“Setting Troubled Hearts at Rest: A Secure Future”
John 14:2-3
In 1997, The Houston Chronicle, recorded a story about Princess Diana's death. In the early hours of August 31, the princess died in a Paris hospital after a violent car accident. Just a few weeks before her death, on August 12, Diana went with Dodi al-Fayed to see a clairvoyant. They spent almost two hours with psychic Rita Rogers. They sought guidance on their future. One witness said, "Di was grinning all over her face and looked like she had received good news." Nineteen days later she was dead. According to her psychic, this tragedy was not supposed to be part of her future.
Asia Bibi was arrested on June 19, 2009, after she engaged in an intense discussion with a group of women. Answering their calls for her to accept Islam, Asia told them Jesus is alive, but Mohammad is dead. "Our Christ is the true prophet of God," she reportedly told them, "and yours is not true." Upon hearing this, the Muslim women became angry and beat Asia, who was then taken into police custody. On Nov. 8, 2010 Asia was the first woman to be sentenced to death by hanging under Pakistan's blasphemy law. There has been an international outpouring of condemnation against the sentence and it has not yet been carried out. Yet those who have supported her are being attacked and, in some cases, have been assassinated. Her family is on the run because of threats. And even if she is freed her chances of survival are slim since a price tag has been placed on her head. But still she stands by Jesus. Why? Because her future is not in doubt.
Jesus had been informing his disciples that He was leaving them, He would be killed, Judas would betray Him, and Peter would deny Him. So to comfort and strengthen them He told them to trust Him because He had their future under control; their future was not in doubt – it was secure.
Their future was not in doubt because there would be A SECURE PLACE. Jesus immediately changed the scenery and moved into the future. “In my father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so I would have told you.” JESUS ALTERED THEIR PERSPECTIVE. He wanted them to focus not on where they were but on where they would be going. Our understanding of this scene is increased when we think of a custom to which Jesus may have been referring – the Jewish marriage custom. Getting married was a three part process. The first step was the establishment of a marriage covenant. The Jewish groom would leave his father’s home and travel to the prospective bride’s home, where he would negotiate two matters. First He would ask her father for permission to marry her. If the father agreed, they would then negotiate the price to be paid for the bride. Once this marriage covenant was established the bride and groom would drink together from a cup of wine as a symbol of the covenant.
See the picture? Jesus left His Father’s home to go to His bride’s home to establish a covenant. In fact, in that upper room He and His disciples had just celebrated and re-established a covenant as they shared the bread and wine. And the price had already been set – Jesus knew the price He had to pay. So He was free to refocus the perspective to the future. “In my father’s house are many rooms…” It was highly possible that the bride had never been to the groom’s home. He would need to give her assurance that it would be good and wonderful. So he would talk about his father’s estate and how there was plenty of room for them to build their own home and grow their family. Similarly Jesus was giving the disciples a glimpse of their future home – one worth waiting for.
The desire to have a genuine place of our own, a home, a place where we belong is a basic desire of the human heart. So Jesus knew that once His disciples agreed to follow Him they were basically uprooted and homeless. So JESUS LIFTS THEIR EYES AND THOUGHTS TO A HIGHER PLANE BY USING HOME AND FAMILY IMAGES. Jesus guided their thoughts to a place of fulfillment, of fellowship, and familiarity. He informed them that there is a room for each of them, designed for their character and life, tailor-made with their name on the door. Jesus assured them that Peter would still be Peter, John would still be John, and Thomas would still be Thomas. Peter would forget his denial and his guilt; Thomas would fully believe; Phillip would finally see the Father. The brokenness of their lives would be repaired, and their bodies remade and refitted.
Jesus was informing His disciples that, in light of their secure place in the future, in view of their future home, they should not be surprised by their current discomfort. To feel some dis-ease, to feel unwelcome, to face tough times and even opposition is not a bad thing – in fact it can be healthy. It’s a reminder that this earth is not our final home, and this life is not our final life, that the best is yet to come. Right now we may live in the lowlands but we will one day live in the highlands. So the disciples, and WE, CAN LIVE WITH CONFIDENCE. At the end of our life journey we have a home to go to. We will, “dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” We can let the worst come; we can endure it all because we are certain of what lies ahead. As Paul testified (Phil. 1:21, 23) “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain…I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this…I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith.” Hebrews 12:2 puts it this way: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning the shame, and sat down at the right hand of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
The disciples’ future was not in doubt because there would be a secure place and there would be A SECURE PREPARATION. There was a second phase of the Jewish marriage custom. When the covenant had been mad and sealed the groom would head back to his home and get all things ready – a process that usually took about one year. So Jesus said “I am going there to prepare a place for you.” This would entail two basic agenda items. First, JESUS NEEDED TO PAY THE AGREED UPON PRICE. To do that He would go by way of submission to His Father’s will through an intense time of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, through being arrested and found guilty on trumped up charges, through being mocked and whipped, and ultimately through dying on a cross. Jesus ‘went’ to an ultimate encounter with our ultimate foe to pave the way to our ultimate home.
Hebrews describes it poignantly (9:12-14, 24-26): “With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins…For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.” Jesus paid the price.
A second part of the preparation is that JESUS IS SERVING AS OUR HIGH PRIEST. Luke, in his account of this final night (22:31-32) shares that Jesus said to Peter, “Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Satan had to ask for permission to test Peter! Just as he had to approach God about testing Job, so he had to ask permission again for testing Peter. As long as we’re on earth Satan will try to test us, but only and always under the watchful and protective eye, and the prayer, of Jesus Christ. Jesus wanted the disciples to know that He would always be there for them, preparing the place and them.
Even now He is busy preparing the place for us and preparing us for the place. The Heidelberg Catechism, in #49, teaches that Jesus is in heaven as our advocate; He pleads for us. Paul emphasizes this in Romans 8:31ff (MSG) - “So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us?” Listen to how the letter to the Hebrews paints the picture. “He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven… “So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (7:25-27 & 4:14-16 NLT)
So the disciples, and WE, CAN LIVE WITH CONFIDENCE. Picking up Paul’s thoughts again (Rom. 8:35-39) “Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture… None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.”
The disciples’ future was not in doubt because there would be a secure place, a secure preparation, and A SECURE PROMISE. The third aspect of the Jewish marriage custom was the return of the groom to claim and marry his bride. When the preparation was complete, the groom on an unannounced night, would call his best man and one other escort and head for the bride’s home. Once there the weeklong celebration would begin, after which the bride would return with the groom to their new home. So Jesus promised HE WOULD RETURN. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back...” Hebrews 9:28 is straightforward: “…so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”
Jesus was assuring the disciples that HE WOULD RETURN TO TAKE THEM HOME TO BE WITH HIM. “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.” In speaking of Jesus’ ascension our Catechism states (#49) “We have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that he, as the head, will also take us, his members, up to himself.” Jesus will return to bring his loved ones home. Think about it. Stephen, as he was being stoned for his witness to the risen, ascended Jesus, saw Jesus coming to greet him. The father of the prodigal didn’t stand idly by, waiting; he ran to his son, embraced and kissed him can called for a celebration. So Jesus says He’ll greet each disciple. You can almost hear him speak to them. “James, you will be the first of the martyrs; but know yours will be a royal reception! Thomas, you will be sawn in two; but what an abundant entrance you will have to my house! And John, you will outlive the rest, and be very much alone; but know that you will be reunited in glory far beyond your comprehension. As for you, Peter, you’ll die on a cross; but even as the Father received my spirit, I’ll receive yours! ‘So you will have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.’” (Jn. 16: 22 RSV) The disciples, and we, will spend eternity with Jesus!
Anthony Burger died at age 44. Many feel that he is the finest gospel pianist that ever lived. He spent the last ten years playing for the Gaither Vocal Band. He last played on a cruise ship. Fifteen hundred people were on the cruise, vacationing during the day, and attending gospel concerts at night. The fourth night out, Anthony Burger had just played a piano solo of “We Shall behold Him.” About five minutes later, during the concert, he collapsed of a massive heart attack and died instantly at the piano. Author Becky Pippert was a guest teacher on that cruise, and she was to address the people the next morning in a Bible study. Becky said that before she got up to teach, a woman came to her and said, "Becky, I want to tell you what happened to me last night—just before Anthony Burger died." Becky said, "Bob, you know you sometimes have people come up to you, and they want to give their testimony or they want to be on the stage; they want the spotlight. But this is not one of those ego-driven people. She's very humble and unassuming. She said, 'In the concert last night, after Anthony Burger played his solo, the spotlight went to the other side of the stage, but for some reason I kept my eyes on Anthony Burger. I felt like God was impressing me with: I'm going to show you something from my realm that will be an encouragement to people. I was troubled! And suddenly,' she said, 'I saw standing behind Anthony Burger, an angel.' She said, 'He appeared to be seven feet tall, dressed in white and gold, and he just stood there for about 30 seconds.' And she said, 'He put his hand on Anthony's shoulder, and Anthony looked up and then slumped down and died—when just minutes before, he played the song "We Shall Behold Him."
So WE CAN LIVE WITH CONFIDENCE. Whatever your needs, worries, fears, or troubles – Jesus will come again to take you to be with Himself – forever. Nothing can change that – if you’re ready. Asia Bibi is ready. Nothing can shake her. And the only difference between her and us is that she knows she may well die soon. We tend to think we have a lot of tomorrows. Yet as James wrote (4:13-14 NLT) “Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” The only hour we’re sure of is the one just past; the only minute we’re sure of is this one. Are you ready? Put your trust in Jesus. Receive Him now as your Lord and Savior. Then you, too, can stand by Jesus – because your future will be secure.
