JOHN LESSON 39
We will begin this lesson in John 14:1.
V-1, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe
also in me."
Chapter 14 of John and chapter 1 of John are my two favorite
chapters in all the Bible. Chapter 1 lets us know beyond a shadow of
a doubt who we are following. Chapter 14 brings hope of everlasting
life and promises of a better life here while we are preparing for our
home in the sky.
Verse 1 above, is the most used Scripture in the Bible as text
for a funeral. When Jesus spoke this to the disciples, they had great
sorrow in their hearts, because they had just been told that Jesus
would soon leave them. Notice the very first word says let. That
word means that these disciples, and we as well, have power to let.
When Jesus tells them "let not", He is telling these disciples, you
have it in your power to not be troubled, now don't do it. Jesus
specifically mentions the heart. What we are, issues from our heart.
It appears from the very first verse, that we have the power to not be
troubled in our heart. Faith is the opposite of fear. If we trust
God, we know that everything that happens to us is for our good, if we
are a Christian. Jesus knows these men believe in God. His only
concern, at the moment, is that their faith in Him being Messiah will
be shaken when He is crucified. Jesus is saying to them, remember I
am God the Word, and God the Son. He is saying, don't let this
apparent defeat cause you to doubt Who I Am.
V-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."
This is a beautiful statement, here, to all believers in Christ.
All the believers in Christ, both male and female, are the bride of
Christ. When I read verse 2 above, it brings to mind what happens
when a Jewish man and woman are betrothed. The g room goes away to
build a home for his bride. When the Father examines the home and
says it is ready, the groom comes back to the edge of the city, blows
a trumpet on the side of the mountain, and the bride goes out to the
groom. Isn't that a beautiful example of how it will be when Jesus
comes back and blows the trumpet in the sky and we go to meet Him? He
will come back when the Father says it is time. Jesus is away now
preparing mansions for His bride (the Christians). He is preparing a
place for us and when His Father says the time is right, He will come
back for us and take us home with Him.
V-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."
Jesus is explaining that He will go ahead of us and prepare a
place for us. Chrisitans all over the world are eagerly awaiting the
time when we can go and be with Jesus. Jesus is preparing a place for
us right now, and when God the Father says the time is right, Jesus
will be coming back to get us so that where He is, there we may be
also. People, like Stephen, who have been martyred for the name of
Jesus are already there. In Revelation, we read of this. They are
saying "how long?".
V-4, "And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know."
This is what Jesus has taught about ever since He began. He has
said, "No man cometh to the Father, but by me." He has spoken a lot
about heaven. Jesus has kept no secret that He came from heaven and
will return to heaven.
V-5, "Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou
goest; and how can we know the way?"
Thomas was a skeptic. He had to be shown facts, as when he said
he would not believe unless he could touch Jesus' nail scarred hands.
We see here, a man who has to have facts before he will believe. No
wonder people called him doubting Thomas. He either doesn't realize
Jesus is speaking of heaven, or else he just has to hear it in exact
words from Jesus. Jesus is not only the way for us, but for Himself,
as well. The death of His body on the cross made way for His Spirit
body to enter heaven. Our way is to believe who He is, and also to
believe that He did rise again. He is our resurrection and our life,
as He told Martha when He raised Lazarus from the dead.
V-6, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the
life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
Jesus leaves no doubt. We must believe in our heart, and confess
with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and that He rose from the grave.
I Thessalonians 4:14-17, "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with
him." V-5, "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we
which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not
prevent them which are asleep."
V-16, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the
dead in Christ shall rise first:"
V-17, "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we
ever be with the Lord." Jesus has to come and get us for us to go with
Him. He is our way. We know that He is Truth, and we also know there
would be no eternal life without Him. Jesus has made the way open to
the Father for us when He died on the cross. The middle curtain
leading to the holy of holies was torn from the top down, making the
way open to all who believe in Jesus. Matthew 27:51, "And, behold,
the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;
and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent:" You see, again, Jesus
is the Way. Our eternal life lies in His hands.
V-7, "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also:
and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him."
We have talked about this before in this series of lessons.
Jesus is a reflection of the Father. He is just like the Father.
Their wills are the same. God is a Spirit. Their Spirit is the same.
He is saying in this, there is no difference in what I say and believe
than in what the Father says and believes. He is saying, the Father
and He are so much alike that there is no noticeable difference.
V-8, "Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it
sufficeth us."
Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Colossians 2:9,
"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." We see
here, (shy, quiet) Philip wanting to see a vision or wanting to see a
sign of the Father. Perhaps, he was not there any of the times that
the voice came from the Father in heaven. We know the Scriptures tell
us that no one can look upon the face of Father God and live. This is
probably not what Philip is saying. He is saying, show us a vision or
a manifestation of the Father. Philip was not present at the
transfiguration; only Peter, James, and John of the disciples were
there. Of course, the cry of all Christians is that we might know and
see God. This then is a longing within each of us. We know many of
the Old Testament prophets had visions of God and the heavenlies.
V-9, "Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you,
and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath
seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?"
Jesus had been revealing the Father and the Father's will ever
since He came to the earth. He says to Philip, have I given you such
a shallow view of the Father in me, that you do not yet see the Father
in me? Jesus' mission on earth was to make followers of God have a
better view of who He is, and what His will is for our lives. The
pattern of Jesus' unselfish life shows us the Father in Jesus better
than any mirror could show.
V-10, "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father
in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but
the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works."
Jesus is trying to make it very clear that the Father totally
approves everything He has said and done. This is part of the mystery
of the three in one. I John 5:7, "For there are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these
three are one."
Notes
John 39 Questions
1. Quote verse 1 of chapter 14.
2. What does the word let tell us about verse 1?
3. What does chapter 1 of John show us about Jesus?
4. What does chapter 14 bring hope of?
5. What is the most used Scripture in the Bible at funerals?
6. What state of mind were the disciples in when Jesus spoke verse 1
of chapter 14?
7. Faith is the opposite of __________________________.
8. What we are, issues from our ____________________________.
9. Jesus knows the disciples believe God, but what is Jesus' concern?
10. In whose house are many mansions?
11. What will Jesus be doing in heaven?
12. What is He to the Christian besides our intercessor?
13. What will all Christians be (whether male or female) to Jesus?
14. When He prepares the place and the Father says it is time, what
will Jesus do?
15. What should all Christians be eagerly awaiting?
16. Who was one of the first martyred for Jesus?
17. Where is he now?
18. "And whither I go ye know, and the __________________________ ye
know."
19. Who said to Jesus, "...we know not whither thou goest; and how can
we know the way?"?
20. Who was a skeptic?
21. What three things did Jesus tell Thomas He was?
22. In I Thessalonians chapter 4, what do we read that we call the
rapture?
23. Where do we read that the curtain separating us from God the
Father was torn from the top down?
24. Jesus said, if we knew Him, we should know whom, also?
25. Who asked Jesus to show him the Father?
26. What does Colossians 2:9 tell us about Jesus?
27. How does Jesus answer Philip?
28. In verse 10, what is Jesus trying to make perfectly clear?
Notes
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