In John 14 four men ask four questions and the Lord gives four answers. It is interesting to note that a part of the Passover recorded in Exodus 12 was a question-and-answer period. When the children at the table asked: ”What mean ye by this service?” it was the responsibility of the father to explain its meaning (Ex. 12:26-27). In John 13:33, the Lord had called the disciples “little children.” They had their problems in view of the fact that He had said He was about to leave them.
Simon Peter is the dogmatist, very vocal and sure of himself. Thomas is the pessimist, always looking at the dark side of the picture. Philip is the realist, wanting an explanation of the teaching of Christ concerning the Father. Jude is the traditionalist, thinking of an immediate, visible inauguration of the kingdom.
Peter’s Question
The Lord had told them He was going away and that they could not follow Him now. They were puzzled and upset. Peter voiced their problem: “Lord, why cannot I follow Thee now? I will lay down my life for Thy sake.” In reply the Lord warns him again of his impending fall, but then adds: ”Let not your heart be troubled,” and gives him a threefold remedy for heart trouble.
“Ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” Here is Christ as an object for faith. The atoning death of the Saviour was a transaction within the Godhead. No mere human being could share in His vicarious suffering on the cross. Here Peter is told that while he could not participate in the unique sufferings of the Saviour, yet the Lord assured him: “Thou canst not follow Me now, but thou shalt follow Me afterwards.”
Peter had no doubt as to the existence and power of Almighty God, but here he is commanded, “Believe also in Me.” The word “believe” is an imperative. The same word is translated “commit” in John 2:24, not just a mental assent but a definite commitment to a Person. This is essential to salvation and to the life of faith. Peter later (2 Pet. 1:1) speaks of “like precious faith,” to which can be added the lovely graces of Christianity.
“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” (Jn. 14:2). The second revelation to Peter was the prospect of a heavenly home. It has many abiding places; no eviction, heavy mortgages, or moving vans standing at the door. It is a definite place, not just a condition (Jn. 14:2). This is the place Christ has gone to prepare, first at the cross and then at the Father’s throne.
“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” (Jn. 14:3). This third great revelation to Peter is the first clear doctrinal intimation in Scripture of the coming of the Lord for His people at the Rapture. In the Old Testament and in the Gospels there are many passages that describe His coming in glory, when He will inaugurate His millennial kingdom. But this (v. 3) is not His coming to earth in visible glory. It is His coming to receive His own and take them to the Father’s house. (The details of this are revealed in 1 Cor. 15:51-58 and 1 Thess. 4:13-18.)
Some would apply the promise to the coming of Christ for the believer at death and this alone. But the Epistles of Paul and of John make it clear that the words refer to the catching up (Rapture) of the saints. It was the ”blessed hope” of the early church (Titus 2:13) and, thank God, still is today.
Thomas’ Question
“Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way?” (Jn. 14:5). The Lord had just told Peter: “Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” But Thomas flatly contradicts Him. He was the constitutional pessimist. He is a type of so many today. “Except I see, I will not believe!” But the Lord was very gracious. After Peter’s great confession in Matthew 16 and the transfiguration (Mt. 17), the Lord had told them again and again where He was going. The way into the Father’s presence He had taught them in His instruction on prayer. But it had not penetrated their hearts.
Our Lord’s reply to Thomas reveals another great change in dispensation. “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” Up to this point anyone who wished to approach God had to come by way of the altar of burnt offering and through the mediation of the priest. But here is something new. He declares categorically that through Him alone is the way of approach to God!
First He uses the divine title, “I AM.” Then there is a new name for God–the Father. We never find any Old Testament saint addressing God in prayer with this title. But at the beginning of the ministry of Christ it is used 17 times in Matthew 5-7. He taught the disciples to pray, “Our Father which art in heaven.” “Father” is used 118 times in John, 50 times just in John 13-17. This is one of the greatest utterances of all time. It sweeps away all the Old Testament ritual of ceremony and sacrifice. Jesus is the fulfillment. It rules out any other approach to God, either of the virgin, saint, angel, or man. Jesus is the only and one mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5).
Now note three great truths in John 14:6.
Salvation. This is illustrated in the early chapters of John. The Lord showed the way to Nicodemus in chapter 3; He exemplified the truth to the Samaritan woman when He exposed her past life in chapter 4; He claimed to be the resurrection and the life in chapter 11 when He raised Lazarus from the dead. Peter emphasized it in Acts 4:12 when he declared: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Priesthood. A major portion of the Epistle to the Hebrews is occupied with the superiority of the priesthood of Christ. His Person is expounded in chapters 1-2, His Preeminence in chapters 3-4, and His Priesthood in chapters 5-10. Some aspects of that priesthood are typified by Aaron, Israel’s high priest, but essentially it is after the order of Melchizedek. Chapter 10 shows us the new and living way to God through our great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Worship. The greatest passage on worship in the Bible is the teaching of Christ in John 4:20-26. Again He speaks of a change in dispensation: “The hour cometh, and now is” (v. 23). He expounds to the woman at the well the place of worship, neither at Mt. Gerizim or at Jerusalem; the Person whom we worship, the Father; and the principles of true worship, in spirit and in truth. The overall teaching in the New Testament concerning worship is that it goes up to the Father, through the mediatorship of the Son, and it is offered in the power of the Spirit. There are also many passages showing that worship and equal honor is offered to the Son (Jn. 5:23; 20:28).
Philip’s Question
Philip the realist, wanted a theophany, as some of the patriarchs had in the Old Testament. The answer which the Lord gave Philip is the great foundation doctrine of Christianity itself. Jesus said to him, “Have I been such a long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”
The Gospel by John is preeminently the manifestation of the Father and the Son. The problem of the Holy Trinity is how one essence or nature can manifest itself in three Persons. We must avoid unitarianism on the one hand and tri-theism on the other. There is distinction of personality, but unity of essence. The three-in-one is a deep mystery transcending our finite minds.
In the four places where Philip is mentioned in the Gospels, he always wants a demonstration (Jn. 1:45-46; 6:5-11; 12:21-22; 14:8). Jesus tells him, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father…I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.” This mutual indwelling of the Father and the Son is repeated here and again in the final prayer in 17:23.
Then He gives the promise: “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.” Before His ascension the Lord was “straitened” (Lk. 12:50); but when that was accomplished and the Spirit given at Pentecost, He could freely operate through His disciples. There was no day in our Lord’s ministry when 3,000 souls were converted, as on Pentecost; nor did His labors cover the mighty circuit “from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum” as did those of Paul. The “greater works” cover the operation of the Spirit in the age of grace.
The New Principle in Prayer (Jn. 14:13-14). “In My name” occurs here for the first time. This new principle in prayer is emphasized six times in these chapters (14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23-24, 26). In the old dispensation, prayer was made to Jehovah, the Most High, the God of Heaven, etc. But today prayer is addressed to the Father.
The Promise of Another Comforter (Jn. 14:16-18). John alone uses the term “Comforter” (Paraclete). It is a delightful title of the Holy Spirit, the One called alongside to help. He is another Comforter. The Lord Himself had been a Comforter to the disciples, and still is, on the throne (1 Jn. 2:1). There the title is translated “Advocate.” The Spirit is another of the same kind (allos). The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (Jn. 15:26). This would indicate that He is a real Person and that He is divine.
A Threefold Intimate Relationship (Jn. 14:19-20). “Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more…At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father.” This points to His crucifixion, resurrection, and restoration to His preincarnate glory (Phil. 2:9-11). “Ye in Me”–a preview of the relationship of the believer to the body of Christ. “And I in you”–speaks of the mystery of the indwelling Christ (Col. 1:27).
This great volume of precious teaching is concluded by an appeal to manifest His love in keeping His commands, and the promise that the Father and the Son would love him and manifest themselves to him.
Jude’s Question
“Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” Judas or Jude, not Iscariot, like the other disciples, was expecting an immediate inauguration of a visible earthly kingdom with Christ as King and they as His ministers of state. He was only voicing the thoughts of the others. There certainly will be an apocalyptic manifestation to the world at the end of the age (2 Thess. 1:7-10; Rev. 1:7). Jude wanted to see some outward display to bring the world to its knees. But what did they see? A Man in peasant dress, making claims only visible to faith. The Lord apparently ignores Jude’s question. Instead the man of faith is promised three things.
”If a man love Me he will keep My Word [singular], and My Father will love him, and We will come and make Our abode with him” (Jn. 14:23). The distinction between the “commandments” and the “Word” is referred to by John in 1 John 2:4-5.
“Commandments” are specific injunctions which it would be rebellion to disobey; the “Word” means the whole body of revealed truth from Genesis to Revelation. The promise of the abiding of the Father and the Son is contingent on obedience. The word ”abide” means “to make one’s home” with a person. This statement staggers our imagination. The Lord had already promised the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer. Here it is the Father and the Son indicated by the pronoun “We.” Some have interpreted the statement as meaning that the Father and Son would make Their home with the believer through the indwelling Spirit. But that is not what the Lord said! He promised “We” will come and make Our home with him. There is a condition, nevertheless it is an astounding revelation (see also Eph. 3:17).
The Holy Spirit as a Teacher, and Inspirer of the Word (Jn. 14:26). Here He brings all things to their remembrance–the Gospels; in John 16:13, “He will guide you into all truth”–the Epistles; and He will show you things to come–the book of Revelation. In writing the Old Testament, holy men of God were borne along by the Spirit, and in the new dispensation, the same Holy Spirit is the divine power to complete the canon. He is also the Interpreter and Illuminator.
The Legacy, the Gift, and the Benediction of Peace. “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.” Thus the answer to Jude’s question ends with the same words that the question and answer period commenced with–the peace of the untroubled heart.