READING

 
 

JOHN 14

New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 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? 3 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. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus the Way to the Father

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

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority.Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 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. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 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.”

22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

“Come now; let us leave.

 
 

DEVOTIONAL

DWELLING WITH THE FATHER AND SON

by Scott Tavolacci

John 14 is a wonderful chapter that starts the heart of the upper room conversation that Jesus is having with His disciples after the Last Supper and before He gets arrested and goes to the cross. The chapter starts with a popular statement in the Christian faith, when He says, “In my Father’s house there are many mansions… I go to prepare a place for you”.

It has commonly been taught that we have mansions in heaven and this scripture is cited as a reference to this. Based on the content of the conversation in this and the next chapter, we can understand that this is not what Jesus is talking about in John 14 and 15. Jesus is talking about abiding in Him and Him in us. The word abide is the Greek word “meno”, a form of the same word used by some translators for “mansions”. What Jesus is saying is that in His Father’s house, there are many abiding places, meaning there are places for all of us in His house. Jesus is talking about how He is going to prepare a place for us and how we can abide in it. This is not a future in heaven after we die, but what will happen after Jesus finishes His work on the cross and provides a new and living way into the house of the Father.

Let’s look at the progression of some of the words of Jesus:

1.    14:6 Jesus is the way and the truth and life, no man comes to the father except through me. – Jesus is providing a way into his Father’s house.

2.    14:10 Jesus told Philip that He was in the Father and the Father in him – When you dwell in the Father’s house, He is dwelling in us and we in Him.

3.    14:11-14 Jesus says that the works He does, we will do, and greater works — When we dwell in Him and are given the power of the use of His name, the ability to do those works are a part of dwelling in the house.

4.    14:15 - 19, 25 - 26 Jesus says if we love Him and keep His commandments, He will give us another comforter; one just like Him who will be with us forever. This Comforter will be our Helper and one who will always stand by us, teaching us all things.

5.    14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my Word; and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home (dwelling) with him.”

I want to highlight one key point that Jesus is communicating here. When He says, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments”, and ”If you love Me, you will keep My word”. The emphasis in what Jesus said is not on keeping the commandments or keeping the word; the emphasis is on “keep loving Him”. Loving Him enables you to keep His commandments and word. It literally says, “if you love Me, you will keep My commandments and keep My words”. The emphasis is on loving God. How do you love someone? Usually, you do that person a favor and you show regard for their thoughts, likes, and dislikes. You communicate with them, spend time with them and based on the interaction, start to dwell with one another and become one.

DEVOTIONAL:

  1. Ask God for an understanding of how to abide in Him and He in us, as Jesus was one with the Father. Lord Jesus, lead us into a place where we are one with the Father and Son.
  2. Pray for a sensitivity of heart to keep loving God, to be sensitive to His innermost desires for us and the world around us, and to live that out in our everyday life.
  3. Ask for an understanding of how to fellowship with Holy Spirit; the Helper and Comforter, who is the One who teaches us all things.
  4. Pray that Holy Spirit abides in us and will inspire and help us to do greater works, that the compassion of God that abides and lives with us will move us in the same way it moved Jesus.
 
 

PRAYER plan

POWER

We want the power of God to live a supernatural life.