Charles Ellicott Commentary John 14:19

"Yet a little while, and the world beholdeth me no more; but ye behold me: because I live, ye shall live also." — John 14:19 (ASV)

Yet a little while.—Compare to John 13:33; John 16:16.

But you see me—that is, in the spiritual presence of the Paraclete. The words may indeed have their first fulfillment in the appearances of the forty days , but these appearances were themselves steps in the education which was leading the disciples from a trust in the physical to a trust in the spiritual presence. (Compare to John 20:17.) To the world the grave seemed the closing scene. They saw Him no more; they thought of Him as dead. To the believers who had the power to see Him He appeared as living, and indeed was more truly with them and in them than He had been before.

Because I live, you shall live also.—Better, for I live, and you shall live. Our Lord speaks of His own life in the present. It is the essential life of which He is Himself the Source, and which is not affected by the physical death through which He is about to pass. They also who believe in Him shall have even here this principle of life, which in them too shall be affected by no change, but shall develop into the fullness of the life hereafter. Because He lives, and because they too shall live, therefore shall they see Him and realize His presence when the world sees Him no more.