John 14:1-4
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in Me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you may be also where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Its cliché to say that when you accept Christ as Lord and Savior, your life would be subjected to numerous ordeals and tests. I’d say start a new life with a new perspective but that is easier said than done. Personally my recollection on that day was to live one day at a time. And as I look back, I didn’t notice that I am already subjected into life’s acid tests. I always like to say that when we embrace our innate weakness, God’s indulgence (which I have recently grown fond of using, instead of the word grace) simply burst beyond human spectacle. It is not enough to say that “His strength is made perfect when we are weak”. One has to experience a profound sense of abasement for us to come into reality of Paul’s depiction of grace in his letter to the Corinthians. Human hurt and agony (which is a byproduct of man’s disobedience/disbelief in God) is an indicator that we need someone who is strong; someone who is able to lift us out of such predicament! Hence for our scripture today, God offers a hope.
The previous chapter (John 13) onwards, is said to be the most intimate time of depiction between the life of Jesus and His disciples. In here Jesus is preparing a meal for His disciples, but prior to that, He is about to define the word SERVICE thru action. He prepared for the washing of the feet of His disciples then a feast to be held on the upper room, in commemoration of the Passover, a time of fellowship among Jews. The disciples must have really felt loved after Christ had cleansed their feet and a meal following all that. Right after the meal ends, Jesus drops a remark on the face of the disciples, “one of you will betray me.” If that would be the cause of His disciples to be feeling really awkward, then one of them will be in for the shock of his life. As the disciples were figuring out who is the betrayer, Jesus singles out Peter, who will deny Him three times. This really left a scar on the disciples for it has been three years that they were with Jesus. And within those three years, they have loved Jesus. They were witnesses not only to His power but His affection as well. This is the Man for whom that they have left their families; this is the Man that they have left their jobs for. And not only He had to be betrayed but barbarously beaten and put to death. Their Hope will be taken away from them! They were naked and ashamed, with the inkling that Jesus will save them from oppression from the Roman occupation of Jerusalem. And so knowing all these, Our Lord truly have sensed the pain and alienation that the disciples were about to face. Our God is indeed a God of grace when He left these words for His disciples.
I. Believe. – We examine two words in the first verse.
V1 a- “Do not let your HEARTS be TROUBLED.
- TROUBLED (Greek word “Tarrasestho” – stirred; agitated; we see the same word when Jesus and His disciples we at sea.
- let not your heart be sensible of grieves or sadness because of them.
- Be not ruffled & discomposed
- Be not cast down or disquieted.
Jesus is encouraging us to not be troubled after what He had just announced to His disciples. In our situation in life, there comes a point where even the core of our faith is shaken, because of varying and pressing circumstance be put on the cross examining tables of life. Our decisions and choices that mattered for Christ sometimes “stirred”.
- HEART (Gr. Kardio; psuche; labe)
- chief organ of life, the soul of life, the will)
- Prov. 4:23 (our heart being the well of life)
- houses the intellect, emotions, free will to which God has no control of. Hence urging us to guard.
Here Christ gives us a caution about safeguarding the heart which comes to stand for man’s entire mental and moral activity; both rational and emotional elements’ its desires, reasoning, conscience, and affections. “Though the nation and city be troubled, though your little family and flock be troubled, yet let not your heart be troubled. Keep possession of your own souls when you can keep possession of nothing else.” The heart is the main fort; whatever you do, keep trouble from this, keep this with all diligence. The spirit must sustain the infirmity, therefore, see that this be not wounded”.
V1b. “Trust (believe)in God, trust (believe) in Me..”
Though the bible, being written in Greek. It is interesting know that its translation can be used in Christ’s statements here
“Ye believe in God” – indicative affirmation. Jesus is affirming the faith of the disciples in God. Christ knew in His heart that these men loved the Father and loved Him. He knew that these people made choices for Him and He mattered to them. Thus, Christ was acknowledging their faith.
“Believe Ye in God” – imperative command telling the disciples to obey God. Encouraging them likewise that they believe in a God who but with a command made the heavens and the earth, and during these times have been made witnesses to the various manifestation of Jesus Christ power and authority; His power and perfection.
“Believe in Me” – Christ the Mediator of man & God. But nonetheless, regardless of how the statement was translated, Christ was urging the disciples to believe in Him Also; for it is fitting that Christ is the only mediator between man and God. Through Him as what the previous scripture says, “No one can come to the Father”. And Christ being the representation of the Father in flesh, man is now able to relate to the Father. We know what pleases God. Hence a relationship has been bought upon us.
Point of Believing. In the following verses, Christ is stating the point why His departure is a necessity.
V2 a: “In My Father’s house are MANY MANSIONS.” - Christ is pointing out the lost that they had on earth will be replaced with something grander in heaven; after all when His disciples wanted to go with Him, He replied by saying that better to be a fox where they have holes to which they rest their heads, but the Son of man has nothing to lay His. Now by this verse Christ is revealing the “perks” of following Him.
- Heaven is a house, not a tent, not a tabernacle. It is the Father’s house.
- “..many mansions..” distinct dwellings, an apartment for each saints. Christ knew the volume of the people who will follow Him.
- Durable dwellings (Greek Maneo - Durable abiding places). The house is lasting not in terms of years but in perpetuity. Here we stay in accommodations; in heaven we shall gain a settlement!
The verse also stated that Christ is stating that it is His Father’s house by using the possessive pronoun ‘MY”. The ownership of this house is clarified “My Father”; hence stating an ownership shared between the Father and His Son. We on the other hand cannot lay our stake on this heavenly abode for the work of Christ is not complete at this time yet; this substantiates His claim later in the verses stating that “it is good for you that I leave.” For Christ will prepare a place for us.
V2b: If it were so, I would not have told you…I am going to prepare a place for you..”
Christ is saying that He can be relied upon; That He as the scriptures says “is not a man who would lie” to us; For what cruelty would it be on His part if He subjects His disciples to a sense of false hope (after leaving their families and jobs) if He was not telling the truth. God’s word is His authority. Jesus loved them and would not subject them to hurt. “As He is true, and would not impose upon them Himself, so He is kind, and would not suffer them to be imposed upon. If either there were no such mansions, or none designed for them, who had left all to follow him, He would have given them timely notice of the mistake, that they might have made an honorable retreat to the world again, and have made the best they could of it. Note, Christ's good-will to us is a great encouragement to our hope in him. He loves us too well, and means us too well, to disappoint the expectations of his own raising, or to leave those to be of all men most miserable who have been of him most observant.”. His earthly departure is an “errand” for us. So that we may be made perfect in the eyes of the Father, Christ needed to come early with Him, for what chance do we have in the Fathers presence without Christ? Christ coming ahead denotes He will be pleading for us to the Father. Sin has made a stain in us and by the work of Christ we stand favor and veritable in the sight of God.
Believe because…..
V3-4: “And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come back to take you to be with me, that you will be where I am…”
Christ will be welcoming us when we go to meet Him someday. The veracity of His word stands that He will come back (Greek “Erchomai – I am coming!). And surely enough He will not only come in full view, but as our pain and suffering is lived here on earth, we see Him more because we HOPE in the authenticity of these words. The more we are embedded on trials, the more we hope, and the more we hope the more we become tenacious in faith. Faith in the premise that He will come for us so that we will be where He is.
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