#1510 John 14 Part 1 Ripples IN The Soul

 

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way where I am going.” 5 Thomas *said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How do we know the way?” 6 Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14: 1-6 LSB

John 14: 1-6 One Way

Do not let your heart be troubled - Well, Jesus has over and over again told them that He is going to die, to leave, and He has just told them that they can't go where He is going yet. They now know that one of their rank is a traitor, and it's is so unobvious to them that they must be judging that it is Matthew because he was a tax collector, or those, who like me, may go a bit too far into the introspective spectrum, are probably wondering, is it me? Does He mean me, am I going to be too afraid to stand up for Him, to go through trauma for Him, to lose my job, my comforts for Him? Their hearts have much to be troubled over, but in essence He is saying and will continue to spell out here, let go of your unbelief, don't trust in you, trust in Me. 

This was in some sense a command. “The form of the imperative me tarassestho implies that they should ‘stop being troubled.’ ‘Set your heart at ease’ would be a good translation.” (Tenney)

iii. Jesus didn’t say, “I’m happy you men are troubled and filled with doubts. You’re doubts are wonderful.” “He takes no delight in the doubt and disquietude of his people. When he saw that because of what he had said to them sorrow had filled the hearts of his apostles, he pleaded with them in great love, and besought them to be comforted.” (Spurgeon) - From E Word

…4Is my complaint against a man? Then why should I not be impatient? 5Look at me and be appalled; put your hand over your mouth. 6When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror.… Job 21: 4-6

…15Therefore I am terrified in His presence; when I consider this, I fear Him. 16God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me. 17Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.… Job 23: 15-17

…5Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him for the salvation of His presence. 6O my God, my soul despairs within me. Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon— even from Mount Mizar. 7Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.…

…8The LORD decrees His loving devotion by day, and at night His song is with me as a prayer to the God of my life. 9I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?” 10Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”… Psalm 42: 5-10

V. 1b Believe in God, believe also in Me - They believe in the invisible God, the God they have not seen, and they believe by their own admission that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, but they need to believe in Him even away from them in the flesh. We know of nothing without a cause, and they believe that God is the cause, the Creator, yet they have not physically seen Him. Jesus tells them that if you have seen Me then you have seen the Father, after all He is Immanuel, God with Us, God become man and dwelling among us, to tabernacle with us. If you have come to believe there is a God, have come to recognize the Bible as His word because of the fulfillment of it's prophecies and honest portrayal of the human condition, well Jesus is the Word become flesh to dwell among you. Here is the tension though, the rub, our falleness tends towards unbelief and fear, and what Jesus is saying, what He has continued to put out there, that the Son of Man must suffer just like the prophet Isaiah foretold, that is not the way they are writing the script in their own minds. They are wanting to walk into the kingdom right now, and the King is telling them that He is going away from them presently, and they can't go where He is going yet. Let's face it, if I were to write the story it would be much different as well, I wouldn't deny the Christ 3 times so that every time a rooster crowed thereafter it would throw me into PTSD. I would be rich, healthy and never get skunked when I go fishing, but it's not my story to write, in fact, it has already been written, decreed even. 

…12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory. 13And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth— the gospel of your salvation— you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.…

15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.… Ephesians 1: 12-17

…20He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake. 21Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him; and so your faith and hope are in God. 22Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart.… 1 Peter 1: 20-22

14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.… Colossians 1: 14-16

V.2 In My Father's house are many dwelling places - He offers a truth that should shift their minds to another place, from the temporary to the eternal. I find no fountain so cool and refreshing as this, to extinguish my rage, my disappointment and anxiety in this present life. To know that I am but a sojourner here is a great relief, a calming antidote to the stress and depression of materialism. Yes there is pain here, but it is not forever, yes there is injustice, but my own sin is enough to be troubled over, and if justice does not come now then it will come when Christ returns. He has received that justice which was owed to me, so I should be quick to forgive, happy to help another make right, and if they don't then I shall write it off, for the time here is short. 

1Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.… 2 Corinthians 5: 1-3

…14Now those who say such things show that they are seeking a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.… Hebrews 11: 14-16

V.3 I will come again and receive you unto Myself - Does God make promises He does not keep? If it is believed that He is coming and we don't know when, how is it that this does not move you? Why do we remain so caught up in the trivial and looking down instead of up?

…16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. 17After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words.… 1 Thessalonians 4: 16-18

The Holy Spirit desires believers to be heavenly minded, not earthly minded, which is one reason that inspired approximately one of every 20-25 verses to speak directly or indirectly about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It is axiomatic that what you are looking for will affect what you are living for. Or stated another way, Who you are looking for (Jesus), will (should) radically impact what you are living for. In short, a heavenly uplook is one of the best antidotes for an earthly outlook. Stated another way vertical vision will motivate horizontal living and godliness. If you are looking for Jesus, the chances are very much increased that you will be living for Jesus. The choices you make each day can and will be radically impacted by such vertical vision.

Vertical Vision is a simple, but powerful Biblical principle to motivate daily growth in Christlikeness! In Titus 2:13 Paul says we are to be "looking for the Blessed Hope (Phillips = "the glorious dénouement") and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus." In the preceding passage Paul calls for us (enabled by the Spirit) to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in this present (passing, temporal) age! If you are looking for Jesus to return in Titus 2:13 (Vertical Vision), you are far more likely to be living for Him, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, and instead living sensibly, righteously and godly in this present evil age (Horizontal Living)! If we are continually looking for Him, His Spirit will give us the desire and the power (Php 2:13NLT+) to be continually living for Him. This future hope (absolute assurance God will do good to us in the future) empowers present behavior. Have you allowed the world to weigh you down and cause you to take your eyes off of His return? Are you living more for your passing pleasure than for His glorious appearing? Don't be downcast. Confess it. Repent. And begin to live as if His return could be today (because it COULD BE TODAY!). - Precept Austin

Vs. 4-6 I am the way, and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Me - Jesus' answer to Thomas was Himself. If you know Me you know the Father. He is "the" way seems to anticipate, and certainly His omniscience does, all the other ways, the thieves, the robbers and the posers that will claim to be messiahs and or "ways". The "truth" we so often forget is an eternally existing being. There is nothing in Him that need change or comply to truth, it originates in Him and the fullness of human perception of right can only be known through Him. There is no your truth, my truth, her truth, it is what God says it is, and Jesus is the perfect embodiment of all truth, the eternal Word. The life means there is nothing that has come into being without Him, He is eternal life, and we live and breathe by His good pleasure. Everything that was made was made by Him and for Him, which also speaks to His eternal nature. He has to be the way because it is an infinite Being that man has sinned against, One eternally opposed to our sin. 

Note that Jesus differentiates Himself clearly from false "ways" by not saying He is "A way" which would leave open the door for the interpretation that He was one of many ways to God. He did not leave the door open for that damning teaching. Further, Jesus differentiated Himself from other false ways that are a dead end street (pun intended!) Buddha said, “I am a guide to way.” Mohammed said, “I am a teacher of the truth.” Jesus said, “I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life.” The clear implication of Jesus' words is that Jesus is the only way and the only truth and the only life.

I am the way, without me there is no Going

I am the Truth, without me there is no Knowing

I am the Life, without me there is no Growing.

No one (oudeis) comes to the Father (pater) but through Me - No one (oudeis) in simple terms means "ABSOLUTELY no one!" Jesus is clearly and plainly making the point that He and He Alone is the only way to come to the Father. There is absolutely no other way! Jesus is "narrow minded" because He wants everyone to fully understand that the way is narrow! In His Sermon on the Mount He warned "Enter (aorist imperative see the need of the Holy Spirit to obey Jesus' command, cf Jn 3:5-8+) through the narrow gate; FOR (CRUCIAL term of explanation) the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. FOR (ANOTHER CRUCIAL term of explanation - Jesus explains why one must obey His command) the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Mt 7:13-14+) Notice Jesus use of the two adjectives "many" and "few" which sound a clear warning that one must enter through Him or they will forever suffer loss and destruction (eternal punishment)! - Precept Austin

…8All who came before Me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness.… John 10: 8-10

…8And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it. 9No lion will be there, and no vicious beast will go up on it. Such will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk upon it. 10So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.… Isaiah 35: 8-10

…24But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. 25Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them. 26Such a high priest truly befits us—One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.… Hebrews 7: 24-26

8For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs, 9so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to Your name.” 10Again, it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.”… Romans 15: 8-10

…10Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him; whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son. 11And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.… 1 John 5: 10-12