Jesus Will Come Back for Us- John Chapter 14

Last week we looked at Jesus Saying Goodbye For Now in John 13. John 14 is a continuation of the same conversation in John 13; Actually John chapters 13 to 16 are all one conversation between Jesus and his disciples before his arrest, torture and crucifixion. In John 13 we saw that Jesus broke some troubling news to them; his time to die for us had come, one of them would betray him, one of the them would deny him, and that he was leaving. It is with this backdrop that Jesus says:

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 

This was not an empty reassurance. Jesus knew he would defeat death for us and he knew that one day he would return for us. He also knew all who come to faith in him would be with him in heaven. So when he said, Do not let your hearts be troubled, his reassurance was eternally solid.

Then the glorious promise. God the Father has a place for us. There is no need to worry about heaven running out of room.

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?

In that culture, when a man was engaged to be married, he would work on adding a room to his father’s house. When the room was ready, the groom would return for the bride. The disciples would have understood the cultural analogy intended when Jesus said.

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

Jesus then makes a statement the confuses them. He told them.

You know the way to the place where I am going.

They didn’t even have GPS or google maps. So Thomas spoke up as any of us might have done.

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

When children go on a trip with parents, they have no clue on how or the way to get there. But they trust the parent to know the how and the way, so they get into the car without thinking about it. They might say things like. “Are we there yet?” They don’t know the way, but they know their parent and that is enough.

Jesus shared 3 profound truths in response to Thomas.

I am the way

We only need to know Jesus. He will take care of the rest just as the parent does for a trip.

I am the truth

Jesus is truth. We can always depend on him to tell us the truth and never mislead us.

I am the life

Jesus is the creator, source of life, and provider of eternal life.

Jesus includes with this a strong statement.

No one comes to the Father except through me. 

Jesus is the only way to God the Father. He is the narrow road.

The question is are we ready for him to come back for us?

Thank you for reading. God Bless.