I tell you this now, before it happen. By this statement he reminds his disciples that, when one of their number becomes a reprobate, this is so far from being a good reason for their being discouraged, that it ought to be a more full confirmation of their faith. For if we did not see before our eyes, in the Church, what has been foretold about her distresses and struggles, a doubt might justly arise in our minds, Where are the prophecies? But when the truth of Scripture agrees with our daily experience,^17 then do we perceive more clearly, that God takes care of us, and that we are governed by his providence. That you may believe that I am. [1] By the phrase, that I am, he means that he is that Messiah who had been promised; not that the conduct of Judas, as a traitor, was the first event that led the disciples to the exercise of faith, but because their faith made greater progress, when they arrived at the experience of those things which they had formerly heard from the mouth of Christ. Now this may be explained in two ways; either that Christ says that they will believe after the event has happened, because there was nothing which was hidden from him, or that nothing will be wanting in him of all that the Scripture testifies concerning Christ. As the two interpretations agree well enough together, I leave my readers at liberty to choose which of them they will prefer.

Footnotes

1 - "A fin que vous croyez que ce suis-je;" -- "that you may believe that I am he."

Now I tell you before it come - They would see by that that he had a knowledge of the heart and the power of foretelling future events, and must therefore have been sent by God. This does not imply that they had no faith before this, but that their faith would be increased and strengthened by it.

That - ye may believe - These frequent predictions of his death, so circumstantial in themselves, had the most direct tendency to confirm the disciples, not only in the belief of his being the Messiah, but also in that of his omniscience.

Now I tell you before it come,.... That is, gave them notice of this before hand, that one of them should betray him:
that when it is come to pass; and they had seen it fulfilled exactly to a tittle, and according to this Scripture:
ye may believe that I am he: the Lord God omniscient, who knows and declares things before they come to pass, just as they do come to pass, which none but the eternal God can do; and that he was the Saviour and Redeemer, the Messiah spoken of and promised, the very person prophesied of, in Psalm 41. For that whole "psalm" is applicable to Jesus Christ, the true Messiah; in Psalm 41:1, the happiness of such is declared, who "consider the poor"; the Messiah, in his low estate of humiliation, who became poor for the sake of his people; in Psalm 41:5, his enemies are represented as wishing for his death; their hypocrisy, perfidy, and vile designs upon his life, are aptly described in Psalm 41:6, which they executed by suborning false witnesses, bringing a wrong charge, , "a wicked accusation against him", Psalm 41:8, which succeeded, to the taking away of his life; and then they are introduced as triumphing over him, lying dead in the grave, whom they believed would never rise more; but in this they were mistaken, for he was raised up again; for which he prays, Psalm 41:10, that he might requite them, as he did, by destroying their city, temple, and nation; and the whole is concluded with thankfulness to God, for raising and exalting him, and setting him before his face for ever, Psalm 41:11. There is but one passage in it, which has any difficulty in applying it to Christ, and that is, Psalm 41:4, where he is spoken of as having sinned against the Lord; but the words may be rendered thus, "heal my soul", i.e. deliver me out of my sorrows and afflictions, , "because I have made an offering for sin unto thee"; and well agrees with Christ, who was to make, and has made his soul an offering for sin.

I tell you before . . . that when it comes to pass, ye may believe--and it came to pass when they deeply needed such confirmation.

I tell you before it come . . . to pass. That he is about to be betrayed.