GROUNDS OF COMFORT.
Text: "“Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14:1).
1. Jesus reassures us that those who put their trust in Him have a sure place in the Father’s house (John 14:2-3).
Jesus has left us as the forerunner to search out a resting place for us. He is our passport home. We are just strangers and pilgrims as we pass through this earth (cf. 1 Peter 2:11).
2. We have in Jesus a sure way to get to heaven (John 14:4-6).
Jesus is the way, the key, the door, the straight path. There is no way to heaven but the way of the Cross (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18). Our “cross” is easy by comparison (cf. Matthew 16:24).
3. Even with His departure, His work goes on (John 14:12-14).
Jesus miraculously fed the multitudes. Peter saw 3000 converts on his first outing (cf. Acts 2:41). Ever since that day the church has grown by fits and starts, leaps and bounds.
Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead. So did the Apostles. Even to this day there is a healing ministry in the Church.
Jesus rose from the dead. In the fullest sense, He is the “firstborn from the dead” (cf. Colossians 1:18). He guarantees our power over death, and the resurrection power courses in our very veins.
The Book of Acts is a continuation of the Gospel. It contains an account of what Jesus afterwards said and did by the power of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of His Apostles. Yet it is an open-ended book.
There is an on-going work of Christ in our midst, and through prayer in His name we can accomplish anything (John 14:13-14).
4. He has given us the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-17).
Jesus said, “I will pray the Father, and He will send another Comforter that He may abide with you forever.” Elsewhere it is Jesus who sends “the promise of the Father” (cf. Luke 24:49). Thus the Holy Spirit is said to proceed from the Father “and the Son” in the Western creeds.
The Holy Spirit is personal, a “He” not an “it.” The Spirit of truth indwells us (John 14:17). He helps us to pray (cf. Romans 8:26), and assists us when we are called to account for what we believe (cf. Matthew 10:19-20).
5. Jesus will come again (John 14:18-20).
The word translated “comfortless” (John 14:18) is quite literally “orphans,” which returns us to Jesus’ tender “little children” which began this discourse (cf. John 13:33).
I am hard pressed to know whether Jesus’ “I will come to you” (John 14:18) refers to His coming in the Spirit, or to His appearing at the end of the age. We find the same phrase at the end of the Bible (cf. Revelation 22:20).
Jesus also said, “Behold I am with you always, even to the end of the world” (cf. Matthew 28:20). Meanwhile we “see” Him with the eyes of faith (John 14:19). “At that day” (John 14:20) would then refer to the day of His coming.
6. Also in the meantime, the Holy Spirit teaches us (John 14:25-26).
He helps us to recall, and to apply, what we have learned.
7. Finally, Jesus gives us the peace which the world cannot give (John 14:27).
The famous Peace of Rome was maintained with the sword. The best that the world can offer is freedom from war. That, as we know, can be ill-defined and short-lived.
The declaration of peace heralded the blessings of the Messianic age (cf. Luke 2:14). It includes the idea of well-being, health, and prosperity. The peace of God is mentioned in benedictions, and those who manifest this fruit of the Spirit are singled out in the Beatitudes.
The peace that Jesus gives is based in the salvation purchased for us with His own blood. It is first and foremost “peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ” (cf. Romans 5:1). On this basis we are exhorted to “follow peace with all men” (cf. Hebrews 12:14).
Having pronounced these seven reassurances, Jesus reiterated: “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).
