John 13:36-14:3 Bible Teaching

John 14.11
November 9th 2014
Milk

Okay, so Judas Iscariot has left the upper room to betray the Lord.

And the Lord said these words to the remaining eleven:

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

We talked at length about this over the last couple of weeks.

So after saying this to them, we wrap this chapter up at verse 36-38. So let’s read these passages, discuss them and then move into chapter 14.

After delivering to them His new commandment (verse 36)

36 Simon Peter said unto him, “Lord, whither goest thou?” Jesus answered him, “Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.”
37 Peter said unto him, “Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.”
38 Jesus answered him, “Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.”

Okay, back to verse 36 where Peter says:

“Lord, whither goest thou?”

Presumably Peter was referring to what Jesus said back in verse 33 before giving them the New commandment. Remember? He said:

John 13:33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.

This caused Peter to question him about where He was going here in verse 36.

And the rest of the verse says

Jesus answered, “Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.”

They had been following Him for three years but where He’s headed now was not accessible for them. Where was He going?

To the cross, the grave, and then actually to the prison portion of hell – so He tells them that “where He is going” they can’t come.

Not at that time, anyway.

“But,” He adds, “thou shalt follow me afterwards.”

And we are presented with yet another situation where Jesus has said one thing – And Peter, thinking he knows better, challenges him on it.

We saw this with the feet washing and here it comes again.

(verse 37) Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.

We humans have a natural tendency, in our flesh, to think of our devotions in a little better light than they deserve, don’t we?

We look at crimes of passion and atrocities of war and other barbarisms and rarely think ourselves capable of such actions – but I would suggest neither did most of the people who perpetrate them.

It’s just the way we’re made – we find ourselves aghast at the sins of others and almost certain we are beyond such behaviors – until we’re put in their shoes.

This seems to be the mindset of impetuous Peter. Jesus said, “Where I’m going you can’t follow, and Peter’s reaction was, “I will follow you ANYWHERE.”

I find Jesus response to float somewhere between appealing to irony, possibly some sarcasm, possible prophetic rhetoric as He says:

38 “Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.”

Since we don’t know tone, we don’t know the manner the Lord meant this response to come off. Sarcasm was probably not in His repertoire so it was probably one more of sad irony.

We know from the other Gospel accounts that the other apostles joined in with Peter and his proclamation, probably saying something like, “That’s right, Lord, like Peter said . . .” and the response Jesus gave at this in all probability shut them down.

It probably disturbed them as the weight of what He was about to do (within two days) was beginning to dawn on them.

So Jesus continues to teach and talk to them – which brings us to chapter 14 verse 1 where He says:
John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

Okay, let me pause here for a minute. We are about to enter into a chapter where Jesus, in my opinion, reveals more about His relationship with God the Father and then subsequently our relationship with them than anywhere else in scripture.

Like all scripture, the words we are about to read can be understood in a thousand different ways.

Contributors to these varied perspectives include tradition, what others have said about them before us, and how they have been taught – emphasized, nuanced – by pastors and teachers and religions over the ages.

Admittedly, I have a slant on how I read these passages which will come through as we go through them verse by verse today and in the weeks to come.

If I have learned ANYTHING in my life it is this – people will see what they want to see unless they are more willing to see as God wants them to see.

Again, human beings are inclined to read into situations and instructions and descriptions the things they want them to say and suggest.

Living in this state most of us are familiar with the fact that we can take this amazing chapter and have a faithful Latter-day Saint read it who, upon completion will see Mormon doctrines reflected relative to the make-up of God and the relationship Jesus has to it.

Trinitarians are no different and neither are modalists. And, as stated, we ALL have opinions.

But the words to Jesus to the Samaritan woman at the well cannot be ignored (as He said to her in seven distinct points):
(John 4:23)

“But the hour cometh
“and now is”
when the true worshippers
shall worship the Father
in spirit and in truth:
for the Father seeketh such
to worship him.”

I am going to be wrong on issues and perspectives. I have them, and some of them will be challenging to accept which may be right, but some of them are certainly going to be wrong.

BUT . . .

“But the hour cometh
“and now is”
when the true worshippers
shall worship the Father
in spirit and in truth:
for the Father seeketh such
to worship him.”

I want to do something today we have never done here at CAMPUS.

I want to pray that God will send His Spirit of wisdom and truth, the comforter, to us – right here and now . . . that what He has to teach us will be made known to those who want it, who want to see it.

Then we are going to read through chapter 14 before I embark on teaching the first 11 verses of it – which may or may not hit the reality of what He wants us to know.

As we read let me challenge you to consider a couple questions beforehand.

First, how does Jesus describe Himself – especially in relation to the Father?

How does He describe His relationship to the Father?

How do His words lead you to view God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit? For example, do you see God as one or are you seeing Him as two or three that make one? Things like this. I understand that even the questions I have asked you to consider might lead your thinking a bit but we’re all trying here, right?

Okay.

So let’s PRAY for His Spirit to enlighten our minds, clear our vision, and to help us see so we can worship Him in spirit and in truth.

PRAY

(verse 1)
John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
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.
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
5 Thomas saith unto him, “Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus saith unto him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
8 Philip saith unto him, “Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
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?
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.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
21 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.
22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 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.
24 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.

25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
26 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.
27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.
30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
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.

(long beat)

PRAYER.

Okay, back to verse 1. After telling Peter that before the cock crew he would deny Him thrice. He has also told them that He was going away. The mood appears to have become somber. So He says:

1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

From John’s account it seems like this teaching was delivered to the eleven when they were still partaking of supper.

In the next two chapters, and also the prayer in the 17th chapter appear to have been presented while they were on their way to the Mount of Olives.

Needless to say John gives us a first hand look into these last moments they had with Jesus before His passion ensued.

And as stated, there is no other discourse in scripture more profound and weighty in thought, nor more tender, than these.

As we have said over the course of our study of John Jesus is constantly affirming and re-affirming to them that He is from God, that God is His Father, and that He came from heaven.

Here, in chapter 14, he draws these eleven men (and us) into a deeper understanding of who He was – especially in relation to the invisible God He calls the Father.

Remember, the tension and heat is being turned up. So much so that the eleven were troubled.

In response to their troubled hearts and minds, Jesus resorts to giving them added insight to His person and His relationship to God whom they have all loved and believed in prior to being introduced to the Messiah.

Somehow the knowledge He is imparting to them would serve to reassure their quivering hearts; somehow Jesus knew that the reassurances He was giving them would do more to comfort them than any other approach.

We might liken it to a family, traveling through winter woods toward a mountain resort breaking down.

Stranded in the frozen wilderness and fearful of their survival the Dad, seeing the concern and fear on the children’s faces, takes some time to describe their destination.

The intimacy of the insights and the warmth of the information would serve to give the children hope, something to contemplate over, as if the Dad’s very words reassure them that they would be rescued to see it for themselves.

I think Jesus was doing something like this here and as a means to comfort His eleven, He teaches them some weighty but intimate details about Him and His relationship to the Father – which was their future destination.

Additionally, try and remember the desperate state that these eleven were in.

First of all, they were about to part with their beloved, tender friend who had just told them that He was leaving and where He was going they couldn’t come AND that Peter was going to deny even knowing Him in very short order.

They also knew that one of their own had actually become a traitor – and he was on the way to rat Jesus (and them, as far as they knew) to the temple guard – that had to be troubling.

They were being told that they were to be left alone, that persecutions and trials awaited them.

And having left both the religion of their lives behind and their “nets” as it were they were also without wealth, friends, or any honor in the community.

It may be that, not realizing Jesus was going to rise over the grave within three days that they believed that His death was going to wipe out everything they had once envisioned.

So Jesus says to them:

1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

This passage is so heavy in the Greek listen to how it is described by the Greek scholars I consulted:

“So translated as present active indicative plural second person and present active imperative of pisteuô. The form is the same.
Both may be indicative (ye believe … and ye believe), both may be imperative (believe … and believe or believe also), the first may be indicative (ye believe) and the second imperative (believe also), the first may be imperative (keep on believing) and the second indicative (and ye do believe, this less likely). Probably both are imperatives, meaning, “keep on believing in God and in me.”

Got all that? I certainly don’t. But in the face of the translations (and I consulted most of them) the meaning is either:

“Continue to believe in God and in me,”

OR

“You have believed in God, believe in me also.”

I have to wonder if Jesus is telling them to “believe in both of them,” or if He is telling them that “as they have believed in (the invisible) God, they ought to now believe in Him as representing Him in the flesh.”
Certainly Jesus is not promoting polytheism, meaning He isn’t saying:

“You have believed in God now add me to the line-up” – though some approaches to what is being said here kind of intimate this.

Instead of His saying, “believe in me TOO” (as in addition) He is saying, “believe that I have represented Him completely.”

This being said it is my opinion the only way to really comprehend what He is saying here is to read the remainder of the chapter because it gives us some immediate context into this introductory verse.

So remember this passage and what is said and bring it out again as we come to other passages that give it volume and dimension. Verse 2:

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.

Like the Dad who is encouraging his children of the fact that a warm, hot- chocolate filled resort is waiting for them just over the frozen mountain top Jesus seems to be encouraging these men with visions of a warm and welcoming eternity.

So He mentions His father’s house.

Now bible scholars interpret these words as Jesus speaking specifically as heaven “or the palace where God lives” but some suggest that Jesus is merely mentioning that His father’s house is the universe.

I don’t know where they get this because the Greek is literally in the residence of God are many mansions.

Does God reside throughout the entire universe? I don’t think so – maybe – but that idea sort of smacks of pantheism (which is terms that says God is in everything – including deep fried Twinkies currently being crisped by a carney down in pascagula Mississippi.

Not so sure on that. So for the time being we will say that Jesus is referring to a specific location where His father dwells.

And in that house are “many mansions.” This might be where they think of God’s house as being the universe since many mansions would probably not fit well inside of a limited residential palace. But one the size of the Universe, well maybe.

The word rendered “mansions” in the Greek is taken from the verb, “to remain” and it is generally applied to transitory housing like tents and the like rather than a stationary house.

In the end the idea that most scholars take from this is “God’s house is big – big as the universe if you will have it – and there is plenty of room for you – “lots o’ mansions,” so to speak.

I wonder if another approach is viable.

Jesus was trying to consoling his disciples who appear to have been troubled by what was going down – especially with the fact that Jesus was going to go where they could not come. So as a means to reassure them He says:

“The universe is the dwelling-place of my Father. Anywhere you look He is there, whether it is here on earth where you are living presently or in heaven we are all still in His house, I mean, He may be saying, “In His house there are many mansions. The earth is one of them, heaven is another but we are all essentially in His house if we enter it as believers. So don’t be too troubled.”

Looking at the parallel to the Dad stranded with his kids it might be like him saying,

“Hey, kids, you know what? We’re already at the resort! This is the west lands of it where they hold hayrides and picknicks – don’t worry. We’re safe now.”

Something like this?

In other words maybe Jesus was saying, “Don’t be troubled when someone goes from one mansion in my father’s house (here) to another (there). In my father’s house are many mansions.”

I think it’s entirely possible that Jesus was saying this to them because His purpose, contextually, was to uplift and encourage them.

This line of rhetoric falls right in line with such purposes.

We might do well to approach the passing of loved ones in the same manner, realizing in the Father’s house, there are many mansions where we might live, and not to fret of the location of those who are moving out of this one and on to another.

He adds, “If it were not so I would have told you.” I would have given you the brass tacks – hard as they could be to hear. But I have told you the truth so trust me, relax, don’t be troubled. Why?

He adds:

“I go to prepare a place for you.”

Because of this line we are led to believe that He has been speaking of mansions in heaven. And this is probably the case.

And in and through His death and ascension He was on task to prepare a place for them. In other words, in and through the work of His atonement, suffering, and death He was going to prepare a place for them on high.

Prior to such work they would have found a place in sheol after death – where Satan reigned. Not so once He has gone and prepared a place for them.

(VERSE 3)

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.

Now, we could read this as Jesus saying, “And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again” (after three days in the grave) “and receive you unto myself, that where I am ye may be also,”
But I think this would be a mistake in understanding. I think when He says, “And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again,” that He is speaking of His second coming because it is at this coming, and not His being raised from the grave, that he would come for them and to rescue them from imminent destruction.

This stance can be supported by examining the Old Testament pictures of the High Priest. Let me explain.

We have a tendency to think that everything was accomplished in the life and work of Jesus at various stages of His work.

Some think most of the important work was done in and through the life He lived.

Some think His work was primarily done in the Garden of Gethsemane. Many think it was on the cross. Others say not until His resurrection, and still others at His ascension.

I would suggest that His work was not proven complete to the converts of the early church until He returned to them out of heaven.

Why? Because it was His return out from God’s presence that proved His offering of blood was acceptable.

See, under the Old Covenant the Nation of Israel had one high priest. And once a year, on the day of atonement, he would get Himself all purified and sanctified up.

Then a special animal would be selected for sacrifice, and its blood would be taken into the Holy of Holies on behalf of the people.

And while the High Priest was inside this sacred area where God would visit, what where the people doing?

Waiting around outside to see if He would come out again. You see, to come out signified that God had accepted the offering and the people’s sins were covered – something that would cause them to celebrate over greatly.

But they had to wait for the High Priest to return from OUT of the Holy of Holies.

When Jesus, having offered up His life before the world, and entered into heaven with His own blood having been offered on behalf of the world, the world of the Jewish nation waited to see the proof that His offering was received.

This proof was given when He returned from out of the heavenly holy of holies back to earth.

This is why Hebrews 9:28 speaks on this wise:

“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

Jesus then adds some supreme words for these men to cling to – and for us as well.

“That where I am there you will be also.”

The Greek language conveys the idea that where He was speaking of He had not yet gone. AS the Son of Man.

AS the Word He had glory with the Father before the world was but now He is telling the eleven that where He is going to be they will be going too!

It’s all starting to come together for them. They had followed Him and seen Him do wonderful things.

He’d been teaching them the principles of the Kingdom. He has said that, “No man has seen God at any time,” and this was true.

But now He was telling them that He was going to prepare a place for them in His father’s house, and that the place He was going to be would be where they were going to be too!

We’re talking radical promises being made here. One of their own – Jesus, yes the Messiah, but also the one they traveled with, and drank wine with, and ate with, and experienced so much with, He was going to enter into heaven and make a place for all of them to reside.

And while it was all very comforting language it was language that would require them to trust Him. To place all of their faith in Him.

This was His physical promise to them then.

I am leaving but I will come back for you and gather my friends and believers and they would forever be with Him.

The promise remains for us.

He has not left us alone.
He has gone and prepared a place for us.
Where He is we will also be.
And when our time comes, He will come back for us, and we too will enter into the company of all the other Saints.

Let’s stop here – it’s a good place to break.

Q and A