John

John 14:1

Jesus told the disciples not to be troubled because that was exactly what was going on.  This trouble speaks of affliction, stress, and danger.  In chapters 11, 12, and 13, this word was used to speak of the trouble Jesus felt.  As the teacher went, so went the students.

Peter was troubled.  All the disciples were probably troubled.  He was their messiah, their king.  He had just come to Jerusalem.  He had just allowed Himself to be openly worshiped as king.  Yes, they were troubled.

To keep their heart from trouble, they were to look to their belief.  Scholars debate how the second half of verse 1 ought to be understood.  The belief in God could be a question of a statement of fact. 

Do you believe in God?

Believe in God!

Most modern translations settle on the statement of belief in God as a fact.  This becomes the basis then to believing in Jesus.  Because you believe in God, believe also in Jesus. 

The relief from their trouble would come from confidence and reliance on Jesus as they had come to understand Him as God.  An incredible thing was about to play out before them.

We face a similar trouble.  We know to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.  But the relocation process is distressing.  Our flesh doesn’t like to feel threatened.  Trust has to replace the fear.  They were about to live through several incredible days. 

We need to remember Jesus is talking to Peter who would deny Him and the rest who would run away.  To those who would run away and deny Him, He still said, trust instead of being troubled. 

Relief from the trouble & stress of this life is found in belief in Jesus.

John 14:2-4

The many mansions should be understood as a place to abide.  It's a home in the kingdom of God, not a two-story mansion with many rooms.  It’s a place in the presence of God, in His kingdom, even for those who might have denied and run away at some point in life.  It’s a home for former sinners; those who have repented and trusted. 

In the wilderness, the people dwelled in tents in the presence of God.  A similar picture is created here.  We will dwell in His presence, but not as sinful beings incapable of getting too close.  We will be righteous living in His presence and glory.  Jesus would not have told them if it were not so.  He was going to prepare a place for them.

In His going, He was preparing a means by which we might be redeemed from sin and death.  By that means, we might enter in.  The converse was also true, in His going away, He prepared us to be the place of His abiding.  There is the sense that we would abide in Him and He in us. 

Jesus spoke of leaving.  This had to be troubling and confusing to them.  They saw no purpose or value in separation.  Why now?  Because He went to prepare a place, we could have confidence that He would come again and receive us to Him.  In this way, where He is going, the disciples would also go.

Probably most confusing was when Jesus said that they knew where he was going and they knew the way.  They were probably all looking at each other saying, "I think I missed something.  Do you guys know the way?”

If we are in Christ, He is coming for us.  The shout we will hear will likely be Jesus Christ calling each of our names.

Relief comes from knowing we are in the family of God through Jesus, He has gone ahead of us and prepared a place for us when we leave this life.

Notes:

See 1 Thessalonians 4:13 – we who are alive and remain will be caught up.  The Greek word means snatched away. 

See 1 Corinthians 15:52 – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye. 

See also Isaiah 26:19-21; the dead men will live again, the earth will cast out the dead.  In verse 20 they enter into their chambers and hide for a while until the wrath has passed. Read Zephaniah 2:3 - will we be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger? 

In Psalm 27:5 we see He will hide us and shelter us.

John 14:5-7

Jesus told them they knew the way to where He was going.  Thomas spoke up, not understanding the way Jesus referred to.  Jesus had previously made it clear He was going to the Father.  He now makes it clear that He was the way to the Father.  Jesus isn't just one way but He is “the way,” the only way to the only God. 

The truth and the life are further descriptions of Jesus.  He was the way to the Father but also the truth, which was known to be a title for God.  Jesus is the embodiment of that Truth.  Jesus is the source and power that provides resurrection life.  The same power that raised Jesus from the dead would by faith reside in us and raise us from the dead.

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—²³ therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24)

The way to the Father was guarded by the cherubim, to keep fallen man from eating of the Tree of life and becoming an eternal, wicked being.  Jesus is the way back to that garden paradise in the presence of God.  This is accomplished by faith in what He was about to do on the cross.  He would pay the sin debt of mankind and impute His righteousness to man.  The culmination of His earthly ministry was His sacrifice as the substitutionary atonement on the cross.  As John the Baptizer earlier said, Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

This statement is so exclusive that it is offensive to many.  What happens to those who don't know Jesus, like the good Buddhist or the devoted Muslim?  What about the guy who lives across the street?  What about me?  I've not killed anyone or robbed a bank.  Is this saying that all those good people are going to hell?

¹⁸ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Cor 1:18)

The bible says no one is good, no not one (Romans 3:10).  We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).            “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; Who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9).  Regardless of where, when, or under what tradition or religion you were born, the heart of man is the same.  We are all products of our father Adam, and our spiritual father the devil.

We've all sinned and can't be in fellowship with God by our works.  We need help.  We need our sins forgiven.  The penalty of sin is death.  Because we sinned against an eternal God we owe an eternal debt.  We will either pay our debt ourselves or we need someone to pay it for us.  That person who would pay it for us must not owe their own debt.  If they owe their life for their debt, their death can't be applied to our debt.  Jesus alone is qualified to pay the debt.  He is the only man to have lived a sin-free life.  He paid an eternal debt when He didn't owe it.  Now, He will apply the payment He made to our account.

Jesus is The way.  The only way.  "The way" speaks of a very exclusive means of getting to heaven.     path, yet wide enough for all to enter.

As the truth, He is the reality of all of God’s promises.  Chuck Misler used to always say, "Truth is where the word and the deed become one." 

The life is a new life after we’ve died to ourselves, it is a full life leading to an everlasting life in heaven. 

Knowing Jesus was knowing the Father also.  Being in the presence of Jesus was being in the presence of God.

Relief from the troubles of this world is found in the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

John 14:7-11

Philip had the guts to say the very thing many of us have thought before.  We want to see the Father.  We want to know He is real in a way that makes sense to us.  Philip sounded very much like Moses who said:

“Please, show me Your glory.” (Ex 33:18)

Jesus answered Phillip and all of us with a question.  In all the time Jesus had spent in the presence of the disciples, had they not seen the Father?  Did they not see Him in the miracles, love, compassion, and talk of His kingdom?  Jesus clarifies that whoever had seen Him had seen God the Father.  Knowing that, how could Philip or any of the disciples ask to see the Father?

Jesus was always an agent of the Father, equal yet submitted.  The words and actions were never His own, He was acting in perfect association with God the Father.  The works Jesus did were by the power of the Father in Him.

Jesus said it another way:

Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. (John 14:11)

Believe in Jesus could come about a couple of ways, by the testimony of His word or by the testimony of His works.  Either approach brought the disciples to believe in the Father through Jesus.

Philip wanted to see God, just like us.  We want to see Him with our eyes, but God is evident in all that is around us.  Philip got to experience Jesus in the physical in what he saw and touched.  We experience Jesus through His word and the work in our lives. 

See Hebrew 1:1-4 and Isaiah 40:5.

John 14:12-14

Jesus once again says, “Amen, amen.”  The repeated word was normally used as a confirmation or affirmation of the work of God.  For us, it serves as a call to pay close attention, something important was about to be said.

The announcement was information about what life will be like after Jesus departed.  Faith in Jesus would equate to a walk like Jesus, a walk of equally great works and even greater works.  As Jesus was with them in the flesh, the works He did was restricted to what He could accomplish as one person.  After He departed and the Holy Spirit resided in men, the Spirit of Christ would be multiplied greatly through the lives of Spirit filled believers.  Jesus was empowering believers to do the work of God.

Whatever is asked for in the name of Jesus, for the purpose of the kingdom work of leading others to belief would be done.  The completion of these works was to be for the glorification of the Father through the Son. What were the works of Jesus that we will do greater?  Will we get the opportunity to wash more feet?  To carry the gospel message to the ends of the earth?  There was no limit placed on what could be asked as long as believers were asking within the will and purpose of God, not our will and purpose.  The productive works of the kingdom aren’t defined by us but by Him.

This calls for us to be in a close relationship with the Lord, through the Holy Spirit, to be able to determine that work and will.

Our sinful nature and many prosperity preachers abuse this passage.  Their flesh says, "Oh, goodie, God is going to give us whatever we want.  Can I ask for a million dollars, a new home, a boat, a car, the stuff of the world? 

When Jesus said to ask in His name, He wasn’t giving us he secret code to add power to your prayer.  To pray in His name is to pray within the character and will of a holy God.  It is to pray consistent with the Spirit of Christ in you.  He won’t honor a prayer that won’t honor Him.  God won’t violate His nature in answering a prayer.

Jesus left the future of the church in the hands of 11 men, one of which would deny him 3 times and the rest would run away.  Yet, within 300 years Christianity would be numbered in the millions.

Relief from trouble is found in a relationship with God (works & prayer).

John 14:15-18

If we love Him we will keep His commands.  Obedience is evidence of love.  Faithful love, obedience, devotion, and service are the right response to what Jesus did for us.  He displayed an incredible love, obedience, and devotion, we ought to respond with a similar love toward Him. 

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)

Jesus brings a very Old Testament idea to the believers prior to His departure.  Over and over, from the Exodus, through the giving of the law, wilderness travel, and Deuteronomy’s preparation of the next generation to enter the land, the call to love and faith, seen by obedience was evident and repeated. 

Belief and love would be empowered by the Holy Spirit within the believer.  By Jesus’ prayer to the Father, the Father would send another “Helper” to abide with the believer.  There are many aspects to the Holy Spirit Jesus would send to believers:

• He would be a Helper
  • This is the word paraclete, meaning advocate, legal representative.
• He is another.
  • Because He is another implies that He is coming after the first Helper.  Jesus was the first, and the Holy Spirit is the second.
• He is the Spirit of Truth
  • He will be consistent with the Word of Truth, God’s word to the world.
• The world cannot receive Him.
  • An unbelieving world can’t receive Him.  He comes only by (faith) belief.
• The world doesn’t know Him
  • The unbelieving world can’t know Him.  He can only be known by faith and relationship of the believer with their Lord.
• He dwells with the believer
  • He is alongside us in our walk, guiding, empowering, consoling, correcting, and more.
• He dwells in the believer
  • He is in us, a seal upon our spirit, keeping us for the day of redemption.  He reminds us of our future, our hope, and our eternity.
• The Spirit is Jesus in each believer

We should consider that Jesus said this in the context of prayer.  Do we ask enough for the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit?  Jesus wouldn’t leave the disciples as orphans to go through life on their own.  As the Father was visible through Jesus, the Father would be visible through the Holy Spirit in the same way. 

John 14:19-21

Jesus reiterated that He was departing.  Yet, the disciples would see Him.  This must have been awful confusing to them.  He was going to die but said because He lived, they would live also.  The day they knew that Jesus lived, they would know that He is in the Father.  Believers would come to know they were in Jesus and He was in them. This has to be the most overlooked part of the Christian life for many.  

We see God as being so far away and Jesus was a long time ago.  We forget that this Spirit is within us.  

Jesus encouraged the disciples to hang in there a little while longer.  There was a day coming when they would understand.  And when that day arrived, they would begin to understand these things. 

The Jew had the law, the commandments of God.  To possess them and keep them would be a testimony to the world.  The commandments of Jesus were very similar, to the love the Lord God and love your neighbor.  To keep the commandments of Jesus was to display your love to Him. 

The love for the Father will be evident in believers because they keep His commandments.  The love of Jesus will be manifest in the life of the believer.

John 14:22-24

Judas (not Iscariot) appears to be the son of James (Luke 6:16).  He had a legitimate question that the other disciples may have been wondering.  How is it that Jesus would manifest Himself to believers and not the world?  He may have remembered other statements of Jesus:

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹ And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:30-31)

Obedience wasn’t a work to receive Jesus, it was the evidence of love for Jesus.  We don’t obey God so He’ll love us, we obey Him because He loves us.  God has gone to great lengths to reconcile us to Him.  We’ve all sinned so much against an infinitely holy God that we know we deserve hell.  Instead of getting what we deserve, we got mercy and grace when He sent Jesus to pay for our sins.  Because of the incredible gift and act of love He has done for us, we ought to have a deep desire to abide in Him and obey Him.

The believing heart that was renewed by the act of love from a loving God became the place prepared for the Lord to reside.  Believers then become the temple of God. 

John 14:25-28

Jesus spoke these things while present with the disciples.  They would understand later, after He was crucified, raised again, and ascended to the Father.  The sacrifice of Jesus would restore believer’s relationship with the Father.  That restoration would be instant, though the culmination of it will be in the future.  The Holy Spirit, our Helper, would then become the means of believer’s communication to the Father, through Jesus. 

The Holy Spirit will teach us all things and bring things to remembrance.  He gives us peace, a peace not offered by the world.  It is a quiet assurance offered by the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit works in us in such a subtle way we often don’t realize.  Bible verses and promises pop into our minds, ideas, and thoughts come to us out of nowhere and we find peace and comfort in a song, a sight, or the hug of a child.  The Spirit will never bring attention to Himself but will give glory to God through these things. 

The peace Jesus left was a wholeness in their relationship.  It was unencumbered by ritual, sacrifice, or laws.  In addition, the peace could not be stolen or affected by the world.  It wasn’t based on circumstances in life, but only on the finished work of Christ. 

Jesus returned to the original thought of relieving the disciples of their worries and fears.  Yet, to be realistic they reiterated He was going away for a while.  He was going to the Father and for that, the disciples should rejoice. 

John 14:29-31

When all Jesus spoke of came about, the disciples were to remember this conversation.  The devil was getting ready to hatch his plot against Jesus and so Jesus revealed the time of preparation was complete.  The devil had no part in Christ and had no power to interrupt the will of God, regardless of how it would appear.

The ruler of this world was coming for Jesus and He was going willingly.  Jesus wants us to know that.  He laid down His life for us.  “Arise, let us go from here” Is similar to a call to battle.  They were getting ready to leave the upper room.  The time had come.

The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.
--- Charles Dickens

They who go Feel not the pain of parting; it is they Who stay behind that suffer.
 --- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

©2005, 2009, 2013, 2023 Doug Ford