COMFORT IN JESUS (John 14:1-6)
INTRODUCTION:
Many of you who have been in this church for any length of time know that I cannot leave the Christmas season without talking about Jesus Christ coming again. Not His second advent to the earth when He will set up His millennial kingdom, but about His return to the atmosphere where He will call His bride, the church to meet Him in the air and go to be with Him forever. Prophetically speaking, this is the next event on the eschatological calendar, can we set a date for it? No. We must be prepared for it to happen at any time, because there is nothing that has to be completed or fulfilled according to God’s Word before Jesus returns for the church. This return will include a resurrection and a rapture. Only three passages in the New Testament speak directly to this event. Jesus speaks of it once in John 14, Paul speaks of it twice and explains it in greater detail in 1st Corinthians 15 and 1st Thessalonians 4 which was our Scripture reading this morning.
For those who have been born again by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are to anticipate this return, and we do not know when it will occur, will it take place during 2025 or beyond. Just five days ago we entered the new year. For many this past year was filled with many uncertainties and anxieties, we have heard of war and rumors of war. There are many unknowns as we entered this new year which might cause us to say, “I know that Jesus is coming back, but in the meantime, can Jesus provide comfort in those dark hours of deepest tragedy and in those uncertain and anxious times? Is our faith only a faith of the future or is it a faith in the future which gives us comfort in the present?
Our Scripture passage for this morning answers those questions. John 14 has been called the comfort chapter because the whole chapter is the promise that Jesus Christ is the One who gives comfort. Not only the comfort in knowing that He is returning but also comfort for the present. Our comfort comes from trusting Jesus. In John 14:1-6 Jesus tells us to trust in His presence, to trust in His promises, and to trust in His person. I want to share these truths with you this morning to give you hope for the new year by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s pray and ask God to minister to our hearts and to give us hope for the future.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to John 14:1-6, a familiar passage of Scripture but one that is filled with comfort and hope. Please stand, if you are able, in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along while I read.
John 14:1-6,
“’Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.’ Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’ ” (John 14:1–6, NASB95)[1]
TRUST IN JESUS
Our passage this morning takes place in the upper room where the disciples and Jesus are eating the Passover meal the night before His death on the cross. Judas had already left to carry out his betrayal. Jesus has begun to prepare His disciples for His departure. As we come to chapter 14 the pain of His departure is already breaking their hearts. The disciples are hurting, perplexed, bewildered, and confused. They are worried, they are filled with anxiety about the future. Jesus had just informed them in chapter thirteen that He is going away, that He is leaving them and going to the place where they cannot go now but will go later. He has informed Peter that he will deny Jesus three times. As we come to chapter fourteen Jesus anticipates their troubles, the pain and anxiety that is beginning to build at the thought of losing Him. Jesus sees that their hearts are already breaking, and He gives them comfort. This is the comfort passage.
As you come to chapter 14 you must understand the uniqueness of Jesus. Consider what He was about to face: a false arrest, a false trial, mocking, beating, and finally being nailed to a cross. He was about to bear the sins of the world, about to bear the curse of God against sin, and to be forsaken by His own Father. If Jesus were any other man in this situation He would have been completely preoccupied with His own worries and anxieties. Jesus is different, He is unique in that His concern was totally wrapped up in the needs of the eleven, in assuring them and bringing them comfort. In John 14:1-6 we find comfort offered by Jesus. The basis of comfort comes by trusting, trusting in Jesus Christ. If you are discontent, worried, agitated, anxious, bewildered, confused, whatever has you stirred up, look at who or what you are trusting, because it is not Jesus Christ. If you are truly trusting Jesus what do you have to be worried about or troubled by? In these verses Jesus says, I want you to trust in three things: Trust in My presence, trust in My promises, and trust in My person. And in trusting Jesus there is comfort.
TRUST IN MY PRESENCE (John 14:1)
Jesus sees the troubled hearts of His disciples and He says to them and to us, “Trust in my presence.” Listen again to verse one of our passage, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.” (John 14:1, NASB95)[2] Jesus is saying, “Don’t worry, trust Me.” This phrase , “Do not let your heart be troubled…” means, “Stop letting your heart be troubled.” Jesus knew that they were already worried; their hearts were bound up with anxiety, they had that awful feeling in the pit of their stomachs. Jesus says to them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled any longer.” Everything seemed to be falling apart. They were truly convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, but for them the only concept that they had of the Messiah was that He would be a tremendous conqueror, a kind of superhero, a sovereign, ruling King. When Jesus rode in Jerusalem their hopes rose to new heights and now, He was talking of leaving them. He was talking about dying and leaving them in the midst of the enemies that hated Him and them. This all caused their hearts to be troubled and Jesus knew it. So, He begins by telling them to stop being troubled or worried. Jesus wants to comfort their troubled hearts, and He begins by saying, “…believe in God, believe also in Me.” (John 14:1b, NASB95)[3] Jesus is saying, “Trust in my presence.” The Greek could be translated, “You believe in God, believe also in Me.” They already believed or trusted God, even though none of them had ever seen God the Father. Jesus is saying, “Now believe or trust Me.” Jesus is declaring that He is God and in the same way that they trust God the Father, they can trust Jesus Christ even if He is not with them physically. Just because the disciples will not be able to see Jesus does not mean that He is not with them. Understand that Jesus is not talking about saving faith or trust in this verse, but rather this is faith that even though you do not see me, I am here, and I am still in control. Jesus was about to be removed physically from them, but this should not trouble them or make them anxious because He will still be with them just as God the Father was with them.
After the resurrection Jesus appeared to the apostles, but Thomas was not present. When they told him that they had seen the resurrected Lord Jesus, he said he would not believe unless he put his finger in the nail prints and his hands and his hand in His wounded side. In John 20 Jesus again appeared to the apostles and this time Thomas was with them, and Jesus showed him the nail prints and the wound in His side and Thomas believed. Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” (John 20:29, NASB95)[4] The visible presence of Jesus is not the issue, and that is what Jesus is trying to get across to them. Jesus promised to be with us forever, that He would never leave us or forsake us. He is the ever-present Christ. In John 16 Jesus tells His disciples that He is sending the Holy Spirit to them and in verses 13-14 He tells them how the Holy Spirit will minister to them. Jesus says in John 16:13-14, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.” (John 16:13–14, NASB95)[5] The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to point to Jesus Christ, to keep reminding us that He is with us. He is our guarantee that Jesus exists and is here. His ministry is to testify of Christ. The first way in which Jesus comforts us is through an awareness that Jesus Christ is alive and present, though invisible. Peter finally understood this when He wrote these words in 1st Peter 1:8, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,” (1 Peter 1:8, ESV)[6] I have never seen Jesus Christ, but there is no one in existence in whom I believe more than I believe in Jesus Christ. He is alive, He is real, and I know Him. I have already talked to Him today. I have sensed His presence with me. You will never convince me that He is not alive or does not exist. The Spirit of God testifies with my spirit continuously that Jesus exists and lives. Although I cannot see Him, I trust Him. Just as God the Father lives and exists, so also Jesus Christ lives and exists and is equal with the Father. I know that Jesus Christ is in control of all things and by His word all things hold together. Whatever your trouble, whatever your fouled—up problems, whatever mess you are in, whatever you are anxious about, just remember that the Lord Jesus is here and trust Him. Trust in His presence.
TRUST IN HIS PROMISES (John 14:2-3)
The Lord Jesus moves from trusting in His presence to instruct His disciples and us to trust in His promises. Listen to His promise beginning in verse two, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2, NASB95)[7] Jesus begins by assuring us that what He is telling us is the truth. If it were not true, Jesus says that He would not be saying it. He tells us that there are many dwelling places, and He is going to prepare a place for you, for all who have put their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. Jesus was not just leaving His disciples, He had a purpose in His leaving, to go and prepare a place for them. Where is this place going to be? I love this, in My Father’s house. This is amazing. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who had dwelt forever with the Father, came forth from the Father to declare and reveal the Father, and now He had glorified the Father and He was going to be glorified and return to full glory with the Father, and He says He is preparing a place for you in His Father’s house. Do you understand what the Father’s house is? It is heaven, another name for heaven. By calling it His Father’s house speaks of the comfort of it, a place to go where you are accepted, where you are known and loved. There are many dwelling places in the Father’s house. Unfortunately, the King James Bible translated “dwelling places” as “mansions” giving us a picture that heaven is filled with mansions and we each get our own. When Jesus referred to “dwelling places” He was doing so within the context of the culture in Israel. When a son would marry, he would first build a wing extension onto his father’s house for himself and his new bride to live in. If there were several sons, they would each build an extension when they were getting married until it was enclosed with a courtyard that they all shared in the middle. When I go to heaven I will not live in a mansion down the street, I will live in the wing of the Father’s house that is prepared for me by the Lord Jesus. Will there be room enough for everybody? Look at Jesus’ words, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places…” (John 14:2a, NASB95)[8] “Many” means that there will be room enough for everyone who will be there. There will be no overcrowding, there will be plenty of “dwelling places in the Father’s house.
I do not know about you, but I feel bound to heaven. My Father’s house is there, my Savior is there, my home is there, my name is there, my affections are there, my inheritance is there, and my citizenship is there. Paul truly said it when he wrote, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21, NASB95)[9] And the first of the great promise that Jesus gave to His disciples and to us is that He must return to heaven to get it all prepared for us.
That is not the end of the promise, Jesus goes on and says, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:3, NASB95)[10] This is such a wonderful promise that Jesus asks us to trust in. He not only promises to go and prepare a place for us, but He promises to come back and get us and take us to be with Him. This is so exciting, He is not sending someone to get us, He, Himself will come in person to take us home. How precious we must be to Him, for Him to do this for us. We can trust in the promises of Jesus, when He says He is coming back for us, we can trust Him. It may get dark, and it may get rough, and it may look like He forgot, but He hasn’t, He will come back. Jesus says, “Trust Me, trust my promise, at just the right time when everything is ready, I will come back for you. I think Jesus may be as excited if not more excited than we are about having us with Him in His Father’s house. Listen to His words as He prayed in John 17:24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24, NASB95)[11] Jesus wants us to be with Him and He will come for us either in death or at the rapture. Not all Christians will die, some will still be alive when Jesus returns to the clouds to take us home to be with Him. The dead in Christ will rise first, their resurrected, glorified bodies will rise from the dead to be reunited with their spirits which are with Jesus when He comes, then we who are alive and remain will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, our earthly bodies will be exchanged for our glorified bodies and we will be caught up together with the resurrected saints to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Jesus promises that He is preparing a dwelling place for us in His Father’s house and that He is coming to get us to be with Him. Trust His promises.
TRUST IN HIS PERSON (John 14:4-6)
In this passage Jesus has told us to trust in His presence and to trust in His promises, and finally He says, “Trust in my person.” In verse four Jesus says, “And you know the way where I am going.” (John 14:4, NASB95)[12] Jesus told His disciples that they knew the way, He had just told them where He was going, to His Father’s house, returning to the place He had come from. For three years He had been telling them the way. In John 10:9 Jesus said, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9, NASB95)[13] In John 14:4 He tells them that they know where He is going, and they know the way. In other words, “you know how to get there.” Thomas, remember he was the one who said he would not believe Jesus was resurrected from the dead unless he put his fingers in the nail prints and his hand in the wound in his side, he pipes up and asks the one question that they all wanted to ask, remember they were hurting, confused, troubled, and I believe at this point they were not sure of anything. John 14:5 says, “Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?’ ” (John 14:5, NASB95)[14] This is a question that any one of us could have asked if we were there. Jesus told them He was going to the Father, where is the Father? Heaven, where is Heaven? Thomas was declaring that their knowledge stopped at death. They did not fully understand what happened after death, so how could they know the way to the Father. There are no maps that you take with you when you die. Thomas is saying, “We don’t understand.” We are the same as Thomas, death is a mystery, a great unknown. Jesus responds to Thomas and in His response He tells us something about His person, He is saying trust my person, who I am. John 14:6 gives us Jesus’ response, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life…” (John 14:6, NASB95)[15] Let’s stop right here, this is so good. Jesus tells the disciples and us that He is the Way, you need to know Me, My person, because as the Way I am coming to get you. I do not need to worry or be anxious about how I am going to get to the Father’s house because I know the Way, the only Way. Jesus says, “Trust Me, I am the Way, trust My person, this is who I am. I will take you to My Father’s house.
Let me illustrate this for you. When Karla and I lived in Slovakia we vacationed one summer in Italy. We made reservations to stay in a Bed and Breakfast in Pisa one night. We got to Pisa late in the afternoon and dusk was quickly approaching as we were trying to find this bed and breakfast, but we were not finding it. Then we saw a group of college-aged students on a corner, and we said to one another, “One of them must speak English.” So, I stopped to ask for directions. Now it would have been one thing for them to stand there and give me all kinds of directions and I still would not know where I was going. But one of them said to us, “I’ll show you the way, follow me,” and He hopped in his car and showed us the way, led us right to the front door of the bed and breakfast. That is just like Jesus, He does not give us directions, He is going to take your hand and lead you there. All you have to do is die in Jesus, and Jesus is the Way from there. That is death for the Christian, I trust you, Jesus, I don’t see You, but I know your presence is with me, and I trust You that when I die You will be the Way to Your Father’s house. Don’t worry, take comfort because Jesus is coming back for you. Do you trust Him? If you were to die today, do you trust Him to take you to heaven? He said to His disciples, “Trust Me, trust who I am, the Way and I will bring you to where I am going.
Jesus said, “Trust Me, you do not need a map, I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the way to the Father, to My Father’s house. I am the truth; all truth belongs to Me whether in the world or in the world to come. I am the life that is eternal. It is all in Jesus Christ, in His person. He is everything that man needs. Everything that Adam lost when he ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is found in Jesus Christ at the cross. Trust Me, trust My presence, trust My promises, trust My person, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
CONCLUSION:
Where do we find comfort in 2025? We find comfort in trusting Jesus Christ. It is true that He is coming again and that coming could be at any moment when Jesus Christ will come from His Father’s house with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be changed and we will be caught up together with those resurrected from the dead, together with them we will meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we always be with Him for the rest of eternity. This is our great hope, this is what we wait for in anticipation, but in the very anticipation of His return there is comfort in the present because He is here now, though not visible, but He is here in the person of the Holy Spirit. We can trust His presence made known to us by the indwelling Holy Spirit. We can trust His promises because He is the truth and as the truth His promises are guaranteed. Jesus Christ is preparing a place for us, and He will return and take us there. We can trust His person because He is the way to the Father’s house, He is the truth in the present world and in the world to come, and He is the life. He is the One that breathed into Adam’s nostrils and Adam became a living soul, and He is the One that can breathe into you and me life eternal. When we truly trust in Jesus what do we have to be worried about or what can trouble us? He is here, His promises are sure, and His person is all we need for this and the life to come that is eternal. Now that’s comfort!
This morning, I purposely did not read the last part of verse six because I wanted to save it for now. Jesus finished His response to Thomas by saying, “no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6b, NASB95)[16] Maybe you are here this morning listening to me talk about heaven and the comfort that comes from trusting Jesus Christ, but you know that you will never be in heaven, and you do not have the comfort I’ve talked about because the only way to get it is through faith in Jesus Christ and you have never put your faith in Him. Maybe you have attended church your whole life, maybe you have not, either way you know that you have never acknowledged to God that you are a sinner, and that human effort can never make us right before God, can never make up for the sin in your life. Jesus says that the only way to the Father is through Him, by faith in Him, believing that His death paid the penalty for your sin, and by believing His resurrection was the proof that your sin was paid for, and by believing this your sins are forgiven, and Jesus breathes into you eternal life. Your faith in Jesus Christ means that you are justified before God, and you can have the assurance that a dwelling place is being prepared for you by Jesus in His Father’s house and when it is time for you to join the Lord Jesus for all eternity He will come and show you the way. It is only by faith that we can trust in Jesus Christ and find the comfort that we need now and every day as we anticipate His return for us. If you have never done this, do not leave this morning without putting your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did for you through His death and resurrection. If you have questions, I would be happy to answer them. I cannot think of a better way to enter the new year than having a new life, eternal life in Jesus Christ.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[6]The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[14]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[15]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[16]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.