John 14:1. Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
Here is a troubled company of disciples, very much cast down, so their Divine Master, full of infinite tenderness, talks to them in this gentle manner, «Let not your heart be troubled.» He does not like to see them troubled; and when they are, he is troubled also. Our Lord here prescribes faith as the only remedy for heart trouble. If you, poor troubled soul, can believe, you will leave off fretting. Twice our Lord uses the word «believe.» He seems to say to his disciples, «Take another dose of faith; it will take away from you this faintness of heart from which you are suffering: ‘Ye believe in God, believe also in me.'» And then he seeks to make them forget their heart trouble by talking most sweetly to them about his Father, and his Father's dwelling-place. It is a great thing to divert the mind, when it is troubled, from that which bores into it, and threatens to destroy it.
John 14:2. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.
«You have all my heart, so I have no secrets from you. ‘If it were not so, I would have told you;' even in going away from you, I am going away for your good.»
John 14:2. I go to prepare a place for you.
John 14:3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
«I will not send an angel to fetch you, but I will myself come for you. If you die, I will come for you in that way; but if you live on until my Second Advent, ‘I will come again, and receive you unto myself.'»
John 14:3. That where I am, there ye may be also.
«So do not be troubled because I am going away from you. I am going first in order that you may follow afterwards, I am going as the Pioneer into that blessed state where you shall dwell with me for ever; so do not be troubled at my departure.» How tenderly and lovingly this is all put!
John 14:4. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
«I am not going to take a leap into the dark; you know where I am going, and you also know the road along which I am going.» Ah! but sometimes sorrow forgets what it knows, and thus creates a cloud of unnecessary ignorance which darkens and increases the sorrow.
John 14:5. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
It was a pity that Thomas had such a thought as this in his mind, but as it was there, it is a great mercy that he told his Lord of it. Sometimes to put your trouble down in black and white is a quick way to get rid of it; but to bring it to your Lord in prayer is a still better plan.
John 14:6. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
How impossible it is fully to describe our Lord in human language! He is going away, yet he is himself the way; and he is himself the beginning and the end, he is everything to his people: «the way, the truth, and the life.» We are obliged to have mixed metaphors when we talk of Christ, for he is the mixture of everything that is delightful and precious. All over glorious is our Lord; there is no way of setting him forth to the full in our poor halting speech.
John 14:7. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from, henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
It cheers the children of God to talk to them about their Father, and about their Father's house, so that is what the Elder Brother did in his great kindness to his disciples, he talked to them about their Father and his heaven.
John 14:8-10. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 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? 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.
Christ and the Father are indissolubly one. Even when he was here in his humiliation, he was not separated from his Father, except in that dread hour when he was bearing his people's sins upon the cross. Now he is visibly one with his Father on the throne of glory.
John 14:11-12. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also;
«I am going away from you; but be not dismayed, for I shall not take away my power from you; that will still remain with you.»
John 14:12. And greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
«My very absence will let loose a greater power than you could have experienced while I was here You will need more power when I am gone from you, and you shall have more. Therefore, ‘let not your heart be troubled.' Besides, you will be able still to pray, and prayer will bring you greater blessings than any that I ever gave you.»
John 14:13-14. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
Every word in this address of Christ was full of comfort to his disciples.
John 14:15-16. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;-
There was the One who would enable the disciples to meet every trial, that other Comforter. «Intimate Knowledge of the Holy Spirit.» whom Christ promised to them. Their trouble was that their Lord was going away from them; that other Comforter made amends for that, and he will make amends to you, believer, for every form of trial to which you may be exposed. Is it bodily weakness? Is it the infirmity of old age? Is it depression of spirit? Is it losses and crosses at home? Is it crooked things that cannot be made straight? Well Christ's promise still stands good, «I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;»
John 14:17. Even the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him;-
«You are on familiar terms with him, you are intimate with him, you know him;»
John 14:17-20. For he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
These are the three wonderful mysteries of the union between God, and Christ, and his people: «I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.»
John 14:21-22. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
«Peradventure, if thou didst manifest thyself to the world, the world would bow down before thee, and worship thee.» But Christ's plan was to manifest himself to the inner circle of his own chosen ones.
John 14:23-27. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.
He had given them peace while he was with them. His divine presence had been their continual comfort; but now, although he was going away from them, he would leave his peace behind him as the most precious legacy that he could bequeath to them: «Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.»
John 14:27-28. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice,-
« I know that you do love me; but if you really acted as if you loved me, you would rejoice,»
John 14:28. Because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
The Lord Jesus, though equal with the Father, had voluntarily laid aside his glory and taken the form and place of a man, making himself of no reputation, so his disciples ought to have rejoiced that he was going back to his primitive glory.
John 14:29-30. And now I have told you, before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
Still Christ would have enough to do to meet that arch-enemy, and to endure all that would come upon him during that dread encounter.
John 14:31. But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.