Wisdom To Follow

John 14:1,2

John 14:1 GNB

1 “Do not be worried and upset,” Jesus told them. “Believe in God and believe also in me.

John 14:2 GNB

2 There are many rooms in my Father’s house, and I am going to prepare a place for you. I would not tell you this if it were not so.

Believe:

“Believe me, you don’t want to go down that road,” is a common statement which all of us have heard at one time or another. The message is clear: though you can’t see what is down the road, the other person has knowledge of danger. That person is telling you to trust his word rather than experience the danger for yourself and suffer the consequences. If you don’t “go down that road,” you trusted the person. There was belief that what he said was true. The Greek word for believe, pisteuō, literally means “to place one’s trust in another.” It occurs over 90 times (always as a verb) in the Gospel of John alone. Quite often the verb denotes that one must accept that something is true—that is, simple credence or belief. For example, Jesus said, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me” (John 14:11) and, “If you had believed Moses, you would believe me” (John

5:46 )Believers. Those who believe; in the NT, specifically, those who believe in Jesus as Lord and follow him (Acts 5:14).

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believers

Those who have faith in God. After Pentecost, the term came to be used specifically to refer to Christians, that is, to those who believe and trust in God, as he has made himself known through Jesus Christ. The NT stresses that Jesus Christ brings the faith of OT believers to perfection and to its proper fulfilment.

Believers as those who have faith in God

1Ki 18:3-4 See also Jn 4:39-42; Ac 16:15; Jas 2:1

Acts 16:15 GNB

15 After she and the people of her house had been baptized, she invited us, “Come and stay in my house if you have decided that I am a true believer in the Lord.” And she persuaded us to go.

James 2:1 GNB

1 My brothers and sisters, as believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, you must never treat people in different ways according to their outward appearance.

OT believers looked forward to the NT faith

Heb 11:13 See also Heb 11:39; 1Pe 1:10-12

The church is referred to as the believers

Ac 5:12 See also Ac 1:15; 2:44; 4:32; 9:41; 1Ti 4:12

Acts 5:12 GNB

12 Many miracles and wonders were being performed among the people by the apostles. All the believers met together in Solomon’s Porch.

In the early church a distinction was sometimes made between Jewish and Gentile believers

Ac 15:23 See also Ac 10:45; 11:1-3; 15:5; 21:20-25

Believers are members of God’s family

Gal 6:10 See als

Galatians 6:10 GNB

10 So then, as often as we have the chance, we should do good to everyone, and especially to those who belong to our family in the faith.

The Promise: John 14:3,4

John 14:3 GNB

3 And after I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself, so that you will be where I am.

John 14:4 GNB

4 You know the way that leads to the place where I am going.”

A promise is a word that goes forth into unfilled time. It reaches ahead of its speaker and its recipient, to mark an appointment between them in the future. A promise may be an assurance of continuing or future action on behalf of someone: ‘I will be with you’, ‘They that mourn shall be comforted’, ‘If we confess our sins, God will forgive us our sins.

The way, the truth, and the life

John 14:5-7

John 14:5–7 GNB

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going; so how can we know the way to get there?” 6 Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me. 7 Now that you have known me,” he said to them, “you will know my Father also, and from now on you do know him and you have seen him.”

Philip Show us the way

John 14:8,9

John 14:8 GNB

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father; that is all we need.”

John 14:9 GNB

9 Jesus answered, “For a long time I have been with you all; yet you do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Why, then, do you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

The Question

John14:10-12

John 14:10–12 GNB

10 Do you not believe, Philip, that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I have spoken to you,” Jesus said to his disciples, “do not come from me. The Father, who remains in me, does his own work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. If not, believe because of the things I do. 12 I am telling you the truth: those who believe in me will do what I do—yes, they will do even greater things, because I am going to the Father.

John 10:30 One with Father

John 10:30 GNB

30 The Father and I are one.”

Matthew 11:27

Matthew 11:27 GNB

27 “My Father has given me all things. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.