Read John chapter 14. This is a very needed address by our Lord to His disciples. He, of course, knows that He is going to die and that this is the last time He will speak to them before that happens. His disciples have begun to think He will be arrested or, at the least, will be leaving them. They do not understand the why or how at this point. They are troubled and worried. Some are beginning to have their doubts about the Kingdom they believed would be soon set up. They know one of their group is about to betray Jesus. Peter has just been told that he will deny Him. To be sure, they were not in the best frame of mind and spirit at this point.
The first verse could be translated, “You believe in God (a statement), believe also in Me." (a command) The King James translators so took it this way, and it is most likely what our Lord said to His disciples at this point. There is little doubt these disciples did believe in God. However, they were having real problems reconciling their idea of the Messiah with what was apparently was going to happen now, that is, our Lord leaving them!
1. In verse one, what is Jesus telling these men they need to do?
To continue to believe in Him. They were trusting in God; now, they needed to continue to trust in Him. It was alright. Everything was going to God’s greater plan, even if they could not see it at this point.
2. The idea of someone preparing a dwelling place in the house of their father was common in this culture. What would have come to the disciples’ minds at these words?
The picture of a groom preparing a place for his bride in the family home.
3. When Thomas says they do not know where Jesus is going and cannot, therefore, know the road to take to get there, he is, without a doubt, thinking Jesus may be leaving to a new physical location on the earth. How does our Lord correct this view by His answer in verse 6?
He tells Thomas He is the living way, and one must come to the Father (Heaven) through Himself. The place He is referring to, therefore, is not a new location on earth but the in the very presence of God.
4. Why do you suppose Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us”?
Jesus had just told them He was going to His Father’s house. In His answer to Thomas, He told them that from that point on, they know the Father and had seen Him. Philip, and no doubt the others, could not remember having a vision of the Father. This would, I think he thought, definitely confirm the fact that Jesus was the Messiah, the promised one, which was getting difficult to believe since Jesus was not doing what they expected the Messiah to do. I believe Philip was looking for some vision to confirm his faith which was beginning to grow weak.
5. How does our Lord’s answer to Philip relate to Genesis 1:26-27 and Hebrews 1:1-3?
Jesus, in His humanity, fulfills that for which God created Adam and Eve, namely, to be the image of God upon the earth, to represent Him and demonstrate visibly to the creation the nature and character of the invisible God. They abdicated this position in the fall and the usurper Satan became the ruler of this world. Our Lord as a man fulfilled what God called man to be. He is the image of God, and in knowing Him, one knows and has seen the Father.
6. What did Judas (not Iscariot) mean by the question, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?”
He is asking, what has happened that you will reveal yourself (as the Messiah) to us but not to the world, i.e., why has the plan for setting up the Kingdom changed?
7. What did Jesus tell His disciples in answer to the question asked by Judas?
He said that He was telling them what the Father had said, and that the Holy Spirit would teach them more. They were not to worry or be afraid because He was doing precisely what God the Father commanded Him to do.
Read John 15:1-16:5. Jesus and His disciples had stopped on their way out to the Mount of Olives. Now they start back on the way, and our Lord continues His good-bye address. In these verses, He developed three main ideas: They needed to abide in Him and bear fruit (15:1-8), they must love one another (15:9-17), and they would be hated and persecuted by the world (15:18-16:5).
8. What does the Word of God mean when it commands a person to abide in Christ?
It means, first of all, to place one’s faith in Him. He is the true vine, the source of all life for the branches (our salvation). It also means we must draw close to Him for strength and spiritual nourishment if we are to bear fruit (our daily walk).
9. What should be the motive for obedience?
Love for our Lord. We obey out of love.
10. Jesus, prior to this point, had not really told them they would be hated and persecuted by the world (16:4). Why do you think it was important to wait until now to convey this to them?
Our Lord knew their concept of what Messiah would do was faulty. They had no idea that He would die as a sacrifice for sin. They did not realize the Kingdom was not going to be set up then or even immediately following His resurrection. This was a truth that was hidden from them at the beginning, for they were not ready for it. But now the time was right. They were in danger of stumbling in their faith (16:1). Following His resurrection and ascension and after the Spirit had come and was guiding them into all truth (16:12-13), then they would understand what the Lord was now telling them.
Read John 16:5-33. He is trying to give them some comfort now, for they are upset and saddened by the fact that Jesus had told them He was leaving them. This part of our Lord’s farewell is His explaining to them that it is to their advantage that He leaves them.
11. In verses 8-14, what are three things the Spirit of truth will do?
a. He will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. (16:8)
b. He will guide the disciples into all the truth. (16:13)
c. He will glorify our Lord. (16:14)
12. What did our Lord mean by the statement, “A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me”?
That shortly, He would be put to death, and they would not see Him, but soon after that, He would rise again, and they would see Him again!
13. Why would they have peace in our Lord when they would be having tribulation in the world (verse 16:33)?
Although they would face tribulation in the world, they could have peace because Jesus had overcome the world.
The Applications:
What are the applications of these passages to our lives today? Identify as many as you are able.
1. There are times, times when our faith ebbs, when we wonder if indeed it is all true, that each of us as a believer has wished we could have a vision of God, a vision which would revitalize us, confirm that we are on the right road and generally lift our fallen spirits. While God has and does give glimpses of His glory to some, more often than not, He does not. Just as Philip was not to find his vision in an outward manifestation of the glory of God but rather in the person of Jesus Christ who is, in His humanity, the visible representation of the invisible God, so we too are to look for our vision in our Lord. How then do we see Him? Where can we look to see Him? In His Word! That is where we must look. When the times grow tough, when trusting Him is the hardest thing we have ever done, it is then we must look to see Him revealed in the Word of God. And in Him, we will see the Father revealed in all His power and glory, in the depths of His love and mercy, and it is there we will find the vision we need for the times we face.
2. Everything was falling apart around them. Their plans and aspirations for the kingdom were plans which would never come together; their aspirations and unfulfilled dreams were disappearing quickly in the harsh reality of the world in which they lived. They thought to themselves, “We had dreamed so big! But it is all for naught. It just isn’t going to happen! Lord, what has happened that you are not going to do this great work?” But the Lord said, “Your dreams are way too small! I am going to do much more than you expect or can even imagine. Just trust Me even if you do not understand all that is happening to you and around you. You may not see it now, but everything is going exactly as the Father has ordered it.”
So too, in our lives, we all face those times when we wondered what our God was doing, if anything at all. We all have had dreams and aspirations, dreams and aspirations of how God would use us to His glory. And we all have had them seemingly vanish like the morning mist under a hot sun. We, too, often sigh and say to ourselves, “My aspirations will never be achieved. My hopes and desires are just empty dreams!” The problem most often is that we, like the disciples, do not dream big enough. We simply cannot grasp the extent of what our God has planned. He does not require us to understand all He does; He only requires us to trust Him regardless of what the circumstances around us may be.
3. Our Lord had much to teach these disciples. But He did not unload it all upon them. There were things they could not handle when He was with them before His death and resurrection. Can you imagine the reaction of the Twelve if our Lord had plainly told them that Gentiles would be accepted on an equal basis with Jews in the Kingdom? And they would not even have to keep the law or be circumcised! I suspect that the disciples would have totally rejected this out of hand. They might have even thrown in their lot with Judas, having become convinced that their Lord had indeed lost it all. At the very least, they would have sadly walked away. There was no way for them to handle this concept at that time. But the time would come when our Lord would invite Peter to a very strange feast.
Our Lord does not reveal everything He is doing or will do to us as well. Like the disciples, often, we are not ready for all the truth. He teaches us little by little as we are able to comprehend and digest it. When we are strong enough, we are allowed more light.