John Chapter 14
In the Upper Room the Lord Jesus Christ had washed His disciples feet (13.1-17). He had displayed wonderful love for these men (13.1), and amazing grace and humility. The Lord had revealed His deity and omniscience by telling His disciples that one of their number would betray Him (13.18-30), and that He would soon leave them and return to His Father (13.1,31-35). He had told Peter that he would deny Him (13.36-38).
Let not your heart be troubled
The things that the Lord had told His disciples filled them with sadness and despondency. It was in these circumstances that He spoke those beautiful, gracious, and comforting words, "Let not your heart be troubled" (v.1). Again (v.27) we read that He told His disciples not to be troubled nor afraid. They loved their Lord and knew that He loved them and that He was going to leave them. To comfort them and bring peace to settle the turmoil that was in their minds, the Lord revealed great truths to them concerning Himself, His Father, and the Holy Spirit.
Believers have derived comfort and peace, as did the disciples, from the words the Lord spoke in the Upper Room. He told His disciples about His return for them, the sending of the Holy Spirit, the spiritual power they would be given, the power of prayer and the peace which would be theirs. Believers are called to witness and serve Him in a hostile world and can expect opposition and ridicule, but let us always remember that "greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 Jn 4.4).
The disciples believed in God whom they had never seen, and now the Lord, whom soon they would see no longer, told them to believe also in Him (v.l). Faith and trust in the risen, glorified Lord is the source of strength, comfort, and blessing in this life. We are told that without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11.6), and that we should fix our eyes upon the Lord, "the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb 12.2).
The Lord told His disciples that He was going to His "Fathers house" to prepare a place for them (v.2). He was speaking of heaven where the redeemed will abide eternally and will worship, praise, serve, and learn about Him with joy and gladness. In heaven there is holiness, eternal bliss, pleasures forever, no more death nor pain, sorrow, parting, nor sin (Ps 16.11; Rev 21.4). Above all else, the Lord is there. He loved us and gave Himself for us (Gal 2.20), bore our sins in His own body on the cross (1 Pet 2.24), and shed His precious blood which cleanses us from all sin (1 Jn 1.7). The Lord said to them, "I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (v.3). What a prospect for those of us who are believers! We always want to be with the ones we love. The Lord loves us and wants us to be with Him forever, and one day He will come back for us. We shall meet Him in the air, "and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thess 4.13-18; 1 Cor 15.51-58). What a comfort for the sorrowing disciples and for us today. Let us live in the light of the fact that He could return at any moment to take us to be with Him forever.
The way, the truth, and the life
The Lord wanted the troubled disciples to know that He was going to His Father, and He wanted them to know His Father and His Fathers love and power. He told them that they already knew where He was going and the way (v.4). Thomas responded by saying, "Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?" (v.5). The Lord was not here speaking of going to a place, that is heaven, but rather of going to a Person, that is His Father. It was then that the Lord spoke those words which are quoted so often. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (v.6). He is indeed the way for those who are lost (Lk 19.10); the truth for those deceived by the lies of Satan (Jn 8.44); and the life for those who are "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph 2.1). There is one way, not many ways, to God and heaven (Prov 14.12). There is only one way to be saved and that is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 2.8; Acts 4.12), for there is only one God, "and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2.5).
The disciples had both known and seen the Lord, and to know the Son is to know the Father (v.7), for the Lord is the "brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person" (Heb 1.3). Despite what the Lord had said, Philip still wanted to see the Father (v.8). Philip had not yet realised that having seen the Lord with whom he had spent so much time, he had seen the Father (v.9). The Lord declared His deity and equality with His Father, saying, "I am in the Father, and the Father in me" (v.11). There is unity of mind and will within the Godhead and the things the Lord did and said revealed the Father (vv.10,11).
The Lord was going to return to His Father, and continued the discourse by telling the disciples of things they would experience when He would no longer be with them. He told them that "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father" (v.12). Soon there would be thousands of people listening to the proclamation of the gospel by the disciples in the power of the Holy Spirit, thousands would be saved: "And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people" (Acts 5.12). After the Lords return to heaven He would continue to glorify His Father by answering prayers made to the Father in His Name (vv.13,14). To ask in the Lords Name is to ask in the merits of all that the Lord is, and is to ask for what the Lord would ask for. It is to ask in accordance with the revealed will of God. To gain an increasing knowledge of Gods will we must prayerfully study the Word of God under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and obey the truths revealed therein.
To be continued.