Imagine with me for a moment that you were part of a close-knit band of people who had come into unity through the love and teaching of one man, a man you all would give your life for. He had become the core of who you were, the center of all you thought and did.
What if, one night while gathered, he began telling you that the churches you all had been part of since childhood were going to excommunicate you on his account? Before he came along, these churches were an integral part of your life. He’s telling you now in advance so that when it happens you will remember he said it. Although you will be heartbroken by it, you won’t be taken by surprise or left feeling like you’ve just been kicked in the gut, because you realize he was right. In that moment you know your faith will be emboldened, but for now it just feels confusing, perplexing, unfathomable. Would you stay with him, or would you choose tradition?
John chapter 16 has two bookends of prophetic warning that come in the very first and very last verses:
“I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith. For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God”. – John 16:1-2
and
“These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world”. – John 16:33
Thankful for us, there’s a lot of meat in the middle of those two pieces of bread and believe it or not, I can sense an air of elation on Jesus’ part because he knows the cross he is about to face as well as what lies just on the other side! It’s almost as if he’s wiggling with the excitement of a child musically saying, “I know a secret” (giggle). Yet at the same time He realizes that before his disciples can reach the gooey center of joy overflowing that He knows, they will first need to pass through the hard, crusty edges of trials and sorrows.
How does he get the whole thing across without overwhelming them with a straightforward declaration (vs 6)? By choosing to disclose these things in figures of speech (vs. 25). Of course, they don’t fully understand the prophecy of what he’s saying because it hasn’t happened yet, in fact it’s not even on their radar. Knowing this, he says something I find interesting:
“But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them” John 16:4a
In saying this, Jesus offers us one of the purposes of prophecy: that when the word spoken comes to pass, we are able to affirm it because we connect the images together and remember. This is quite different than a prediction.
The terrible beauty of it all is the understanding that there are times when suffering seems inseparable from joy. Jesus Himself uses the analogy of a woman giving birth (vs. 21-22), saying that when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.
This puts the bookend:
“These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world”. – John 16:33
In a whole new light.
Alabastersky 
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