love may be immature or weak, but it is real, and that’s what distinguishes Christ’s followers from the world. Do you love Jesus? If you do, then you want to obey Him, and even in your failures, He is patient with you—not distant.
As we come to the Lord’s Table, we do not come as those who have obeyed perfectly—but as those who love the One who obeyed perfectly in our place. That’s the final thing the world cannot see: that your obedience flows from love—and that love is a gift the world does not know.
Conclusion
The world cannot see Him. It cannot see your connection to God, or the love He has set upon you. It cannot understand why Christ would reveal Himself to you and not to them. It cannot see that God has made His home in you. And it cannot obey—because it does not love.
But some of you do. You love Him. Not because you are better, but because He loved you first. You have seen what the world cannot see—not with your physical eyes, but with eyes opened by the Spirit. You’ve seen Christ as worthy. You’ve heard His Word and received it as truth. You’ve experienced His presence, His power, His peace.
But maybe you realize you don’t actually love Jesus. Maybe you’ve been around church, maybe you’ve tried to be good, but you’ve never truly surrendered your heart to Him. If that’s you, don’t let this pass. Tell Him right now that you want to love Him, follow Him, belong to Him. That’s not a prayer to repeat after me—that’s a heart response only you can make.
And as we come to the table, this meal is for those who love the risen Christ. If you don’t truly love Jesus, don’t take communion. Scripture warns that those who eat and drink without recognizing what this meal represents bring judgment on themselves. This table is not for earning God’s favor. It’s for celebrating what He’s already done for those who belong to Him.
If you do love Christ, then come—not to earn anything, not to prove anything, but to remember and rejoice. To confess your need, yes—but also to celebrate your belonging. This meal is for those who have seen and believed. For those who love the risen Christ. And for those in whom He dwells.
So let the world scoff or shrug. You who belong to Christ know the truth. Christ lives. You live in Him. And He will never leave you. Come, then, and commune with the One the world cannot see.
