John Part 30
Notes
Transcript
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can 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 except through me.
John chapter 14 has always been one of my favorite chapters
It was a key chapter in my own understanding of Oneness doctrine
When I was a teenager
originally trying to prove this doctrine false
I spent a lot of time in this chapter
and could not get away from Jesus’ words
He plainly says in this chapter that believing in him is believing in the Father
knowing him is knowing the father
and seeing him is seeing the father.
However, he also talks about the coming of the Holy Spirit in this chapter
and will say that it is actually himself
who will be with us
when the Spirit is comforting us
after Jesus is no longer here in human form.
Another major theme in this chapter is heaven
and more specifically a dwelling or abiding
We see the verb and noun form of the word to dwell, stay, or abide.
and we will talk about that some tonight.
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
Now, Jesus says this right after he said he is leaving.
So, this chapter is really about comfort
He’s trying to get his followers ready to continue without him there in person
and the way he is going to prepare them to do that is
is by showing them that he will still be there
he just won’t be there in person
he will be there is Spirit
So, Jesus starts by saying, believe in God
and in me believe.
The word “also” is the Greek conjunction “KAI”
which means “and”
and the word order is actually,
and in me believe
The God you believe in now
the faith you have in Him
Put that same faith in me
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
In this verse we see 3 words with similar meanings
House, rooms, and place.
And there are more words throughout this chapter
and the next one
which have similar meanings
In the ESV, it will be
home, dwelling, with you, and abide
These terms are repeated over and over
and it shows us that God is with us
He is dwelling in us
and we will eventually go and dwell with him
But for now,
Jesus is physically leaving
and going to the Father’s house
The word house means a building you live in here
and Jesus uses it to refer to Heaven
He also used it to refer to the Temple in chapter 2
when he said my Father’s house shall not be a house of trade.
and he drove the moneychangers from the temple.
Then we have the word “rooms”
This word is the noun form of another verb
that gets used the most in these two chapters
chapter 14, and 15
The verb is “to dwell” or “to abide”
And so, the noun here just means “a dwelling place”
And this could mean a house, and hotel room, or even just a bed.
It basically means a generic place to stay.
And, so Jesus says, in my Father’s house
There are many places to stay.
He’s got a room for you
He’s got a bed for you
He’s got a place where you can be comfortable
Remember, he started this out by saying
Do not be troubled
Now, the KJV and NKJV use the word “mansions”
And this is similar to the word “tongues” in the Bible
Speaking in other Tongues just means speaking in other languages
But we all know and remember the phrase speaking in tongues
and we know it signifies the supernatural ability to speak in other languages
and not a learned ability to speak in other languages
So, translators keep using the word “tongues”
instead of the more modern English word — languages
They did the same with the word mansions
The Latin Vulgate used the latin word for mansions here
and Tyndale did the same in his first English Bible
The Great bible, Bishops Bible, Geneva Bible, KJV, and NKJV all did that same.
However, the word mansions is confusing to us
as it is so far removed from its original meaning
That modern translators have stopped using it
Because, be honest
When you read that we’d have a mansion over there
Did you picture a big expensive building that you live in alone?
And I get my own big expensive building that I live in alone?
And we all get our own big expensive building that we live in alone?
Because that is what Mansion means to us.
But in the 1400s, and 1500s, it meant a dwelling place
It can even mean a small room in an inn back in middle English.
So, that is why back in the 1500s when the first English Bibles were made
They didn’t find it strange to say that in the Father’s house were many mansions
Because a mansion to them was a room to sleep or live in.
But to us, it seems strange to think about a house containing many mansions
because you can’t fit one mansion into one house
let alone many mansion into one house
So, I used to always think that was confusing
and wanted to take some time to help you understand why
the word mansion was used in older translations
but now the word rooms is used
and some will also say a dwelling place
and I think a dwelling place is the best translation of the word
as it is used many times as a verb in this chapter
and it means “to dwell”, or “to live”.
So, a living room, or a dwelling place is a good way to understand
what Jesus is telling us he is going to prepare for us
and while we wait for this dwelling place to be ready
Jesus is going to tell us that he is going to make a dwelling place for himself too
and that dwelling place is inside of us
but that is later in this chapter
so, keep that in mind.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
So, Jesus says 4 things in vs 3,
I’m leaving
I will come again,
I will take you to myself
And we will be there together with Him
These are very important things to believe
many people have given up on some or all of these promises
but Jesus is God
and God cannot lie
He is coming again some day
and we are going to go with him
to that dwelling place he is currently preparing for us.
Jesus then says in verse 4 that we know where he is going
but Thomas says, how can we know the way
And Jesus responds…
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So, Where is Jesus going?
To the Father’s house,
or where the Father dwells
This of course Heaven.
Now, God is omnipresent
but this dwelling place is not a physical place
it is in the spiritual realm
we can’t go to the spiritual realm of heaven
without dying
or being transformed into a glorified version of ourselves.
That’s why Jesus said we could not go there
but he could go there
because the hour of his glorification was here
So, the place he is going is heaven
and he says you know the way
And Thomas say,
well I don’t think we do know the way
and Jesus says… I AM THE WAY.
If you want to get to the Father’s house
aka, where the Father dwells
AKA heaven
Jesus said, the only way is through himself.
And this is important to believe as well
If Jesus is not the only way to Heaven
Then Jesus is not the way to heaven at all
Because he’d be a liar if there was another way
and if he lied, he isn’t God
But if Jesus is God
Then there is no other way to heaven
and there can never be another way to heaven
except by going through Jesus.
He is THE way…
not A way
NO ONE comes to the Father
or to that place Jesus is preparing for us
expect through Jesus.
You cannot get there through…
your own good works
Budda
Allah
through obeying the Law perfectly
If you want to get to that place Jesus is preparing for us
you must go through Jesus.
Now, Thomas said we do not know the way
Jesus says, I AM the Way
and then in verse 7
Jesus says…
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
So, When Thomas said we do not know the way
He was saying that he didn’t Know Jesus
but Thomas didn’t realize that was what he said
until Jesus says, I AM the way.
You want to know the way
get to know me,
Jesus said.
And that is why he says…
if you HAD known me…
In other words,
If you HAD know the way… which is me
because I am the way
THEN… Jesus says…
You would have also know my Father.
Now, there is no way to know someones father
but simply knowing them
You can know about my father
if I tell you about my father
but by knowing me
you do not know my father
To my knowledge
none of you have ever met my father
unless is was some change encounter in your life
but if that was the case
you wouldn’t have known it was my father
So, it would seem silly for me to say
If you know me
You will know my father
But for Jesus, this wasn’t silly
He trying to show them who he really is
John 14.7 is the conclusion to John 1.18
No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
You can’t see God because he is a Spirit according to John 4.24
And you could never really know God
But John 1.18 says that the Son has made God the Father Known
How?
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
By knowing and seeing the Son
we are knowing and seeing the Father
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
Jesus just said…
You have SEEN the Father
and it is in past tense
And Philip says in the present tense
Show us the Father.
Remember, no one can see the Father and live
because the Father is in a spiritual realm
not the physical realm
To get from this physical realm to the spiritual
you gotta die
So, Philip is almost asking to die here
when he says show us the Father.
But watch what Jesus says in verse 9…
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
He does not say that he resembles the Father
Like a son might resemble their Father
He is saying, if you have faith in God
Put that faith in me
If you want to know God
Know me
If you want to see God
Look at me
and if you want to come to the Father
Come to me
Why do we need to Go through Jesus to Get to the Father?
It is because the Father is in Jesus
And this is very cut and dry here
There’s no mincing of words going on
It is very plain in verse ten
The Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father
You won’t find a verse that says God the Son is in Jesus
and Jesus is in God the Son
That verse isn’t in you Bible
but John 14.10 says…
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
Jesus keeps stacking up these claims
Put the faith you have in God into me
Come through me to get to the Father
Know me to know the father
See me to see the father
And now adds two more… Hear my words if you want to hear the Father
See my works if you want to see the Father do something.
It is pretty plain here that Jesus is doing what John 1.18 said he would do
He came, not to reveal a second person in the Trinity to us
no, John 1.18 says that he came to help us truly know God the Father
The only God that there is
And that is why Paul could write
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
