PM Home Bible Study Group; August 28, 2013
John 14:1-6
Theme: This passage helps us to appreciate the present blessings we can enjoy today of Jesus’ promise of our future home with Him.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
We have been studying together from a truly wonderful and enriching portion of Scripture—that section of John’s Gospel in which the Lord Jesus met privately with His disciple (just before He went to the cross for them), and told them about what He was bringing about for them. Almost every verse of Chapters 13-17 can be a sermon on its own. Even though it may seem that we slow our pace significantly in going through this portion of Scripture, it’s really worth our doing so.
That’s particularly true of the first six verses of Chapter 14. In this passage, the Lord Jesus describes to His disciples the eternal home He is going to prepare for them. And what stands out in our examination of this passage is the ways that some of the most basic needs of our soul are met in what He tells us in it.
Consider that, if what He promises in this passage is the absolute truth—and if we embrace those promises with the fullness of our innermost being—we will have the basis for . . .
1. PEACE.
Jesus’ opening words in this passage to His disciples were, “Let not your heart be troubled . . .” (v. 1). To understand the significance of these words, it helps to remember that the chapter divisions in Scripture were added later—and in some cases, interrupt the sensible flow of what is being said. If we take away the chapter division, then our attention would be drawn to what was said just prior to these words. Jesus had said;
“Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.” Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times” (John 13:36-38).
One reason the disciples needed to be told not to be troubled, then, was because Jesus had said that He was leaving them. They had spent three-and-a-half years following Him. They had built their lives around Him. And now, He was announcing that He was leaving them. This, of course, He did when He suffered on the cross for them and died; and then later, after He arose, when He ascended before their eyes into the heavens and back to the Father. He has been physically apart from His followers for two-thousand years. Another reason they were troubled—and perhaps Peter most specifically—was because He had told them during this supper, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered'” (Matthew 26:31). Peter was told that he would deny the Lord three times. And perhaps there was a general sense of distress, because He told them that one in their midst would betray them (John 13:21).
But in telling them of the promise of the future home He was going to prepare for them—and that He would come again and take them to Himself there—He spoke peace to them. “Let not your heart be troubled” was an encouragement that, even though they would fail Him, He would not fail them. Even though they would be scattered from Him, He would still receive them to Himself. No matter what, His redeemed ones would never lose their place in His eternal home.
This speaks to a great need we all have, no matter who we are—but it especially speaks of that need with respect to us as believers. It speaks to our need for peace. We who are followers of Jesus are often “troubled”, because we fall so far short of what we should be. We fail our Lord often. And what’s more, we live in a world that often fights against our faith in Him and threatens us for following Him. But here, He tells us not to let our hearts be troubled. In fact, to assure that our hearts wont be troubled, He offers His own peace. In verse 27, He says, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
2. CONFIDENCE.
To simply say, “Let not your heart be troubled”, may sound nice. But what would make those words sure? We not only need to experience peace in life; but we also need the confidence that we have real reason to have peace. Without it, our ‘peace’ is just a mere feeling that we work up—a fragile feeling that’s easily lost when the troubles and trials of reality hit us. But Jesus gave His followers the substance for real confidence and endurance in that peace. He went on to tell them, “you believe in God, believe also in Me” (v. 1).
Often in this Gospel, we have been told of how Jesus said that He came not in His own authority, but in the authority of the Father. “Most assuredly,” He said, “I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (John 5:19). “I have come in My Father’s name . . .” (5:43). “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (6:38), “I do nothing of Myself, but as the Father taught Me, I speak these things” (8:28). “I and My Father are one” (10:30). “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me” (13:44-45). In verses 10-11 of Chapter 14—during this very conversation—He told His disciples, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.” If this is the case, then, we can place a complete and confident trust in Jesus’ promise about our future home. That promise comes to us with the highest possible authority. After all, we believe in God the Father, whom we have not seen. And we can also believe—just as much—in the One whom God the Father sent; who has walked on this earth, and whose life we can know, and the testimony concerning whom we can believe and trust; and who spoke with the full authority of the Father in all that He said.
This speaks to the great need we have for confidence. We can know for certain that we truly do have an eternal home in heaven. Jesus Himself—the Son of God, sent to us in the authority of the Father—has promised it.
3. BELONGING.
Jesus then went on to describe our eternal home. He doesn’t tell us everything we perhaps would like to know. But He certainly tells us enough to thrill our hearts. He told His disciples, “In My Father’s house are many mansions . . .” (v. 2).
This speaks to our need for a sense of belonging. The word “mansions” may be a bit confusing. After all, what kind of house would have “many mansions”? But it helps to know that the word itself actually means “rooms” or “apartments”. It’s the idea of individual dwelling places within a large house. The Father’s “house” would, of course, be a way of describing heaven; and Jesus is telling His followers that there are many dwelling places—many “rooms” in the Father’s house. Jesus is assuring His followers that they will not merely be ‘visitors’ or ‘guests’. They will be beloved and adopted children who have their own room in the Father’s house.
This speaks to our deep need for a sense of belonging. Think of a poor child who gets passed from family to family. It may be that he or she comes from a severely broken home; and doesn’t really know anymore where he or she belongs. Or think of a child who is in need of adoption or who is under foster care. Some of us may know what that feels like—never having a place of one’s own; always feeling ‘temporary’. But when that child is finally secured in a family of people who love him or her; what a thrill it is when they take him or her to a room in the house and say, “You live with us now. You have a home. And this is your own room.” Having a “room” of his or her very own is a wonderful way of saying, “You belong.” We all need to have a sense of ‘belonging’ at the deepest level. And Jesus promises that those who love and follow Him “belong” in the greatest possible sense.
Just how much we who are in Christ truly “belong” in the household of the Father is expressed in His prayer for us in John 17:20-24. He had prayed for a while about the twelve disciples; and then said,
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:20-24).
4. HOPE.
Can there be a greater experience of “belonging” that what we have in Christ? What a wonderful thing it is, then, that the Father’s eternal house has many “rooms”—a permanent place for each of us who love His Son!
Jesus’ next words can be understood in a couple of different ways. The New King James version has Jesus saying, “if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (v. 2). And if that’s an accurate representation of Jesus’ words, then He would be saying that He would have told us in advance that there was not a place for us—which is something that He did not do. In some ancient texts however, a Greek conjunction is added (hoti; which means “that” or “because”), which makes it possible to translate this in the form of a question: “If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”—suggesting that it wouldn’t have made sense for Him to tell us that He would prepare a place for us if there really wasn’t a place to be prepared! But in either case, the assurance of this promise is made stronger—that there truly is a place for us in the Father’s house.
And note that He said that He Himself was going to prepare a place for His followers. If we may put it this way, Jesus Himself (who when He walked on this earth, by the way, was a carpenter!) is the personal designer of our place in the Father’s house. Have you ever seen those shows on television in which someone’s home is completely ‘made-over’ for them? Sometimes, they bring the children of that family in to see their new bedroom—a room for which the producers of the show had done research, and that had been specially designed for that unique child. Often the kids take a look—and gasp! Their eyes light up and they say, “How did you know—?” Well; the Lord Jesus knows each of His beloved ones personally and perfectly; so the place that He is preparing for them will be a place that will be eternally ‘perfect’ for them. And consider the fact that Jesus made this promise two-thousand years ago—and has been preparing our places in the Father’s house ever since! It is beyond our present powers of comprehension to even imagine what our place in the Father’s house must be like! What a thrill it is to think about! How we should long to be there!
This speaks to our need for hope. We need to know that there is something good for us in the future, and to be able to anticipate that “something” with a joy that sustains us through the trials of life. And there is something good—something wonderfully and indescribably good—in store for us who are in Christ! There is a place in the Father’s house, eternally prepared for us by Jesus Himself!
5. ASSURANCE.
Will this truly happen? Will we actually be in the Father’s house? Do we have substantial reason for a sense of such a hope? We do indeed! We have Jesus’ own words of assurance when He said, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself . . .” (v. 3).
Not long after these words were spoken—after Jesus gave proof to the fact that the Father was satisfied with His sacrifice on the cross for us by the fact that He rose again—He met with His disciples one more time. He gave them some final instructions. And then, we’re told,
. . . while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9-11).
He went from this earth bodily in a way that no one else has ever left it. But He would come again in the same way. The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18;
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18).
This speaks to our need for assurance. We need to know that our Lord truly will come for us—that we truly will have a future. Our assurance is based on His promise. We have His own word on it; and that alone should be enough. But that promise is substantiated even more by the fact that the Lord Jesus ascended from this earth in a way that no one else ever has. If He left to prepare a place for us in such a way, He will not fail to come again for us.
6. LOVE.
Why will He come again and receive us to Himself? He said it’s “that where I am, there you may be also” (v. 3). He desires to share His eternal dwelling place with us; and to ever have us with Him. This expresses His love for us.
When we considered Jesus’ prayer to the Father for us, we noticed that He said, in John 17:24, “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” What a wonderful love He has for us; that He—the Son of God, the King of eternal glory—would want us poor, frail, fallen creatures to be with Him forever! When we think of what heaven will be like, we often say—and rightly!—that heaven wouldn’t be very ‘heavenly’ for us if it weren’t for the fact that the Lord Jesus Himself will be there with us. And we need to understand that He feels the same way. Heaven wouldn’t be ‘heavenly’ for Him either if we—who He has redeemed to Himself—weren’t there with Him throughout eternity!
What a comfort these words must have been to Peter, who was about to deny Him! What a comfort it should be to us who often fail Him! And this speaks to our deep need for love. Jesus doesn’t merely save us from our sins and then leave us—as great a thing as saving us from our sins is! He wants our fellowship. He loves us and cherishes us. This is a love that is higher than the highest kind of love we can imagine between one another. As the apostle Paul wrote;
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church (Ephesians 5:25-29).
7. DIRECTION.
All of this is glorious above comprehension! We can scarcely grasp it—let alone figure out on our own how to make it happen. We can understand, then, how after Jesus said, “And where I go you know, and the way you know” (v. 4), that a particular disciple—the one who was most famous for asking questions that everyone else was afraid to ask—spoke up. “Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?'” (v. 5).
This speaks of our need for direction. People need direction. For lack of it, they wander from one religious system to another, or one philosophy to another—groping around in the dark; searching desperately for ‘the way’. Often, they give up; and say, “There is no ‘way’. There is no ‘truth’. There is no such thing as ‘eternal life’.” How can fallen people like us know the way to eternal life and a place in the Father’s house? Jesus tells us plainly; “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me'” (v. 6).
The way to our eternal home is through a relationship by faith with Jesus Christ. There is no other way; but there is nothing more that we need to know than that He is the way. As the apostle Peter put it, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). We will be there if we cling to Him in faith; and cultivate a deep, personal, dependent relationship with Him. He Himself will see to it.
* * * * * * * * * *
Now; all this is not just good theology. This—if we may put it this way—is good mental health! This is good nourishment that sustains the soul. Jesus’ words to us regarding our eternal home give us some of the most basic things we could ever need for happiness and real contentment in life—things that every human being needs: peace, confidence, belonging, hope, assurance, love, and direction.
How glad we should be that the Son of God spoke those words!