Tranquil Hearts Amidst Troubling Times

Context: The unusual events of this evening - Jesus washing His disciples’ feet, the revelation of a betrayer (known only to John) and the rebuke of Peter. The disciples were very unsettled.

1. Personal faith in a personal God bring personal relief, 14:1.

14:1 — Jesus commands them: ‘Be in control of yourselves”; “Remove fear from your hearts and in its place, put your confidence in God.” He is the only worthy and appropriate foundation and source of security. He has been made known and accessible by Jesus Christ, their belief in the Father fully established in Him; so as they have believed in God, they need to keep on believing in Jesus. It is this faith that will bring them personal relief.

2. Our long-term future is secure, 14:2-7.

14:2 — The house describes the heavenly abode of God, where Jesus promises that the disciples (the children of God) will abide. It is a place with the Father. Just as the Son—the Word— was “with God” in the beginning, now the children of God will be with the Father. This is the believer’s inheritance—we are heirs of the eternal house of God; even now we can embrace the bountiful blessings offered to us.

Every Christian will have a place to dwell with God! This is only possible because Jesus is “going” to the cross, grave, resurrection and ascension

14:3 — Jesus reinforces this truth by stating what He will do, which is certain. He will come Himself to receive the disciples (us) to Himself. This verse depicts Jesus’ second coming; it is the clearest of all four of the gospels. Just as certain as Jesus does the works of the Father and speaks the words of the Father, so Jesus will return, receive His own and depart with them to the Father’s abode. This is guaranteed; we will be with the One who simply Is!!

Meanwhile we wait expectantly as we live purposefully for the Lord, witnessing by word of mouth and deeds of righteous living through our love of the brethren.

14:4 — To get there, Jesus must endure the cross, be resurrected and return to the Father. This the disciples should know. The way here describes a “way” of life that the disciples are to live, following the example of Jesus. We are more aware of this now than the disciples at the time they were hearing Jesus speak these words. Jesus is preparing the disciples and us to be fitted to dwell with God.

14:5 — Thomas questions the disciples’ Knowledge of the “where” and “the way.” Thomas’s confusion here is truly a single, multifaceted confusion. Jesus’s answer will be the same. In His answer is the “way” by which the disciples have access to God.

14:6 — This is the sixth of seven “I am” statements of Jesus in John’s gospel. With this statement, we find the way is a “who,” not a “what.” There is here a three-fold expression of His person and work. Summarizing this, Jesus is the mode, the reality, and the source. To clarify:

As the mode, Jesus is the only way Christian existence and participation in God is possible and accessible. This is less a path or road and more a “way of life,” the mode in which the Christian now functions.

As truth, Jesus is the reality through which Christian existence and participation in God are confirmed and find their meaning. Jesus embodies the supreme revelation of God the Father. Jesus is the plumb line for all things, as well as the gracious extension of light (reality) into a world confined by darkness (distortion).

As the source, It is through Jesus that Christian existence and participation in God are founded and given their origin. Jesus is the supplier of life and existence, John 1:3

John 1:3 NASB95

All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

Jesus destroys the wall dividing humanity from God;

Jesus denies the falsehood that distorts humanity in relation to God; and

Jesus defeats the last, greatest enemy of humanity—death.

Because of Jesus and His work on the cross, there is now access to the Father.

14:7 — This was not a new teaching and a rebuke, followed by both a promise and an invitation. This conditional statement by Jesus is intended to connect Jesus’ person and work with the Father. Their knowledge of the Father in the future is directly connected to their experience and relationship with Jesus in the present. That is why the command in verse 1 — the two Persons, the Father and the Son , form a single object of faith — God.

The disciples should have known this; now Jesus exhorts them to respond to what they know and have seen of the Father in the Person and work of the Son.

The prologue announced that Jesus would reveal the Father, John 1:18

John 1:18 NASB95

No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

Now in the most explicit terms that when they see Jesus they are seeing God. Jesus “exists unchangeably in Himself and inseparably in the Father” (Augustine, John, 70.1.326). It is into this perfect union that the Son and the Father (by the Spirit) invite the disciples to share and coexist; the children of God with the unique Son and the Father.

John 1:12 NASB95

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

John 1:14 NASB95

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

3. God’s sovereign hand is at work in each believer’s life, 14:8-11.

14:8 --- Philip is one of Jesus’ first disciples.

Philip, in his request, disassociates the Father from the Son.

His request reveals both a limited perspective on Jesus AND a limited perspective on the Christian life. He is experiencing some confusion.

At one time or another, we live under the delusion that the will of God would be easier to accept if only we could receive a personal visit from Him.

14:9 — Jesus’ first rebuke: Philip should have “known” between Jesus and the Father from his participation “with” Jesus during His earthly ministry. He has seen the ministry of Jesus first-hand.

Here Jesus reminds Philip and the others that He is the ultimate expression and visible manifestation of God.

John 12:45 NASB95

“He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.

John 13:20 NASB95

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”

In the person of Jesus, the Father could not have been more forcefully made known or shown.

In light of this, Jesus gives his second rebuke — Then Jesus will press Philip and the other disciples for an answer to His next question:

14:10 — This question assumes a positive response.

— “in” as it is used here speaks of the mutuality of the Father and the Son. Distinct in person, with clear and essential function overlap, commonality, and unity.

The Father has revealed Himself “in Jesus.” All that Jesus is, has said, and has done is itself an expression not only of or about the Father, but even by by the Father! This is a functional inseparability through the person and work of the Son. Everything Jesus has said and done was in obedience to the sovereign plan of God.

Therefore we must submit to the truth; our belief is not only in the person of the Son but also the message of the Son.

14:11 — The “works” or “signs” were all pointing beyond themselves to their true subject matter, the person and work of God the Father manifested through Jesus Christ the Son of God. now this works of God will continue but not through the Son but through the children of God...

4. Praying in Jesus’ name and for the Father’s glory produces greater results, 14:12-14.

14:12 — When Jesus goes to the Father, His disciples are to step into the ministry vacuum He leaves behind. The disciples will turn from being witnesses to the work of God to participants in the work of God. That is how we do the works that Jesus did. It is because of Jesus that we will do greater works, more works.

The Father and Son are mutually indwelling and interpenetrated; the children of God are dependent on the Son. Moreover, The Father and the Son share the same essence and function, whereas the children of God and the Son only share the same function (doing the work of God). Believing in Jesus (faith in Jesus) is not merely a passive act, it is also active; It is to be a participant in the power and mission of God, in some way sharing in the ministry of God through Christ.

Whatever is the “greater works” than those of the unique Son of God, they are not in spite of Christ but because of Him — belief in “me.”

14:13 — The promise here is not to uncork wishes on command, but that supplications offered in the continuation of the Son’s ministry will be answered as if He had spoken the prayer Himself.

14:14 — When we pray, to pray in Jesus’ name is to act on His behalf or in pursuit of His interests. To put it another way, the Lord will not grant requests that contradict His own nature or oppose His plan.

Jesus promises that as we discover the will of God and align our prayers to fulfill His purposes, our prayers will become as powerful as His own.

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The very first thing Jesus addresses with his disciples in the discourse proper is their fear (v. 1). He commands their fear away, providing the Father and the Son as the more appropriate object of their focus and devotion. The same powerful and authoritative voice that spoke creation into existence now addresses his disciples. Jesus calls them to faith, not fear. But note that this replacement is only possible because Christ has taken our fear upon himself. The only comfort a person can receive is the one that comes from the cross. The reader, no less than the disciples, is to receive and respond to the same, ongoing admonition today to live by faith not fear.

In verse 2, the place about which Jesus speaks is “my Father’s house.” So we must speak of it as sacred, since God himself not only prepared it with his own hands but paid our debt fully in order to give us access to it. This place, therefore, cannot be secularized, for it is not a common possession. It is a place of grace, the holy of holies, the new creation, our true home. This is our very present hope in troubling times. Meanwhile we continue the work of God.