Wonderful Promises of Jesus- John Chapter 14

When we make promises, do we keep them? We can be well intentioned and still fail to follow through. Things can happen that are beyond our control. Jesus has all power and his character never changes, so if Jesus promises something, we can rest assured that it will happen. Nothing can thwart the promises of Jesus.

There are wonderful promises to unpack in just seven verses in John chapter 14. They are John 14:15 to 21. They read:

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

Notice the conditional aspect of the promises. If you keep my commands. What is Jesus talking about when he refers to commands. If helps to look at other verse in John to understand.

In John 6 after Jesus had fed the thousands with a few loaves of bread and a few fish, they followed him around and asked what they needed to do to do the works God requires. Jesus’s answer was:

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

To receive the promises, we need to believe in Jesus.

Jesus gave a new command in John 13:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

To experience the promises in fullness, we need to love one another.

1st promise- The Holy Spirit

We can overlook the fact that for these men and others The Father sent The Holy Spirit a little over 40 days from the time Jesus was speaking to them in this passage. We learn four things about The Holy Spirit from these verses; 1- he is the Spirit of truth, 2- he will be with us, 3-he will be in us. 4- he is an advocate for us.

2nd promise- Jesus will never leave us.

Jesus promised not to leave us as orphans. I have visited orphanages in various countries. Some are in very sad conditions. Orphans have no hope unless someone comes to help them. They are defenseless. Jesus promised to come to us and not leave us helpless.

3rd promise- We will see Jesus.

For the disciples, they would see Jesus after his resurrection. Jesus only appeared to those who believed in him after his resurrection. For the disciples, this would all transpire in a matter of days from the time of this conversation. For us, we know we will see Jesus face to face one day when we go to heaven.

4th promise- The Father’s love.

If we love Jesus, believe in him, The Father loves us. The love of God the Father is beyond our comprehension. He does not see or hold our sin against us. He sees Jesus when he looks at us.

5th promise- Jesus will show himself to us.

So many ways Jesus shows himself to us. Have you ever suddenly had a verse from the bible come to mind? Have you ever had a song about Jesus in your spirit? Have you ever needed something and without expecting it, a friend is there? Jesus shows himself in many ways while we are in this life. One day he will show himself to us when we go to heaven.

Remember as you read John 14 that what Jesus was talking about was in the near future for the disciples. What a wonder it would have been to see Jesus after his resurrection and then to be in the room when The Father sent The Holy Spirit.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.