“Let not your hearts be troubled. Ye believe in God; believe also in Me.” KJV
As Jesus begins to reveal His upcoming death, He encourages His disciples to not be concerned about what is to come. Knowing that the coming events are going to test them to their limits, He is in essence telling them to fear not! He acknowledges their belief in God, their Heavenly Father, and then challenges them to also believe in Him, because He knows His death will make most of His disciples question His position in the trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) as the Son of God. We know this, because as we’ll see in chapter 18, all but Peter and John abandoned Him when He was arrested and taken to Caiaphas the high priest, but first to Annas, his father in law.
John 14:2 says: “In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” KJV
Jesus did not want His disciples to stop trusting in Him for Who He was just because of His arrest, so He told them what lay in store for them as His faithful followers. He then sealed it with a promise. He was going to get their mansions ready for them so that when it came their time to graduate to heaven their homes would be ready for them. As believers in Jesus, He is getting our mansions ready, as well. Even though Jesus was exhorting His followers to stay faithful to Him in the midst of the coming trial, He had already told them their names were written in heaven (Luke 10:20), and that they should rejoice because of that.
John 14:3 says: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” KJV
Jesus continues by saying that because I’m preparing a place for you in heaven, I will come back to get you so you can be with me in heaven. This is a reference to the catching away that Paul writes about in 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18. When Jesus returns for His church, there will be a shout as the voice of the archangel, and the blowing of the trump of God, and we (all of His followers, dead and alive) will meet Him in the air and return with Him to heaven.
John 14:4-5 says: “And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto Him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?” KJV
You have to love Thomas, don’t you? He always seems to ask the questions we want to ask, but aren’t brave enough to speak up. After walking with Jesus for some 3.5 years, you would think he should have known the answer to his own question. Well, he should have, if he was paying attention. So, Jesus spells it out plainly for Thomas and for us, as well. We should thank Thomas for speaking up as he did, because he/we certainly needed to hear what Jesus had to say. (Questions are important, and Jesus and the Father don’t mind if we ask them. If I had not asked Jesus if I loved Him enough, I might not have ever received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.) We’ll see His answer in verse 6 of chapter 14.
John 14:6 says: “Jesus saith unto him, I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” KJV
John 1:1, also includes the fact that Jesus is the Word, and that He was with God in the beginning, and He is God. When you combine that with Him being the Way, the Truth and the Life, you can easily see that He is all we need for whatever comes along in life. Most importantly, He is the door to heaven and the access to our Heavenly Father. One day, I was planning to go pray for someone, and I asked Jesus to be sure to come with me (another question). I immediately heard Him say: “Lo, I am with you always.” It came so fast that it really surprised me. I thought it sounded like it was a portion of scripture out of the bible, so I checked with the Blue Letter Bible (.org), and sure enough, there it was in Matthew 28:20 NKJV. That’s just one of the things you will experience when you follow Jesus, and what you must do in order to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Romans 10:9, says: ”…if thou (you) shalt confess with thy (your) mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine (your) heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” That’s right, it’s that simple to accept Jesus into your heart and life, and begin your relationship with Him. And He will bring new life and purpose into your daily walk. It’s amazing!
Contact me at mtntopministries7@gmail.com, if you have any questions or comments.
Next week, we will continue our journey in John 14, beginning with verse 7. I hope to see you then. Shalom.
Revival Fire Fellowship / The Healing House 