Scripture reading – John 14-17
The setting of today’s Scripture is in the midst of our LORD’S final Passover with His disciples, and precedes His departure from the house to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Having washed His disciples’ feet (John 13:4-12), and Judas having gone out into the night to betray Him (13:21-30), Jesus told His followers He was to depart (13:33). Peter asked, “Lord, whither goest thou?” to which “Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards” (13:36).
Christ’s revelation that He was going away, and the disciples could not follow, was distressing (13:31-36). When Jesus foretold that Peter, the most outspoken of the Twelve, would deny the LORD three times that very night (13:38), the disciples were well-nigh overcome with fear and anxiety.
They had believed, as had many in Israel, that the Messiah would be a political Savior, and would free the nation from servitude to Rome. They were not looking for a Redeemer who would save them from their sins; they were looking for a Messiah who would overthrow Rome and restore the sovereignty of the nation. They had left everything, and everyone to follow Jesus. How could He say He was leaving them, and they could not go with Him?
Jesus answered the fears of His disciples with assurances that have been a comfort for believers for nearly 2,000 years (14:1-6). Consider three comforts found in Jesus’ promises.
The first was an Earthly [present; immediate; temporal] Comfort: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me” (14:1). Don’t allow your heart to be overcome with fear and anxiety. If you trust God, whom you have not seen, trust in Christ whom you have known and seen. Christ promised, comfort in troubles and trials, and comfort in sickness and death. David wrote of that same comfort in Psalm 23.
Psalm 23:4 – “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod [protects] and thy staff [guides] they comfort me.”
John 14:2-3, promised the disciples an Enduring Comfort. It is a comfort to have a place you can call home; a place to “hang your hat,” and “lay your head at night.” Although He was going away, Jesus calmed His disciples’ fears, promising them an eternal home.
John 14:2–3 – 2 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. 3 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.
Finally, Jesus promised an Eternal Comfort that we can find in Christ alone (14:5-6). Thomas, one of the Twelve, was shaken by the news of Jesus’ departure, and asked: “Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?” (14:5).
Jesus’ answer provided Thomas with three assurances: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (14:6).
1) Jesus is the ONLY Way. He is “the door” and by Christ alone can a “man enter in, [and] be saved” (John 10:9).
2) Jesus is the TRUTH. There can be only One TRUTH; everything and everyone else is a LIE. (John 1:14; 17:17)
3) Jesus is the Promise of LIFE. In Christ alone is the promise of a blessed, and eternal life. (John 3:16, 18)
Acts 4:12 – “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Is Jesus Christ your Savior?
Copyright 2020 – Travis D. Smith