Chapter BY Chapter

John 14:1-14

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Jesus is the way to the Father.

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“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.”

 

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

 

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

 

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

 

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.  Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.  Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

 

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This passage starts out with Jesus saying to his disciples, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled.”  Jesus is about to give them some words of comfort.  The disciples have not yet understood that Jesus was destined to die and then be raised from the dead.  Even though Jesus has been telling them this all along, they still did not understand. 

 

First of all, the disciples heard John the Baptist call Jesus in John 1:29, “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”  This should have been a giveaway right there that Jesus came as an atonement sacrifice for the sins of all people. 

 

In John 3:14-16, Jesus said that he must be lifted up so that all that believe in him will be saved.  The term lifted up is a term that referred to crucifixion.

 

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

The idea that God gave his one and only Son, implies here that his life is given.

 

In John 10:15,28, Jesus says, “and I lay down my life for the sheep…. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

 

Jesus also predicted his death on other occasions.

 

In John 8:28, Jesus says, “When you have lifted up[a] the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.”

 

In John 12:23-24, Jesus says, “Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”

 

In John 12:32-33, Jesus says, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John notes: “He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.”

 

Then Jesus says, “You believe in God; believe also in me.”

 

In the Greek, the second part is in the same sense as the first part.  It is not a command, but a statement, an affirmation.

 

“You believe in God, you also believe in me.” 

 

Jesus is equating himself with God here. 

 

24 times in the gospel of John, Jesus uses the words “I am” emphatically.  This usage refers to the name of God which means “I am” or more thoroughly, “I was, I am, I will be.”

 

In John 10:30, Jesus equated himself with God in a way that is undeniable when he said, “I and the Father One Are.”

 

Why is the fact that Jesus is God so important in the gospel of John?

1. The atonement sacrifice requires an infinite person.

2. The atonement sacrifice requires a perfect person.

3. The guide for our life requires guidance from God.

4. The proof of salvation requires the works of God.

5. The proof of God’s promise of eternal life requires the risen and glorified body of Jesus.

 

Then Jesus gives his disciples more assurances. 

 

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.”

 

Previously, Jesus promised that where he will be, his followers also will be.

 

In John 12:26, Jesus said, “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.”

 

This is the same assurance repeated in more detail.  Jesus is promising that when we die, we will go to be with him in heaven.  Jesus promises here that this goes beyond the idea of a temporary spirit bin.  Jesus is promising that he is going to make a room for each and every one of his followers.  Why would he make a room for someone that didn’t have a body?

 

In a previous lesson, I told how that I received an assurance of this promise of Jesus when I specifically heard my own dad’s voice coming out of the clouds.  So, how could he have a voice if Jesus did not make for him a body?  And how could that voice have shaken the windows of the surrounding buildings if Jesus had not kept his promise that we would be like the angels of heaven?  The reason that I mention this is because it is an assurance that Jesus is keeping his promises. 

 

Now Thomas is going to take Jesus on a tangent for a while…

 

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

 

… but it gives Jesus an opportunity to give his disciples another comforting assurance.

 

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

 

Jesus is equating himself with God again. 

 

Notice how affirmative he states this.  “If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 

 

Now Philip joins Thomas and demands empirical proof. 

 

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

 

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?”

 

The last time in the gospel of John that Jesus said, “I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me.” the Jews accused him of saying he was equal with God. 

 

Jesus was the living proof of God when he walked on the face of the earth.  This is what he was talking about when he said:

 

“The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.  Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.”

 

If there ever was proof of God, it was Jesus.  You cannot refute his miracles, or his resurrection, even to this day.  Even the enemies of Jesus affirmed the miracles he did.  We will also see in a while how that the proof of Jesus’s resurrection exists in a way that no one can deny.  One time I was in a debate with an atheist, and he said, “If anyone could prove God, he would be world famous.”  Well, Jesus proved God, and Jesus is world famous.

 

Now Jesus gives us another assurance. 

 

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

 

What does it mean that Jesus is going to the Father?  Isn’t he already there if the Father is in him and he is in the Father? 

 

Notice that Jesus said, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

 

Who are we supposed to pray to anyway?

 

Why is Jesus telling us to ask him anything in his name, and he will do it?

 

This doesn’t make any sense without the resurrection of Jesus to a glorified body and his ascension to the right hand of the Father.  When we see Jesus like that, we see the Father.

 

Would you like to see the Father?  Let’s see the Father today.

 

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