Living Water Ministries

VERSE OF THE DAY

Proverbs 19:20-21 (New Living Translation)

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Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life. You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.

Learn all the knowledge that you can in advise and law of spiritual holy law you can Jesus law not the government law but the law of God. You can make a series of many plans but the lords plans he has for you he has consumed with purpose and will prosper

PROVERBS 19 – FOOLS AND FAMILY LIFE

Proverbs 19:1

Better is the poor who walks in his integrity
Than one who is perverse in his lips, and is a fool.

a. Better is the poor who walks in his integrity: Previous proverbs have been critical of the poor, but here Solomon recognized that not all poverty is caused by moral failure or weakness. There are definitely poor people who walk in their integrity.

i. “Often men put under their feet those whom God carries in his heart. Man honors the perverse for their riches and despises the poor because of their poverty.” (Bridges)

b. Than one who is perverse in his lips, and is a fool: The Book of Proverbs is honest about the disadvantages of poverty. Yet it also recognizes that being poor is in no way the worst thing a person can be. It is far worse to be a fool who speaks twisted, perverse things.

i. “Once again a proverb correlates poverty with piety and wealth with impiety. The poor may be miserable for the moment, but the unethical rich are miserable for eternity. Thus the proverb teaches the pilgrim to walk by faith, not by sight.” (Waltke)

Proverbs 19:2

Also it is not good for a soul to be without knowledge,
And he sins who hastens with his feet.

a. It is not good for a soul to be without knowledge: When a person (a soul) has no wisdom (is without knowledge), it is never good. It may be common, but it is not good.

b. And he who sins hastens with his feet: Solomon listed a second thing that was not good – the one who rushes toward sin (hastens with his feet). On this side of eternity, we will also struggle with sin, but we don’t have to run towards it. We should be those who battle against sin, not run towards it.

Proverbs 19:3

The foolishness of a man twists his way,
And his heart frets against the LORD.

a. The foolishness of a man twists his way: it is true that a fool is foolish because they are twisted, crooked. Yet it also true that the foolish man finds his way more and more twisted. Foolishness leads to more twistedness.

b. His heart frets against the LORD: God intended us to be at peace with Him, but because of rebellion (both inherited and chosen), we are in many ways against the LORD. The foolish man or woman has no peace in God; their heart frets against the LORD. They are angry and perhaps bitter against God for their twisted way.

i. “Fools will try to blame God when they ruin their lives…The fool is not willing to accept failure as his own. Of course, to blame God is also folly.” (Ross)

ii. “Such is the pride and blasphemy of a proud spirit. The criminal blames the judge for his righteous sentence.” (Bridges)

Proverbs 19:4

Wealth makes many friends,
But the poor is separated from his friend.

a. Wealth makes many friends: When a person is wealthy, it draws many people to them in friendship. Yet these friendships may not be sincere or meaningful.

i. “Although a crowd, each one forms the friendship out of what he can gain, not for what he can give. The proverb anticipates the Lord’s teaching to use of money to win friends and an eternal reward in the kingdom of God (Luke 18:1-9).” (Waltke)

b. The poor is separated from his friend: The wealthy man has advantages and draws many friends, but the poor man does not have these advantages. Their would-be friends find it easy to separate from them.

Proverbs 19:5

A false witness will not go unpunished,
And he who speaks lies will not escape.

a. A false witness will not go unpunished: The first idea in this proverb is probably that of the law court, and in the court, it is essential that the false witness be punished. Justice depends upon it. This principle extends beyond the court of law into our daily life. God loves the truth and wants us to speak the truth.

b. He who speaks lies will not escape: Among men, sometimes the falsewitness and liars escape the discovery and penalty of their sin. With God, he who speaks lies will not escape. Jesus said our every word would be held to account (Matthew 12:36).

i. “This is a statement made in faith, for perjurers may escape human justice. Even the stern law of Deuteronomy 19:18-21 availed nothing for Naboth—or for Jesus.” (Kidner)

Proverbs 19:6

Many entreat the favor of the nobility,
And every man is a friend to one who gives gifts.

a. Many entreat the favor of the nobility: When someone is of high status and importance (of the nobility), many people want their favor. There are advantages in having the favor of influential people.

b. Every man is a friend to the one who gives gifts: Many people who offer friendship do so out of selfish motives. They want the benefit of the favor of the nobility and the gifts that others may offer.

Proverbs 19:7

All the brothers of the poor hate him;
How much more do his friends go far from him!
He may pursue them with words, yet they abandon him.

a. All the brothers of the poor hate him: To be poor is often to be rejected by men, even by brothers and friends. What a contrast to Jesus, who Himself became poor (2 Corinthians 8:9) to draw near to us in our poverty and need.

b. He may pursue them with words, yet they abandon him: By nature, people run from the poor person, even when he tries to persuade and pursue them with words. In contrast, God pursues the poor and needy.

Proverbs 19:8

He who gets wisdom loves his own soul;
He who keeps understanding will find good.

a. He who gets wisdom loves his own soul: The possession and pursuit of wisdom is so good and helpful to us that we can and should get wisdom simply out of self-interest. In so doing we love our own soul, our own life.

i. Loves his own soul:“Or loveth himself, because he procures great good to his soul, or to himself, as it follows; as sinners, on the contrary, are said to hate their souls, Proverbs 29:24, because they bring mischief upon them.” (Poole)

b. He who keeps understanding will find good: Wisdom isn’t just something to get; it is also something to keep. We find good when we keep understanding.

Proverbs 19:9

A false witness will not go unpunished,
And he who speaks lies shall perish.

a. A false witness will not go unpunished: The words and sense of this proverb were previously presented in Proverbs 19:5. The repetition reminds us that this is an important principle. In the law court and in daily life, God wants us to be people of the truth and so He promised that a false witness will not go unpunished.

b. He who speaks lies shall perish: This speaks to the certainty of God’s justice towards those who lie. Revelation 21:8 warns that liars are among those who will have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Proverbs 19:10

Luxury is not fitting for a fool,
Much less for a servant to rule over princes.

a. Luxury is not fitting for a fool: The sense is that there are some wisdom-rejecting fools who enjoy luxury, but it doesn’t seem right. It isn’t fitting for a fool to live in luxury.

b. Much less for a servant to rule over princes: Solomon spoke according to the wisdom of the natural man, which places great trust in nobility and family lineage. This is one of the proverbs that the gospel and the new covenant turn on its head, where those who would be great should be as servants and not as princes (Matthew 20:26 and 23:11).

i. “The slave, who is incompetent both by disposition and training, will be drunk from the feeling of power and his rulership will develop into unbearable despotism. The consequences for the community are only incompetence, mismanagement, abuse of power, corruption, injustice; in brief, social chaos (cf. Ecclesiastes 10:5-7).” (Waltke)

ii. “The slave has the same rational power as his sovereign. But lesser habits of mind make him unfit to rule. There are, however, exceptions to this, as in the case of Joseph.” (Bridges)

Proverbs 19:11

The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger,
And his glory is to overlook a transgression.

a. The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger: It isn’t necessarily weakness or lack of courage that makes a man slow to anger. It may be wisdom, here described as discretion.

b. His glory is to overlook a transgression: A wise man or woman knows that they have been forgiven much, and this shapes how they deal with others. They don’t act as if they must hold everyone accountable for every transgression but know when to overlook a transgression.

i. “The virtue which is indicated here is more than a forgiving temper; it includes also the ability to shrug off insults and the absence of a brooding hypersensitivity.” (McKane, cited in Ross)

ii. “The manlier any man is, the milder and readier to pass by an offence. This shows that he hath much of God in him (if he do it from a right principle), who bears with our evil manners, and forgives our trespasses, beseeching us to be reconciled.” (Trapp)

Proverbs 19:12

The king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion,
But his favor is like dew on the grass.

a. The king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion: The roar of a lion is terrifying in itself, even without the understanding that destruction will swiftly follow. The same is true for the wrath of a king or any other influential person. It is much truer regarding the wrath of God or the wrath of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5).

i. “Hebrew, Of a young lion, which, being in his prime, roars more terribly; sets up his roar with such a force that he amazeth the other creatures whom he hunteth, so that, though far swifter of foot than the lion, they have no power to fly from him.” (Trapp)

ii. “There is nothing more dreadful than the roaring of this tyrant of the forest. At the sound of it all other animals tremble, flee away, and hide themselves. The king who is above law, and rules without law, and whose will is his own law, is like the lion.” (Clarke)

b. His favor is like the dew on the grass: This means the king’s favor is refreshing and life-giving; it also means that it is fleeting, as the dew on the grass. The favor of God is certainly refreshing and life-giving, but it is not fleeting, as if God were an impossible-to-please tyrant.

i. “Dew, which in the climatic conditions of Palestine was essential to the survival of vegetation in the hot, dry summer, is a gift from God.” (Waltke)

ii. “This proverb would advise the king’s subjects to use tact and the king to cultivate kindness.” (Ross)

Proverbs 19:13

A foolish son is the ruin of his father,
And the contentions of a wife are a continual dripping.

a. A foolish son is the ruin of his father: It is grieving to any parent to have a foolish son or daughter. This may run from grief to ruin as the grief destroys the father’s health and life, or as the father ruins himself to rescue the foolish son.

b. The contentions of a wife are a continual dripping: This proverb of sympathy for a man’s problems as a father now looks at a man’s potential problem as a husband. A wife who often contends (fights, argues) with her husband is like a continual dripping in at least three ways.

· It is an always-present annoyance and trouble.

· It wastes and destroys, eroding good and valuable things.

· It points to some underlying, more basic problem.

i. “The man who has got such a wife is like a tenant who has got a cottage with a bad roof, through every part of which the rain either drops or pours. He can neither sit, stand, work, nor sleep, without being exposed to these droppings. God help the man who is in such a case, with house or wife!” (Clarke)

ii. “Like as a man that hath met with hard usage abroad thinks to mend himself at home, but is no sooner sat down there but the rain, dropping through the roof upon his head, drives him out of doors again. Such is the case of him that hath a contentious wife – a far greater cross than that of ungracious children, which yet are the father’s calamities and heart breaks.” (Trapp)

iii. “Delitzsch passes on an Arab proverb told him…‘Three things make a house intolerable: tak (the leaking through of rain), nak (a wife’s nagging) and bak (bugs).’” (Kidner)

Proverbs 19:14

Houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers,
But a prudent wife is from the LORD.

a. Houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers: There are good things a man may receive as an inheritance, including material things such as houses and riches. A man is blessed to have such things.

b. A prudent wife is from the LORD: A gift beyond the inheritance one may receive from fathers is this gift from God – a prudent wife. A wife of wisdom, self-control, and appropriate living is a greater gift than houses and riches. A wife who is not prudent may waste whatever wealth a man has. Every man with a prudent, wise wife should give thanks to the LORD.

i. From the LORD: “Nature makes a woman, election a wife; but to be prudent, wise, and virtuous is of the Lord. A good wife was one of the first real and royal gifts bestowed on Adam.” (Trapp)

ii. “Thus the proverb instructs the disciple to look to God (Proverbs 15:8, 29; 16:3; cf. Genesis 24:14) and find his favor through wisdom to obtain from him a competent wife (Proverbs 8:35; 18:22)…. As a result, when a man has a competent wife, he praises God, not himself.” (Waltke)

iii. “The verse does not answer questions about unhappy marriages or bad wives; rather, it simply affirms that when a marriage turns out well, one should credit God.” (Ross)

Proverbs 19:15

Laziness casts one into a deep sleep,
And an idle person will suffer hunger.

a. Laziness casts one into a deep sleep: There are many problems with laziness, and one of them is that it leads to more laziness, sending the lazy man into a deep sleep. There is no work to be done from a deep sleep.

i. “Laziness plunges him into a state of being so deep in sleep that he is totally unconscious of his situation. Unaware of his tragic situation and unable to arouse himself, the sluggard neglects his source of income and so hungers. His fate is similar to that of drunkards and the gluttons (Proverbs 23:21).” (Waltke)

b. An idle person will suffer hunger: There is a great price to be paid from laziness, one of those prices is the hunger one suffers as one’s needs are not met through hard work. The lazy man or woman puts themselves in a trap of sleep and hunger.

Proverbs 19:16

He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul,
But he who is careless of his ways will die.

a. He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul: Obedience to the word and commandment of God is of real, practical benefit. Obedience guards and keeps the life, the soul of the wise man or woman who lives according to God’s word.

b. He who is careless of his ways will die: To abandon wisdom and live careless in our ways is to invite death. God gave His commandment to give us life and to keep us from death.

Proverbs 19:17

He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD,
And He will pay back what he has given.

a. He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD: When we give to the poor (expressing our love and pity towards them), we aren’t wasting our money. It is like lending money to the LORD Himself.

i. “Their just and gracious Creator takes it upon himself to assume their indebtedness and so he will repay the lender in full.” (Waltke)

b. He will pay back what he has given: God will never be in debt to any man. He will never be in a position where He owes anything as a matter of debt. Therefore, to lend to the LORD is to ensure blessing in return. God will certainly pay back what we give in compassion to the poor. God promises that we will never be the loser for generous and compassionate giving.

i. “God will never be in your debt. He is exact and punctilious in His repayment. No man ever dared to do His bidding in respect to any case of need, and found himself the poorer…. Was not Ruth’s love to Naomi well compensated?” (Meyer)

ii. “O what a word is this! God makes himself debtor for every thing that is given to the poor! Who would not advance much upon such credit? God will pay it again. And in no case has he ever forfeited his word.” (Clarke)

iii. “This promise of reward does not necessarily signify that he will get his money back; the rewards in Proverbs involve life and prosperity in general.” (Ross)

Proverbs 19:18

Chasten your son while there is hope,
And do not set your heart on his destruction.

a. Chasten your son while there is hope: There is not an endless window of opportunity to chasten and wisely discipline our children. Age and circumstances limit the opportunity for effective training, so it must be done while there is hope. There may come the time when you wish you had done much more to chasten your son or daughter.

i. “It is far better that the child should cry under healthy correction than that parents should later cry under the bitter fruit to themselves and their children of neglected discipline.” (Bridges)

b. Do not set your heart on his destruction: To fail to chasten your son in the opportune season is to actually work for his destruction. Many parents bring much destruction to their children through neglect, not outright abuse.

i. “Psychologically healthy parents do not consciously desire to kill their children. But if they do not employ the God-given means of verbal reproof to prevent acts of folly and corporal punishment to prevent their repetition, they are in fact unwittingly party to the worst punishment, his death.” (Waltke)

Proverbs 19:19

A man of great wrath will suffer punishment;
For if you rescue him, you will have to do it again.

a. A man of great wrath will suffer punishment: Out of control anger brings many problems and costs. Among the fruit of the spirit is self-control (Galatians 5:23), and wisdom does not lead a person to be of great wrath.

i. “He punishes himself. Wounded pride and resentment leave the wretched criminal brooding in his room. He suffers an intolerable burden of self-inflicted punishment.” (Bridges)

b. For if you rescue him, you will have to do it again: The person who can’t control their anger will run into trouble again and again. To rescue them once isn’t enough, because the problem is more in them than in the circumstances that they blame for their anger. It is better for them to face the consequences of their action and hope they learn something from it.

i. “An ungovernable temper will repeatedly land its owner in fresh trouble.” (Kidner)

Proverbs 19:20

Listen to counsel and receive instruction,
That you may be wise in your latter days.

a. Listen to counsel and receive instruction: One of the first marks of wisdom is the readiness to receive more wisdom. A teachable person, one who will listen to counsel and receive instruction, has already made much progress on the path of wisdom.

b. That you may be wise in your latter days: The bad effects of the foolish rejection of wisdom may not be seen for many years. Yet in the latter days of a man or woman’s life, it will be clear whether or not they learned wisdom’s lessons and if they did listen to counsel. If you want to be wise later in life, start now.

Proverbs 19:21

There are many plans in a man’s heart,
Nevertheless the LORD’s counsel—that will stand.

a. There are many plans in a man’s heart: It is in the nature of men (and women) to plan and prepare for the future. Some of the plans may be wise and some may be foolish, but there are many plans in a man’s heart.

b. Nevertheless, the LORD’s counsel – that will stand: Man makes his plans, and he should. Yet every plan should be made with an appreciation of God’s overall wisdom, work, and will.

i. James would later explain this principle this way: Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15)

ii. “This is a perfectly self evident assertion, but, as such, important as to warrant a pause in reading it. The one thing in the heart that may be depended upon is the counsel or guidance of Jehovah.” (Morgan)

Proverbs 19:22

What is desired in a man is kindness,
And a poor man is better than a liar.

a. What is desired in a man is kindness: It is not that kindness is the highest or only virtue for the people of God. Yet, in many ways, it is the one most desired by others, especially in a modern world.

b. A poor man is better than a liar: This proverb shows that kindness, though valuable, is not the only virtue. To be a man or woman of truth – to not be a liar – is also of great value. This proverb reminds us that though we should pursue and value kindness, we should not treat it as the only valued virtue among God’s people.

Proverbs 19:23

The fear of the LORD leads to life,
And he who has it will abide in satisfaction;
He will not be visited with evil.

a. The fear of the LORD leads to life: Since the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, it wonderfully leads to life. If we want life, we should begin with this honor, reverent awe and submission to God.

b. He who has it will abide in satisfaction: When we have, and walk in, the fear of the LORD, it leads to a life of satisfaction. The world, the flesh, and the devil want to convince us that a life founded on fear of the LORD leads to misery, but the opposite is true. It brings satisfaction and keeps us from a future of evil.

i. Will not be visited with evil: “When one lives a life of piety, the Lord provides a quality of life that cannot be disrupted by such evil.” (Ross)

Proverbs 19:24

A lazy man buries his hand in the bowl,
And will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

a. A lazy man buries his hand in the bowl: Solomon pictured a lazy man sitting at his food, with his hand buried in his bowl of food.

i. “This humorous portrayal is certainly an exaggeration. It probably was meant more widely for anyone who starts a project but lacks the energy to complete it.” (Ross)

ii. In the bowl: “The same word in 2 Kings 21:13 leaves no doubt of its meaning. The scene is thus a meal, and the example comically extreme.” (Kidner)

b. And will not so much as bring it to his mouth again: In this humorous, exaggerated picture, the lazy man has so little energy and initiative that he won’t even bring his hand from the bowl to his mouth. This exaggerated picture establishes a principle made elsewhere in proverbs: the lazy man will go hungry.

i. Will not so much as bring it to his mouth again: “To wit, to feed himself; he expects that the meat should drop into his mouth.” (Poole)

ii. “Is it possible to find anywhere a more graphic or sarcastic description of absolute laziness?” (Morgan)

Proverbs 19:25

Strike a scoffer, and the simple will become wary;
Rebuke one who has understanding, and he will discern knowledge.

a. Strike a scoffer, and the simple will become wary: When a determined fool and opponent of wisdom (a scoffer) is punished, others will learn. The more innocent fool (the simple) may learn from this.

i. “Smite him never so much, there is no beating any wit into him. Pharaoh was not a button the better for all that he suffered; but Jethro, taking notice of God’s heavy hand upon Pharaoh, and likewise upon the Amalekites, was thereby converted, and became a proselyte, as Rabbi Solomon noteth upon this text.” (Trapp)

b. Rebuke one who has understanding: The rebuke of the scoffer seems to do the scoffer no good, though it may benefit the simple. Yet when someone who values wisdom (one who has understanding) is corrected, he learns. He grows in his ability to discern knowledge.

i. “Here are three varieties of mind: closed [scoffer]…empty (the simple—he must be startled into attention), and open [understanding] (…he accepts even a painful truth).” (Kidner)

Proverbs 19:26

He who mistreats his father and chases away his mother
Is a son who causes shame and brings reproach.

a. He who mistreats his father and chases away his mother: The Bible commands honor your father and your mother (Exodus 20:12). This proverb considers the person who does the opposite of Exodus 20:12.

i. “When the father and his household lies in ruin, the mother (see Proverbs 1:8) is left in a tragic situation without the provision and protection and of her husband. By ruining his father, the imbecile (cf. Proverbs 17:2) leaves his mother as good as a defenseless widow.” (Waltke)

b. Is a son who causes shame and brings reproach: One cannot disobey God and the standards of human society without paying a price. One price to be paid from the mistreatment of parents is to bring shame and reproach upon one’s self.

Proverbs 19:27

Cease listening to instruction, my son,
And you will stray from the words of knowledge.

a. Cease listening to instruction, my son: Solomon continued to give wisdom to his children, and here warned of the danger of ceasing to listen to instruction, to wisdom.

b. And you will stray from the words of knowledge: This shows us that attention and effort must be given to remain on the path of wisdom. If one does cease listening to instruction, then they will stray from the words of knowledge. One must set themselves on the path of wisdom and, with God’s help, determine that they will stay upon in.

i. “The meaning here is that it is better not to learn than to learn to refuse to obey.” (Morgan)

ii. “Without constant attention to wisdom depraved human beings unconsciously stray from it. Even Solomon, ancient Israel’s paragon of wisdom, strayed when he ceased listening to his own proverbs.” (Waltke)

Proverbs 19:28

A disreputable witness scorns justice,
And the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity.

a. A disreputable witness scorns justice: The witness who is not committed to truth doesn’t care about the workings of justice. Great harm comes upon society and its legal system when there is not care and promotion of the truth and the disreputable witness is not punished.

i. “The perjurers in the lawsuit against Naboth are called beliyyaal (1 Kings. 21:10, 13), a story that illustrates the lying witnesses’ lethal power.” (Waltke)

b. The mouth of the wicked devours iniquity: The words of the wicked (coming from the mouth) love iniquity so much that they devour it, as a hungry man devours food. This is the kind of person who scorns justice and tears down society.

Proverbs 19:29

Judgments are prepared for scoffers,
And beatings for the backs of fools.

a. Judgments are prepared for scoffers: Those who reject wisdom with hostility (scoffers) will not escape penalty. Judgments are prepared for them.

i. Are prepared for: “For these scorners (that promise themselves impunity) are judgments, not one, but many, not appointed only, but prepared long since, and now ready to be executed.” (Trapp)

b. Beatings for the backs of fools: Those who disregard wisdom, bound in their folly (fools) will also have their penalty. Correction will come to them in its appointed way, and sadly – the correction will do little good for them.

i. “Profane and wicked men expose themselves to the punishments denounced against such by just laws. Avoid, therefore, both their company and their end.” (Clarke)

(c) 2020 The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – ewm@enduringword.com

VERSE OF THE DAY

Matthew 6:33 (New Living Translation)

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Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

Search for the kingdom of God above everything and live in honor and righteousness for then only will he give you all that you need protect your peace

What Matthew 6:33 (Seek First the Kingdom of God) Means

How to Seek the Kingdom of God Now

by

Aaron Shaw & BibleProject Team 3 months ago

Why do we deadbolt our doors at night? Why lock our cars or windows or computers? With threats of injury and loss lurking everywhere, we learn to love personal security above anything else. Jesus values security too. The New Testament authors do not portray him as reckless or blind to our reality. But when he joins us in this painful world, he still chooses to live with love for God and others above anything else, even when doing so includes suffering, injury, and loss.

Is Jesus just a unique hero doing something no one else can? Or is he showing us a way to live on Earth right now?

When Jesus starts preaching the good news of God’s Kingdom, he envisions the fulfillment of God’s long-standing promise to eradicate corruption and death—to completely renew creation and forever establish a world where you love everyone and you know that everyone loves you.

Imagine living in a world where you know that nobody will harm you in any way. It’s a world where security is rooted in common love for one another, not protection against one another. It’s also an abundant world, so there’s no hoarding or competing for resources. No violence, no threats, no death. No deadbolts, no padlocks, and no passwords.

How would you live differently if you lived every day in a world like this?

Jesus saw himself bringing this kind of life to our world through what he called “the Kingdom of God,” by teaching people about the good news of God’s Kingdom. So in Matthew 6:33, when Jesus tells the crowds to continually “seek first the Kingdom and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be added to you,” what is he saying?

Is Jesus offering a new way to keep our instinctive value for personal security above all else? Or is he saying we should stop thinking about securing food, clothing, and shelter altogether because the Kingdom is here? Or is he inviting people to see that God’s Kingdom is here and available—teaching us to practice ways of life rooted in strong love for God and others? What does Matthew 6:33 mean?

For context, let’s explore a few key points in the larger biblical story. It will help bring Matthew 6:33 into clearer focus, especially in terms of what it means to “seek first the Kingdom of God.”

The Choice of How To Live Secure Lives

In Genesis 1 and 2, the biblical authors invite us to see a life-and-death choice that humans have to make. Will we live freely and forever in God’s abundant world (represented by the garden of Eden) by joining his own way of ruling the world according to his wisdom? Or will we try to rule according to our own wisdom?

In Genesis 3:1-15, the humans trust their own perspective on how the world should work more than they trust God’s wisdom. They eat from the tree that God specifically told them to avoid, and they immediately experience fear. They end up outside the good garden, suffering in a world of injury, loss, and death—a place where deadbolts and weapons make sense because life is dangerous and eventually returns to dust.

The biblical story tells us that humanity will be tempted to secure life in ways that might make sense from certain (limited) perspectives, but when those ways disregard God’s instruction, humans always end up bringing harm to creation and one another.

Jesus weaves this thread from Genesis 3 right to the heart of his teaching. He speaks directly to the deep human instinct for survival. What do I need to own, or whom must I defeat, in order to live another day? His electrifying response to this question sums up the essence of his Sermon on the Mount: “But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.”

Notice how Matthew 6:33 begins with the contrasting conjunction “but,” telling us that he’s helping us see a contrast with what came before. Earlier in Matthew 6, he describes two worlds: one where humans anxiously secure their lives according to their preferences and personal perspectives, and one where humans freely live according to God’s wisdom and provision—a world where every person trusts that God ultimately gives people everything they need for life.

Surrounded by poverty, crime, and threats of violence, we rightly sense danger everywhere. Working to protect “me and mine” at any cost, even if it includes neglecting or harming others, has become normal, even “virtuous” in popular culture. We’ve got our own problems to deal with, and doing what it takes to generously love each of our neighbors sounds nice but feels unrealistic. So when we hear Jesus say, “Seek first the Kingdom of God,” it sounds idealistic and impractical if not impossible.

But Jesus resists the temptation to depend on violence of any kind to preserve himself. He rejects every selfish way of gaining personal security, and he becomes the clearest example of what it looks like to live in this new way of life.

Seeking First the Kingdom in a Dangerous World

To get a good definition of “Kingdom of God,” it’s helpful to first understand what “kingdom” meant for the biblical authors. In Jesus’ first-century Jewish context, kingdom meant a tangible, real world on Earth, including real citizens, a real king, and a way of life governed by that king. When kings embraced harmful ways of living and governing, everyone in the empire would suffer. But when kings operated according to God’s wisdom, everyone in the empire would experience increased life, provision, and safety.

The tension we feel when Jesus says “seek first the Kingdom” is related to the fact that this Kingdom is not fully here yet. He is the king. He is on the throne. But not everyone realizes this.

It would be easier to practice loving every neighbor with perfect love in a world where every neighbor loves you back the same way, but it’s difficult (even deadly) to practice that way of life in a hostile world. When danger still exists, fear can compel us more than love. We conform to average patterns of life that value security above all else. Possessions, income, and protections help us feel safe. Often this means we feel entitled to what we have, leading us to compete with our neighbors for resources. But to seek first the Kingdom of God means prioritizing love over survival—something Jesus embodies throughout his life and teaching, especially on the cross.

The story about the early Church in Acts 2 gives us a glimpse of people compelled by love and living in the ways of Jesus. They’re living in God’s Kingdom while also surviving in our dangerous world. How?

The story describes them as a community of people choosing to help each other live together in the way of their King. It’s a life marked by selfless giving and freedom from fearful self-preservation. The New Testament’s gospel accounts show us how Jesus encouraged his followers to receive life as an ongoing gift from God and to live as a gift, or grace, toward others. He never suggests that some violence is needed to stay safe or that some selfishness is necessary for improved comfort or efficiency.

He flips that hostile script and lives according to the promised reality of God’s Kingdom becoming just as real on Earth as it is in Heaven. Living in the way of Jesus sets us free to love our neighbors as generously as he does.

Where True Safety and Security Come From

Normal empires and kings tell their citizens that safety and satisfaction result when one has money, stuff, and power over other people. Once we have secured ourselves with these things, then we can serve others.

But Jesus, the King of God’s Kingdom, tells us that safety and satisfaction result when we love God and others as we love ourselves. When Jesus says “all these things will be added to you,” he’s talking about drink, food, and shelter—all symbols of provision, fullness, and life.1 At first, it sounds like he’s talking about a friendlier way to secure, right now, the goods we value above all else. But notice how Jesus tells the crowds that these things “will be” added to you. He’s not promising that this happens quickly.

He’s talking about a long-term vision for whole-world restoration. These things were not all added to Jesus himself during his lifetime. He remained poor and in great danger, even suffering as a victim of brutal murder. But he knew these experiences were not ultimate. Having every possible need met every day appears to be something we will ultimately experience when God’s Kingdom is complete, when everyone everywhere operates and loves according to the King.

Many of us will experience the pain of unmet needs in this life. We may not have the food, medicine, or other provisions we need to survive, even if we faithfully follow Jesus to the end. We may live with justice for all and still receive oppression in return. Some of us will be hurt and have no one to tend to our needs. Jesus’ life and words speak to this reality as well. He himself experienced betrayal, poverty, hunger, and violence as he lived in the ways of God’s Kingdom. But he never felt insecure. Throughout the four Gospels, the story of Jesus shows him remaining confident that his life is in God’s hands.

Jesus did not embrace anxious ways of protection or accumulation, and he consistently teaches his followers to do the same.2 He was banking everything on God’s promise and trusting that the way of love is more satisfying, secure, and safe than any other way.

Though we can experience God’s Kingdom in part right now, especially in communities where others are choosing to live like Jesus3, we still suffer in ways that invite us to rely more and more on God’s generous character and his promise to unite his Kingdom with our whole world.

We’ll stop competing with coworkers. We’ll stop fretting about others’ approval. We’ll stop exhausting ourselves to secure a future we cannot control. The more we practice the ways of Jesus and his Kingdom, the more we enter a kind of freedom that helps us see how we are no longer in danger right now.

God’s got us. We are safe, and we are loved.

All of the fragmented and corrupted ways we use to satisfy our deepest needs will come to an end as Jesus renews Heaven and Earth. Jesus is bringing life as we would imagine it in Eden—peaceful, without threats, filled with adventure and generous love. The biblical story shapes our understanding of this Eden-like life to come, imagining an abundant world free from any kind of threat.

Seeking God’s Kingdom Right Now

So what does living in Jesus’ new way of life actually look like?

We learn how to seek the Kingdom of God when we choose to enter the unique story of God, which has a lot to do with exposing the deception used to build human empires, lies that end up justifying neglectful or violent actions toward others. We learn to trust that God is not lying when he promises that his Kingdom is the world we’re built for and that he will bring it into our world. By trusting that promise (more than fearing what our human empires tell us to fear), we can slowly begin to see how we are already free from any ultimate danger.

“Oh death,” says the Apostle Paul, “where is your sting?”4 He was already seeking first the Kingdom of God above all else, even in the face of punishment by imprisonment and death. The threat undoubtedly scared him, but his love for Jesus and neighbors overpowered that fear. Love compelled Paul—not fear.

Everyone has real needs, and Jesus does not minimize them. He teaches people to give to one another and to receive from each other. It’s a way of seeking the Kingdom first, starting to live right now like we always will in God’s renewed world.

Jesus says that “all of these things will be added to you,” not “you shouldn’t want these things.” Our human desire for survival is not bad. Jesus himself expressed his own desire to survive when he prays in the garden of Gethsemane, “Please take this cup from me.”5 The cup is a metaphor for the responsibility God gave him to suffer unto death rather than retaliate in order to preserve himself. He’s pleading with God to help him survive another day. But his value for personal security is not above all else. His top priority is God’s will. So after expressing his desire to survive, he also affirms: “Yet not my will be done, but yours.”6 That’s a picture of seeking first the Kingdom of God even in the face of death.

Lastly, to seek first the Kingdom of God is a way of daring to hope. Jesus’ appointed messengers speak of a day when we won’t need to seek the Kingdom any longer because it will be fully here.7 It will be a world where everyone deeply, truly loves everyone else. There will be no injury or loss or death, no deadbolts, and no threats.

So we seek, love, and anticipate what is both arriving and already here. We’re almost home.

1. e.g. Matt. 6:19-32 2. e.g., Luke 12:29-31 3. e.g. Acts 2 4. 1 Cor. 15:55 5. Luke 22:42a 6. Luke 22:42b 7. e.g., 1 Cor. 13:9; Heb. 8:7-13



This article was written by Scholar Fellow Aaron Shaw in collaboration with Editing and Research Scholar Dr. Ben Tertin. Copy-edited by Kenzie Halbert-Howen with additional editorial support from Mike Fleming and Nina Simone. BibleProject Articles are produced by Brad Witty.

What Does Matthew 6:33 Mean? ►

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 6:33(NASB)

Verse of the Day

Not one word in Scripture is superfluous and when the word BUT starts a sentence, it is a conjunction of contrast – it is a word that introduces an opposite outcome and is a clue that the upcoming statement is about to qualify something important. Having taught His disciples to pray to the Father in faith, Christ gives a long dissertation on the futility of fretting, the fruitlessness of worry, and the anxiety that is caused when our primary attention is on how we can provide for our own, temporal needs and necessities rather than relying on the Lord.

Through a series of beautiful examples, Jesus points out that both the birds of the air and the flowers of the field neither fret for their food nor worry about their clothing, but are graciously cared for by the Lord… a poignant reminder that God’s blood-bought children are infinitely more precious to Him than pretty flowers or feathered foul.

Don’t be worried about the things connected to your life is Christ’s clear command. Don’t fret about what you are going to eat or what you will drink, and don’t be concerned for your body, as to what you will wear, were the comforting words of Jesus to His people. If the birds of the air and the flowers of the field are fed and clothed so beautifully, don’t you think that your Heavenly Father is able to supply all your needs? – were Christ’s reassuring words. 

But then followed an important lesson, that instead of futile fretting and needless worry, our principal thoughts and primary pursuit should be on the eternal kingdom of God and the righteousness that flows from Him, rather than seeking to provide for ourselves through the bankrupt dominions of this passing world system.

God in His grace invites us to live a life that is free from worry and devoid of anxieties by seeking first the kingdom of God and the righteousness with which we are clothed, when we trust in Him for salvation. We are to first be concerned about God’s kingdom and His righteousness, and when we have the right priorities, all of these other things will be provided for us as well.

God knows that worry entraps the heart and fear fractures faith, which can cause a believer to spiral down into a pit of despair. BUT He also knows that we have daily needs, and has given many precious promises throughout Scripture that He will be the Provider for all the needs and the Supplier of all the necessities of life – if we will but trust in Him.

Instead of seeking first the things of this world through our own effort, we are urged to seek Him first, to develop a right perspective, to exchange natural thinking for godly thinking.

So as we trust Him to fulfil His promise to provide for our needs, remembering that He is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, let us take the words of Jesus to heart to seek HIM first, and make HIM our main focus, today and every day.

My Prayer

Loving Father, I know that too often a lack of faith in Your promises of provision, have caused me to seek after the things of this world by myself. I confess this is a lack of faith in You. From now on, may I seek Your kingdom and righteousness first, knowing that You are my great Provider. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.

Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/matthew-6-33

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_6:33

VERSE OF THE DAY

Ephesians 5:1 (New Living Translation)

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Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.

As a father to a child we as parents want the best for them and we show that example be being that example and as the child we mimic what is the parent has shown leaving us to imitate what we know

It’s the same way with God

God just wants the best for us as his children he wants us to imitate what he teaches us and remember his laws he wants us to teach what he has taught us and mimic and imitate him in everything we do like father and child we are his example we are his child we are his example

1 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.

What is the meaning of Ephesians 5 1?

Imitate God (5:1)

It is natural for children to be like their parents. We are to act as children imitating our father. We want to imitate God the Father because we have experienced extraordinary love as his children. Now obviously we cannot be like God for there are many attributes he possesses that we cannot possess.Mar 2, 2014

What Does Ephesians 5:1 Mean? ►

Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children.

Ephesians 5:1(HCSB)

Verse of the Day

Having detailed our unity in the Spirit, our union with Christ, and the unsearchable riches of God that have been freely bestowed on us by grace, Paul contrasts the corrupt lives of unregenerate man with the normal Christian walk, which should exhibit the tenderness, forgiveness, and grace that we see in the character of God and the life of Christ.

Having built up this worthy argument, Paul then exhorts us, “Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children.” We are being called here to live as sons and daughters of God, whereby our lives reflect the kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness of the Father in the same way that God in Christ has forgiven us.

These are beautiful qualities that are exhibited in a life that is living in spirit and truth, under the guidance of the Spirit, in union with Christ, and in fellowship with the Father. We have been freely forgiven and have received the unsearchable riches of God’s grace. We receive all of this because of Christ, Who gave Himself for us.

Because we are in union with Christ and identified with Him, we are exhorted to follow Him in our attitudes and actions, and even the motives of our hearts that are known only to God. We are called to be like Christ; to follow His example, to imitate His life and character, to grow in grace, and to be conformed into His likeness.

The only way to grow in grace and mature in the Christian faith is to put away all the influences and characteristics of the old sin nature that are exhibited in a wide range of outward actions, inward attitudes, and secret motives that are acceptable to God.

We are not to take part in actions, attitudes, and motives that are unacceptable to God. Rather, we are to imitate the beautiful life that Christ lived by living our life in the same way that Christ did – by walking in spirit, sharing the truth in love, growing in grace, and learning obedience through the things that we suffer. 

My Prayer

Loving Father, I want to be more and more like Christ, to walk in newness of life, and to truly be a life where Christ can be seen in me. In His name I pray, AMEN.

Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/ephesians-5-1

QUESTION

What does it mean to be imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1)?

ANSWER

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul instructs the believers, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children” (Ephesians 5:1). We are to imitate Christ and model our lives after Him.

This word translated as “imitators” or “followers” in English versions of the Bible is mimētai in the Greek, the root of our word mimic. It has the positive connotation of emulating a pattern set by an admired mentor, and it is used seven times in the New Testament to advocate following or emulating certain early church leaders, Christ, and, ultimately, God.

A child imitating his or her parent is the most natural thing in the world. It’s how children learn everything from brushing their teeth to putting away toys to treating others with respect. Young children want to grow up to be like their parents, and they will often pretend to be their parents—trying on their parents’ shoes, wearing their hats, etc. It’s an important part of childhood play as they imitate what they see in their parents. This is the type of mimicry that Paul alludes to in Ephesians 5.

In Ephesians 5:1–21, Paul discusses what behavior is and is not a worthy imitation of God and befitting of God’s children. “For at one time you were darkness,” he says, “but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).

When Paul instructed the believers to be imitators of God, he did not indicate that this meant they should act as if they were also divine, omniscient, or possessed of any God-like powers. Instead, he specified “be imitators of God, as beloved children” (Ephesians 5:1, emphasis added). Perhaps this is why some translations use the word followers instead, to emphasize that Christians must imitate God in such a way that follows His example. Beloved children do not presume to become their parents; however, children may be seen imitating the behaviors and actions of their parents.

To properly imitate God, we must first be His children. “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12–13). If we receive Christ and believe in His name, we become God’s beloved children.

We must also know God’s ways so we might know what to imitate. Ephesians 5:1–21 gives several examples. “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. . . . And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:3–4, 18–21). We can learn of the Lord and His ways through prayerful study of biblical passages like this one.

God gave us the ultimate example to follow in Christ. Discerning how to live based on our God who supersedes the universe can be difficult, but, in the life of Christ, we see a practical example of how a person should live on this earth. “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). As we look to Christ, we learn we are to walk in love, giving sacrificially to others and offering ourselves fully as a sacrifice to God.

Imitators of God will be imitators of Christ, striving to walk in love and submission to God as beloved children walk in obedience to and imitation of a father.

1 Kings 19:4

Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”

Many a time we feel alone and depressed we want to have our life finished rather than remain alone

Though we feel alone God is always around yet we still may ask for dead to not feel the loneliness and solitude

4 ¶ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a ajuniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

1 KINGS 19 – GOD ENCOURAGES DISCOURAGED ELIJAH

Audio for 1 Kings 19:

1 Kings 18:20-19:21 – A Great Victory & the Aftermath of It

A. Elijah flees to the wilderness.

1. (1-3) Jezebel’s threat.

And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

a. Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done: The report came as a great shock to this champion of Baal and Astarte worship in Israel. She thought so much of these priests that she supported them from the royal treasury, and now they were dead at the hand of Elijah.

b. So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time: Jezebel heard about all that Elijah had done, encompassing the great confrontation at Mount Carmel. Yet her response was not to say, “The silence of Baal and the fire from Yahweh proves that I am wrong and Yahweh is God.” Instead, she responded with a vow to kill within 24 hours the man who exposed the lie of Baal worship and displayed the glory of Yahweh.

i. “He probably thought that the miracle at Carmel would have been the means of effecting the conversion of the whole court and of the country, but, finding himself mistaken, he is greatly discouraged.” (Clarke)

c. When he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba: We cannot say for certain if this was led of God or not. It is clear that God wanted to protect Elijah, but we cannot say if God wanted to protect him at Jezreel or protect him by getting him out of Jezreel. Nevertheless, Elijah went about 80 miles south to Beersheba.

i. “Probably Elijah had played into Jezebel’s hand. Had she really wanted Elijah dead, she surely would have seized him without warning and slain him. What she desired was that Elijah and his God be discredited before the new converts what had aided Elijah by executing the prophets of Baal.” (Patterson and Austel)

ii. “Elijah failed in the very point at which he was strongest, and that is where most men fail. In Scripture, it is the wisest man who proves himself to be the greatest fool; just as the meekest man, Moses, spoke hasty and bitter words. Abraham failed in his faith, and Job in his patience; so, he who was the most courageous of all men, fled from an angry woman.” (Spurgeon)

2. (4) Elijah’s depression.

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

a. He himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness: Beyond the distant city of Beersheba, Elijah secluded himself even more.

b. And he prayed that he might die: This mighty man of prayer – mighty enough to make the rain and the dew stop for three and a half years, and then mighty enough to make it start again at his prayer – now he prayed that he might die.

i. Thankfully, this was a prayer not answered for Elijah. In fact, Elijah was one of the few men in the Bible to never die! We can imagine that as he was caught up into heaven, he smiled and thought of this prayer – and the blessed no that answered his prayer. To receive a no answer from God can be better than receiving a yes answer.

c. It is enough: We sense that Elijah meant, “I can’t do this anymore, LORD.” The work was stressful, exhausting, and seemed to accomplish nothing. The great work on Mount Carmel did not result in a lasting national revival or return to the LORD.

i. Perhaps Elijah had especially hoped that the events on Mount Carmel would turn around Ahab and Jezebel and the leadership of Israel in general. If so, Elijah forgot that people reject God despite the evidence, not because of the evidence.

ii. “Elijah said, ‘It is enough,’ yet it was not enough even for his own enjoyment, for the Lord had more blessings in store for him… It was so with Elijah, for he was to have that wonderful revelation of God on Mount Horeb. He had more to enjoy, and the later life of Elijah appears to have been one of calm communion with his God; he seems never to have had another fainting fit, but to the end his sun shone brightly without a cloud. So it was not enough; how could he know that it was? It is God alone who knows when we have done enough, and enjoyed enough; but we do not know.” (Spurgeon)

d. Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers: When Elijah examined the apparent failure of his work, he instinctively set the blame on his own unworthiness. It was because he was a sinner as the rest of his ancestors that the work seemed to fail.

B. God’s ministry to the despairing Elijah.

1. (5-8) God ministers to the physical needs of Elijah.

Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. And the angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

a. As he lay and slept under a broom tree: This was the mercy of God extended to Elijah. Physically speaking, he needed rest and replenishment. God gave him rest under a broom tree, and provided miraculous food for the replenishment.

i. God first ministered to Elijah’s physical needs. This is not always His order, but physical needs are important. Sometimes the most spiritual thing a person can do is get enough rest and replenishment.

ii. “And how many are there at this day that sit under Elias’s juniper, willing and wishing to lay down that heavy burden imposed upon them by the Almighty!” (Trapp)

b. So he ate and drank, and lay down again: Elijah received this rest and replenishment repeatedly from the LORD. One quick nap and one quick meal wasn’t enough.

i. “Before entering into that communion with him which was for the correction of his false attitude of fear, He commanded him to eat, thus ministering to his physical weakness.” (Morgan)

ii. “The spirit needs to be fed, and the body needs feeding also. Do not forget these matters; it may seem to some people that I ought not to mention such small things as food and rest, but these may be the very first elements in really helping a poor depressed servant of God.” (Spurgeon)

iii. “It was very gracious for God to deal this with his servant. We might have expected rebuke or remonstrance, chiding or chastisement; but we would hardly have expected such loving, gentle treatment as this.” (Meyer)

c. Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you: God set Elijah on a 200-mile, 40-day trip to Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai. This shows that God did not demand an immediate recovery from Elijah. He allowed the prophet time to recover from his spiritual depression.

i. “Elijah’s forty-day journey is not without significance. Indeed, a straight trip from Beersheba would require little more than a quarter of that time. Therefore the period is designedly symbolic. As the children of Israel had a notable spiritual failure and so were to wander forty years in the wilderness, so a defeated Elijah was to spend forty days in the desert.” (Patterson and Austel)

2. (9-10) God allows Elijah to vent his frustrations.

And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” So he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”

a. He went into a cave: Literally, the Hebrew is definite describing the cave. “The cave may well have been the specific ‘cleft of the rock’ where God appeared to Moses (av, Exodus 33:22) rather than the ‘cave-region’ generally.” (Wiseman)

i. “Perhaps no spot on earth is more associated with the manifested presence of God than that sacred mount.” (Meyer)

b. What are you doing here, Elijah: God knew the answer to this question, but it was good for Elijah to speak to the LORD freely and to unburden his heart.

i. “God has ways of teaching all of us in our bones and in our flesh, but he specially knows how to do this with those upon whom he puts any honor in his service. You must not marvel, if God should be pleased to bless you to the conversion of souls, that he should also make you sometimes smart.” (Spurgeon)

c. I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts: Elijah protested to God, “I have faithfully served You and now look at the danger I am in.” To Elijah – and many servants of God since – it seemed unfair that a faithful servant of God should be made to suffer.

d. I alone am left: This was not accurate, but it reflected how Elijah felt. Even back at the confrontation at Mount Carmel, Elijah said I alone am left a prophet of the LORD (1 Kings 18:22). Discouraging times make God’s servants feel more isolated and alone than they are.

d. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life: Strangely, the reasons Elijah provided were actually important reasons for him to remain alive. If he really was the last prophet or believer alive, should not he seek to live as long as possible? If the enemies of God like Jezebel wanted him dead, should he not seek to defeat her wicked will? Elijah, here, powerfully showed the unreasonable nature of unbelief and fear.

3. (11-12) God reveals Himself to Elijah.

Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

a. Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD: God knew what the depressed and discouraged Elijah needed. He needed a personal encounter with God. There was nothing fundamentally wrong with Elijah’s theology, but at the time there was something lacking in his experience.

b. Behold, the LORD passed by: God brought His presence before Elijah, but first, to show where He was not. The LORD was not in the wind; He was not in the earthquake; He was not in the fire. Like many others, Elijah probably only looked for God in dramatic manifestations. Certainly, God sometimes appears in such ways, but He often appears in less dramatic surroundings.

i. “This same lesson has to be learned over and over by us all: let us repeat it, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.’ It is to be lamented that the most of professors obstinately cling to the fatal error of looking for displays of power of one kind or another. I hear that a certain church is seeking for a very clever man: she thinks that God is in the wind… That still small voice will be hushed and silent, while the boastings of your wisdom resound like a howling wind or a thunder unaccompanied by rain.” (Spurgeon)

c. After the fire a still small voice: This final phenomenon was a marked contrast to the previous manifestations. God actually met Elijah in the quiet whisper of a voice, instead of the earth-shaking phenomenon that had gone before.

i. Wiseman called the still small voice a gentle whisper.

ii. “And now the thunder ceased, and the lightning was gone, and the earth was still, and the wind was hushed, and there was a dead calm, and out of the midst of the still air there came what the Hebrew calls ‘a voice of gentle silence,’ as if silence had become audible. There is nothing more terrible than an awful stillness after a dread uproar.” (Spurgeon)

iii. Elijah perhaps thought that the dramatic display of power at Mount Carmel would turn the nation around. Or perhaps he thought that the radical display of God’s judgment against the priests of Baal following the vindication at Mount Carmel would change the hearts of the nation. Neither of these worked. This example is important for Christian ministers today, especially preachers. It shows that displays of power and preaching God’s anger don’t necessarily change hearts. Instead, the still small voice of God speaking to the human heart is actually more powerful than outward displays of power or displays of God’s judgment.

iv. “Because the success of Carmel melted like the morning mist, he thought that his career had been a failure all along, and that he had brought no one to reverence Jehovah; but he was reading with the eyes of unbelief, and his imagination was leading him rather than the facts of the case. Here are seven thousand people scattered up and down the country to whom God has blessed Elijah’s testimony. If he had not blessed his big things as he had desired, yet his little things had prospered greatly. It was Elijah’s daily conduct rather than his miracles which had impressed these seven thousand and led them to hold fast their integrity.” (Spurgeon)

4. (13-15) After this ministry, God gives Elijah work to do.

So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” And he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” Then the LORD said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria.

a. He wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave: Immediately, Elijah sensed that God was present in the still small voice in a way that He was not in the previous, more dramatic phenomena. Because he sensed the special presence of God, Elijah immediately humbled himself when he wrapped his face in his mantle.

i. “Through horror and dread of God’s presence, being sensible that he was neither worthy nor able to endure the sight of God with open face.” (Poole)

ii. “He first wrapped his mantle about his face – he became subdued and awe-stricken – full of reverence. Oh! it is a great thing when a sinner is willing to wrap his face when he is confounded, and say, ‘I cannot defend my course; I am guilty.’ We know that if at our judgment-seat a man pleads guilty, he is punished; but at the judgment-seat of the gospel whoever pleads guilty is forgiven. Wrap your face.” (Spurgeon)

b. What are you doing here, Elijah: God asked Elijah the same question – and received the same response – as in 1 Kings 19:9-10. There was something helpful for Elijah in this question-and-answer process.

c. Go, return on your way… anoint Hazael as king over Syria: God gave Elijah something to do. He needed a task to focus on so he could avoid excessive introspection. He needed to stop looking at himself and his own (admittedly difficult) circumstances. He needed to get on with what God wanted him to do.

i. “Then the Lord did what perhaps was best of all for Elijah, he gave him some more work to do. He sent him off about his Master’s business again; and I warrant you that, when Elijah went back over that road, it was with a very different step from that which brought him down to Beersheba. He had come along terrified and distressed; but now he goes back with the majesty that belongs to the Tishbite, he is afraid of no Jezebel now.” (Spurgeon)

5. (16-18) Further assurance to Elijah.

“Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

a. You shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel: God had more work for Elijah to do. He would also demonstrate God’s choice of Jehu to be the king to succeed the corrupt Ahab and his wife Jezebel.

b. Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place: God gave something else to the discouraged and depressed prophet, beyond work to do. He also gave him a friend and a successor.

i. Elijah needed a friend; the core of his complaint before God was that he was alone. God let him know that there was a man ready to learn from the great prophet and be his disciple and companion.

ii. Elijah also needed hope, and since Elisha would be raised up as a successor to Elijah’s prophetic office, Elijah then knew that his work would continue even after his death.

c. It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill: This was another source of encouragement to Elijah. With this promise he knew that ultimately justice would be done, and God would not allow the institutionalized persecution and promotion of idolatry to go unpunished.

d. Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal: This was a final encouragement to Elijah. He repeatedly bemoaned that he was alone among the true followers of God (1 Kings 18:22, 19:10, and 19:14). This both assured Elijah that he was not alone and that his work as a prophet had indeed been fruitful.

i. This showed Elijah that his quiet ministry over the years actually bore more fruit than the spectacular ministry at Mount Carmel. “Yet, all the while that vile idolatry was spreading in Israel, the worship of the true God was being retained by seven thousand faithful souls, though Elijah did not know that there was even one beside himself. How were they won to Jehovah? Certainly not by Elijah’s impressive demonstration on the top of Carmel, for they were loyal to the Lord before that… The still small voice had been doing for Israel what Elijah could not do” (Spurgeon).

6. (19-21) The call of Elisha.

So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.

a. He departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat: Elijah did what the still small voice of God told him to do. He happened to do it in reverse order than God described to him in the previous passage. Perhaps Elijah believed that he first needed a friend and apprentice.

b. Who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him: Elijah found Elisha and commissioned him to ministry when Elisha was at work.

c. Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him: The mantle was the symbol of Elijah’s prophetic authority. This was a dramatic symbol that said, “I call upon you to join in my work as a prophet.”

i. “The mantle, or pallium, was the peculiar garb of the prophet, as we may learn from Zechariah 13:4; and this was probably made of skin dressed with the hair on. See also 2 Kings 1:8.” (Clarke)

d. What have I done to you: This question “Could mean, ‘Go back, but remember what I have done to you.’ It might be a rebuke at any delay in following.” (Wiseman)

i. “Elijah’s reply indicates that he himself had not called Elisha; it was God’s call. Whether Elisha would follow that call was his own decision.” (Patterson and Austel)

e. Took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate: This demonstrated Elisha’s complete commitment to following Elijah. He destroyed the tools of his trade in a going-away party for his family and friends.

i. “Elisha must have had a considerable estate, when he kept twelve yoke of oxen to till the ground. If, therefore, he obeyed the prophetic call, he did it to considerable secular loss.” (Clarke)

ii. “Hereby he showed how willingly and joyfully he forsook all his friends, that he might serve God in that high and honourable employment.” (Poole)

©2018 David Guzik – No distribution beyond personal use without permission



How To Escape Depression (1 Kings 19)

By Chris Mueller | July 16, 2023

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How To Escape Depression

A tour through the Old Testament–1 Kings 19

A young lawyer was once very much given to depression. One time he fell into such depression that his friends actually removed all his knives and razors from his house, for fear of him taking his own life. In his journal, he described how he was feeling by writing, “I am now the most miserable man living. Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell, I awfully forebode I shall not.” Fortunately, he did recover and later became the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.

Who of us in this room has not lost heart? Who has not felt they may never feel better? Who has not been broken by their own emotions? Who has not suffered from depression at some point–that miserable, wretched experience that leaves you exhausted, unmotivated and in deep hopeless despair? The dictionary defines depression as “a state of feeling sad, a disorder marked by sadness, inactivity, difficulty in things, a lowering of vitality, and feelings of dejection.” Depression is a crippling hopelessness.

Christians battle with how to categorize depression. We’re supposed to have that “joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.” But sometimes we chant “down, dismayed, dejected and dirt down in my heart.” Experiencing low, thoughtful, weighty, heavy and sober times is not necessarily sinful. Men like David, Job, and Elijah went through seasons like that—and so did Spurgeon and Luther. But whenever your emotions rule, and not the Lord, then you’re moving into a sinful pattern.

Ongoing depression elevates your emotions over Christ. When you live as if your emotions are greater than God, then you know you are sinning with your emotions. First Corinthians 6:12b, “All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything”–including emotions. You and I are not to be mastered by anything but the Spirit of God–not sleep, food, friendships . . . nothing, including emotions.

It is doubly difficult to battle with depression when you live in a day when evil is good and good is evil. Leaders have no integrity. War is the norm. And total disaster waits just outside our front door. Back in 1973, Newsweek Magazine stated, “There is no doubt that depression, long the leading mental Illness in the U.S.A. is now virtually epidemic”–50 years ago. So what is it now? Today, depression and anxiety attacks 25% of our students, and the rest of us are not exempt.

Nowhere in Scripture are believers promised immunity from the pressure of our culture. Plus, be reminded, Christian–your enemy has one objective, to wipe out all Christians by wrecking your witness. He wants you to keep your eyes on Earth, not Heaven–forget your position with Christ as a forgiven child and steer you away from an intimate walk with Christ. He can do that by encouraging uncontrolled emotions, making one of his best weapons depression–those overwhelmingly dark feelings of misery, sometimes called the common cold of mental illness.

Unless you learn what the Bible says about how to deal with this crippling hopelessness, you will not be able to rise above it, nor help others battling with it. How do you overcome depression, and how do you begin to direct your emotions so they glorify God and not defeat you? The answer is always found in God’s character and His Word.

In Scripture, there are three classic cases of depression. Do you know who battled with it? Moses, Jonah and Elijah–three great men of God, and that’s encouraging (Numbers 11:15, Jonah 4:3 and 1 Kings 19:4). They were so depressed, all three actually prayed for God to take their lives. They were so low, they prayed, “God, kill me.” What is so helpful about their experience is that through it, God teaches you the cause, the cure, and the control for depression. Let’s look at just one of the classic cases of depression found in the life of Elijah to discover these.

ONE  The CAUSE of Depression

Open your Bibles to 1 Kings 18, and then 19–for it’s the backstory which leads to Elijah’s failure with depression. Today, you will learn from God’s dealings with Elijah how to biblically deal with depression and dark times practically. But what is God doing to accomplish His glorious purposes, according to His sovereign will in the lives of His people, theologically?

After Joshua takes the land, then the compromising time of the judges–Israel asks for a king in 1 Samuel and gets Saul. God then gives them king David, followed by the reign of Solomon, when the Lord allows Israel to ascend to its greatest religious, economic and political strength. Then at Solomon’s death, sadly the nation divides in 931 and slowly disintegrates–finally suffering exile in 722 for the north, and 586 for the south.

After its great prosperity, the nation collapses within–does that sound familiar? It is during this season of decline that God uses His prophets to represent His will to the people and call His people to repentance (just like we are supposed to). But it is difficult work, because there are massive attacks of syncretism–trying to blend the true faith with false beliefs and attacks against monotheism, the truth of only one true God by the false religion of Baal and many gods.

God’s prophets were men of great courage and faith, but men who were imperfect and flawed, making them great examples. Eventually God intentionally sends Assyria and then Babylon to take Israel captive and teach them some difficult lessons. But before God does, Yahweh preserves the remnant and challenges the Northern and Southern tribes through His prophets, to remember who He is and what He has promised. Through His prophets, God is calling His people to follow Him in dependent obedience.

God is calling His people to trust Him and not others. God is calling His people to pursue His ways and not their ways. For three and one-half years there was a drought with a great famine that came as judgment upon the nation of Israel and its wicked king Ahab. Elijah had no superstar, just an available servant–so he invites God to use him and God does mightily.

By Elijah’s request, one of the prophets of God, there is a meeting between Elijah and King Ahab. They insult each other and Elijah sets forth a challenge–it’s a contest (1 Kings 18:19) between the prophets of Baal (about 850 of them) versus one prophet of God, with the people of Israel in attendance (affirming again, one plus God constitutes a majority).

Elijah rebukes the people for mixing true faith with Baal worship–then lays out the challenge (1 Kings 18:21). Since Baal was considered the god of heavens, he should demonstrate his power from the heavens and fire should come down and consume their altar. If Baal is God, he will consume the altar–if Jehovah is God, He will demonstrate His power the same way. Elijah gave the priests of Baal the first shot. For six hours (from 6 a.m. till noon) they prayed and Elijah watched in silence (1 Kings 18:27).

At noon, Elijah couldn’t resist any longer–he started to mock. Like the worst razzing you ever received while playing a sport, Elijah ripped on those false prophets–even saying that Baal didn’t answer because he was going to the bathroom. The priests of Baal called out louder, wailed, even cut themselves until evening–but no one answered. Then quickly preparing the alter so all would know that there was no trickery, Elijah prayed quietly and Jehovah God sent the fire down (1 Kings 18:38).

Pandemonium broke out instantly. The people of Israel fell on their faces and acknowledged the one true God–and in the gathering darkness, the people (assisted by Elijah) pursued the fleeing prophets of Baal down the mountain, by the sea, to a brook where all 850 were slaughtered. If that were not enough, Elijah also told Ahab that the drought would end. So that same evening, Elijah prays and the rain comes in a torrent. (Elijah expected his prayers to be answered–Elijah also got involved in his prayers as well.)

After warning Ahab to go home before it got so wet that his chariot would not travel on the soaked land, by God’s strength, Elijah beat Ahab back to Jezreel by running the entire way–a total of 30 miles. When you try, you fail. When you trust, Christ succeeds. Can you imagine how Elijah must have felt? What a high. What a rush. What incredible ministry. Even though Elijah was all alone, he didn’t focus on the problems of his land, but on the potential of what God could do. You could say that Elijah was not problem-oriented, but potential-oriented.

But something awful happens–after a hard day of kinging, Ahab comes home and tells his wife, Jezebel, about what happened that day. But being the main instigator of Baal worship, Jezee was miffed, angered, burned–mad as a hornet. So she makes an oath and tells Elijah she is going to kill him, just like he killed her prophets. And you would think, after taking on 850 prophets single-handedly, that a little threat from a wicked queen would not bother God’s prophet. But it does.

Read 1 Kings 19:3 to 4, “And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, [over 70 miles] which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. 4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.’”

This man is depressed–he is wallowing in self-pity. He is in “a big downer”. You and I have all experienced it at some time or another. Do you remember the last time you started to feel this way? You lost a job, lost a spouse, lost a child, or lost a friend . . . had a great disappointment or multiple mini-trials . . . experienced lots of change all at once with the loss of routine . . . had a big move, had to start over, started a new job . . . experienced a big financial loss or the loss of health . . . you went through a disaster, burglary, fire or wreck. Then your emotions lead you to the depths of depression.

Here is Elijah, dangerous now depressed. How did that happen? What circumstances make you ripe for depression. What leads to this emotional darkness?

1.  Depression comes after something EXCITING

A high, an experience, a victory, a culmination. Elijah’s was the fire called down from Heaven, then the 850 prophets killed—he was tired, prayed for rain, ran 30 miles. This was the climax of Elijah’s life. He longed for Israel to repent, to put away their foreign gods and worship the one true God. For many pastors, it is Mondays after preaching Sunday for 2.5 hours. It may be the day after an athletic contest or boxing match. Depression comes after something exciting.

2.  Depression comes after INTENSE emotion

Elijah killed the prophets of Baal–can you picture what a righteous slaughter looks like? You are killing people who are evil, vile, false, and lying–but they are people. That is intense. Then afterward he feared for his life. It may be exams for students, interviews, public speaking.

3.  Depression comes after a LOW experience

A failure, a bad event, a loss, disappointments in life. There was no revival for Israel, even after his courageous witness. All of it seemed futile–the nation did not change. Did you notice that Elijah had become a hypocrite? Did he really want to die? No. If not, then why did he run over 120 miles? He could have stayed where he was and Jezee would have been glad to accommodate Elijah’s request.

Prayer is asking God for what He wants–not what we want. Aren’t you glad God does not answer all your prayers? Depression comes after a disappointing experience.

4.  Depression comes after being WORN OUT

Elijah was worn out. He had lots of exercise (killing those prophets was not easy, nor running 30 miles, or fleeing to the wilderness with no food and probably no sleep–he’s worn out). Reminding you that depression can be a physical problem. The first step in serious depression is to get a physical.

5.  Depression comes when you focus on SELF

You have a pity party–I alone am left feeling sorry for myself. Like Peter, when he walked on the water–if you look at the waves, you’re sunk. But if you look at Christ, you stand. Ingrown eyeballs are the first step to depression. Those are some of the causes. What are the cures?

TWO  The CURE to Depression

What are the steps to prevention and recovery? There are seven of them here–all clearly seen in how God dealt with Elijah. I believe recovery requires all seven steps and most preferably in order. It is definitely not always this simple and straightforward, but more often than not, it is. It is not always this simple.

Read verses 5 to 8, “He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, ‘Arise, eat.’  6Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, ‘Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you.’ 8So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.”

1.  Sleep  Verses 5 to 6

“He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; 6and lay down again.” The Hebrew tells us Elijah had not slept. If you’re depressed, you usually do not want to sleep–you want to solve your problem, but you desperately need to sleep. We all know the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. But we do not realize the very reason that keeps you from smoking or taking drugs is the same principle that should move you to get enough sleep.

Let’s take a brief survey–everyone is different so be honest, raise your hands. How many here usually need 8 hours or more? How many do with less than 7 every night? Less than 6? 5? 4? God requires that you sleep to function correctly, think biblically and control your emotions. And on another note–God is not going to work until you stop running.

2.  Eat  Verses 5 to 6

“Behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, ‘Arise, eat.’  6Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank.”

I remember sitting in my car, leaving my college campus, with thoughts that were super depressed–strangely weird. And not at all me. I literally ran out of gas physically. As I was waiting for the light to change, and marveling over my depressive thoughts, I woke up to the fact that I had not eaten anything for 36 hours. You must eat, and you must eat right–not energy drinks, sugar, but real protein, real body fuel.

3.  Exercise  Verses 7 to 8

“The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, ‘Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you.’ 8So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.” Exercise is crucial to your spiritual well-being. God sent Elijah went on a long journey. Get your body working. No exercise clogs the brain. You can’t think right without some working out, walking, riding a bike. As sergeants love to say, “Move, people.”

4.  Solitude with God  Verses 9 to 10

“Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ 10He said, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.’”

Then after a display of divine power (verses 11 to 13a), there was a sound of a gentle wind blowing in 13b to 14, “And behold, a voice came to him and said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ 14Then he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.’” There are several things involved here–to deal with depression you must . . .

1  Get alone with God

Pray and talk to your Father regularly

2  Monitor your thoughts

Are you thinking correctly? Are you listening to yourself or talking truth to yourself?

3  Do you have a correct view of God?

You need to pursue truth–get accountable to thinking biblically in order to get things into perspective. Be honest. True worship will always do that for you, where you offer yourself to Christ as a living sacrifice. You must seek Him.

5.  A Task  Verse 15

“The Lord said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram.” Stop sitting around waiting for your emotions to die down. Get excited about how to please the Lord. Get going–move it! God already rebuked Elijah for being out in the middle of nowhere–that is not for God’s man. No, the servant of God is not to be a monk, but engaged in the mainstream of life–involved with people, proclaiming God’s character and message.

Once, Dr. Karl Menninger, a famous psychiatrist, was giving a lecture on mental health and was answering questions from the audience. One person asked, “What do you do to help a person who said they felt a nervous breakdown was coming on?” To their astonishment, he did not say, “Consult a psychiatrist.” What he did say was, “Lock up your house, go to the poor part of town, find someone in need and do something to help that person.”

Service is more than a duty, it is physically and spiritually healthy. It is what we were made for–and often, service to others puts things into perspective. It keeps us from the best kindling to a depression fire—ingrown eyeballs.

6.  Companion(s)  Verses 16 and 18

“And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.” God says, “Wake up, Elijah—you are not alone. Elisha is going to come alongside of you and help you, and then take your place.” Then in verse 18, “Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel.” There are 7,000 others who are still with me. There are no solo saints, there are no closet Christians.

You were made to be in a Body–the Church. People outside of the Church are not spiritual people. No believer is ever to be disconnected from the Body, ever. Even missionaries were meant to have a strong lifeline. Seek out some who can be trusted–close friends, a discipleship group, brothers or sisters. They are worth millions of dollars to your soul. It’s dangerous when Christians choose not to establish friendships with others in their church–for when they stumble or fall, they are not roped to anyone. But what about you? The reason why some are subject to depression is they have not made the effort to interconnect with believers in their church.

7.  Encouragement  Verses 17 to 18

“’It shall come about, the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death. 18Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.’” This is good news–the bad guys will be removed and those who worship the one true God will prevail.

Be encouraged, Elijah, and encourage others too. Maybe you are like me–I often find myself running to those who are encouraging when I am really under it. People wrongly think pastors are above depression, or above needing encouragement—nope. They think that way because some pastors act like they don’t, and die inside. Another reason is others think they perfectly live all that they preach–wrong. The Holy Spirit hits me too. But how do I keep from getting depressed in the first place?

THREE  The CONTROL of Depression

How can you prevent depression from happening? Paul gives that answer in 2 Corinthians 4 and 5. Among other essential truths, Paul talks about not losing heart and being of good courage in chapters 4 and 5 of 2 Corinthians. As he does so, he gives us his three secrets to controlling depression. Briefly look at each main point to control depression–Paul gives us three preventive steps. Look at chapter 4 verse 1, “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we receive mercy, we do not lose heart.” The first thing you must cultivate in order to prevent depression is . . .

1.  A Sense of WONDER over Christ

Wonder over what? Wonder, awe, and gratefulness that you are saved by God’s gift and that you can serve. Think about all Paul could be depressed over–he persecuted the Church, he was the least of the apostles. Yet he received mercy and was allowed to minister–and as a result of that, he had a sense of wonder. Do you? If you’ve lost that, you’ve lost one of the most important elements of your walk with God.

Take salvation by the King and service for the King out of your daily Christian experience and you’ve cut Christ out of your life. It should not surprise you–when you get depressed, the wonder and absolute joy that God saved you and that He also will use you as a tool, if you are willing, is a key to controlling depression, being blessed and having purpose.

2.  Daily DEPENDENCE on Christ

Look at verse 16, “Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” Paul says, every day I am dying more and more. Every day I feel the effects of beatings, stonings, shipwrecks and persecutions more and more. But every day, as I cling to God, he continually renews my inner man.

Every day, I’m (you’re–have you noticed?) getting older, getting uglier. Put your priority on the inner man and let Him renew you daily as you refresh your heart through a quiet time or study of the Word–or listening to MP3s, or read good books. As you are renewed, your internal person gets younger even as your external person gets older.

3.  A FUTURE with Christ

Look at chapter 5, verse 8, “We are of good courage [why, Paul?] I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.” This life is going to be filled with groanings, pain, suffering, disappointments, highs and lows, discouragements, tough circumstances and injustice.

So Paul says, to beat depression–remember you have a perfect heavenly home, and for all eternity, you will get to be with Jesus. Keep that thought on your mind throughout the day and you will not only control depression, but be a joyful witness of Christ Himself. Don’t you long for Heaven? If not, it means you are in love with this world.

In my heart, I find myself clinging to the feet of Jesus in prayer. I find myself saying, “Come, Lord.” I find myself often longing to be home. Sometimes, it’s because of the lack of justice today. Sometimes over my sinfulness. Sometimes over weariness. But I long for Heaven. A key to controlling depression is constantly remembering this life is a vapor–and perfect peace, love, joy and perfection await us for all eternity.

TAKE HOME

Do you know what causes depression? Do you know what you will do to cure it? Will you take steps to control it? And most importantly–have you ever been depressed? If so, then join the ranks of everyone else in the human race.

Listen to the testimony of Charles H. Spurgeon. “I am the subject of depression so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to. But I always get back again by this–I know that I trust Christ. I have no reliance but in Him, and if He falls, I shall fall with Him. But if He does not, I shall not. Because He lives, I shall live also, and I spring to my legs again and fight with my depressions of spirit and get the victory through it.

“And so may you do, and so you must, for there is no other way of escaping from it. We all go through it, but only those who know Christ have divine recourses to battle it. If you are one who has no purpose, no peace, no joy, no hope, it is because you do not know your Creator. You do not know what you were made for, and therefore cannot have the blessings that come from being in a right relationship with the One who made you. And that only comes through Christ.”

Let’s pray.

Posted in The Faith Love of the King – Journey Thur the OT



About Chris Mueller

Chris is the teaching pastor at Faith Bible Church – Murrieta.

View all posts by Chris Mueller →

John 5:15

New Living Translation

15 Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.

Then the man proceeded to speak to the Jewish authorities and spoke that the king, the Son of God, spoke that Jesus had healed him

We give good credit for good dead we do but rarely put credit where it really belongs and that is the credit for Christ Jesus

15The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well. 16Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath.

And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. What Are You Thankful For?

What is the meaning of John 5 15?

The one who knows God can take confidence that God will hear his prayers. Believers praying according to God’s will know their prayers will be answered, just as they can know they have eternal life. This means that prayer is not merely about asking for favors from God.

Verse of the Day

for Monday, May 2nd, 2022

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us — whatever we ask — we know that we have what we asked of him.

—1 John 5:14-15

Thoughts on Today’s Verse…

Confidence before God. That’s sort of an oxymoron if you meditate upon it. Yet through the presence of Jesus at the Father’s right hand and the intercession of the Holy Spirit, we can have confidence and come boldly before the Creator of the universe and know that he not only hears us, but also cares for us. Wow, what an audience! Oh, and one final thing, he also ACTS on what we ask.

My Prayer…

Abba Father, for the grace of your listening ear I thank you more than words can say. Through the authority of Jesus my brother and by the grace of your interceding Holy Spirit, I offer you my thanks and love this day. Amen.

The Thoughts and Prayer on Today’s Verse are written by Phil Ware. You can email questions or comments to phil@verseoftheday.com.

1 John 5:15

by Grant Richison | Sep 6, 2001 | 1 John | 2 comments

Read Introduction to 1 John

“And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”

And

The word “and” shows that John continues to discuss the certainty of answered prayer from verse 14. If we know God’s will and pray according to it, we know that God will answer our prayer. 

if we know that He hears us,

God “hears” all prayers because He is all-knowing, but He only hears those prayers sympathetically under certain conditions (“if”). 

Note the repetition of the word “know” in this verse. “Know” is a word of assurance. Corresponding confidence of assured answer to prayer follows upon the conviction of having been heard. We “know” that God hears us as a result of Spirit-imparted information. 

whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

John conditioned “whatever” with “according to His will” in the previous verse. We know that God will answer “whatever” we ask in God’s will.

PRINCIPLE: 

When a child of God believes God’s promises in prayer, God moves His hand for that believer. 

APPLICATION: 

God has specific ground rules for answered prayer. Here are several qualifications to answered prayer:

Praying in Jesus’ name (prayer that is consistent with His person and work and based on that authority), Jn 14:13-14; 16:23-24

Abiding in fellowship (the Spirit-filled life), Jn 15:7; Ps 66:18; Ja 4:3

Ask in faith, Ja 1:5-8; Je 33:3

Ask according to God’s will, 1 Jn 5:14

God never violates Himself to answer our prayers. He will not contradict His holiness to answer prayer. As a parent will not give a sharp knife to a small child, so God will not give certain things to His children. God will not give us something that will hurt us. He loves us too much to do that. 

Mt 7:11, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”

On the other hand, God does give us things we ask according to His will. God wants to provide you with more than you imagine, just as you give your children more than oatmeal and underwear. If we capitalize on this privilege of prayer, He will do amazing things for us. 

Pr 15:8, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,

But the prayer of the upright is His delight.”

Pr 15:29, “The Lord is far from the wicked,

But He hears the prayer of the righteous.”

Lu 11:1, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

Lu 18:1, “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart….”

Ac 6:4, “…but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

Ac 12:5, “Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.”

Ro 12:12, “…continuing steadfastly in prayer….”

Eph 6:18, “…praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints…”

1 Th 5:17, “…pray without ceasing…”

1 Pe 4:7, “But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers…”

Accept God’s challenge to pray.

JOHN 5 – A HEALING AND A DISCOURSE

Videos for John 5:

John 5:1-9 – Opposed by Hopelessness

John 5:10-18 – Opposed by Religious Tradition

John 5:19-47 – Opposed by Unbelief

A. Jesus heals a man at the pool of Bethesda.

1. (1-4) The pool of Bethesda.

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

a. A feast of the Jews: We don’t know what feast this was, but it was probably one of the major three feasts in which attendance was required.

i. The debate centers on if this was Passover, Pentecost, or Purim. If it was a Passover, then we can date four Passovers in Jesus’ ministry and we know it lasted about 3½ years.

b. A pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda: This pool has been excavated in the area just north of the temple area, and found to have five porches, just as John said.

i. “The expression there is has been thought to import that St. John wrote his Gospel before the destruction of Jerusalem. But this must not be pressed. He might have spoken in the present without meaning to be literally accurate with regard to the moment when he was writing.” (Alford)

ii. There is a crusader-era church near the remains of this pool. “That they [the Crusaders] regarded this pool as that mentioned here is shown by their having represented on the wall of the crypt the angel troubling the water.” (Dods)

c. For an angel went down… whoever stepped in first… was made well: Many sick and injured people gathered at this pool in hope of healing. Perhaps this hope of healing was real, and God honored a release of faith. Or, it may be that this was merely a hopeful legend; nevertheless, a great multitude of sick people believed it.

i. The words from waiting for the moving of the water through was made well of whatever disease he had are not in several old manuscripts. Nevertheless, the truth of the perception of a healing received by being first in the water is also demonstrated in the words of John 5:7.

ii. “From MSS. evidence, this verse and the last clause of verse 3 seem not to be by John, but to be a very early insertion (as least as early as Tertullian, 2nd century).” (Trench)

iii. At a certain time: Clarke and others believe that this certain time was feast time, perhaps specifically Passover. The idea is that the people gathered around the pool in expectation of healing at the Passover season or other feast seasons. “Once a year only, saith Tertullian. Others (more probably) at all their great feasts, when the people met out of all parts at Jerusalem.” (Trapp)

iv. If there were people genuinely healed by the waters of the Pool of Bethesda, it was one of many unusual occasions healing in the Bible.

· Some were healed by a purified pot of stew (2 Kings 4:38-41).

· Naaman was healed by washing in the Jordan River (2 Kings 5:10-14).

· One was healed by touching the bones of Elisha (2 Kings 13:20-21).

· Some were healed when the shadow of Peter fell upon them (Acts 5:14-16).

· Some were healed when Paul’s handkerchiefs were laid upon them (Acts 19:11-12).

v. God can and does do things in unexpected ways. But something isn’t necessarily from God simply because it is unexpected or unusual.

2. (5-6) Jesus questions a lame man.

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

a. A certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years: This man suffered from a paralytic condition for a long time, and apparently was frequently at the Pool of Bethesda in hope of healing. It was a hope that had been long disappointed (thirty-eight years).

b. When Jesus saw him lying there: For some reason, Jesus selected this man among the great multitude of sick people (John 5:3). Jesus was not about to conduct a healing crusade at the Pool of Bethesda, but He was about to miraculously meet this one man’s need.

i. A multitude of needy people were there, yet none of them looked to Jesus. “A blindness had come over these people at the pool; there they were, and there was Christ, who could heal them, but not a single one of them sought him. Their eyes were fixed on the water, expecting it to be troubled; they were so taken up with their own chosen way that the true way was neglected.” (Spurgeon)

ii. Spurgeon pictured the multitude waiting around the waters of the Pool of Bethesda, all of them waiting – instead of looking to Jesus. He thought of how foolish this waiting is for many people.

· Some wait for a more convenient season.

· Some wait for dreams and visions.

· Some wait for signs and wonders.

· Some wait to be compelled.

· Some wait for a revival.

· Some wait for particular feelings.

· Some wait for a celebrity.

c. Do you want to be made well? This was a sincere question. Jesus knew that not every sick person wants to be healed, and that some are so discouraged that they put away all hope of being healed. Jesus dealt with a man who may have had his heart withered as well as his legs. Jesus therefore attempted to build the faith of this man.

i. “It certainly is possible that the man’s long and apparently hopeless infirmity may have given him a look of lethargy and despondency, and the question may have arisen from this.” (Alford)

ii. It is possible that Jesus asked this even as the waters were stirred and people started jumping and diving and rolling into the waters, each hoping for evidence that they were the favored one. The man Jesus spoke with knew that he was not one of the favored, and had no real hope to be healed.

iii. In this man’s particular case, it was reasonable to wonder if he really wanted to be healed. “An eastern beggar often loses a good living by being cured of his disease.” (Barclay) As bad as his current situation was, at least he was familiar with it.

3. (7-9) The man replies and Jesus heals him.

The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.

a. Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool: The crippled man assumed Jesus knew how things worked at the Pool of Bethesda, and he explained to Jesus why it wasn’t possible for him to be healed. Quite naturally, the man couldn’t think of any other way for his need to be met.

i. The man was an interesting case of hope combined with hopelessness. He had hope, or would never have come to the Pool of Bethesda. Yet once there, he had little hope to be the favored one to win the healing that day.

ii. Another steps down before me: “The man’s answer implies the popular belief that whoever stepped in immediately after the bubbling up of the water was made whole.” (Alford)

iii. “The sick man does what we nearly all do. He limits God’s help to his own ideas and does not dare promise himself more that he conceives in his mind.” (Calvin)

b. Rise, take up your bed and walk: Jesus told the man to do what he could not do. Being paralyzed, it was impossible for him to rise or to take up his bed-mat or to walk. At this moment, Jesus challenged the man to believe Him for the impossible.

i. The bed was not a full-framed bed, but a bed-mat. Morris on the ancient Greek word translated bed: “It is apparently Macedonian in origin and denotes a camp-bed, a pallet.”

ii. It’s easy to imagine that the man’s first reaction was, I can’t do that – why even try? Yet something wonderful prompted the man to say, If this man tells me to do it, I will try. Jesus guided the man towards a response of faith.

iii. “The man might well have said with a kind of injured resentment that for thirty-eight years his bed had been carrying him and there was not much sense in telling him to carry it.” (Barclay)

iv. “He was commanded to take up his bed that he might recognise that the cure was permanent. No doubt many of the cures at the pool were merely temporary.” (Dods)

c. Immediately the man was made well: This happened as the man responded in faith and did exactly what Jesus told him to do, though a moment before this it was impossible to do it. The fact of his healing was confirmed in that he had the strength to carry his own bed-mat and walk with it.

i. “Because Jesus told him, he asked no questions, but doubled up his couch, and walked. He did what he was told to do, because he believed in him who spake. Have you such faith in Jesus, poor sinner?” (Spurgeon)

ii. “He healed the man beside the pool, but without his touching the pool, to show that He could heal without the water.” (Trench)

iii. This shows us that the New Testament describes many different ways people may be healed.

· The elders of the church may anoint someone with oil and pray for them, and they may be healed (James 5:14-16).

· God’s people can lay hands on each other in prayer, ask God for healing, and people may be healed (Mark 16:17-18).

· God may grant someone a gift of healing – either that they are directly healed, or have the power to bring healing to another (1 Corinthians 12:9).

· God may grant healing in response to the faith of the person who desires to be healed (Matthew 9:22).

· God may grant healing in response to the faith of another on behalf of the person who is healed (Mark 2:4-5, Matthew 8:13).

· God may heal through medical treatment (1 Timothy 5:23, James 5:14 with Luke 10:34).

d. That day was the Sabbath: That all this was done on the Sabbath day will be the source of the controversy that follows.

B. The Sabbath controversy.

1. (10-13) The Jews ignore the miracle and take offense.

The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.” He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’” Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.

a. The Jews therefore said: Throughout his Gospel, John uses the term the Jews in the sense of the Jewish leaders, not of all the Jews in Jerusalem.

i. “Here, as regularly in the Gospel of John, it is important to mark who exactly ‘the Jews’ in question are: in this context they are members of the religious establishment in Jerusalem.” (Bruce)

b. It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed: Carrying a bed (actually a sleeping-mat or a bedroll) was in fact a violation of the rabbis’ interpretation of the commandment against doing work or business on the Sabbath. It was not a breaking of God’s law of the Sabbath, but the human interpretation of God’s law.

i. “The Rabbis of Jesus’ day solemnly argued that a man was sinning if he carried a needle in his robe on the Sabbath. They even argued as to whether he could wear his artificial teeth or his wooden leg.” (Barclay)

ii. “Jesus persistently maintained that it is lawful on the sabbath to do good. He ignored the mass of scribal regulations, and thus inevitably came into conflict with the authorities.” (Morris)

iii. This devotion to the rabbis’ interpretation of the Sabbath law continues in modern times. An example is found in an April 1992 news item: Tenants let three apartments in an Orthodox neighborhood in Israel burn to the ground while they asked a rabbi whether a telephone call to the fire department on the Sabbath would violate Jewish law. Observant Jews are forbidden to use the phone on the Sabbath, because doing so would break an electrical current, which is considered a form of work. In the half-hour it took the rabbi to decide “yes,” the fire spread to two neighboring apartments.

c. Who is the Man who said to you, “Take up your bed and walk”? The Jewish leaders didn’t want to know who healed the crippled man. They wanted to know who told him to carry a bed-mat on the Sabbath day.

i. This probably seemed strange, and perhaps confusing to the healed man. “I was carried to the pool today and if I were not healed I would need to be carried home. That’s a lot more work than me carrying my little bed-mat. In healing me and sending me home, Jesus was saving work on the Sabbath, not making more work.”

ii. To the religious leaders Jesus was the man who broke the Sabbath. To the healed man Jesus was He who made me well.

d. For Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place: Jesus did not want to remain with the commotion surrounding the man’s healing. Because He did not intend to heal the entire multitude, it was better for Him to withdraw.

i. “Jesus spoke the healing words, and then went on among the crowd, so that no particular attention was attracted to Himself, either by the sick man or others.” (Alford)

2. (14-15) Jesus warns the healed man of a greater danger.

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

a. Afterward Jesus found him: Jesus found him because He was concerned for his spiritual health (sin no more lest a worse thing come upon you), not only his physical health. Living a life of sin is worse, and will bring a worse result, than being crippled for thirty-eight years.

i. See, you have been made well: “Employs the perfect of the verb, indicating that the cure was permanent. No doubt some of the ‘cures’ that were reported from the pool did not last very long.” (Morris)

ii. “The man’s eight-and-thirty years of illness had apparently been brought on by dissipation. It was a sin of the flesh, avenged in the flesh, that had given him that miserable life.” (Maclaren)

b. The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus: The fact that he reported Jesus to the authorities showed how intimidated the man was by those same religious leaders.

i. “The man who had been healed seems to have been an unpleasant creature…as soon as he found out the identity of his Benefactor he betrayed Him to the hostile authorities.” (Morris)

ii. In theory, the penalties for disobedience on the Sabbath were serious. Dods cites Lightfoot: “Whosoever on the Sabbath bringeth anything in, or taketh anything out from a public place to a private one, if he hath done this inadvertently, he shall sacrifice for his sin; but if willfully, he shall be cut off and shall be stoned.”

3. (16-18) Jesus defends His Sabbath actions.

For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

a. For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him: Remarkably, the healing seemed to make no difference to those who persecuted Jesus. All they could see was that their religious rule was broken, a rule that went beyond the command of Scripture itself.

i. “Inciting others to break the law (as they understood it) was worse than breaking it oneself. Therefore they launched a campaign against Jesus which was not relaxed until his death some eighteen months later.” (Bruce)

ii. The absolute devotion to the traditions of man surrounding the Sabbath can’t be understated. For example, Deuteronomy 23:12-14 tells Israel to practice good sanitation when their armies are camped. Ancient rabbis applied the same principle to the city of Jerusalem, which they regarded as “the camp of the Lord.” When this was combined with Sabbath travel restrictions, it resulted in a prohibition against going to the bathroom on the Sabbath.

b. And sought to kill Him: The anger and hatred of the religious leaders is difficult to explain, apart from seeing that it had a spiritual root. They did not like Jesus, and therefore they did not like God the Father (but also said that God was His Father).

c. My Father has been working until now, and I have been working: Jesus did not try and explain that He had not truly worked on the Sabbath. Instead, He boldly explained to the religious leaders that His Father worked on the Sabbath, and therefore Jesus the Son also worked on the Sabbath.

i. “God never stops working, for as it is the property of fire to burn and of snow to be cold so of God to work.” (Philo, cited in Dods)

ii. In some ways, it is strange that the God of the Bible is a working God. “In the old world, it was hardly an honourable thing to work. It was a thing for slaves and serfs and strangers, not for freeborn men. Hence work and greatness rarely went together; and nothing could be more alien to the genius of paganism than a toiling God. It was a revolution when Jesus taught ‘God loves.’ But it was hardly less revolutionary when He taught ‘God works.’” (Morrison)

iii. “Though he rested from creating, he never ceased from preserving and governing that which he had formed: in this respect he can keep no sabbaths; for nothing can continue to exist, or answer the end proposed by the Divine wisdom and goodness, without the continual energy of God.” (Clarke)

iv. This answers the objection raised by a hostile (and ignorant) critic of Christianity. I saw this statement written in an anti-Christian tract: Just say “no!” to a god who claims to be all powerful, but then requires a nap after only six days of creating (Genesis 2:2). This objection betrays the lack of understanding on behalf of the writer. The Bible clearly says that God does not need sleep or rest (Psalm 121:3-4, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep). The rest of God on the seventh day was given for man’s benefit, not God’s, demonstrating a pattern of rest necessary for man’s well being.

v. My Father… and I: “His explanation shows that he did not claim identity with the Father as one person, but he asserted his unity with the Father in a relationship that could be described as sonship.” (Tenney)

d. But also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God: The religious leaders did not miss the fact that Jesus claimed to be equal with God. They knew clearly that when Jesus said that God was His Father in this unique way, He declared Himself equal with God.

i. “He was claiming that God was His Father in a special sense. He was claiming that He partook of the same nature as His Father. This involved equality.” (Morris) Morris also notes that the verbs broke and said are both in continuous tenses; Jesus habitually broke their man-made Sabbath rules and habitually said He was equal with God.

ii. “The individual use of ‘MY FATHER’ by Jesus had a totally distinct, and in their view a blasphemous meaning; this latter especially, because He this made God a participator in His crime of breaking the sabbath.” (Alford)

iii. “It should be carefully observed that He did not deny the accuracy of their deduction, but continued to speak as One who claimed such equality of authority.” (Morgan)

iv. Augustine wisely said of this passage: “Behold, the Jews understand what the Arians do not understand.” Today, Jehovah’s Witnesses are among those that hold the doctrines of the Arians, denying the deity of Jesus.

C. Jesus explains His relationship to the Father.

1. (19-20) The Son does as the Father does.

Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.”

a. Then Jesus answered and said to them: In this extended discussion Jesus explained to the religious leaders some of the nature of His relationship and work with God the Father. Because of this, we have a lot of information of the relationship between God the Father and God the Son.

i. Leon Morris said of this section, “The language Jesus uses throughout is thoroughly Rabbinic.”

b. The Son can do nothing of Himself: Jesus explained that He, as God the Son, does nothing independently. He was and is fully submitted to the Father’s will. This submission comes by choice, not by coercion or by an inferior nature.

i. Relevant to the Sabbath controversy discussed in the previous verses, this was Jesus’ way of telling the religious leaders that He did not tell the healed man to carry his bed on His own authority; He did it in complete submission to God the Father in heaven.

ii. “It is not simply that He does not act in independence of the Father, He cannot act in independence of the Father.” (Morris)

c. Whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner: Jesus explained that His work was a perfect reflection of the work and will of God the Father. Jesus showed us exactly what the work and will of God is.

i. “The Father is not passive in the matter, merely allowing Jesus to discover what He can of the Father’s will; but the Father shows Him.” (Dods)

ii. “C.H. Dodd discerned an ‘embedded parable’ in verses 19 and 20: Jesus draws an analogy from his own boyhood experience in the carpenter’s workshop, when he learned to imitate the things he saw Joseph doing, thus serving his apprenticeship.” (Bruce)

iii. Some people think of a great difference – or even a small difference – between God the Father and God the Son, as if God the Father emphasized judgment and God the Son emphasized love. Sometimes they think the same way over what they call the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. This thinking is wrong; it usually comes from refusing to see the display of love in God the Father, or the display of righteousness in God the Son.

iv. “He is explaining also, by inference, the mystery of the Incarnation – that God The Son in becoming Man ceased not to be God, and that the Personality of Jesus is the Personality of God The Son.” (Trench)

d. The Father loves the Son: The relationship between the First and Second members of the Trinity is not one of master and slave, not of employer and employee, but of Father and Son, united by love.

i. “The Father loves the Son (the tense denotes a continuing habitual love; the Father never ceases to love the Son).” (Morris)

ii. “That ‘the Father loves the Son’ has been affirmed already in this Gospel (John 3:35); it is immaterial that the verb here is phileo whereas in the earlier occurrence it is agapao.” (Bruce)

e. He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel: The religious leaders were stunned by what Jesus told the formerly paralyzed man to do. Jesus here told them that they would see even greater works, ones that would make them marvel.

2. (21-23) The works of the Father, the works of the Son.

“For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”

a. As the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will: Jesus used the work of resurrection as an example of the shared work of the Father and the Son. Here the Son has the power and authority to raise the dead and give life to them just as the Father does.

i. In this Jesus appealed to ultimate power. It’s hard to think of greater power and authority than that of raising the dead. The religious leaders didn’t want to think much about Jesus’ ability to heal a paralytic; they focused on Him as a Sabbath breaker. Yet the power of Jesus went far beyond the power to heal.

ii. The Son gives life to whom He will: “Here our Lord points out his sovereign power and independence; he gives life according to his own will-not being obliged to supplicate for the power by which it was done, as the prophets did; his own will being absolute and sufficient in every case.” (Clarke)

b. But has committed all judgment to the Son: Jesus used the work of judgment as an example of a division of labor between the Father and the Son. It is before God the Son that people will stand on the Day of Judgment. Even during His earthly ministry, Jesus was something of a judge among humanity.

i. Just being in the presence of Jesus led one to know, “I’m not like Him.” Jesus looked at the rich young ruler, and he was judged. He looked upon Simon Peter, and he was judged. Those were not looks of anger; they were looks of love. Yet when they saw the face of Jesus they knew a love was extended to them that they were not worthy of.

ii. “Wherever Jesus was, there was the element of judgment… there was always self-reproach where Jesus was. Men were ashamed of themselves, they knew not why. His life was an unceasing act of love, and yet it was an unceasing act of judgment.” (Morrison)

c. That all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father: God the Father gave this work of judgment to God the Son so that people would honor Jesus as they should, and that they should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Failing to honor God the Son means that it is impossible for one to also honor God the Father who sent the Son.

i. This was a clear claim to deity. If Jesus – designating Himself as the Son – was not God, then it would be idolatry to honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

ii. “All must honour Him with equal honour to that which they pay to the Father – and whosoever does not, however he may imagine that he honours or approaches God, does not honour Him at all; because He can only be known or honoured by us as ‘THE FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON.’” (Alford)

iii. The Father who sent Him: “The Incarnation is every whit as much The Father’s act as it is The Son’s: The Father ‘sent,’ The Son ‘came.’” (Trench)

3. (24-27) From death to life in the Son of God.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.”

a. He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life: Jesus explained to the astonished religious leaders that those who heard his word would have everlasting life. They would have the life connected with eternity, and have that life now.

i. John 3:16 stated that belief in Jesus – in the sense of trusting in, relying on, and clinging to – was the path to everlasting life. Here Jesus said that hearing His word and belief in the Father (Him who sent Me) is the path to everlasting life. Because the Father and the Son are so united in their work, each is true of the other. True belief in the Father is belief in the Son, and true belief in the Son is belief in the Father.

ii. With these words Jesus lifted Himself far above the level of any mere man. Think of it: “Hear My word and have everlasting life.” This was either the babbling of an insane man or the words of God Himself. There is no neutral ground to be found here.

iii. “It does not appear from our text that everlasting life is communicated by drops of water, or in any other ceremonial manner; but the command is, ‘Hear, and your soul shall live.’” (Spurgeon)

b. Shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life: This is one aspect that is essential to everlasting life; to escape judgment for sin and to pass from the position of death to the position of life.

i. Has passed from death into life: “Has changed his country, or place of abode. Death is the country where every Christless soul lives. The man who knows not God lives a dying life, or a living death; but he who believes in the Son of God passes over from the empire of death, to the empire of life.” (Clarke)

c. The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live: Jesus had already explained that one who lives can hear His word, believe, and have everlasting life. Now He adds that one day even the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and be raised again. These are remarkable claims to be much more than a man.

d. He has granted the Son to have life in Himself: Jesus further described His uniqueness to the religious leaders by claiming that He has life in Himself, a gift granted by God the Father. Jesus had life in Himself, not dependent upon other people or things.

i. None of us has life inherent in ourselves. Our life is derived from our parents, and the fragile environment around us. Jesus claimed that His life was derived from no one; it is inherent and uncreated. Theologians call this quality of self-existence aseity and recognize that God alone possesses it.

ii. “What a paradox it is to say that it is ‘given’ to Him to have ‘life in Himself’! And when was that gift given? In the depths of eternity.” (Maclaren)

iii. As Jesus explained His nature and deity to the religious leaders in this chapter, it is evident that He did not claim identity with the Father as one person, but asserted His equality to God the Father and His relationship of love with the Father. Jesus and the Father are not the same, but they are equal, just as John 1:1 states.

iv. These words of Jesus contradict two later errors about the nature of the deity of God the Son. One is sometimes called the “Jesus Only” doctrine, confusing the Father and the Son (anciently known as Sabellianism, and held today by groups like Oneness Pentecostals). The other is the error that Jesus is not God, (anciently known as Arianism, and held today by groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses).

4. (28-30) The reality of the Son’s coming judgment.

“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”

a. The hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice: Previously Jesus said that all who have everlasting life would hear His voice and live (John 5:25). He now extended the concept of resurrection to all humanity, both those who have done good and who have done evil.

i. “This does not mean that salvation is on the basis of good works, for this very Gospel makes it plain over and over again that men enter eternal life when they believe on Jesus Christ. But the lives they live form the test of the faith they profess.” (Morris)

b. The resurrection of life… the resurrection of condemnation: Jesus explained this to the astonished religious leaders to explain who He was, the nature of His authority and deity. At the same time, it tells us something remarkable about humanity; that everyone, both those who have done good and those who have done evil will live forever, far beyond the physical and material life they know on this earth in this age. Jesus will command them to rise on that day, in bodies suited for eternity.

i. “The double resurrection assumes that both the righteous and the wicked will receive bodies in the future life and that presumably each body will express the character of the person who is resurrected.” (Tenney)

c. My judgment is righteous: Jesus explained that He is qualified as a completely righteous judge, because His power is in submission to God the Father. He repeated the themes: I can of Myself do nothing… I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

D. The five-fold testimony to who Jesus is.

1. (31-32) Jesus tells of testimony beyond His own regarding himself.

“If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.”

a. If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true: Like anyone else, it was not enough for Jesus to simply claim things about Himself. There had to be outside and independent witness to His true identity and nature.

i. This principle is established by Deuteronomy 19:15, which says by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. Jesus explained to the religious leaders that He was God, but His testimony alone was not enough.

b. There is another who bears witness of Me: In the following passage, Jesus brought forth three trustworthy witnesses who will testify that He is equal to the Father. Jesus found it important to give them reason to believe beyond what He said about Himself.

2. (33-35) The testimony of John the Baptist.

“You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.”

a. You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth: Jesus noted that the religious leaders knew of and heard John the Baptist for themselves. They needed to think of and believe what John said about Jesus.

b. He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light: The religious leaders accepted the work of John the Baptist for a time. They needed to continue to believe John regarding Jesus the Messiah.

i. “The expression of lamp our Lord took from the ordinary custom of the Jews, who termed their eminent doctors the lamps of Israel.” (Clarke)

ii. “He said that John was the lamp which burns and shines. That was the perfect tribute to him. (a) A lamp bears a borrowed light. It does not light itself; it is lit. (b) John had warmth, for his was not the cold message of the intellect but the burning message of the kindled heart. (c) John had light. The function of light is to guide, and John pointed men on the way to repentance and to God. (d) In the nature of things a lamp burns itself out; in giving light it consumes itself. John was to decrease while Jesus increased. The true witness burns himself out for God.” (Barclay)

iii. To rejoice: “To jump for joy, as we would express it. They were exceedingly rejoiced to hear that the Messiah was come, because they expected him to deliver them out of the hands of the Romans; but when a spiritual deliverance, of infinitely greater moment was preached to them, they rejected both it and the light which made it manifest.” (Clarke)

3. (36) The testimony of the works of Jesus.

“But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.”

a. A greater witness than John’s… the very works that I do: Jesus claimed another witness regarding His identity and deity – the very works that He did. This present controversy started with a remarkable healing of a man paralyzed for 38 years. This was one of many works that testified to the deity of Jesus.

b. The very works that I do; bear witness of Me: The majority of the miraculous works of Jesus were simple acts of compassion and mercy, done for simple and needy people. In this, these works… bear witness to the heart of God. The Jews looked for a miraculous Messiah, but they did not look for One who would express His miraculous power in simple acts of compassion and mercy. They looked for the Messiah to use miraculous power to bring military and political deliverance to Israel.

i. Because Jesus’ miraculous works didn’t fit in with what they thought the Messiah would do, they didn’t receive this witness of Jesus’ works.

4. (37-38) The testimony of the Father.

“And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.”

a. The Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me: In virtually every work and word of Jesus, God the Father testified to Jesus status as the Son of God. But specifically, the Father testified of the Son in Old Testament prophecy and at the baptism of Jesus (Luke 3:22).

b. But you do not have His word abiding in you: They will not receive the testimony of the Father, because they do not have His word abiding in them. They can’t hear God the Father audibly, or see Him, but they have His word. They are guilty because they do not abide in the word that God gave them.

5. (39) The testimony of the Scriptures.

“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”

a. You search the Scriptures: In theory the religious leaders in Jesus’ day loved and valued the Scriptures (here used in the sense of the Old Testament). They studied and memorized and thought upon them continually, correctly thinking eternal life was found in God’s revelation.

i. “They read them with a wooden and superstitious reverence for the letter, and never penetrated into the great truths to which they pointed.” (Morris)

ii. “They read it not to search for God but to find arguments to support their own positions. They did not really love God; they loved their own ideas about him.” (Barclay)

iii. Search the Scriptures: “The verb itself (eraunao) implies keen scrutiny, tracking down the message of the Scriptures. The tragedy was that these people, for all their painstaking exploration of the sacred writings, had never found the clue which would lead them to their goal.” (Bruce)

b. These are they which testify of Me: If their study of the Scriptures was accurate and sincere, they would see that they spoke of the Messiah, God the Son. Their recognition of and belief upon Jesus was a measure of their true understanding of the Scriptures.

6. (40-44) The reason for their unbelief.

“But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?”

a. But you are not willing to come to Me: The religious leaders were not willing, even though they had all the testimony one could have wanted. They were concerned with man’s honor, not the honor that comes from God (do not seek the honor that comes from the only God).

i. Jesus made it clear that having life is found in fulfilling the command “come to Me.” “Christ is a person, a living person, full of power to save. He has not placed his salvation in sacraments, or books, or priests, but he has kept it in himself; and if you want to have it you must come to him.” (Spurgeon)

ii. Their refusal to come to Jesus was despite their searching of the Scriptures (John 5:39). “They search the Scriptures, but they will not come to Jesus. Is it not, therefore, a good thing to search the Scriptures? Ay, that it is, and the more you search them the better; but still it is not the thing: it is not the saving work. You may be Bible readers and yet perish, but this can never happen if you come to Jesus by faith.” (Spurgeon)

iii. “The words Ye are not willing to come here set forth strikingly the freedom of the will, on which the unbeliever’s condemnation rests.” (Alford)

iv. “Let me tell you, the day will come when you will wring your hands in anguish to think that you despised that life. It may be that it will be so in the throes of death, but it is certain that it will be so amid the terrors of judgment, when there shall open wide before you the gates of hell, and before you shall blaze the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Spurgeon)

v. I do not receive honor from men: “I do not stand in need of you or your testimony. I act neither through self-interest nor vanity. Your salvation can add nothing to me, nor can your destruction injure me: I speak only through my love for your souls, that ye may be saved.” (Clarke)

b. That you do not have the love of God in you: The reasons for their rejection were fundamentally reasons of the heart, not of the mind. These religious leaders could hide behind supposedly intellectual excuses, but their real lack was love and desire for the honor that comes from God.

c. If another comes in his own name, him you will receive: Jesus prophesied the coming day when the descendants of these religious leaders would embrace a false Christ, an Antichrist, who comes in his own name. The rejection of Jesus left them open to terrible deception.

i. “The words are perhaps spoken primarily of the false or Idol-Messiah, the Antichrist, who shall appear in the latter days (2 Thessalonians 2:8-12); whose appearance shall be according to the working of Satan (their father, John 8:44), shewing himself that he is God, 2 Thessalonians 2:4.” (Alford)

ii. Though this will ultimately be fulfilled in the very end times, there were lesser fulfillments through history. “An outstanding fulfillment of this prediction came about in AD 132, when one Simeon ban Kosebah claimed to be the Messiah of David’s line, and led a revolt against Rome… Simeon’s messianic pretensions involved himself, his supporters and the people of Judea in the most fearful ruin.” (Bruce)

e. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? The fatal error of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day – and ever since – is pride. They longed for prestige and honor from one another and were willing to sacrifice the honor that comes from God alone for the sake of man’s honor.

i. Charles Spurgeon preached a message on John 5:44 (Why Men Cannot Believe in Christ) and in one remarkable section of that sermon he examined of how fame, honor, and celebrity hinder true faith (how can you believe, who receive honor from one another). Following are some lines from that sermon:

· “The mere fact of receiving honor, even if that honor be rightly rendered, may make faith in Christ a difficulty.”

· “When a man gets to feel that he ought to be honored, he is in extreme danger.”

· “Always receiving this undeserved honor, they deceived themselves into believing that they deserved it.”

· “Dear friends, it is very difficult to receive honor and to expect it, and yet to keep your eyesight; for men’s eyes gradually grow dull through the smoke of the incense which is burned before them.”

· “Once more, the praise of men generally turns the receivers of it into great cowards.”

· “But, oh, how many live on the breath of their fellow men; to be approved — to be applauded — that is their heaven; but to be despised, to be sneered at, to be called fool, to have some nickname applied to them; oh no, they would sooner go to hell than bear that.”

ii. “The grand obstacle to the salvation of the scribes and Pharisees was their pride, vanity, and self-love. They lived on each other’s praise. If they had acknowledged Christ as the only teacher, they must have given up the good opinion of the multitude; and they chose rather to lose their souls than to forfeit their reputation among men!” (Clarke)

iii. “Seeking credit as religious men from one another, they necessarily habituated themselves to current ideas, and blotted out Divine glory from their mind.” (Dods)

iv. “They had accused Jesus of acting independently of God; He now accuses them of displaying that independence. The motive of their actions is not love for God but the approval of their fellows.” (Tasker)

7. (45-47) The testimony of Moses.

“Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

a. If you believed Moses, you would believe Me: These religious leaders rejected Jesus because they rejected God’s word through Moses. Moses accuses them, because Moses wrote about Jesus and they would not receive the testimony of Moses.

b. For he wrote about Me: Jesus said of the Scriptures that they testify of Me (John 5:39). The words and writings of Moses fulfill this, prophetically speaking of the Messiah in many places.

i. The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear. (Deuteronomy 18:15)

ii. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. (Numbers 21:8-9)

iii. Jesus was typified in the rock that gave Israel water in the wilderness (Numbers 20:8-12 and 1 Corinthians 10:4).

iv. The ministry of Jesus was shown in almost every aspect of the seven different kinds of offering that God commanded Israel to bring (Leviticus 1-7).

v. Jesus and His ministry were shown in the Tabernacle and its service. One place where the New Testament makes this connection is with the word propitiation in Romans 3:25, which speaks of the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant.

vi. The law of the bondservant speaks of Jesus (Exodus 21:5-6 and Psalm 40:6-8).

vii. No wonder Jesus could say Behold, I come; in the scroll of the Book it is written of Me (Psalm 40:7). He could teach a Bible study where beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27).

viii. “Thus the writings of Moses were prophetic. In them nothing was completed. They pointed on to other things, which came to pass when He came. Thus in this word we find at once the authority and limitation of Moses.” (Morgan)

ix. “This is an important testimony by the Lord to the subject of the whole Pentateuch; it is concerning Him. It is also a testimony to the fact, of Moses having written those books, which were then, and are still, known by his name.” (Alford)

c. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words? Jesus did not call these religious leaders to a new or a different faith. He called them to believe what Moses, what the Scriptures, what His works, what John the Baptist each testified about Jesus: that He is the Messiah, the Son of God and God the Son. If they refused to believe this overwhelming testimony, it was unlikely they would believe Jesus’ own words.

©2018 David Guzik – No distribution beyond personal use without permission

VERSE OF THE DAY

2 Thessalonians 3:3 (New Living Translation)

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God knows our weaknesses but the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.

But the lord doesn’t turn away or leave us he is faithful he gives us strength to you and Guards and protects you from the Devil and those who are dark and evil wanting to do harm to us

2 Thessalonians 3:3 in Other Translations

3 But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. 3 But the Master never lets us down. He’ll stick by you and protect you from evil.

What is the meaning of 2 Thessalonians 3 3?

In this verse Paul and his coworkers express their confidence in the Lord. Because God is faithful, He could be trusted to strengthen the Thessalonians and protect them from Satan. Because God is faithful He will not allow evil men to gain a victory over believers.

What Does 2 Thessalonians 3:3 Mean? ►

But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

2 Thessalonians 3:3(NASB)

Verse of the Day

How often the ‘BUTS’ of the Bible stand in stark contradistinction between i) the faithfulness of God and His great goodness, and ii) the trite unbelief of His children and their sinfulness. We praise God for the many, eternal ‘BUTs’ in the Bible. And we rejoice for the glorious ‘BUT’ in this verse, where we read, “BUT the Lord is faithful, Who shall establish you, and guard you from the evil one.”

Paul had just been teaching about the revealing of the coming man of lawlessness and the deception that was to be poured out on humankind. He had reminded them that this evil person would oppose all that is good and would exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship – even to entering God’s sanctuary and proclaiming himself to be God.

It was necessary for Paul to teach these believers that lawlessness was already in the world and that the enemy of our soul seeks our ruination. BUT he joyfully reminds us that God is greater. GOD is faithful, and He has promised to establish us in the faith and guard us against the evil one.

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We serve a good and faithful God, Who has promised to work His good work in the lives of all His children and establish each one in every good work and word. But we must be aware that we have a powerful enemy, who desires our downfall and seeks to shipwreck our faith. No wonder Paul was keen to remind this little group of believers that God is faithful to guard us against the evil one… that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan.

Earlier in the chapter, Paul had spoken of the mystery of lawlessness, which was already at work in the world, in those early days of the Church. He had also taught about the restraining power that was suppressing wickedness and keeping evil from reaching its fullness, and Paul encouraged his listeners to hold fast in their faith and stand firm in the truth of the gospel, because the days are evil. We all need to understand that humanity’s wickedness and the wiles of Satan will continue to batter the saints of God throughout this world – until Christ comes to set up His kingdom and puts all enemies under His feet. 

Humankind cannot be trusted, for man is disposed towards satanic perverseness and indifference to God. The faithfulness of God streams throughout the pages of Scripture, as seen in His many acts of mercy, His multitudinous promises of grace, His wonderful words of warning, and His amazing gift of salvation. Conversely, the infidelity of man towards his Maker is a warning bell that tolls throughout Scripture. It is a blaring gong that has resounded down through time, which contrasts the goodness of God with the perversity of man.

Man may be faithless and false – BUT God is faithful despite our inconsistencies. And He expands this promise of grace even further, for the Lord pledged to strengthen and establish His children in the truth of His Word – for we are HIS. In His grace, HE works in us and through us, for His good purpose. God knew us before the foundation of the world. He knows the number of hairs on our head and keeps our tears in His bottle.

And those whom God predestined, called, and chose, He undertakes to justify and to sanctify and to glorify. And He is faithful to do everything that He has said, for our dependable God is Faithful and True. Yet again, this amazing ‘BUT’ subdivides into a further token of His love towards us, for He vows to keep His children from the evil of sin and the ploys of the evil one, who seeks to sift us as wheat and to pollute our witness.

Sin and death and Satan’s snares have no power over us, for the enemy was defeated at Calvary and God will not allow us to be tested above that which we are able to bear – but will provide us with an escape route, from all the worldly principles and fleshly practices that are dangled before us as bait, to draw us back into the evil, world system.

God knows our weakness, and He understands that our faith may fail, “BUT the Lord is faithful, Who shall establish you, and guard you from the evil one.”

My Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for Your faithful promises.. to strengthen, establish, and protect me, even when my faith falters and I prove faithless and false to You. Keep me ever mindful of this truth and guide me in the choices I must make today. Use me as an instrument of Your grace and keep me from all evil, so that I may grow in grace and in a knowledge of You, and in my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, in Whose name I pray, AMEN.

Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/2-thessalonians-3-3

VERSE

OF THE DAY

Isaiah 40:31 (New Living Translation)

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But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

Anyone of us who have beliefs in the lord will be given new strength. They will go will soar at new heights continue on and not grow tired they will follow amongst them and not faint

What is the message of Isaiah 40 31?

Isaiah 40:31 contains a great promise of strength for the weary: “they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” This promises a supernaturally renewed strength—a strength that would compare to mounting …Jan 25, 2021

What Does Isaiah 40:31 Mean?

January 25, 2021

by: Drew Hunter



This article is part of the What Does It Mean? series.

But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint. —Isaiah 40:31

God’s Care

Isaiah 40:31 contains a great promise of strength for the weary: “they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” This promises a supernaturally renewed strength—a strength that would compare to mounting up as an eagle or running without fatigue. But what does this mean and how do we receive it? The context of this verse helps us.

The Israelites who first received this promise were worn out from their hardship. They had lived in exile in Babylon for several decades. Their perspective was darkened by despairing thoughts: “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God” (Isa. 40:27). They thought God either couldn’t help or didn’t care. Isaiah uses a pair of words—faint and weary—three times in the span of a few verses here (Isa. 40:27-31). They were exhausted and burdened from the circumstances of life. They weren’t just weak in body, but weak in spirit. How could they endure the hard circumstances of life any longer?

Isaiah responded to these questions with his own: “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not grow faint or grow weary” (Isa. 40:28). This is a good word for the weary: You may grow faint, but God doesn’t. God is an endless source of strength, and he gives it generously—“He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength” (Isa. 40:29). This is who he is. The ever-strong and never-weary One loves to help weak and weary people.

Here’s what this shows us: If we think that God is too great to be concerned about us, we actually don’t believe he’s great enough. God’s greatness is not just that he is strong, but that he is strong for us. God’s glory is not just that he has power, but that he loves to use it to help those who need it. God is not too great to care, he’s too great not to care.

Pastor Drew Hunter helps readers grasp the message of Isaiah, a prophetic book about the God who saves his people from their sins.

God’s Strength

In all our weariness, then, how do we get this strength? We may expect Isaiah to share the wisdom of physical rest, exercise, diet, and so forth. But while those are all God-given sources of strength, they cannot give us the deepest strength we need when we come to the end of ourselves. Isaiah acknowledges this—“even youths shall faint and be weary; and young men shall fall exhausted” (Isa. 40:30). In other words, even those in their prime with perfect health have limits. We need a stronger strength to match our deep discouragements.

So, how do we get it? There is only one answer, and here we come to the great promise of this text: “They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.” Not, those who work for the Lord, but those who wait for him. This isn’t about doing our part and asking God to do the rest.

God’s greatness is not just that he is strong, but that he is strong for us.

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This isn’t about showing God how strong we are and asking him to give us a bit more. No, here we admit that we don’t have the strength we need. We acknowledge that we need the strength only he can give. And we wait for him, which is more than just passing time. In Hebrew, this word carries with it a sense of hopeful expectation. In the midst of hardship, we look to him as the one who works all things together for our good.

As Christians, we look to Jesus, who came to us and said: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). He carried the burden of our sin and judgment upon himself on the cross. He rose again and sent his Spirit to empower us and strengthen us in all our weakness. And we now look to him and wait for him to work—ultimately looking to the day when Jesus returns to set all things right and make all things new.

Drew Hunter is the author of Isaiah: A 12-Week Study.



Drew Hunter (MA, Wheaton College) is the teaching pastor at Zionsville Fellowship in Zionsville, Indiana. He is the author of Made for Friendship and the Isaiah and Matthew volumes in the Knowing the Bible series. Drew and his wife, Christina, live in Zionsville, Indiana, and have four children.

What does it mean to wait upon the Lord in Isaiah 40 31?

Isaiah 40:31 reminds us amid our weariness and fatigue to look upon the Lord as our source of strength and power when we feel like we can’t take another step or make it another day. For He is our portion, satisfying the desperate need of our souls in seasons of trial.Jan 11, 2023

Isaiah 40:31 (Tired)

HOW TO FIND REST FOR A WEARY SOUL (Part 1/4)

“But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

Aren’t we all incredibly tired these days?

It seems most of us are exhausted because we’re stretched too thin and pulled in countless directions by everything under the sun. How then do we remedy the problem and experience physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychological revival in our hearts and minds?

Isaiah 40:31 reminds us amid our weariness and fatigue to look upon the Lord as our source of strength and power when we feel like we can’t take another step or make it another day. For He is our portion, satisfying the desperate need of our souls in seasons of trial.

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him’” (Lamentations 3:22–24).

However, sometimes we just don’t want to hear what God has to say because we’re simply too tired to listen. Our tanks are empty, we’re running on fumes, and our minds are overwhelmed to the point where Biblical truth has no avenue to break through the clutter and expel the doubts, fears, worries, and frustrations we’re struggling with.

Granted, it’s not that we fail to value Scripture as life-giving power. We know we should trust God amid the trials we face, but we’re just sick and tired of riding a never-ending, emotional rollercoaster to the point where we’re tempted to lash out from sheer exhaustion and desperation.

Truthfully, many of us are at a crossroads in our faith where if people tell us, “You just need to trust God!” we’re liable to hurt them because sometimes we don’t want to hear encouraging words of wisdom. What we want is a sounding board or punching bag to release the pent up stress we’ve been carrying for far too long.

However, if we could shift our perspective and consider fatigue as an opportunity to draw closer to the Lord, perhaps we’d be less concerned about avoiding a nervous breakdown and more focused on discovering God’s grace and peace through the trials we face.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2–4).

REST:

The quintessential fountain of all wisdom on the topic of finding strength and rest is found in Matthew 11:28–30. For it reminds us to exchange our worldly struggles with the yoke of being a disciple of Jesus, because He promises freedom from the anxieties and trouble of this world to those who trust Him.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).

When we read a passage like Matthew 11:28–30, though, our flesh tends to reject it as too good to be true. Human reason takes over and we think, “How could God literally change my circumstances right now?” Yet despite our doubt, Jesus waits patiently till we’re finally willing to relent our pride and try again His way.

Our biggest problem with rest is we don’t plan for it. It’s simply a byproduct of our schedules, which means if time allows, we’ll rest. If not, we’ll just continue getting used to being tired which only exasperates the problem further.

Is that really what God wants, though? Does He take pleasure watching us grind our way through life, feeling like all hope is lost and assuming our prayers won’t be answered? Certainly not! He wants us to rest in Him. However, He also understands that sometimes we need to cry on His shoulder all that’s on our hearts before we can hear what His plan of salvation is to rescue us from emotional bondage.

“We all know we need rest from work, but we don’t realize we have to work hard just to rest. We have to plan for breaks. We have to schedule time to be unscheduled. That’s the way life is for most of us. Scattered, frantic, boundary-less busyness comes naturally. The rhythms of work and rest require planning.”

— Kevin DeYoung

God wants us to let go of our fearful, worrisome, and doubtful burdens, and take His yoke upon our shoulders instead. He’s looking for us to exchange our yoke of slavery to worry, doubt, and anxiety (which binds us to the demands of this world) for one which promises eternal freedom and produces peace and contentment.

That is why rest is so critical to breaking the monotony of stress and anxiety in our lives. For by shifting our perspective and prioritizing quiet time with God, we can emotionally purge what’s on our minds so that our hearts have ample room to receive the promises of His Word.

“It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed” (Deuteronomy 31:8).

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).



WEARINESS:

The challenge is oftentimes we become so psychologically overwhelmed that when trials crash like a tidal wave upon the shore of our minds, we feel as if we’re drowning amongst rising water without any chance for survival or rescue.

Granted, the enemy would love nothing more than to capsize our faith with anxiety and turn our lives upside down, but we cannot let him. We must hold firm to the anchor of God’s Word which steadies our faith and stops us from being tossed aimlessly by the storms of life. How then do we let go of all things weighing heavily upon our minds and trust in the Lord?

King David struggled similarly. Despite being a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), He wore his emotions on his sleeve and left no stone unturned voicing his unfiltered thoughts and opinions before the Lord concerning his difficult circumstances. The boldness of his accusations against God are striking! However, they mirror how many of us feel at times when we assume God is distant from us.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest” (Psalm 22:1–2).

Yet despite David’s emotional outbursts (Psalm 22:1–2), he always managed to immediately counter his fleshly emotions with Biblical truth (Psalm 22:3–5) by washing his mind with the promises of Scripture as a means of protecting his heart from losing faith in God’s sovereign provision.

“Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame” (Psalm 22:3–5).

David’s example should encourage us mightily because it means God is longsuffering with us when we question the “WHY?” behind trials we’re facing. He is not so easily offended as we might presume, but waits patiently to see whether we’ll camp out in the valley of despair or shift direction and preach the Good News of His Gospel to our hearts to embolden our faith.

Therefore, the remedy to weariness is not swallowing our emotions or keeping busy enough to avoid our problems. Rather, we are empowered to flush out our feelings and lay them at the foot of the cross where they can be atoned for and reconciled.

For the longer we allow negative feelings to fester, the more enslaved we become to depression. And if our frustration has no means to escape our minds through prayer, there is no remedy to purge our hearts from the deadly poison of anger and bitterness which seeks to destroy us from within.

“Revival is not a green valley getting greener, but a valley full of dry bones being made to live again and stand up an exceeding great army (Ezek. 37). It is not good Christians becoming better Christians – but rather Christians honestly confessing that their Christian life is a valley of dry bones and by that very confession qualifying for the grace that flows from the cross and makes all things new.”

— Roy Hession

RENEWAL:

God wants us to cry upon His shoulder, so long as our faith is not shaken but affirmed in the process. For His goal is not simply to drown out our emotions and deem our feelings as insignificant, but to allow us to purge our hearts of negativity to make room for blessing and spiritual renewal in return.

That is why tears are a healthy means to an end for those who are lost and hurting. They allow us to physically release emotions bound up within us which need to be set free. Tears are God’s sovereign medicine for the soul because they draw us out from the ashes and give us permission to communicate our deepest thoughts and feelings without any need for words.

“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:5–6).

This is an area where men can learn a tremendous amount of wisdom from women, for they are naturally geared to express their emotions freely compared to men who are taught by culture to not express themselves through tears for fear of being labeled as weak.

Jesus, however, wept openly and often. John’s Gospel reminds us that “Jesus wept” (John 11:35) when He was overwhelmed with emotion; not only over the death of His beloved, friend Lazarus, but because of the impact it had on His dear friends, Mary and Martha. Jesus also wept over the city of Jerusalem, knowing beforehand how they would vehemently reject Him and His Gospel of salvation.

“And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation’” (Luke 19:41–44).

Renewal of the heart comes when we purge our minds of the emotions which weigh us down regularly. Therefore, the more we can release our thoughts in a healthy manner, the greater opportunity the Holy Spirit will have to fill our hearts with hope, peace, joy, and contentment.

The key is not to feel guilty for questioning God’s sovereign plan for our lives, but expressing our thoughts in prayer so our minds can accept what God has in store to teach us. For we’ll never understand the big picture of God’s sovereign plan for our lives if we’re constantly worried about all the details, or questioning why we’re enduring difficult trials in the first place.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2–4).

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BOTTOM-LINE:

We must never lose sight of the reasons why God allows pain and suffering to enter our lives. Everywhere we go and everything we do has purpose. Therefore, the key to survival is not merely weathering the storm, but understanding the “WHY?” behind the storms we face.

For example, Charles Spurgeon, arguably the greatest preacher who ever lived, endured incredible depression, slander, persecution, and physical ailments which plagued him throughout his ministry.

However, Spurgeon understood that his sufferings produced humility and dependence on God as the source of his strength, which helped him embrace his trials joyfully because he understood they were not void of divine, ministerial purpose.

“I would go to the deeps a hundred times to cheer a downcast spirit. It is good for me to have been afflicted, that I might know how to speak a word in season to one that is weary.”

— Charles Spurgeon

Similarly, we are charged with the task of looking past our present trials and toward the future where divine revelation will be revealed. We simply need to be patient in the process and understand His ways are higher, which means our seasons of fatigue and exhaustion have specific purposes in mind which we cannot comprehend without exchanging our yoke of slavery for Jesus’ instead.

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:1–5).

That is an incredible truth we must wrap our minds around to ultimately find rest for our souls. However, that does not mean God will rescue us from our affliction. He may allow our trials to last a lifetime, but again, they are not devoid of purpose but intended to grow our faith so we might minister to others who’ll share our similar fate as well.

In the end, freedom from being tired is all about giving God the glory, honor, and praise He deserves despite how weary our souls may be. For He does not leave nor forsake those who trust in Him but will meet our deepest needs with grace and mercy, even when we fail to comprehend how or why in the moment.

“The road is rugged, and the sun is hot. How can we be but weary? Here is grace for the weariness – grace which lifts us up and invigorates us; grace which keeps us from fainting by the way; grace which supplies us with manna from heaven, and with water from the smitten rock. We receive of this grace, and are revived. Our weariness of heart and limb departs. We need no other refreshment. This is enough. Whatever the way be – rough, gloomy, unpleasant – we press forward, knowing that the same grace that has already carried thousands through will do the same for us.”

— Horatius Bonar

HOW TO FIND REST FOR A WEARY SOUL

Part #1 of 4 – Isaiah 40:31 (TIRED & WEARY) – CLICK HERE

Part #2 of 4 – Habakkuk 3:17-19 (CONFIDENCE) – CLICK HERE

Part #3 of 4 – Psalm 51:10 (SPIRITUAL REVIVAL) – CLICK HERE

Part #4 of 4 – Lamentations 3:22-23 (FAITHFULNESS)

VERSE OF THE DAY

John 16:33 (New International Version)

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“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

“I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” (John 16:33, MSG).

I have made known to you these things so that in me you will have peace and happiness. For I bring serenity and security. For in the world of the world there will always be troubles and trials. But May you take heart and make known that I have overcome the world of trouble and obstacles

[Jesus said,] “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

—John 16:33

Related Topics: Jesus, Peace, Heart, Triumph, Victory, Adversity, Assurance, Troubles, All Topics…

Thoughts on Today’s Verse…

This world is a place of struggle. Yes, we can live above the struggle for awhile. We can find a way to simply ignore or re-label the struggle for a time. But in the end, the struggle will find us. But in the midst of struggle, we can remind ourselves that our victory is secure. Jesus has won! We will share in his great triumph. In case you didn’t know, the final outcome is already determined and Christians “win big” through Jesus. And this victory is a forever win!

My Prayer…

Thank you, God, for giving me the victory through Jesus Christ my Lord. I greet the future with anticipation because I know each day brings me closer to you and the glorious future you have planned for all of your children. Until then, I pray that I may never lose sight of that victory and yearn for the day of its arrival! In the name of Jesus, the triumphant Rider on the white horse, I pray. Amen.

The Thoughts and Prayer on Today’s Verse are written by Phil Ware. You can email questions or comments to phil@verseoftheday.com.

QUESTION

What did Jesus mean when He said, “I have overcome the world,” in John 16:33?



ANSWER

As Jesus prepared to depart this world, He knew that difficult days lay ahead for His disciples. He wanted them to be ready for the most challenging times they would ever face. Jesus explained how they could endure through the troubles of this life: “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NLT).

Amid the storms of life in a dark and fallen world, inner peace is only possible through a relationship with Jesus Christ. The disciples could not depend on themselves to survive the trials and persecution they would soon endure. Instead, they would have to rely entirely on Jesus and everything He had taught them while living and ministering with them.

Fearing for their lives, the disciples would abandon Jesus at the cross (Matthew 26:56). They would be scattered (Mark 14:50; Acts 8:1), arrested (Acts 5:17–21), thrown out of synagogues (John 16:2; Acts 13:14–52), and martyred for their faith in Jesus (Acts 7:54–8:3), but they would not go astray because they would remember the Lord’s words: “Take courage! I have overcome the world” (NASB).

The Greek word translated “overcome” means “to defeat, to win a victory over, as in a contest or military conflict.” The “world” is the created physical realm, the domain of existence here on earth, which is considered distinct from the heavenly or spiritual realm. Jesus knows that here on earth we encounter trouble and sorrow. But He has overcome the world and every earthly obstacle for us.

What has Jesus overcome for us in the world?

Anxieties and cares: Christ’s victory over the world is multifaceted. First, He gives His followers peace to overcome their troubled hearts: “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” (John 14:27). Those who believe in Jesus Christ don’t have to live with anxious hearts but can experience the gift of His otherworldly peace (John 14:1). We do this by bringing every situation to Him in prayer, depending wholly on Him to meet our needs (Philippians 4:6). The Lord’s peace transcends all the confusion, fear, and anxiety of this world like a shield set over our minds and hearts as we live secure in Jesus Christ (Philippians 4:7).

Hatred and persecution: It’s important to remember that Christ’s victory over the world does not physically remove us from the battle. We will face the same hatred Jesus did: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:18–20). We overcome the world because we belong to God. His Spirit lives in us and “is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Paul asked the Romans, “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?” (Romans 8:35, NLT). He answers his own question with a resounding, “No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us” (Romans 8:37, NLT).

Sin and temptation: Temptation to sin will always be a part of our lives in this world, but Christ gives us victory over sin. Before salvation, the Bible says we lived like we were dead in disobedience and sin “just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God” (Ephesians 2:1–2, NLT). We used to follow only the passions and inclinations of our sinful nature (Ephesians 2:3). “But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. . . . For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4–6, NLT).

Spiritual forces: Jesus not only paid the penalty for our sin, but He also won a pivotal victory over Satan and all the supernatural powers of evil who are aligned with him (Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14). The devil has been defeated through Jesus Christ. As believers, we appropriate Christ’s victory when we put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:10–18).

Sorrow and death: Death is an inevitable reality for all people, but for believers in Jesus Christ, death means victory over our last enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26–27). Through His atoning sacrifice on the cross and subsequent resurrection, Jesus overcame the world by conquering death. He shares that victory with all who repent and believe in Him as Lord and Savior: “For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:4–5, NLT). Christ’s death grants salvation and eternal life to all who believe in Him.

Jesus told Martha after the death of her brother Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25–26, CSB).

Christ grants that we overcome the world in Him, and He gives us the right to sit with Him on His heavenly throne at the right hand of God the Father (Revelation 3:21; Hebrews 10:12; Romans 8:34). There, in our eternal home in God’s kingdom, we will live forever in the Lord’s presence: “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever” (Revelation 21:3–4, NLT).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

John: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament by Edward W. Klink III

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What does John 16:33 mean?

Christ’s words, recorded here, are among the most cherished in the gospel of John. This statement combines teaching, remembrance, warning, and encouragement. Becoming a Christian does not guarantee an easy life. In fact, Jesus has made it clear that following Him can lead to persecution (John 16:1–4). The joy held by born-again believers comes from knowing that Christ has already obtained ultimate victory, and nothing in this world can undo that (Romans 8:38–39). That Christ made it clear, in advance, that hard times will come (John 15:20–21) should reassure believers: these situations do not take God by surprise.

Several times during the Last Supper, Jesus has pointed out that He is deliberately giving advance warning (John 13:19; 14:25; 16:4). His explicit purpose for this is encouragement; rather than reacting in fear or confusion, Christians should be aware that those experiences are part of God’s greater plan. The book of Hebrews, especially chapter 11, celebrates heroes of the faith who chose to “hold fast” and trust in God. That trust, Scripture shows, was well-placed, even if fulfillment of God’s promises didn’t come until after those believers had passed into eternity.

The “peace” Jesus speaks of is not worldly comfort, or even happiness. This is the confident “rest” (Matthew 11:28–30) believers experience when they set aside anxiety (Matthew 6:25–34), and trust God to work out His will.

As is common in both ancient literature and biblical prophecy, Jesus speaks of something guaranteed by God as if it has already happened. Prior to this Last Supper (John 13:1–5), Christ overcame the temptations of a human life (Hebrews 4:15) and the direct lures of Satan (Matthew 4:1–11). The greater victory, however, will come after His arrest (John 18:1–3) and crucifixion (John 19:18), when He is raised from the dead (John 20:19).

This final statement of confidence leads into one of the holiest portions of the Bible: Christ’s High Priestly Prayer in chapter 17.

Context Summary

John 16:25–33 completes Christ’s combination of encouragement and warning as He prepares the disciples for His impending arrest (John 18:1–3). This passage summarizes the general message of that discourse: that hardship and persecution will come, but believers should remain faithful, knowing this is all part of God’s knowledge and His will. Rather than reacting in panic or doubt, followers of Christ should feel a sense of peace. This confidence is inspired by knowledge that nothing they experience catches God by surprise. The expression “take heart” implies courage: knowing Christ’s victory overshadows all those troubles.

Chapter Summary

Throughout His teaching in the Last Supper (John 13:1–5), Jesus has often brought up the fact that He’s giving His followers advance warnings (John 13:19; 14:25). His intent is to provide encouragement—persecution as a result of their faith is inevitable. In keeping with that reassurance, Jesus again promises the coming of the Holy Spirit. He explains that after a time of deep sorrow, His followers will experience great joy and clarity. This concludes with a beloved promise that Christ has “overcome the world.”

Why Does Jesus Promise ‘In This World You Will Have Trouble’ in John 16:33?

• Aaron Berry

Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer

• 2019
10 Dec



There isn’t a human being alive on this planet who isn’t acquainted with troubles. Times of difficulty arrive unexpectedly, often remain indefinitely, and the sorrowful memories they produce take deep root in the mind. It is no wonder, then, why Jesus’s promise in John 16:33 also takes deep root in the minds and hearts of so many Christians: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” 

This comforting verse is found within a larger section in the Gospel of John. Chapters 13-17 make up what theologians refer to as the Farewell Discourse. These are Jesus’s final words of reassurance, comfort, and encouragement to his disciples in the upper room before his betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion. 

In chapter 16, he speaks to them of his impending death and departure, as well as their desertion. In John 16:32, Jesus tells them, “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.” 

Certainly, this must have been disconcerting for the disciples to hear, which is why Jesus immediately followed up with his comforting words in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world.” 

In this verse, we see two certain realities: 1) the followers of Jesus will suffer great distress, and 2) Jesus has already won the victory. He didn’t want his disciples to be under the delusion that their future ministry would be full of ease and comfort, and he doesn’t want us to think that either. 

Following Christ is difficult and there will be opposition. Yet, the reality of Christ’s victory over sin and death via his own death and resurrection provides peace and courage in the midst of that opposition. 

In Which Bible Version Does Jesus Say ‘Take Heart, I Have Overcome the World?’

The specific phrase, “Take Heart, I Have Overcome the World,” is found in both the New International Version and the English Standard Version. Other English versions render it slightly differently. “Take Heart” (Greek: tharseite) can also be rendered as “take courage” (NASB) or “be courageous” (CSB). The classic rendering of the KJV is “be of good cheer.” The word “overcome” (Greek: nenikeika) could also be translated “conquered” (CSB, NRSV). 

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Jesus’s claim of victory over the world is in reference to his death, burial, and resurrection. Earlier, in John 12:31, Jesus stated that his crucifixion would conquer and cast out the “ruler of this world.” Elsewhere, Hebrews 2:14-15 says that Jesus came to earth “so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” 

The finished work of Christ removes the teeth from suffering. By entering into our world and suffering alongside of us, Jesus offers certain hope that transcends the temporal sorrow and suffering this world throws at his followers. 

Therefore, we are not called to overcome the world ourselves because Jesus already did. He provides his children with a certain future — a “living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” and “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (2 Peter 1:3-4). It is because of this reality that we can “take heart” and “be of good courage.”  



Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/BartekSzewczyk

How Are Christians Invited to Live in Light of John 16:33?

The certainty of trouble applies, not only to Jesus’s disciples, but to all who follow him. The Apostle Paul stated bluntly in 2 Timothy 3:12, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Anyone who claims that believing in Jesus brings financial prosperity, physical health, and perfect relationships hasn’t read his Bible. Life is tough and the Christian life is often tougher. The Bible, far from dodging this fact, acknowledges it and embraces it. Jesus himself guaranteed it. And instead of promising to eliminate trouble from our lives, Jesus instead promises to give peace and comfort in the midst of trouble. 

An appropriate way to respond to Jesus’s words in John 16:33 is to ask, “What do I hope in?” 

Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Could it be that troubles and trials make our heart sick because we are placing our hope in that which does not satisfy—a job, a relationship, a position? Christ calls us, not to place our hope in temporal, uncertain things, but in his eternal victory over sin and death on the cross of Calvary. As one commentator states, “It is the victory of God that the Christian celebrates, knowing that all enemies (past, present, and future) have already been defeated, even death itself” [1]

This is why Jesus exhorts us to “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matt. 6:20-21)

If your treasure and your hope is not in Christ, than his encouragement to “take heart” in John 16:33 will mean little to you. But if your hope is in Christ, then rest assured that no trouble or trial in this life will take that hope away from you. 

What Are the Two Principle Lessons of John 16:33?

As we have seen, the two lessons from John 16:33 are: 1) Count on trouble and, 2) take courage in Christ’s victory. In many ways, this is the essence of the Christian life. We should never be shocked or surprised when trials come our way. As the Apostle Peter says, “Don’t be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” (1 Peter 4:12) 

It’s also important to know that true and lasting courage must be based in an assurance, not in ourselves, but in Christ. Whenever Jesus uttered the phrase, “Take heart” or “be of good courage,” he always backed it up with an assurance regarding his own work. [2] 

Therefore, we are called to take heart, not in our own abilities or will power, but in the finished work of Jesus. 

Are There More Bible Verses about Overcoming Trouble?

Scripture is filled with assurances of peace amidst trials and the courage to persist through them. Consider these other passages: 

James 1:2-12

1 Corinthians 10:13

Romans 5:1-5

Romans 8:31-39

Hebrews 12:3-13

A Prayer to ‘Take Heart’ in the Midst of Your Troubles

Dear Father, 



Thank you for offering peace and courage in the midst of trials. The troubles I’m facing did not catch you by surprise, neither are they outside of your control. Help me to take heart in the midst of my trouble by remembering your finished work. You have defeated the ultimate enemy, and even though this trial is painful, I know that it will not separate me from your love. In fact, you promise to strengthen me through it. 

 Thank you for loving me so much that you sent your Son to enter into human suffering and conquer death forever. You are a good and faithful God, and I praise you for giving me incorruptible, unfading inheritance. 

 Help me to place my hope, not in the things of this world, but in you and you alone. 

 In Jesus’s name, Amen. 

Take Heart, Christian—Jesus Has Already Won the Ultimate Victory

If you’re facing trials right now, you can have joy while your tears flow. You can rejoice in the midst of pain. You can be courageous even when your strength fails. Because your Savior, Jesus Christ, took on your sorrow, pain, and weakness. Most importantly, he took your sin and nailed it to his cross. Now, even your darkest struggle is part of his good plan to draw you closer to him. This trial can’t remove you from his love. 

[1] Klink, Edward, John in Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Edited by Clinton Arnold. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016. 704. 
[2] Grundmann, “tharasso,” in TDNT, Vol. III. Edited by Gerhard Kittel. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 26. 

Aaron Berry is a co-author for the Pursuing the Pursuer Blog. You can read more articles from Aaron and his colleagues by subscribing to their blog or following them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Aaron currently resides in Allen Park, MI with his wife and daughter, where he serves in his local church and recently completed an MDiv degree at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary.

Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Digitalskillet

VERSE OF THE DAY

John 14:1-3 (New Living Translation)

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“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am

Don’t fear or let your moods be unsettled do not bring troubles upon yourselves. Put trust and faith in God and believe what I say for so you also trust me. My father knew before anyone and accepts everyone there is plenty of room in my father’s home that he may accept you shall you not be overwhelmed by the world but to be accepted in no difference of color, religion, ethnicity for he accepts all accepting everyone as you are. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am for eternity.

I Go to Prepare a Place for You – John 14:1-3

JOHN 14:1-3

Jesus’ Parting Words to His Disciples

“Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me. There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you. I am going away to make ready a place for you. And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too.



The three verses we have now read are rich in precious truth. For eighteen centuries they have been peculiarly dear to Christ’s believing servants in every part of the world. Many are the sick rooms which they have lightened! Many are the dying hearts which they have cheered! Let us see what they contain.

We have, first, in this passage a precious remedy against an old disease. That disease is trouble of heart. That remedy is faith.

Heart-trouble is the commonest thing in the world. No rank, or class, or condition is exempt from it. No bars, or bolts, or locks can keep it out. Partly from inward causes and partly from outward causes–partly from the body and partly from the mind–partly from what we love and partly from what we fear, the journey of life is full of trouble. Even the best of Christians have many bitter cups to drink between grace and glory. Even the holiest saints find the world a valley of tears.

Faith in the Lord Jesus is the only sure medicine for troubled hearts. To believe more thoroughly, trust more entirely, rest more unreservedly, lay hold more firmly, lean back more completely–this is the prescription which our Master urges on the attention of all His disciples. No doubt the members of that little band which sat round the table at the last supper, had believed already. They had proved the reality of their faith by giving up everything for Christ’s sake. Yet what does their Lord say to them here? Once more He presses on them the old lesson, the lesson with which they first began–“Believe! Believe more! Believe on Me!” (Isaiah. 26:3.)

Never let us forget that there are degrees in faith, and that there is a wide difference between weak and strong believers. The weakest faith is enough to give a man a saving interest in Christ, and ought not to be despised, but it will not give a man such inward comfort as a strong faith. Vagueness and dimness of perception are the defect of weak believers. They do not see clearly what they believe and why they believe. In such cases more faith is the one thing needed. Like Peter on the water, they need to look more steadily at Jesus, and less at the waves and wind. Is it not written, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You”? (Isaiah. 26:3.)

We have, secondly, in this passage a very comfortable account of heaven, or the future abode of saints. It is but little that we understand about heaven while we are here in the body, and that little is generally taught us in the Bible by negatives much more than positives. But here, at any rate, there are some plain things.

Heaven is “a Father’s house,”–the house of that God of whom Jesus says, “I go to my Father, and your Father.” It is, in a word, HOME–the home of Christ and Christians. This is a sweet and touching expression. Home, as we all know, is the place where we are generally loved for our own sakes, and not for our gifts or possessions; the place where we are loved to the end, never forgotten, and always welcome. This is one idea of heaven. Believers are in a strange land, and at school, in this life. In the life to come they will be at home.

Heaven is a place of “MANSIONS”–of lasting, permanent, and eternal dwellings. Here in the body we are in temporary lodgings, tents, and tabernacles, and must submit to many changes. In heaven we shall be settled at last, and go out no more. “Here we have no continuing city.” (Heb. 13:14.) Our house not made with hands shall never be taken down.

Heaven is a place of “MANY mansions.” There will be room for all believers and room for all sorts, for little saints as well as great ones, for the weakest believer as well as for the strongest. The feeblest child of God need not fear there will be no place for him. None will be shut out but impenitent sinners and obstinate unbelievers.

Heaven is a place where CHRIST HIMSELF SHALL BE PRESENT. He will not be content to dwell without His people–“Where I am, there you shall be also.” We need not think that we shall be alone and neglected. Our Savior–our elder Brother–our Redeemer, who loved us and gave Himself for us, shall be in the midst of us forever. What we shall see, and whom we shall see in heaven, we cannot fully conceive yet, while we are in the body. But one thing is certain–we shall see Christ.

Let these things sink down into our minds. To the worldly and careless they may seem nothing at all. To all who feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of God they are full of unspeakable comfort. If we hope to be in heaven it is pleasant to know what heaven is like.

We have, lastly, in this passage a solid ground for expecting good things to come.The evil heart of unbelief within us is apt to rob us of our comfort about heaven. “We wish we could think it was all true.” “We fear we shall never be admitted into heaven.” Let us hear what Jesus says to encourage us.

One cheering word is this–“I go to PREPARE a place for you.” Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people–a place which we shall find Christ Himself has made ready for true Christians. He has prepared it by procuring a right for every sinner who believes to enter in. None can stop us, and say we have no business there. He has prepared it by going before us as our Head and Representative, and taking possession of it for all the members of His mystical body. As our Forerunner He has marched in, leading captivity captive, and has planted His banner in the land of glory. He has prepared it by carrying our names with Him as our High Priest into the holy of holies, and making angels ready to receive us. Those who enter heaven will find they are neither unknown nor unexpected.

Another cheering word is this–“I will come again and receive you unto myself.” Christ will not wait for believers to come up to Him, but will come down to them, to raise them from their graves and escort them to their heavenly home. As Joseph came to meet Jacob, so will Jesus come to call His people together and guide them to their inheritance. The second advent ought never to be forgotten. Great is the blessedness of looking back to Christ coming the first time to suffer for us, but no less great is the comfort of looking forward to Christ coming the second time, to raise and reward His saints.

Let us leave the whole passage with solemnized feelings and serious self-examination. How much they miss who live in a dying world and yet know nothing of God as their Father and Christ as their Savior! How much they possess who live the life of faith in the Son of God, and believe in Jesus! With all their weaknesses and crosses they have that which the world can neither give nor take away. They have a true Friend while they live, and a true home when they die.

Technical Notes:

1.   Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2. 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. 3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

1.–[Let not…troubled.] We must carefully remember that there is no break between the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th chapters. Our Lord is continuing the discourse He began after the Lord’s Supper and the departure of Judas, in the presence of the eleven faithful disciples. A slight pause there certainly seems to be, since He turns from Peter (to whom He had been speaking individually) to the whole body of the Apostles and addresses them collectively. But the place, the time, and the audience are all one.

Our Lord’s great object throughout this and the two following chapters seems clear and plain. He desired to comfort, establish, and build up His downcast disciples. He saw their “hearts were troubled” from a variety of causes—partly by seeing their Master “troubled in Spirit” (13:21), partly by hearing that one of them should betray Him, partly by the mysterious departure of Judas, partly by their Master’s announcement that He should only be a little time longer with them and that at last they could not come with Him, and partly by the warning addressed to Peter that he would deny His Master three times. For all these reasons this little company of weak believers was disquieted and cast down and anxious. Their gracious Master saw it and proceeded to give them encouragement: “Let not your heart be troubled.” It will be noted that He uses the singular number “your heart,” not “your hearts.” He means “the heart of any one of you.” Hengstenberg gives the following list of the grounds of comfort which the chapter contains, in systematic order, which well deserves attention.

(a) The first encouragement is: to the disciples of Christ heaven is sure (v.2,3).

(b) The second encouragement is: disciples in Christ have a certain way to heaven (v.4-11).

(c) The third encouragement is: disciples need not fear that with the departure of Christ His work will cease (v.12-14).

(d) The fourth encouragement is: in the absence of Christ disciples will have the help of the Spirit (v.15-17).

(e) The fifth encouragement is: Christ will not leave His people forever, but will come back again (v.18-24).

(f) The sixth encouragement is: the Spirit will teach the disciples and supply their lack of understanding when left alone (v.25,26). 

(g) Finally, the seventh encouragement is: the legacy of peace will be left to cheer them in their Master’s absence (v.27). These seven points are well worthy the attention of all believers in every age and are as useful now as when first pressed on the eleven.

Lightfoot thinks one principal cause of the disciples’ trouble was their disappointment at seeing their Jewish expectations of a temporal kingdom under a temporal Messiah failing and coming to an end. 

[Ye believe in God, believe also in me.] The Gospel words rendered “Ye believe” and “believe” in this place admit of being differently translated, and it is impossible to say certainly whether our English version is right.  Some, as Luther, think both words should be indicative: “ye believe and ye believe.” Some think both should be imperative: “believe and believe.” My own opinion is decided that the English version is right. It seems to me to express exactly the state of mind in which the disciples were. They did, as pious Jews, believe in God already. They needed, as young Christians, to be taught to believe more thoroughly in Christ.  Among those who think that both verbs are imperative are Cyril, Augustine, Lampe, Stier, Hengstenberg, and Alford. Among those who adhere to our English version and make the first “believe” indicative and the second imperative, are Erasmus, Beza, Grotius, and Olshausen.  Let us note that faith, and specially more strong and distinct faith in Christ, is the truest remedy for trouble of heart. But we must never forget that true faith admits of growth and degrees. There is a wide gulf between little and great faith.

Ferus remarks that our Lord does not say “Believe my divinity,” but “Believe personally in Me.” Toletus observes that our Lord here teaches that Jewish faith was somewhat distinct from Christian faith. The Jew, not seeing clearly the Trinity, dwelt chiefly on the unity of God. The Christian was intended to see three Persons in the Godhead.

Wordsworth remarks that the verb “to believe” followed by a preposition and an accusative, is never applied to any but God in the New Testament. 

2.–[In my Father’s house.] This phrase can bear only one meaning. It is my Father’s house in Heaven—an expression accomodated to our weakness.  God needs no literal house with walls and roof, as we do. But where He dwells is called His house. (See Deut. 26:15, Ps. 33:14, 2 Chr. 38:27, 2 Cor. 5:1.) There is something very touching and comforting in the thought that the heaven we go to is “our Father’s house.” It is home. 

[Are many mansions.] The word rendered “mansions” means literally “abiding-places.” It is only used here, and in the 23rd verse of this chapter, “abode.” We need not doubt that there is an intentional contrast between the unchanging, unvarying house in heaven and the changing, uncertain dwellings of this world. Here we are ever moving; there we shall no more go out. (See also Heb. 13:14.)

Our Lord’s intention seems to be to comfort His disciples by the thought that nothing could cast them out of the heavenly house. They might be left alone by Him on earth; they might be even cast out of the Jewish Church and find no resting place or refuge on earth. But there would be always room enough for them in heaven and a house from which they would never be expelled. “Fear not. There is room enough in heaven.” Chrysostom, Augustine, and several other ancient writers think the “many mansions” mean the degrees of glory. But the argument in favor of the idea does not appear to me satisfactory. Bishop Bull, Wordsworth, and some few modern writers take the same view. That there are degrees of glory in heaven is undoubtedly true, but I do not think it is the truth of this text.

The modern idea that our Lord meant that heaven was a place for all sorts of creeds and religions seems utterly unwarranted by the text. From the whole context He is evidently speaking for the special comfort of Christians.

Lightfoot’s idea, that our Lord meant to teach the passing away of the Jewish economy and the admission of all nations into heaven by faith in Christ, seems fanciful.

[If it were not so…you.] This is a gracious way of assuring the disciples that they might have confidence that what their Lord said was true. It is the tender manner of a parent speaking to a child. “Do not be afraid because I am leaving you. There is plenty of room for you in heaven. You will get there safe at last. If there was the least uncertainty about it, I would tell you.” We may remember that our Lord called the Apostles “little children” only a few minutes before (John 13:33).

[I go to prepare a place for you.] This sentence is meant to be another ground of comfort. One of the reasons why our Lord went away, He says, was to get ready a dwelling place for His disciples. It is like the expression in Hebrews, “the forerunner.” (Heb. 6:20; see also Num. 10:33.) The manner in which Christ prepares a place for His people is mysterious and yet not inexplicable. He enters heaven as their High Priest, presenting the merit of his sacrifice for their sins. He removes all barriers that sin made between them and God. He appears as their proxy and representative and claims a right of entry for all His believing members.  He intercedes continually for them at God’s right hand and makes them always acceptable in Himself, though unworthy in themselves. He bears their names mystically, as the High Priest, on His breast and introduces them to the court of heaven before they get there.  That heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people is a very cheering and animating thought. When we arrive there we shall not be in a strange land. We shall find we have been known and thought of before we got there.

3.–[And if I go…receive you to myself.] These words contain another strong consolation. Our Lord tells the disciples that if He does go away, they must not think it is forever. He means to come again and take them all home and gather them round Him in one united family, to part no more.  Poole remarks: “The particle ‘if’ in this place denotes no uncertainty of the thing but has the force of ‘although’ or ‘after that.’” (See also Col.  3:1.)

Many think, as Stier, that the “coming again” here spoken of means Christ’s coming to His disciples after His resurrection, or Christ’s coming spiritually to His people in comfort and help even now, or Christ’s coming to remove them at last by death. I cannot think so. I believe that, as a rule, when Christ speaks of coming again both here and elsewhere, He means His own personal second advent at the end of the dispensation. The Greek word rendered “I will come” is in the present tense and the same that is used in Rev. 22:20: “I come quickly.” The first and second advents are the two great events to which the minds of all Christians should be directed.  This is Cyril’s view of the passage and Bishop Hall’s.  [That where I am, there ye may be also.] Here is one more comfort. The final end of Christ’s going away and coming again is that at last His disciples may be once more with Him and enjoy His company forever. “We part; but we shall meet again and part no more.” Let us note that one of the simplest, plainest ideas of heaven is here. It is being “ever with the Lord.” Whatever else we see or do not see in heaven, we shall see Christ. Whatever kind of a place, it is a place where Christ is. (Phil. 1:23, 1 Thess. 4:17.)

From Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (eBook) by J. C. Ryle

JOHN 14 – THE DEPARTING JESUS

Videos for John 14:

John 14:1-14 – Prepared for Departure

John 14:15-31 – Prepared for the Spirit

A. Calming troubled hearts with trust and hope in Jesus.

1. (1) A command to calm the troubled heart.

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.”

a. Let not your heart be troubled: The disciples had reason to be troubled. Jesus had just told them that one of them was a traitor, that all of them would deny Him, and that He would leave them that night. All of this would legitimately trouble the disciples, yet Jesus told them, let not your heart be troubled.

i. Jesus never wanted us to have life without trouble, but He promised that we could have an untroubled heart even in a troubled life.

ii. This was in some sense a command. “The form of the imperative me tarassestho implies that they should ‘stop being troubled.’ ‘Set your heart at ease’ would be a good translation.” (Tenney)

iii. Jesus didn’t say, “I’m happy you men are troubled and filled with doubts. You’re doubts are wonderful.” “He takes no delight in the doubt and disquietude of his people. When he saw that because of what he had said to them sorrow had filled the hearts of his apostles, he pleaded with them in great love, and besought them to be comforted.” (Spurgeon)

iv. “His disciples felt His departure like a torture. And it was then that He consoled them with such simple and glorious speech that all Christendom is the debtor to their agony.” (Morrison)

b. You believe in God, believe also in Me: Instead of giving in to a troubled heart, Jesus told them to firmly put their trust in God and in Jesus Himself. This was a radical call to trust in Jesus just as one would trust in God the Father, and a radical promise that doing so would bring comfort and peace to a troubled heart.

i. “What signalizes Him, and separates Him from all other religious teachers, is not the clearness or the tenderness with which He reiterated the truths about the Father’s love, or about morality, and justice, and truth, and goodness; but the peculiarity of His call to the world is, ‘Believe in Me.’” (Maclaren)

ii. “One who seems a man asks all men to give Him precisely the same faith and confidence that they give to God.” (Meyer)

iii. There is some debate as how the verb tenses of this verse should be regarded. It is possible that Jesus meant, You must believe in God, you must also believe in Me (imperative) or it is possible that He meant, You do believe in God, you also do believe in Me (indicative). On balance, the best evidence seems to be that Jesus meant this as a command or an instruction to the disciples.

· “The verb believe both times is imperative.” (Alford)

· “In view of the preceding imperative it is in my judgment best to take both forms as imperative. Jesus is urging His followers to continue to believe in the Father and to continue to believe also in Him.” (Morris)

iv. “Jesus’ solution to perplexity is not a recipe; it is a relationship with him.” (Tenney)

2. (2-4) Reasons for calming the troubled heart: a future reunion in the Father’s house.

“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. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

a. In My Father’s house are many mansions: Jesus spoke with complete confidence about heaven, here spoken of as His Father’s house. Jesus didn’t wonder about the life beyond this earth; He knew it and told His disciples that there was room for all in heaven (many mansions).

i. “Plato tells of the last hours of Socrates in prison before he drank the poison….Like Christ, Socrates is going to die. Like Christ, his thoughts run on immortality. He discusses it with his friends, who come to visit him; he speculates, he argues, and he wonders. What a perfect and stupendous contrast between that and the attitude of Christ.” (Morrison)

b. Many mansions: In light of the ancient Greek, mansions is better translated “dwelling places.” The noun mone (connected to the verb meno, “stay” or “remain”) means “a place to stay.” In light of God’s nature, it is better to translate it mansions. Whatever dwelling place God has for us in heaven, it will be as glorious as a mansion.

i. There will be many such dwelling places. Jesus could see what the disciples never could – millions upon millions, even billions from every tribe, language, nation in His Father’s house. He may have even smiled when He said, many mansions – many indeed!

ii. “Mansions, monai, came into the AV and RV through the influence of the Vulgate mansions, which can mean ‘stations’ or ‘temporary lodgings’ where travellers may rest at different stages in their journey. In the light of this, many scholars, especially Westcott and Temple, following Origen, assume that the conception of heaven in this passage is that of a state of progress from one stage to another till the final goal is reached. This was not however the interpretation generally given to the word by the ancient Fathers, and by derivation it would seem to denote much more the idea of permanence. It is found once more in the New Testament, in John 14:23, where the permanent dwelling of the Father and the Son in the hearts of loving disciples is stressed.” (Tasker)

c. I go to prepare a place for you: Love prepares a welcome. With love, expectant parents prepare a room for the baby. With love, the hostess prepares for her guests. Jesus prepares a place for His people because He loves them and is confident of their arrival.

i. James Barrie was the man who wrote Peter Pan, among other works. One of his books was about his mother, Margaret Ogilvy, and his growing up in Scotland. His mother endured a lot of misery in life, including the tragic death of one of her sons. According to Morrison, Barrie wrote that his mother’s favorite Bible chapter was John 14. She read it so much that when her Bible was opened and set down, the pages naturally fell open to this place. Barrie said that when she was old and could no longer read these words, she would stoop down to her Bible and kiss the page where the words were printed.

ii. I go speaks of Jesus’ own planning and initiative. He wasn’t taken to the cross; He went there. “They thought that His death was an unforeseen calamity. Christ taught them that it was the path of His own planning.” (Morrison)

d. I will come again to receive you to Myself: Jesus promised to come again for the disciples. This was not only in the sense of His soon resurrection or in the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus also had in mind the great gathering together of His people at the end of the age.

i. “They were not to think of Him as having ceased to be when they could not see Him. He had only gone to another abiding-place to prepare for their coming; and moreover, He would come back to receive them.” (Morgan)

ii. “The reference to the second advent should not be missed. It is true that John does not refer to this as often as do most other New Testament writers, but it is not true that it is missing from his pages.” (Morris)

iii. “This was a very precious promise to the early Church, and Paul may well be echoing it when he informs the Thessalonians ‘by the word of the Lord’ that Jesus will descend from heaven and gather believers unto Himself to be with Him for ever (see 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).” (Tasker)

e. That where I am, there you may be also: The entire focus of heaven is being united with Jesus. Heaven is heaven not because of streets of gold, or pearly gates, or even the presence of angels. Heaven is heaven because Jesus is there.

i. We take comfort in knowing that even as He prepares a place for us, Jesus also prepares us for that place.

3. (5-6) Jesus is the exclusive way to the Father.

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

a. Lord, we do not know where You are going: Thomas should be praised for honestly and clearly explaining his confusion. He thought Jesus was simply going to another place, as if it were another city.

i. “Though a necessity of human language compels Jesus to speak of ‘going away’ and of ‘a way to the Father’, these terms have no spatial or material significance.” (Tasker)

ii. “Thus we notice how they speak to him with a natural, easy familiarity; and he talks to them in full sympathy with their weakness, teaching them little by little as they are able to learn. They ask just such questions as a boy might ask of his father. Often they show their ignorance, but never do they seem timid in his presence, or ashamed to let him see how shallow and hard of understanding they are.” (Spurgeon)

b. I am the way, the truth, and the life: Jesus didn’t say that He would show us a way; He said that He is the way. He didn’t promise to teach us a truth; He said that He is the truth. Jesus didn’t offer us the secrets to life; He said that He is the life.

· I’m wandering about; I don’t know where I’m going. Jesus is the way.

· I’m confused; I don’t know what to think. Jesus is the truth.

· I’m dead inside and don’t know if I can go on. Jesus is the life.

i. In light of soon events, this declaration was a paradox. Jesus’ way would be the cross; He would be convicted by blatant liars; His body would soon lie lifeless in a tomb. Because He took that way, He is the way to God; because He did not contest the lies we can believe He is the truth; because He was willing to die He becomes the channel of resurrection – the life to us.

ii. “Without the way there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living. I am the way which thou must follow; the truth in which thou must believe; the life for which thou must hope.” (a’ Kempis, cited by Bruce)

c. No one comes to the Father except through Me: Jesus made this remarkable statement, claiming that He was the only way to God. In this He set aside the temple and its rituals, as well as other religions. It was a claim to have an exclusive way, truth, and life – the only pathway to God the Father, the true God in heaven.

i. Understood plainly, this was one of the more controversial things Jesus said and the Gospel writers recorded. Many people don’t mind saying that Jesus is one legitimate way to God, but other religions and even individuals have their own legitimate ways to God. Many think it isn’t fair for God to make only one way.

ii. Nevertheless, this is a consistent theme in the Bible. The Ten Commandments begin, I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me (Exodus 20:2-3). Throughout the Old Testament God denounced and mocked the supposed gods others worshipped (Isaiah 41:21-29; 1 Kings 18:19-40). The Bible consistently presents One True God, and Jesus is consistently presented as the only true way to the One True God.

d. No one comes to the Father except through Me: Simply put, if Jesus is not the only way to God, then He is not any way to God. If there are many roads to God, then Jesus is not one of them, because He absolutely claimed there was only one road to God, and He Himself was that road. If Jesus is not the only way to God, then He was not a honest man; He was most certainly not a true prophet. He then would either be a madman or a lying devil. There is no middle ground available.

i. Sometimes people object and say, “I believe Jesus was an honest man, and I believe He was a true prophet. But I don’t actually believe He said those things about Himself in the Gospels. I believe Christians added those things in later on all by themselves.” But there is no objective reason for a person to make a distinction between “Jesus really said this” or “Jesus really didn’t say that.” We have no ancient texts showing us just the supposedly true sayings of Jesus. Any such distinction is based purely on subjective reasons – “I personally don’t think Jesus would have said that, therefore He did not say that – later Christians only put those words in His mouth.”

ii. If it is all up to personal opinion – if we can determine what Jesus said or didn’t say on our own whims – then we should reject the Gospels completely. It really is an all-or-nothing deal. Either we take the words of Jesus as recorded by these historically reliable and accurate documents, or we reject them completely.

iii. But is Christianity bigoted? Certainly, there are some who claim to be Christians who are in fact bigots. But Biblical Christianity is the most pluralistic, tolerant, embracing of other cultures religion on earth. Christianity is the one religion to embrace other cultures, and has the most urgency to translate the Scriptures into other languages. A Christian can keep their native language and culture, and follow Jesus in the midst of it. An early criticism of Christianity was the observation that they would take anybody! Slave or free; rich or poor; man or woman; Greek or Barbarian. All were accepted, but on the common ground of the truth as revealed in Jesus Christ. To leave this common ground in Jesus is spiritual suicide, for both now and eternity.

iv. “If this seems offensively exclusive, let it be borne in mind that the one who makes this claim is the incarnate Word, the revealer of the Father.” (Bruce)

v. The Christian faith will receive anyone who comes through Jesus. Jesus said, through Me: “It is not ‘through believing certain propositions regarding me’ nor ‘through some special kind of faith,’ but ‘through me’.” (Dods)

4. (7-8) Knowing the Father and knowing the Son.

“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”

a. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also: Jesus explained why He was the only way to God; because He was and is the perfect representation of God. To know Jesus is to know God.

b. And from now on you know Him and have seen Him: The disciples certainly had learned and known much about God in their three years of apprenticeship under Jesus. Yet Jesus understood that since they had not yet seen the full revelation of God’s love at the cross and His power at the resurrection, there was a sense in which they would only now know and see God.

c. Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient: Philip had seen and experienced much in following Jesus, but had not yet seen God the Father with his physical eyes. Perhaps he thought that such an experience would bring life-changing assurance and courage.

5. (9-11) Jesus again explains His unity with and dependence on the Father.

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”

a. Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me: This means that Philip had been close to Jesus yet still did not understand Him. The same is possible and true for many today.

b. He who has seen Me has seen the Father: This gentle rebuke reminded Philip of what Jesus often said; that to know Him was to know God the Father. To see the love of Jesus was to see the love of God the Father; seeing Jesus in action was seeing the Father in action.

i. “It is difficult to interpret it without seeing the Father and the Son as in some sense one. These are words which no mere man has a right to use.” (Morris)

ii. He who has seen Me has seen the Father: “No material image or likeness can adequately depict God. Only a person can give knowledge of him since personality cannot be represented by an impersonal object.” (Tenney) This forever finishes the idea that the Hebrew Scriptures present a cruel God and Jesus showed us a nicer God. Rather, Jesus shows us the same love, compassion, mercy, and goodness that was and is in God the Father. Exodus 34:5-9, among other passages, shows this nature of God the Father in the Old Testament.

iii. He who has seen Me has seen the Father: “Could any creature say these words? Do they not evidently imply that Christ declared himself to his disciples to be the everlasting God?” (Clarke)

c. The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority: Jesus repeated something emphasized in the Gospel of John; that Jesus lived and spoke in constant dependence upon God the Father and did nothing outside His authority and guidance (John 5:19, 8:28).

d. Believe Me… or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves: Jesus presented two solid foundations for our trust in Him. We can believe Jesus simply because of His person and words, or we can also believe Him for the sake of the works that He miraculously did.

i. The Father who dwells in Me does the works: “We are not only one in nature, but one also in operation. The works which I have done bear witness of the infinite perfection of my nature. Such miracles as I have wrought could only be performed by unlimited power.” (Clarke)

ii. Believe Me: “Here Jesus calls on Philip and the others (note the change to the plural) to believe Him, not only to believe in Him. Faith includes a recognition that what Jesus says is true.” (Morris)

iii. “Our Saviour allegeth for himself the Divinity both of his word and works. He was mighty, saith Peter, both in word and deed. Ministers also must, in their measure, be able to argue and approve themselves to be men of God, by sound doctrine and good life.” (Trapp)

B. Three assurances for troubled disciples.

1. (12-14) When Jesus departs to the Father, His work will continue on earth.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

a. Most assuredly: Jesus began the first of three assurances given to His disciples on the night of His departure. The first assurance answered their fear, “This is the end. The work is over and we all got fired.” They didn’t get fired; they got promoted, and promoted to greater things.

b. He who believes in Me: Jesus just encouraged the disciples to trust in, rely on, and cling to Him in faith, because of who He is, the words He spoke, and the miracles He has done. Now Jesus described the benefit or blessing that comes to this one who believes.

c. The works I do he will do: Jesus expected those who believe in Him to carry on His work in the world. He did not expect the disciples to disband after His departure, but to carry on His work in even greater magnitude (greater works than these he will do).

i. “The ‘greater works’ of which he now spoke to them would still be his own works; accomplished no longer by his visible presence among them but by his Spirit within them.” (Bruce)

d. Greater works than these he will do: Jesus did not mean greater in the sense of more sensational, but greater in magnitude. Jesus would leave behind a victorious, working family of followers who would spread His kingdom to more people and places than Jesus ever did in His life and ministry.

i. This promise seems impossible; yet after Peter’s first sermon there were more converted than are recorded during Jesus’ entire ministry.

ii. “The literal rendering of the word translated by av greater works is ‘greater things’; and probably this should be retained. The works of the apostles after the resurrection were not greater in kind than those of Jesus, but greater in the sphere of their influence.” (Tasker)

iii. “The word ‘works’ does not actually occur. There is no word at that point, so our best translation would be ‘and greater things.’ The point is that Christians will do something greater even than the works of Jesus.” (Boice)

iv. “What Jesus means we may see in the narratives of the Acts. There are a few miracles of healing, but the emphasis is on the mighty works of conversion. On the day of Pentecost alone more believers were added to the little band of believers than throughout Christ’s entire earthly life. There we see a literal fulfillment of ‘greater works than these shall he do.’” (Morris)

v. William Barclay considered the difficulty of taking this to mean that Jesus intended His followers to do more miracles and more impressive miracles than He Himself did: “Though it could be said that the early Church did the things which Jesus did, it certainly could not be said that it did greater things than he did.” (Barclay)

vi. There are some who believe that Jesus meant that individual believers can and should do more spectacular works than Jesus did in the years of His earthly ministry. We earnestly await proof of those who have repeatedly done greater works than walking on water, calming storms with a word, multiplying food for thousands, raising people from the dead (more than the three recorded in Jesus’ work). Even if it were proved that one person after Jesus had done such things, it still does not explain why there are not now or have been thousands of people who have fulfilled this wrong and sometimes dangerous understanding of what Jesus meant when He said, greater works than these he will do.

e. Because I go to My Father: Jesus would soon explain that when He ascended to heaven, He would send the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 14:26, 15:26, 15:7-9, 15:13). It was because Jesus went to the Father that the Holy Spirit came upon His people, enabling them to do these greater works.

i. “The reason why you shall do these greater works is, on account of the all-powerful Spirit of grace and supplication which My going to the Father shall bring down upon the Church.” (Alford)

f. Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do: Jesus further explained how greater works would be possible for His followers. It would be possible because Jesus would do His work through His prayerful people, who asked and acted in His name. He promised to do anything that His trusting followers asked for in His name; that is, according to His character and authority.

i. In My name is not a magic incantation of prayer; it speaks of both an endorsement (like a bank check) and a limitation (requests must be in accordance with the character of the name). We come to God in Jesus’ name, not in our own.

ii. “The test of any prayer is: Can I make it in the name of Jesus? No man, for instance, could pray for personal revenge, for personal ambition, for some unworthy and unchristian object in the name of Jesus.” (Barclay)

iii. “To ask ‘in His name’ or do anything ‘in His name’ argues a unity of mind with His, a unity of aim and of motive.” (Trench)

g. That the Father may be glorified in the Son: These greater works Jesus promised would bring glory to both the Father and the Son. Prayers prayed with a passion for the glory of Jesus and God the Father will truly be in the name of Jesus and be the kind of prayer God will answer.

2. (15-17) When Jesus departs, He will send the Holy Spirit.

“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

a. If you love Me, keep My commandments: Jesus had just demonstrated His remarkable love to the disciples by washing their feet (John 13:1-5). He told them what their loving response should be; to keep His commandments.

· He commanded them to wash one another’s feet, after the example He just displayed (John 13:14-15).

· He commanded them to love one another after the pattern of His love to them (John 13:34).

· He commanded them to put their faith in God the Father and in Jesus Himself (John 14:1).

i. Keeping the commandments of Jesus does speak to our personal morality, yet His emphasis was on love for others and faith in Him as demonstrations of obedience to His commandments.

ii. This is a fair measure of our love for Jesus. It is easy to think of loving Jesus in merely sentimental or emotional terms. It is wonderful when our love for Jesus has sentiment and passion, but it must always be connected to keeping His commandments, or it isn’t love at all.

iii. For the believer, disobedience is not only a failure of performance or a failure of strength. In some sense, it is also a failure of love. Those who love God most obey Him most joyfully and naturally. To say, “I really love Jesus. I just don’t want Him to tell me how to live my life” is a terrible misunderstanding of both Jesus and love to Him.

iv. Jesus also spoke to the proper source of our obedience. It isn’t fear, pride, or desire to earn blessing. The proper source of obedience is love. “Obedience must have love for its mother, nurse, and food. The essence of obedience lies in the hearty love which prompts the deed rather than in the deed itself.” (Spurgeon)

v. “Some persons think that if they love Jesus, they must enter a convent, retire to a cell, dress themselves queerly, or shave their heads. It has been the thought of some men, ‘If we love Christ we must strip ourselves of everything we possess, put on sackcloth, tie ropes round our waists, and pine in the desert.’ Others have thought it wise to make light of themselves by oddity of dress and behavior. The Savior does not say anything of the kind; but, ‘If ye love me, keep my commandments.’” (Spurgeon)

b. I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper: This was the second in this series of three assurances. The disciples feared, “Jesus is abandoning us. When He leaves we won’t know what to do.” They wouldn’t have less help; they would have more help because the Father would send another Helper.

i. Jesus understood that His disciples (both those with Him on that evening and those across the centuries) would need God’s presence and power to keep His commandments. God the Son promised to pray to God the Father and ask for the giving of God the Holy Spirit to the believer to accomplish this.

ii. This statement is one wonderful example of the Trinitarian idea of God woven into the fabric of the New Testament. Jesus didn’t intend to give a complicated lecture on the Trinity; He simply spoke of how the Persons of the Trinity interact and work for the good of God’s people and the furtherance of His plan.

iii. The sense is that this prayer would be made when Jesus ascended to heaven. “I will pray betokens, probably, a manner of asking implying actual presence and nearness, — and is here used of the mediatorial office in Christ’s ascended state.” (Alford)

c. He will give you another Helper: The word Helper translates the ancient Greek word parakletos. This word has the idea of someone called to help someone else, and it could refer to an advisor, a legal defender, a mediator, or to an intercessor.

i. The King James Version translates parakletos with the word Comforter. That translation made more sense understanding the meaning of the word in older English. “Wicliff, from whom we have our word Comforter, often used ‘comfort’ for the Latin confortari, which means to strengthen… Thus the idea of help and strength is conveyed by it, as well as of consolation.” (Alford)

ii. One way to understand the work of the Helper is to understand the opposite of that work. “The devil is called the accuser, κατηγορος, in full opposition to this name and title given here to the Holy Spirit.” (Trapp)

iii. Another Helper: The word another is the ancient Greek word allen, meaning “another of the same kind” (Tenney) in contrast to another of a different kind. Just as Jesus shows the nature of God the Father, so the Holy Spirit – being another of the same kind – would show the nature of Jesus.

iv. “That our Lord here calls the Holy Spirit ‘another Comforter (allon paraklhtoV)’ implies that He Himself claimed to be also a paraklhtoV, as John in his first epistle (1 John 2:1) calls Him.” (Trench)

v. It would be wonderful to live the Christian life with Jesus beside us each step of the way. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would fulfill just that role for us, being sent to empower and help the believer. The greater work described in John 14:12-14 is impossible without the empowering described in John 14:15-18.

d. That He may abide with you forever: Jesus would give the Holy Spirit so that He (indicating a person, not a thing) may abide in us permanently and not temporarily, as in giving of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.

i. “The Advocate will be with the disciples ‘for ever’. The new state of affairs will be permanent. The Spirit once given will not be withdrawn.” (Morris)

e. Whom the world cannot receive: The world cannot understand or receive the Spirit, because He is Holy and true. The Spirit of truth is not popular in an age of lies, and the world cannot perceive the Spirit and does not know Him.

i. “If the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit, shall we wonder that we in our collective worldliness see and show collectively so little of His power?” (Trench)

f. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you: Jesus spoke of three aspects of a disciple’s relationship to the Holy Spirit.

· In contrast to the world, the disciple of Jesus should know the Holy Spirit.

· In contrast to the world, the disciple of Jesus should have the Holy Spirit with them.

· In contrast to the world, the disciple of Jesus should have the Holy Spirit in them.

i. For those 11 disciples, the Holy Spirit was already with them, and would later be in them. This was fulfilled when Jesus breathed on them and they received the Holy Spirit, when they were regenerated and born again (John 20:22).

ii. In addition to with and in, Jesus used a third preposition to describe the relationship of the disciple to the Holy Spirit: you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you (Acts 1:8). This upon experience is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the outpouring of the Spirit.

iii. “Between Christ on earth and his disciples what a distance there was! In his condescension he came very near to them; but yet you always perceive a gulf between the wise Master and the foolish disciples. Now the Holy Ghost annihilates that distance by dwelling in us.” (Spurgeon)

3. (18-21) When Jesus departs, He will make Himself known to His disciples.

“I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

a. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you: Jesus began His third assurance. The disciples feared, “When Jesus leaves, then our discipleship program is over and it has barely started.” Their discipleship program wasn’t finished; it was only just beginning.

i. “The disciples of a particular teacher among the Hebrews called him father; his scholars were called his children, and, on his death, were considered as orphans.” (Clarke)

ii. Spurgeon considered several ways that the followers of Jesus are not like orphans.

· An orphan has parents who are dead; the Spirit shows us Jesus is alive.

· An orphan is left alone; the Spirit draws us close to God’s presence.

· An orphan has lost their provider; the Spirit provides all things.

· An orphan is left without instruction; the Spirit teaches us all things.

· An orphan has no defender; the Spirit is protector.

b. I will come to you: Jesus again promised to come to the disciples (previously in John 14: 3). This was a broad promise fulfilled by His resurrection, by the sending of the Spirit, and by the promise of His bodily return to this earth.

i. “Every phase of his promised coming is embraced in this assurance: ‘I am coming to you.’” (Bruce)

c. The world will see Me no more, but you will see Me: This was true in one sense when Jesus rose from the dead. Yet it is true even when He ascended to heaven. Jesus would reveal Himself to the disciples in a real and powerful way after His departure. They would see Him in an even greater way than seeing Him with physical sight.

i. The Apostle Paul later wrote, Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer (2 Corinthians 5:16). There was something more compelling about knowing Jesus by the Spirit than even knowing Him in the flesh.

d. Because I live, you will live also: The disciples would not only see Jesus by the Spirit, they would also continue to live in Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit. Their dependence on the life of Jesus would not end when He departed; it would continue in greater measure through the Holy Spirit.

i. “A man is saved because Christ died for him, he continues saved because Christ lives for him. The sole reason why the spiritual life abides is because Jesus lives.” (Spurgeon)

e. You will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you: Through the Holy Spirit they would know a life of relationship, shared life, and union with God the Father, God the Son, and in the disciple.

· This union is marked by knowledge of God’s will (has My commandments).

· This union is marked by obedience to God’s will (and keeps them).

· This union is marked by love (is he who loves me).

· This union is marked by relationship and reception of love with God the Father (will be loved by My Father).

· This union is marked by a revelation of Jesus Himself (and manifest Myself to him).

· All this flows from the union with God in the disciple through the Holy Spirit.

i. This relationship is for the disciple’s experience now, not only in the age to come. “For he reserves not all for the life to come, but gives a grape of Canaan in this wilderness, such as the world never tasted of.” (Trapp)

ii. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me: “The love to which Christ promises a manifestation of Himself is not an idle sentiment or shallow fancy, but a principle prompting obedience.” (Dods)

iii. He who has My commandments: “The man who loves Christ is the one who ‘has’ His commandments and keeps them. To ‘have’ commandments is an unusual expression and does not seem to be exactly paralleled (though cf. 1 John 4:21). The meaning appears to be to make the commandments one’s own, to take them into one’s inner being.” (Morris)

4. (22-24) Answering the question of Judas (not Iscariot).

Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” 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 with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”

a. How is it that You will manifest Yourself to us: Judas asked an excellent question. The idea of manifest is to reveal, to make plain. It wasn’t immediately apparent how in His departure Jesus could reveal Himself to His disciples and not to the world at large.

i. Judas had heard Jesus teach that all the earth would see the Messiah in His glory (Matthew 24:30). It was hard for him to understand Jesus when He now spoke of a revealing of Himself that the world would not see.

ii. “Judas is called ‘Judas of James’ in Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13; and on each occasion AV translates ‘the brother of James’, and RV and RSV, more naturally, ‘the son of James’. He seems to be identical with the Thaddaeus of Matthew 10:3 and Mark 3:18. Some of the apostles clearly had more than one name.” (Tasker)

iii. “The words not Iscariot are in reality superfluous, after John 13:30, but are added by St. John from his deep horror of the Traitor who bore the same name.” (Alford)

b. If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word: In answering Judas, Jesus repeated the themes from the previous verses. Jesus would be revealed to and among the disciples through love, obedience, and union with the Father and the Son. These were not and are not primarily mystical or ecstatic experiences, but real life lived out in the presence and work of the Holy Spirit.

· The love is personal; Jesus said, if anyone loves Me.

· The love has a reverent regard for the teaching of Jesus; Jesus said, he will keep My word.

i. He will keep My word: “That is more than a ‘commandment,’ is it not? Christ’s ‘word’ is more than precept. It includes all His sayings, and it includes them all as in one vital unity and organic whole. We are not to go picking and choosing among them; they are one.” (Maclaren)

ii. We will come to him and make Our home with him: “Where love and obedience are shown, the presence of God and of Christ is realized; the Father and the Son together make their home with each of the children.” (Bruce)

c. The word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me: Jesus again emphasized His total reliance upon and submission to God the Father. Jesus openly stated both His equality with the Father (John 14:1, 14:3, 14:7, 14:9).

C. As Jesus departs, He gives the gift of the Holy Spirit and His peace.

1. (25-27) The departing Jesus leaves the gifts of the Holy Spirit and His peace.

“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

a. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name: Jesus first mentioned the Helper in John 14:16. He returned to the wonderful promise that as He left them with His physical presence, Jesus would ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit to help His disciples.

i. Will send in My name: The Holy Spirit is sent to the disciples on the merits of Jesus and in the nature, the character of Jesus. “The Spirit would be Jesus’ officially designated representative to act in his behalf.” (Tenney)

· The disciple does not have to ask for the Spirit on his or her own merit; they can receive Him in the merit of Jesus.

· The disciple should expect that the work of the Spirit would look like the nature and character of Jesus as revealed in God’s Word.

ii. This is another wonderful example of the truth of the Trinity woven into the fabric of the New Testament. God the Father sends God the Holy Spirit at the request of God the Son.

iii. The Holy Spirit: “This characteristic designation, found throughout the New Testament, does not draw attention to the power of the Spirit, His greatness, or the like. For the first Christians the important thing was that He is holy.” (Morris)

b. He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you: In His departure, Jesus finished His direct work of teaching the disciples as a rabbi taught disciples. Their training was not finished, but would be continued by the Helper, the Holy Spirit.

i. The Holy Spirit would teach the disciples what more they needed to know and would also supernaturally bring to remembrance the words of Jesus, both for their own benefit and for the writing of the Gospels.

ii. This means that the work of the Spirit would be a work of continuation. His teaching would continue what Jesus already taught. The Spirit does not wipe clear the previous teaching of Jesus and begin again. “The Spirit will not dispense with the teachings of Jesus. The teaching to be recalled is His.” (Morris)

iii. There is something general in this promise for every believer. The Holy Spirit teaches us and brings God’s word to our remembrance (if we are careful to receive it). Yet the fullness of this promise was reserved for those first-generation disciples and apostles, upon whom Jesus established the church (Ephesians 2:20).

iv. “It is on the fulfillment of this promise to the Apostles, that their sufficiency as Witnesses of all that the Lord did and taught, and consequently THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE GOSPEL NARRATIVE, is grounded.” (Alford)

c. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you: In one sense this was a common thing to say at a departure in that culture, to wish peace (shalom) to others as you left them. Jesus took this normal good-bye and filled it with deep strength and meaning.

i. “It was customary to take leave with wishes of peace: — so 1 Samuel 1:17; Luke 7:50; Acts 16:36; 1 Peter 5:14; 3 John 15.” (Alford) “‘Peace (shalom) be with you’ was (and is) the usual Jewish greeting when friends met and parted.” (Bruce)

ii. Not as the world gives do I give to you: When someone in that ancient culture said peace as they departed, they said it without any special meaning. It was like when we say goodbye. Literally that means, God be with you – but we don’t really mean it that way. Jesus wanted them to know that when He said peace I leave with you, it wasn’t in the casual, empty way that most people said it.

iii. The peace of this world is often based on distraction or deliberate blindness and lies. Jesus offers a better peace, a real peace.

iv. Jesus had no inheritance or fortune to leave to His followers in a last will and testament. Yet Jesus gave them two things greater than any fortune: the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, and the peace of Jesus Himself. This is the peace of God the Son, with His complete trusting love in God the Father.

v. “He carefully described the peace as ‘My peace.’ His peace was a heart untroubled and unfearful in spite of all the suffering and conflict ahead of Him.” (Morgan)

vi. “In the Bible the word for peace, shalom, never means simply the absence of trouble. It means everything which makes for our highest good. The peace which the world offers us is the peace of escape, the peace which comes from the avoidance of trouble and from refusing to face things.” (Barclay)

d. Let not your heart be troubled: Jesus returned to the theme recorded in the first verse of John 14. With faith in God and His Son, with the receiving of His Spirit and His peace, we can have an untroubled heart in a quite troubled life.

2. (28-29) The goodness of Jesus’ departure to the FatheNot

“You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.”

a. If you loved Me, you would rejoice: The disciples were troubled at the news of Jesus’ departure. In faith, they should instead rejoice, for the sake of Jesus, for their own sake, and for the sake of the world. The work of Jesus through the sent Holy Spirit would be greater than His work during the years of His earthly ministry.

· Jesus, when I think of all You gave up, all You took upon Yourself when You came from heaven to earth – it makes me happy that You are going to the Father to have it all restored to You.

· Jesus, when I think of all You will give to me and all Your people when You ascend to glory and from there send forth the Holy Spirit, pray for Your church, and prepare a place for us – it makes me happy that You are going to the Father, also for my sake.

b. Because I said, “I am going to the Father”: We sense a joyful anticipation in Jesus, happy in His soon return to heaven’s fellowship between Father and Son.

c. My Father is greater than I: The Father is greater than the Son in position, especially in regard to the incarnation. Yet the Father is not greater than the Sonin essence or being; They are both equally God.

i. It is remarkable that Jesus should even say this. “That it should require to be explicitly affirmed, as here, is strongest evidence that He was Divine.” (Dods)

3. (30-31) Jesus goes forth willingly, not as one who is being overwhelmed by Satan.

“I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.”

a. The ruler of this world is coming: Jesus knew that Satan was coming for Him. At that moment Judas Iscariot was arranging the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. The loving, others-centered calm of Jesus in such circumstances is remarkable.

b. He has nothing in Me: Jesus could confidently and truthfully say that Satan had absolutely no hook, no foothold, no toehold of deception in Him. Satan could not push Jesus to the cross; Jesus went in loving obedience to God the Father and out of love for the world (that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so do I).

i. “Has nothing in Me — no point of appliance whereon to fasten his attack.” (Alford)

ii. “Jesus goes to death not crushed by the machinations of Satan, ‘but that the world may know that I love the Father and as the Father has commanded me.’” (Dods)

c. Arise, let us go from here: At this point, Jesus and His disciples left the table and slowly made their way toward the Garden of Gethsemane. It is clear they did not immediately leave (John 18:1), but here began to.

i. “Anyone who has tried to get a group of a dozen or so to leave a particular place at a particular time will appreciate that it usually takes more than one brief exhortation to accomplish this.” (Morris)

ii. “Probably the rest of the discourse, and the prayer, chapter 17, were delivered when now all were standing ready to depart.” (Alford)

iii. “Whether chapters 15-17 were spoken en route to Gethsemane or whether he and the disciples lingered while he finished the discussion is not plain.” (Tenney)

iv. Notably, they got ready to go together. “One would have thought that on such a night as that, the deepest craving of Jesus would have been to be alone… He could not leave them to go out alone. He loved them far to deeply for that. They might forsake Him, as they were soon to do. It was impossible for Him to forsake them.” (Morrison)

©2018 David Guzik – No distribution beyond personal use without permission

Jesus said,] “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 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.”

—John 14:1-3

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Related Topics: Jesus, God, Trust, Heaven, Second Coming, All Topics…

Thoughts on Today’s Verse…

He’s coming back! As much as the world likes to remember Jesus’ first coming during the Christmas season, we need to remind them that his Second Coming will be even greater. We want to be prepared — lives dedicated to his glory and hearts full of expectation at his coming.

My Prayer…

Loving God, I know Jesus will come again. May I be found faithful and expectant when he returns. Thank you for sending him the first time to live in my world and take away my sin. Thank you even more for his next coming to take me to live in your world and share in your victory over sin. In the name of Jesus my Lord, I pray. Amen.

The Thoughts and Prayer on Today’s Verse are written by Phil Ware. You can email questions or comments to phil@verseoftheday.com.

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1 -3)

Our faith in God gives us ultimate security. We may experience all kinds of difficulties and heartaches, we can count on God’s love and our place with him in eternity. With that assurance, our hearts aren’t nearly as troubled.

Having faith is having trust. We have to trust with our entire being that God has our back that he will help us and take care of us. He knows what is best, but to truly embrace what he has planned for us, we have to fully trust. Our trust is not foolish, for our God is both faithful and good. When we put our relationship with God first, setting aside our own desires to serve Him, we “live by faith” and learn what it means to be faithful, self-disciplined, compassionate, forgiving, humble, and loving.

Jesus Christ promised the ultimate security of a home in heaven and the ultimate thrill of being with Him forever.

Categories: Daily Verse

Introduction:

*In this passage, Jesus has finished what is commonly called the Last Supper with His disciples. 

Supper’s now over and He has predicted that one of the disciples is going to betray Him.  And then He identifies that disciple as Judas Iscariot and He sends him on his wicked task. 

Now Jesus begins to talk to His disciples and (John 13:33) he says “Little children, I am with you a little while longer.  You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come ” (John 13:33)

Jesus went on to say “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn13:34-35)

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However, Peter is stuck on the previous statement “I am with you a little while longer.  You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come” (John 13:33)

·         Peter’s heart is very troubled: Example-my kids if they cant come with me, they get bummed out.

·         And so Peter asked a question and this is the beginning of a question/answer session with the disciples.

·         It actually begins here in chapter thirteen, it’s after the dinner, and Jesus is sharing things with them.

Having said that He’s going to go away, in a little while they can’t come where He is going, then Peter said to Him, Lord, where are You going? 

First question.  Where are you going, Lord?  And Jesus answered Him, Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow me afterward.  Peter questioned again, “Why can’t I follow You now?  I will lay down my life for You.”  And then Jesus predicted Peter’s denial before the rooster would crow in the morning.

So Jesus went on to say…  “Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14:1)

!! A.                 Troubled hearts are delivered through belief (v.1).

1.                  “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me…”  (v.1a).

a)                  Deliverance from troubled hearts comes through belief in Jesus.

(1)                 Believing in Jesus Christ will deliver you from trouble (John 14:6) – He is the only way

(2)                 Continuing to believe in Jesus Christ while you are in the midst of trouble will carry you thru.

(a)                 When a sinner believes in Jesus Christ he has peace with God

Paul put it this way “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1, NASB95)

(b)                When we continue to believe in Jesus Christ and pray when we are anxious, we have the peace of God

When bad times or situations come we are to “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 4:6-7, NASB95)

(3)                 | We all have a tendency to borrow trouble & to imagine things worse than they really are |

The Lord does not want us to have troubled hearts but hearts of peace…

(a)                 What is it today that your heart is troubled about?  Child, work, finances, marriage…

(b)                In the world, peace is something you hope for or work for; but to the Christian, peace is God’s wonderful gift, received by faith.

(c)                 Unsaved people enjoy peace when there is an absence of trouble; Christians enjoy peace in spite of trials because of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

That is why Jesus said ““Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”  (John 14:27)

In Chapter 16 of Johns Gospel He said “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:33, NASB95)

Loving God’s Word brings peace, in Psalm 119 we read “Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble.”  (Psalm 119:165, NASB95)

Having our thoughts fixed upon God brings peace “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3, NKJV)

(4)                 “Troubled” means to to stir up, to trouble, agitate and is figuratively used of the mind, to disturb with various emotions such as fear.

(5)                 Jesus knew their hearts, seeing right into them knowing they were troubled.

(6)                 Illustration: A raging storm on the sea is intense, but go down under the water 200 ft, its calm!

b)                  Deliverance from troubled hearts comes through the example of Jesus (Heb.12:1-4).

(1)                 Think about this: John 13 is a really intense chapter…

(a)                 now Jesus says that His time has come to depart from this world to the Father…

(b)                the devil puts into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus…

(c)                 the disciples argued over who was the greatest, no one took the initiative to wash feet, therefore, Jesus gives them an example of serving one another…

(d)                the disciples were constantly asking Him questions…

(e)                 Jesus tells them that one of them is going to betray Him…and after that John tells us that Jesus’ spirit was troubled… remember Jn.14:1-let not your heart be troubled”?

(f)                  then Satan literally enters into Judas!

(2)                 Think about this: Jesus is the one going to the cross and the disciples should be supporting Jesus but Jesus is supporting them spiritually as well as emotionally. 

(a)                 Even when we are going thru tough times, the Lord wants us to minister to others!

(b)                In another passage Jesus was sorrowful and deeply distressed (Matt.26:36-46).

(c)                 Many times we want people to leave us alone but God wants us to minister to them.

!!!!! (3)                 Jesus even ministered while on the cross.

(a)                 He prays for forgiveness to those who “no not what they do”

(b)                He granted eternal life to a dying sinner who believed in Him (Luke 23:26-43)

(c)                 He didn’t overlook the responsibility to make provision for His mother (John 19:25, 26)

(d)                He take’s upon Himself the sins of the world (Matt.27:45)

B.                Troubled hearts are delivered through hope for God’s house (v.2a).

1.                  “In My Fathers house are many mansions… a permanent dwelling place” (v.2a).

a)                  The Preparation of Heaven.

(1)                 Imagine how thrilled the disciples were to hear that Christ was going to the Father to prepare a place for them.

(2)                 That promise gave them a whole new perspective.  Christ wasn’t going away to leave them; He was going away to get heaven ready for them, and this promise is for us as well.

(3)                 Think about this: Christ went to prepare a place for us, not willing that any should perish, wanting all to spend eternity with Him, plenty of room in heaven…

But when he was born, Luke says that Mary “brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”  (Luke 2:7)

(4)                 I love the way He addressed God as Father.  Jesus, who had dwelt eternally in the bosom of the Father, came forth to reveal the Father; He was busy about His Fathers business.  Now that His work would soon be done, He was planning to return to full glory with the Father.

b)                  The location of our future home.

(1)                 What was Christ talking about when He referred to His Father’s house?  He was speaking about heaven.

(a)                 In the New Testament, heaven is called a country (Heb. 11:16)…  It’s called a city (Heb. 11:10)…  It’s called a kingdom (Matt. 4:17)… and it is called paradise (Luke 23:43) because of its beauty.

(b)                But what I like best is when Christ calls heaven “My Father’s house.”  As a child, whenever I traveled away from home for football games in Arizona, I always thought the best thing I could possibly do was go back to my father’s house.

(c)                 Going to heaven won’t be like going into a giant palace where we have to be formal.  When we go there, it’ll be like going home:

(2)                 In John 2:16, Jesus called the Temple in Jerusalem His Father’s house.

(a)                 When He cleansed the Temple of merchants and moneychangers in (Matt.21:12-13), He said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves’” (v.13).

(b)                The Temple was the Father’s house until (Matt.23:38), where Jesus wept over Jerusalem and said, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”  From then on, heaven became the Father’s house

!!!! c)                  The layout of our future home.

(1)                 Jesus said that in His Father’s house “are many dwelling places” (John 14:2; NASB).  Some Bible translations use the phrase “many mansions” as the NKJV, however, that gives the incorrect idea:

(a)                 We tend to visualize a new real estate development with an agent who shows us a map and says, “Your mansion is two blocks down and four blocks to the left” but heaven won’t be like that.

(b)                The phrase “dwelling places” refers to how the Israelites lived:

(i)                   When a son became married, the father would add a wing to his house.  When another son married, another wing was added onto the house.

(ii)                 Eventually the original dwelling would become a set of dwellings that enclosed a patio in the middle.  All the relatives lived around that patio.

(iii)                So Jesus wasn’t talking about a apartment building, but a complete dwelling place surrounding a central patio.  We will be in dwellings attached to the Father’s house–right in the same house with the Father!

(2)                 Revelation 21:16 tells us how large the city in heaven will be:

John says that “The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth.  And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs.  Its length, breadth, and height are equal…  “Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel” (Rev.21:16-17).

(a)                 The length is as long as its breadth and heights, 1500 miles on each side, this means that each foundation stone is 1500 miles long on each side.

(b)                The thickness of the wall and gates is 144 cubits or 266 feet thick (Rev. 21:17).

(c)                 The walls are made of jasper: a crystal-like rock that is green in color.  The crystal green walls sparkle with the most beautiful color as the reflection of God’s glory strikes them.

(d)                Can you imagine the light (the glory of God), penetrating through a wall which is made of jasper (21:18) and is clear as crystal (21:11), and which goes through a wall (1500 miles long and cubed) with a wall 216 feet thick!!!

(3)                 The Heavenly City Is Worth Any Price To Enter.  No matter what a person has to sacrifice, he is a fool if he does not give up everything he has to enter the heavenly city of God.

The Parable of the hidden treasure, & the pear of great price.  “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matthew 13:44)…  “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”  (Matthew 13:45-46, NKJV)

Are you laying up treasure in heaven, our Lord said “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”  (Matthew 6:20, NKJV)

Jesus said to the rich young ruler, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”” (Matthew 19:21, NKJV)

Paul himself said “What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.  Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,” (Philippians 3:7-10, NKJV)

!!!! d)                  The life-style in our future home (Revelation 21:1-4).

(1)                 The greatest thing about heaven is that God will dwell with us and us with Him (v.3):

Christ’s words to His disciples will be answered “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”  (John 14:1-3, NKJV)

Christ’s prayer to the Father will be answered “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”  (John 17:24, NKJV)

(2)                 God will wipe away every tear from our eyes: the absence of anything to be sorry about.

(3)                 No more electric bills (Rev.21:22-23).

(4)                 When we are in the Father’s house, the Lord will take care of all the hurts and needs of His children.  He will drive away all pain. 

(5)                 We should already feel bound to heaven.  Our Father is there, as well as our Savior, our home, our names, our future lives, our affections, our hearts, our inheritances, and our citizenship.  And the great promise of John 14:3 is that Christ is in heaven now preparing it for us!

2.                  “If it were not so, I would have told you…”  (v.2b).

a)                  Nothing but the Truth.

(1)                 Jesus was saying, “Trust Me!  I’ve always told you the truth.  I’m not saying this just to try to make you feel good.”

In John 18:37, we read Jesus saying to Pilate, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I unto the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.”  Christ always speaks the truth. 

C.                Troubled hearts are delivered through Jesus’ work (v.2b).

1.                  “I go to prepare a place for you…”  (v.2c).

a)                  This is the key element to our comfort.

(1)                 Ladies, when you have guests over your homes, don’t you lovingly prepare it for them?  You may set our flowers and books, maybee light candles… you make it ready for them, right!

(2)                 Jesus is preparing a special place for us. 

(a)                 I suppose my room will have a 48 channel mixing board (with the latest technology of course) all digital… a wall full of Marshall Stacks, guitars gallor… maybee not.

(b)                The point: Jesus is preparing a place for us & that brings comfort in our troubles world

(3)                 When we plan for a family vacation or trip of some sort, do we just drive off with no prior preparation?  We obtain brochures, talk to our friends, pack our bags, and examine maps. 

(4)                 How much more should we prepare for eternity in our heavenly home

b)                  Where is He to go?

(1)                 Jesus went to the cross to prepare redemption for us.

Speaking of Himself, Jesus said that “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28, NKJV)

Think about what Jesus did for us, Paul said “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”  (2 Corinthians 8:9, NKJV)

(2)                 Jesus went to be raised from the dead to prepare a new life for us.

We have the power to live a life of victory, “that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”  (Romans 6:4, NKJV)

(3)                 Jesus ascends into heaven to prepare access into the presence of God for us.

Because Jesus prepared access for us into the presence of God we can “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace in time of need” (Heb.4:16)

!! D.                Troubled hearts are delivered through Jesus’ return (v.3a).

1.                  “I will come again and receive you to myself…”  (v.3a).

a)                  The Lord’s promise of coming again.

(1)                 Not only is Christ preparing heaven for us, but He will also come back and take us there.

(2)                 The Lord is not going to send someone else to get us.  He will take us home personally AND that tells us how precious we are to Him.

(3)                 Illustration:      I heard of a story about a father who dropped off his little boy at a street corner, and told him he would be back in twenty minutes after taking care of some business.  The father’s car broke down, and he wasn’t able to get back to his son for four or five hours.  The son waited on the corner by a store that whole time, and the panicky father had no way of phoning him.  He didn’t get back until eleven o’clock at night, and the boy was rocking back and forth on the sidewalk whistling a tune.  The father pulled up to the curb, hugged his son, and said he was very sorry.  The boy replied, “What are you sorry about?  You said you were coming.”

(4)                 That’s the kind of trust we can put in the Lord.  He said He was coming back.  It may look like its becoming dark around us but we can still trust His promise to return. 

Paul said that “the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” (Titus 2:11-13, NKJV)

(5)                 Important application (John 21:19-22): many time we take our eyes off of the Lord and His promises and put them on others… very dangerous.  The Lord told Peter to “follow Me” and immediately, Peter began to follow Jesus.  However, for a moment Peter took his eyes off the Lord Jesus, a mistake he had made at least two other times.

(a)                 Rememeber that first great catch of fish, Peter took his eyes off his Lord and looked at himself.  “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”  (Luke 5:8).

(b)                When he was walking on the stormy sea with Jesus, Peter looked away from the Lord and began to look at the waves; and immediately he began to sink (Matt. 14:30).

(c)                 Here, Peter takes his eyes off the Lord and looks back at John following them.  Beware when you get your eyes off the Lord and start to look at other Christians! (Hebrew 12:1-2) looking unto Jesus

!!! 2.                  “I will come again and receive you to myself…”  (v.3b)

a)                  The Lord’s promise of receiving us to Himself.

(1)                 The Lord promises to receive us to Himself, however, there is a difference between the believer meeting Jesus in death and meeting Jesus in the air at His return.

(2)                 The believer does meet Jesus at death: One moment he is in this world; the next moment he is in the presence of the Lord.

Stephen, while being stoned to death, “saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7:59, 55).

Paul said: “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” (2Cor.5:8).

Paul, “he had a desire” to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better” (Phil. 1:23).

Jesus had even promised the thief: “today you shall be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

(3)                 The believers who are alive and remain at His coming, meet Him in the air: Jesus will come one day to gather His own who are alive and raise the bodies of those who have died to take them all to heaven – the Rapture.

(a)                 1 Corinthians 15:51-58 esp. (v.58) 

(b)                1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

I LOVE WHAT PAULS SAYS TO TIMOTHY…  “But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear.  Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.  And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom.  To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!”  (2 Timothy 4:17-18, NKJV)

Because we will meet the Lord one day & not knowing the day or hour, we ought to be “those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.”  (Luke 12:37)

E.                 Troubled hearts are delivered through an eternal habitation with Jesus (v.3b).

1.                  “That where I am, there you may be also…”  (v.3b).

a)                  The very reason, according to John, Jesus is returning.

(1)                 We shall be with our Lord forever who has, saved us, forgiven us, delievered us from the bondage of sin, death and hell… with the one who has cared for us day by day.

(2)                 This should be the very thing that our heart longs for, because this is the very longing of His heart, ther very thing which He prayed so intensely for to the Father:

In John 17, Jesus prayed “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me.”  (John 17:24)

(3)                 How do we know that Christians go to heaven? 

Because of the price that Jesus paid, Paul said For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, NKJV)

Because of the promise that Jesus made (John 14:1–6):

And because of the prayer that Jesus prayed (John 17:24).

(4)                 The Father always answers His Son’s prayers, so we know that believers who die do go to heaven to behold the glory of God.

I.  Jesus’ Death Delivers Troubled Hearts, 14:1-3

A. Troubled hearts are delivered through belief (v.1).

B. Troubled hearts are delivered through hope for God’s house (v.2a).

C. Troubled hearts are delivered through Jesus’ work (v.2b).

D. Troubled hearts are delivered through Jesus’ return (v.3a).

E. Troubled hearts are delivered through an eternal habitation with Jesus (v.3b).

What does John 14:1 mean?

In the last few moments, Jesus has indicated one of the disciples is a deceiver (John 13:21) and predicted Peter will deny knowing Him at all (John 13:38; Luke 22:34). This comes in the context of frequent references to His impending death (John 12:7, 23–24).

This is why Jesus takes the time to reassure the disciples directly, telling them not to be “troubled.” This comes from the same Greek root word describing Jesus’ spirit in verses like John 11:33 and John 12:27. Some scholars suggest a difference between being troubled in one’s spirit, as opposed to being troubled in the heart. That would suggest Jesus is not commanding anyone to “be happy,” but to “be brave.” Whether John intended that nuance or not, much of what Jesus is about to say involves enduring hardship without losing trust. In practice, at least, this is a call for courage more than an upbeat mood.

There is also debate over the exact meaning of Jesus’ statement about belief in God and belief in Himself. This might be two individual commands: “trust God and trust Me.” Or, it might be an expression of logic: “you trust God, therefore you also trust Me.” Or, even as “if you trust God, you will trust Me.” Given what Jesus is about to say, a double command seems to make the most sense. Regardless, it’s clear that Christ is encouraging faith in God, and in Himself, in the face of what’s about to come.

Context Summary

John 14:1–14 continues Jesus’ discourse with the disciples at the last supper. He has recently mentioned a traitor in their midst and predicted Peter’s denials. That leads Jesus to reassure these men—reminding them that He has told them the truth and has all things in hand. In this passage, Christ famously refers to Himself as ”the way, and the truth, and the life.” That is the sixth of seven such ”I Am” statements included in John’s gospel. This section includes Jesus’ words, personal experience, and evidence of His miracles as reasons to maintain trust.

Chapter Summary

Christ reassures His followers that faith in Him is faith in God. To know Christ is to know ”the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). The words, actions, and miracles of Jesus should give Christians confidence to trust that He will make good on His promises. Among those are His guarantee that He is preparing to come for us, so we can be where He is. Jesus also predicts the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is only available to believers, and this Helper acts to guide, teach, and remind us. Both for the disciples, and for future Christians, these words are meant to be comforting during hard times. Since Christ knew, in advance, what would happen, we can be even more confident to trust Him

What does John 14:2 mean?

This verse uses the term monai, which most literally means “dwelling places.” Translations such as the KJV have rendered this as “mansions.” Many have latched onto this in a very literal way, imagining that Jesus is promising physical palaces for all Christians in heaven. While that’s not entirely impossible, there’s a more important meaning here. Jesus says these monai are in His “Father’s House,” using the expression tē oikia, which can mean a physical house or a family. In this context, it seems to mean something more family-related. Christ’s meaning here is more likely a reassurance that in the family of God is room for all of them, more so than a promise for a fancy house. That’s more in keeping with Jesus’ later comment in this verse that He’s preparing “a place” using a very generic Greek term, topon.

Jesus’ remark here is meant to continue the reassurance He began in the prior verse. Like that verse, this one contains an expression which can be translated in more than one way. Translators have rendered this phrase as a rhetorical question, a direct statement, and either included or separated the comment about a “place” into the sentence. Which of those was John’s original intent is an answer deeply buried in ancient Greek grammar and vocabulary. No matter which is ultimately the case, the practical meaning is the same: Christ has not been deceptive, there is restoration at the end of a believer’s life journey, and this destiny is the result of Christ’s efforts.

Jesus will use the same word for “dwelling places” in John 14:23 when He speaks about coming to make His home in those who believe.

Context Summary

John 14:1–14 continues Jesus’ discourse with the disciples at the last supper. He has recently mentioned a traitor in their midst and predicted Peter’s denials. That leads Jesus to reassure these men—reminding them that He has told them the truth and has all things in hand. In this passage, Christ famously refers to Himself as ”the way, and the truth, and the life.” That is the sixth of seven such ”I Am” statements included in John’s gospel. This section includes Jesus’ words, personal experience, and evidence of His miracles as reasons to maintain trust.

Chapter Summary

Christ reassures His followers that faith in Him is faith in God. To know Christ is to know ”the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). The words, actions, and miracles of Jesus should give Christians confidence to trust that He will make good on His promises. Among those are His guarantee that He is preparing to come for us, so we can be where He is. Jesus also predicts the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is only available to believers, and this Helper acts to guide, teach, and remind us. Both for the disciples, and for future Christians, these words are meant to be comforting during hard times. Since Christ knew, in advance, what would happen, we can be even more confident to trust Him

What does John 14:3 mean?

In prior comments, Jesus pointed out that He was about to go somewhere others could not follow (John 7:32–34). The short-term implication was that only Jesus could walk the path of sacrifice, death, resurrection, and ascension. In making those remarks, Jesus also indicated that His critics would not “find” Him (John 8:21); this is not a restriction He mentioned to His disciples (John 13:36).

In a broader sense, Jesus continues to provide reassurance to His disciples (John 14:1). In literal terms, this verse contains a vague promise to return and bring these men to be where He is. He does not indicate that anyone will travel or arrive, but that He will be the One bringing them to the destination. This is especially interesting in that Jesus will also indicate that these men know “the way to” this place. Put together, most interpreters view this as a reference to the rapture, when Christ will take believers from earth in advance of the end times. During His later prayer, Jesus will repeat this idea of believers being in the places where He is (John 17:24).

The combined effect of this encouragement is preparation to endure hardship. The disciples are about to experience several days of fear and loss (John 20:19; Mark 14:27), followed by the chaotic joy of Christ’s resurrection (Mark 16:6–8). Afterwards, and continuing to today, those who follow Christ will be subject to persecution (John 15:20). Because of what Christ has done, and the fact that those trials are expected (John 13:19; 16:4), believers can hold to a firm trust in the promises of God.

Context Summary

John 14:1–14 continues Jesus’ discourse with the disciples at the last supper. He has recently mentioned a traitor in their midst and predicted Peter’s denials. That leads Jesus to reassure these men—reminding them that He has told them the truth and has all things in hand. In this passage, Christ famously refers to Himself as ”the way, and the truth, and the life.” That is the sixth of seven such ”I Am” statements included in John’s gospel. This section includes Jesus’ words, personal experience, and evidence of His miracles as reasons to maintain trust.

Chapter Summary

Christ reassures His followers that faith in Him is faith in God. To know Christ is to know ”the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). The words, actions, and miracles of Jesus should give Christians confidence to trust that He will make good on His promises. Among those are His guarantee that He is preparing to come for us, so we can be where He is. Jesus also predicts the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is only available to believers, and this Helper acts to guide, teach, and remind us. Both for the disciples, and for future Christians, these words are meant to be comforting during hard times. Since Christ knew, in advance, what would happen, we can be even more confident to trust Him.

What does John 14:1-3 mean?

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Rabbi Meir Baal Haness

Prayer For Lost objects

After Saying The Prayer of

Reb Meir Say Three Times

G‑d of Meir answer me!

OPEN

1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 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. 3 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. (John 14:1-3 KJV)

Matthew Henry’s Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOHN CHAPTER 14  

This chapter is a continuation of Christ’s discourse with his disciples after supper. When he had convicted and discarded Judas, he set himself to comfort the rest, who were full of sorrow upon what he had said of leaving them, and a great many good words and comfortable words he here speaks to them. The discourse in interlocutory; as Peter in the foregoing chapter, so Thomas, and Philip, and Jude, in this interposed their thoughts upon what he said, according to the liberty he was pleased to allow them. Free conferences are as instructive as solemn speeches, and more so. The general scope of this chapter is in the first verse; it is designed to keep trouble from their hearts; now in order to this they must believe: and let them consider,  

I. Heaven as their everlasting rest, Joh 14:2-3.  

II. Christ himself as their way, Joh 14:4-11.  

III. The great power they shall be clothed with by the prevalence of their prayers, Joh 14:12-14.  

IV. The coming of another comforter, Joh 14:15-17.  

V. The fellowship and communion that should be between him and them after his departure, Joh 14:18-24.  

VI. The instructions which the Holy Ghost should give them, Joh 14:25-26.  

VII. The peace Christ bequeathed to them, Joh 14:27.  

VII. Christ’s own cheerfulness in his departure, Joh 14:28-31. And this which he said to them is designed for the comfort of all his faithful followers.  

Ver. 1. thru Ver. 3.  

In these verses we have,  

I. A general caution which Christ gives to his disciples against trouble of heart (Joh 14:1): Let not your heart be troubled. They now began to be troubled, were entering into this temptation. Now here see,  

1. How Christ took notice of it. Perhaps it was apparent in their looks; it was said (Joh 13:22), They looked one upon another with anxiety and concern, and Christ looked upon them all, and observed it; at least, it was intelligible to the Lord Jesus, who is acquainted with all our secret undiscovered sorrows, with the wound that bleeds inwardly; he knows not only how we are afflicted, but how we stand affected under our afflictions, and how near they lie to our hearts; he takes cognizance of all the trouble which his people are at any time in danger of being overwhelmed with; he knows our souls in adversity. Many things concurred to trouble the disciples now.  

(1.) Christ had just told them of the unkindness he should receive from some of them, and this troubled them all. Peter, no doubt, looked very sorrowful upon what Christ said to him, and all the rest were sorry for him and for themselves too, not knowing whose turn it should be to be told next of some ill thing or other they should do. As to this, Christ comforts them; though a godly jealousy over ourselves is of great use to keep us humble and watchful, yet it must not prevail to the disquieting of our spirits and the damping of our holy joy.  

(2.) He had just told them of his own departure from them, that he should not only go away, but go away in a cloud of sufferings. They must shortly hear him loaded with reproaches, and these will be as a sword in their bones; they must see him barbarously abused and put to death, and this also will be a sword piercing through their own souls, for they had loved him, and chosen him, and left all to follow him. When we now look upon Christ pierced, we cannot but mourn and be in bitterness, though we see the glorious issue and fruit of it; much more grievous must the sight be to them, who could then look no further. If Christ depart from them  

[1.] They will think themselves shamefully disappointed; for they looked that this had been he that should have delivered Israel, and should have set upon his kingdom in secular power and glory, and, in expectation of this, had lost all to follow him. Now, if he leave the world in the same circumstances of meanness and poverty in which he had lived, and worse, they are quite defeated.  

[2.] They will think themselves sadly deserted and exposed. They knew by experience what little presence of mind they had in difficult emergencies, that they could count upon nothing but being ruined and run down if they part with their Master. Now, in reference to all these, Let not your heart be troubled. Here are three words, upon any of which the emphasis may significantly be laid. First, Upon the word troubled, mh tarassesyw. Be not so troubled as to be put into a hurry and confusion, like the troubled sea when it cannot rest. He does not say,  

“Let not your hearts be sensible of the griefs, or sad because of them” but, “Be not ruffled and discomposed, be not cast down and disquieted,”  

 Ps 42:5. Secondly, Upon the word heart:  

“Though the nation and city be troubled, though your little family and flock be troubled, yet let not your heart be troubled. Keep possession of your own souls when you can keep possession of nothing else.”  

The heart is the main fort; whatever you do, keep trouble from this, keep this with all diligence. The spirit must sustain the infirmity, therefore, see that this be not wounded. Thirdly, Upon the word your:  

“You that are my disciples and followers, my redeemed, chosen, sanctified ones, however others are overwhelmed with the sorrows of this present time, be not you so, for you know better; let the sinners in Zion tremble, but let the sons of Zion be joyful in their king.”  

Herein Christ’s disciples should do more than others, should keep their minds quiet, when every thing else is unquiet.  

2. The remedy he prescribes against this trouble of mind, which he saw ready to prevail over them; in general, believe–pisteuete.  

(1.) Some read it in both parts imperatively,  

“Believe in God, and his perfections and providence, believe also in me, and my mediation. Build with confidence upon the great acknowledged principles of natural religion: that there is a God, that he is most holy, wise, powerful, and good; that he is the governor of the world, and has the sovereign disposal of all events; and comfort yourselves likewise with the peculiar doctrines of that holy religion which I have taught you.”  

But,  

(2.) We read the former as an acknowledgment that they did believe in God, for which he commends them:  

“But, if you would effectually provide against a stormy day, believe also in me.”  

Through Christ we are brought into covenant with God, and become interested in his favour and promise, which otherwise as sinners we must despair of, and the remembrance of God would have been our trouble; but, by believing in Christ as the Mediator between God and man, our belief in God becomes comfortable; and this is the will of God, that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father, by believing in the Son as they believe in the Father. Those that rightly believe in God will believe in Jesus Christ, whom he has made known to them; and believing in God through Jesus Christ is an excellent means of keeping trouble from the heart. The joy of faith is the best remedy against the griefs of sense; it is a remedy with a promise annexed to it; the just shall live by faith; a remedy with a probatum est annexed to it. I had fainted unless I had believed.  

II. Here is a particular direction to act faith upon the promise of eternal life, Joh 14:2-3. He had directed them to trust to God, and to trust in him; but what must they trust God and Christ for? Trust them for a happiness to come when this body and this world shall be no more, and for a happiness to last as long as the immortal soul and the eternal world shall last. Now this is proposed as a sovereign cordial under all the troubles of this present time, to which there is that in the happiness of heaven which is admirably adapted and accommodated. The saints have encouraged themselves with this in their greatest extremities, That heaven would make amends for all. Let us see how this is suggested here.  

1. Believe and consider that really there is such a happiness: In my Father’s house there are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you, Joh 14:2.  

(1.) See under what notion the happiness of heaven is here represented: as mansions, many mansions in Christ’s Father’s house.  

[1.] Heaven is a house, not a tent or tabernacle; it is a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  

[2.] It is a Father’s house: my Father’s house; and his Father is our Father, to whom he was now ascending; so that in right of their elder brother all true believers shall be welcome to that happiness as to their home. It is his house who is King of kings and Lord of lords, dwells in light, and inhabits eternity.  

[3.] There are mansions there; that is, First, Distinct dwellings, an apartment for each. Perhaps there is an allusion to the priests’ chambers that were about the temple. In heaven there are accommodations for particular saints; though all shall be swallowed up in God, yet our individuality shall not be lost there; every Israelite had his lot in Canaan, and every elder a seat, Re 4:4. Secondly, Durable dwellings. monai,from mneiw, maneo, abiding places. The house itself is lasting; our estate in it is not for a term of years, but a perpetuity. Here we are as in an inn; in heaven we shall gain a settlement. The disciples had quitted their houses to attend Christ, who had not where to lay his head, but the mansions in heaven will make them amends.  

[4.] There are many mansions, for there are many sons to be brought to glory, and Christ exactly knows their number, nor will be straitened for room by the coming of more company than he expects. He had told Peter that he should follow him (Joh 13:36), but let not the rest be discouraged, in heaven there are mansions for them all. Rehoboth, Ge 26:22.  

(2.) See what assurance we have of the reality of the happiness itself, and the sincerity of the proposal of it to us:  

“If it were not so, I would have told you. If you had deceived yourselves, when you quitted your livelihoods, and ventured your lives for me, in prospect of a happiness future and unseen, I would soon have undeceived you.”  

The assurance is built,  

[1.] Upon the veracity of his word. It is implied,  

“If there were not such a happiness, valuable and attainable, I would not have told you that there was.”  

[2.] Upon the sincerity of his affection to them. As he is true, and would not impose upon them himself, so he is kind, and would not suffer them to be imposed upon. If either there were no such mansions, or none designed for them, who had left all to follow him, he would have given them timely notice of the mistake, that they might have made an honourable retreat to the world again, and have made the best they could of it. Note, Christ’s good-will to us is a great encouragement to our hope in him. He loves us too well, and means us too well, to disappoint the expectations of his own raising, or to leave those to be of all men most miserable who have been of him most observant.  

2. Believe and consider that the design of Christ’s going away was to prepare a place in heaven for his disciples.  

“You are grieved to think of my going away, whereas I go on your errand, as the forerunner; I am to enter for you.”  

He went to prepare a place for us; that is,  

(1.) To take possession for us, as our advocate or attorney, and so to secure our title as indefeasible. Livery of seisin was given to Christ, for the use and behoof of all that should believe on him.  

(2.) To make provision for us as our friend and father. The happiness of heaven, though prepared before the foundation of the world, yet must be further fitted up for man in his fallen state. It consisting much in the presence of Christ there, it was therefore necessary that he should go before, to enter into that glory which his disciples were to share in. Heaven would be an unready place for a Christian if Christ were not there. He went to prepare a table for them, to prepare thrones for them, Lu 22:30. Thus Christ declares the fitness of heaven’s happiness for the saints, for whom it is prepared.  

3. Believe and consider that therefore he would certainly come again in due time, to fetch them to that blessed place which he was now going to possess for himself and prepare for them (Joh 14:3):  

“If I go and prepare a place for you, if this be the errand of my journey, you may be sure, when every thing is ready, I will come again, and receive you to myself, so that you shall follow me hereafter, that where I am there you may be also.”  

Now these are comfortable words indeed.  

(1.) That Jesus Christ will come again; ercomai–I do come, intimating the certainty of it, that he will come and that he is daily coming. We say, We are coming, when we are busy in preparing for our coming, and so he is; all he does has a reference and tendency to his second coming. Note, The belief of Christ’s second coming, of which he has given us the assurance, is an excellent preservative against trouble of heart, Php 4:5; Jas 5:8.  

(2.) That he will come again to receive all his faithful followers to himself. He sends for them privately at death, and gathers them one by one; but they are to make their public entry in solemn state all together at the last day, and then Christ himself will come to receive them, to conduct them in the abundance of his grace, and to welcome them in the abundance of his love. He will hereby testify the utmost respect and endearment imaginable. The coming of Christ is in order to our gathering together unto him, 2Th 2:1.  

(3.) That where he is there they shall be also. This intimates, what many other scriptures declare, that the quintessence of heaven’s happiness is being with Christ there, Joh 17:24; Php 1:23; 1Th 4:17. Christ speaks of his being there as now present, that where I am; where I am to be shortly, where I am to be eternally; there you shall be shortly, there you shall be eternally: not only there, in the same place; but there, in the same state: not only spectators of his glory, as the three disciples on the mount, but sharers in it.  

(4.) That this may be inferred from his going to prepare a place for us, for his preparations shall not be in vain. He will not build and furnish lodgings, and let them stand empty. He will be the finisher of that of which he is the author. If he has prepared the place for us, he will prepare us for it, and in due time put us in possession of it. As the resurrection of Christ is the assurance of our resurrection, so his ascension, victory, and glory, are an assurance of ours.

EN ES



NOV 15

1

Sermon: John 14:1-3: I Go To Prepare A Place For You

Old Testament Reading: Ezekiel 37:15–28

“The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. And when your people say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.’”(Ezekiel 37:15–28, ESV)

New Testament Reading: John 14:1-3

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:1–3, ESV)

Introduction

Brothers and sisters, I want to begin to our consideration of the text before us by remembering things that happened long ago. It will eventually become clear why it is that I am introducing this sermon in this way. We should begin our consideration of John 14 by first of all remembering that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”, that is, all things visible and invisible. The scriptures tell us that “the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1–2, ESV) I think you would agree with me, this was no place for man to dwell. This empty and chaotic darkness was by no means suitable for man. There was no place for him in this dark and chaotic abyss.

And so God began to bring the earth into shape. He began, by the power of his word, to form and fashion the earth into a realm suitable for his creatures.  “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:3–4, ESV) He then divided the waters below from the waters above – the sky and the sea were created. And then he separated the seas from the dry land, and the dry land produced vegetation. These realms God created so that they might be filled with their proper rulers.

And that is in fact what God proceeded to do. Now that the earth was brought into shape – now that suitable realms had been created – he proceeded to fill those realms with things that would govern them. The scriptures tell us that on day four of creation God created the sun, moon, and stars. These were placed within their proper realm in order to rule the day and the night. In like manner God, on day five, created the flying creatures and the sea creatures, and they were placed within the realms created for them on day two. They were to multiply and fill the sky and the sea. And on day six we are told that God filled the land, which was created on day three,  with “the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:25, ESV)

The creation account of Genesis 1 follows this pattern: realms were created, and then those realms were filled with creature kings. A place was made – light; the sky and the sea; dry land – and then those places were filled with God’s creatures who were given the task of governing in one way or another.

But you say, there is more to the creation story! And you are right! In Genesis 1:26 we hear of the pinnacle of God’s creation:

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:26–31, ESV)

Much can be said about the creation account of Genesis 1, but what I want you to see is that at the heart of it is this idea: God made a place for man. He created all things visible and invisible by the power of his Word. He then, by the power of his Word, brought the earth out of its formless, empty, and dark state. And he did so until there was a place where man could dwell.

Genesis 2 tells us the same story but from a different vantage point. It zooms in upon man. Man, we are told was created directly by God. He was created from the dust of the ground. God breathed into him the breath of life. And the woman was taken out of man. After man was created by God he “put the man whom he had formed” into the garden paradise that he had created (Genesis 2:8, ESV).

Church, there is a question that we must answer before we move on. And the question is this: what made that garden paradise, paradise? Have you ever considered that? We might be tempted to think that it was the climate, or the lushness of the place? Perhaps it was the abundance of food? Or maybe it was the absence of sickness and death. These things certainly contributed to man’s enjoyment of paradise, but may I suggest to you the thing that made paradise, paradise, had nothing to do with the physical creation, but rather had everything to do with the fact that it was there that man walked with God. Eden – the original creation – was like a temple where man enjoyed unbroken, unhindered, unmediated, fellowship with the God who made him. Adam and Eve walked with God. He was their God, and they his people. God tabernacled with man there in that place. God is what made paradise, paradise.

Those of you familiar with the Bible are aware of the fact that Genesis 1and 2 are followed quickly by Genesis 3 which tells us of man’s original sin, the fall. The consequence of the sin of our first parents was that paradise was lost. The wages of sin is death. Sickness and suffering became the norm. Man was put out of the garden paradise, the way to the tree of life being blocked. But more than all of this we should notice that man lost his place before God. No longer would he walk with God in an unbroken, unhindered, unmediated way. No, he was now a sinner. He was a child of wrath. He stood guiltily before God – condemned.

But as you know, God showed mercy to fallen man. In an act of sheer grace he promised to redeem. He promised to defeat the evil one. He promised to send a Savior. God promised to make a way for fallen man to dwell with him. The Bible, as complicated as it may seem, is really quite simple – it is the story of God making and keeping his promise to save a people unto himself through Jesus who is the Christ.

With that in mind let us now move from our consideration of the creation and fall forward through the history of redemption. Let us pass by Able and Seth, Enoch and Noah. Let us move past Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And passing by Moses and David let us now fix our attention upon Jesus, who is the Christ, the Promised one from long ago.

Picture him there in the upper room with his disciples. He had walked with them for over three years. He taught them many things. He preformed miracles before their eyes, and in the sight of others. They believed that he was the Christ, the Savior of the world, and they expected him to remain forever. But now he is talking about going away. In John 13:33 we hear Jesus say, “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’” (John 13:33, ESV)

The disciples were troubled at this word. They were greatly distressed. They were bothered at the thought of their Master going away. After all, they expected him to remain forever! They thought to themselves, why does he need to leave? Where does he plan to go? Will will see him again? And how will we possibly get along in this world without him? These were the thoughts that were troubling the disciples of Jesus.

Notice that Jesus brings comfort to his disciples. That is what John 14 is all about. Jesus is comforting his disciples concerning his departure. And not only did he comfort the 11 who remained with him in the upper room on the night of of his betrayal and arrest, but he, by way of extension, also comforts you and I who live in this age between Christ first and second coming.

And how does Christ comfort those who are his who will live in the time between his first and second comings?

Christ commands us, saying, “let not your hearts be troubled.”

Look at verse 1. Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” (John 14:1, ESV) Isn’t this like our Lord! We know that he himself was “troubled in spirit”, and yet, even with with the weight of the world upon his shoulders, his gives himself to the task of comforting his disciples with the words, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”

These words were originally for the 11 disciples who remained, it is true. But they are also for you and me. Jesus says to all who are his who live in this world between his first and second coming, “Let not your hearts be troubled”.

Christian, do you see that this is a command? “Let not your hearts be troubled”, Jesus says. It is an imperative in the Greek.  And as a command it is something that we are to obey. When our hearts are anxious – when our hearts are troubled with the cares that come with living in this world – we are to hear the command of our Savior saying, “let not your hearts be troubled.” And upon hearing his words, we are to obey them.

Christ urges us, saying, “believe in God, believe also in me.”

Thankfully there is substance to the command. There is weight behind it! You and I might say to one another, “don’t worry”, or “be happy”, but there is little substance to that. We might respond to encouragement like that saying, but why should I not worry? Or, why should I be happy? Jesus gives us a reason. He says,  “let not your hearts be troubled”, but he does not leave us with and empty command. He directs our attention to God and urges us to take comfort in him! “Believe in God; believe also in me”, he says. I can think of no greater reason to refrain from fretting than to remember the God who made us and love that he has for us in Christ Jesus. And that is where Jesus directs our attention. “Believe in God”, he says. And “believe also in me”

And so what are we to do when our hearts are filled with angst? We are to heed the command of Christ! We are to run to God and place all of our trust in him. We are to follow the advice of Peter who urges us to, “[cast] all [our] anxieties on [God], because he cares for [us].” (1 Peter 5:7, ESV)

Christ encourages us, saying, “I go and prepare a place for you.”

But Jesus goes further than this as he comforts his disciples assuring them that he his departure is for good a reason. It was not a purposeless departure, but a purposeful one. His departure was for their benefit as he would go away in order to prepare a place for those who belong to him.

Verse 2: “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:2, ESV)

When I hear these words the image that comes to mind is that of a husband going away to prepare a place for his bride. Now there is a vast difference between a husband leaving his bride for no good reason, and a husband going away in order to prepare a place for her. In both instances the bride will undoubtably experience a measure of trepidation concerning the departure of her husband, but the two things are entirely different. In the one the departure is for no good reason and to no good end; in the other the departure is for a good purpose – a purpose that will eventually benefit the bride. When a husband separates from his wife for a time in order to prepare a place for her, the wife ultimately rejoices, for she knows that his leaving is essentially good, though it may be difficult for a time. His leaving will bring about something better than what currently is.

So it was with Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and assertion to the Father. He would leave his disciples on earth for a time, but for good reason. He departed in order to prepare a place for those who belong to him – he has gone to prepare a place for us.

Clearly, Jesus was talking about heaven. He refers to heaven as “my Fathers house”. Heaven is the place where God dwells. It is true, there is a sense in which God is everywhere – he is omnipresent. But heaven is that place where his glory dwells. In the scriptures we are, from time to time, given a glimpse into heaven – that is,  of the third heaven – where God is worshipped day and night by the heavenly hosts and the saints who have passed from this world into glory. Jesus here refers to this place as “my Fathers house”.

I suppose it can also be said that Jesus ultimately has in mind the new heavens and the new earth that those who are in Christ will enjoy for all eternity at the consummation. This is ultimately what we should have in mind when we hear Jesus say, “I go to prepare a place for you.” Ultimately, the place that Christ will prepare for us is the new heavens and the new earth.

John describes this place for us at the end of the book of Revelation, saying,

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away… And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” (Revelation 21:1–5, ESV)

This is the ultimate and final place that Christ is preparing for those who are his – that is, for his bride, the church.

Jesus tells us that “in his Fathers house their are many rooms.” Are we to think of heaven (as it is now), or the new heavens and new earth (as they will be at the consummation) as giant apartment complex, then? A mansion with many individual rooms in which the people of God will dwell? No. It seems to me that Christ is using figurative language here. The point is that Christ is going away to prepare a place for those who belong to him, and that in that place there is ample room for his people.

There is a reason why I began this sermon by rehearsing the creation account. When thinking of the new heavens and the new earth we ought to have in mind the original creation. In the end, the original creation will be restored. In the end, the people of God will possess that which the first Adam forfeited. We will possess what the first Adam forfeited by trusting in the second Adam, who is the Christ, who accomplished salvation for us. Just as God created the heavens and earth in the beginning (making a place suitable for the first Adam to dwell), so too Christ will usher in the new creation at the end of time (having prepared a place suitable for those united to him to dwell).

The difference between the first creation and the new creation is that in the new creation there will be no possibility for rebellion. We will enter into consummate rest – secure rest – everlasting rest. The first paradise could be lost. The second paradise cannot be lost, because it has been earned (paid in full!) by Jesus, who is the Christ, the second Adam. This is difference between Eden and the eternal state.

The similarity is this: in both the original creation and the new creation, the central and significant feature that God dwells in the midst of his people. The people of God will enjoy unbroken, unhindered, unmediated, fellowship with the God who made them. This is what makes paradise, paradise. 

When talking about heaven people are accustom to speaking of pearly gates, streets of gold, and mansions on hills. We speak often of no more sin, sickness, or death. And it is true that we long for these things. But we are amiss – terribly amiss – if, when thinking of the new heavens and the new earth, we fail to see “God with us” as the most treasured feature of all. He is what makes heaven, heaven. He is what makes paradise, paradise. He indeed is our life.

It was true of the first creation, and will be true of the last. We will walk with God in the cool of the evening.

When the prophet spoke of the glories to come this is very thing that they emphasized – God with us! Remember Ezekiel 37? The promise was this, “But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” (Ezekiel 37:23, ESV)

Again in verse 26,

“I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” (Ezekiel 37:26–28, ESV)

These things have already been fulfilled in part at Christ’s first coming, but they will be fulfilled fully at his second coming.

And the book of Revelation paints the same picture for us, doesn’t it? The voice that John heard, said, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” (Revelation 21:3, ESV)

This is what makes paradise, paradise – God with us. We will indeed enjoy unbroken, unhindered, unmediated, fellowship with the God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you see that this is precisely what Jesus emphasizes in John 14? He says, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:3, ESV)

Oh church, are you not comforted by these things? Are you not comforted by the fact that, though we may struggle here on earth in the time between Christ’s first and second coming, he has prepared a place for you?

What you and I deserve is to be cast from the presence of God into utter darkness – into the void if you will. But just as God made a place suitable for Adam, so too Christ as had made a place suitable for you and me through his obedient life, his sacrificial death, and his resurrection.

And he has promised to return for us! He would depart for a time. But this separation will not be final. He will return for his bride at the end of time so that where he is we may also be.

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“Him we proclaim,
warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom,
that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”
(Colossians 1:28, ESV)

© 2011-2022 Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church

QUESTION

What does it mean to let not your heart be troubled in John 14:1?



ANSWER

In John 14:1, Jesus tells His disciples, “Let not your hearts be troubled” (ESV). As always, the meaning of any particular passage of Scripture can only be ascertained by understanding the context. So we will back up and take a look at what leads up to Jesus’ command to “let not your heart be troubled.”

In John 12, Jesus tells the crowds (including the disciples) that He would be crucified. In John 13, in the intimate setting of a Passover meal, the meal that later became known as “the Last Supper,” Jesus tells His disciples that one of them would betray Him. He then goes on to tell Peter that he will deny and disown the Lord. Obviously, all of this was upsetting news to the disciples.

After the Last Supper, before He is arrested, Jesus assures His disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me” (John 14:1). The information that He goes on to communicate, about heaven and about the Holy Spirit, is the antidote to the disturbing information that they have taken in.

When Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled,” He was comforting His disciples, who definitely had troubled hearts. Jesus promises them that His death will not be the end, and Peter’s denial will not be the end for Peter, either. He explains that His death and subsequent ascension into heaven, rather than leaving them destitute, will bring about two specific blessings: it will enable Him to prepare a place for them, and it will allow Him to send the Holy Spirit to comfort them.

When Jesus said He was going to “prepare a place” for the disciples, He was speaking of His death (John 14:3). We should not imagine that Jesus has been “building heaven” for the last 2,000 years and that it is still “under construction.” Rather, His words mean that His death was the preparation for us to receive a place in the Father’s house. It is ready now.

As part of allaying the disciples’ fears, Jesus also promised that, when He did leave the earth, He would send the Holy Spirit to the disciples and to all believers. Throughout John chapters 15 and 16, Jesus speaks of the disciples’ victory over the world by the power of the Spirit. The book of Acts gives the historical fulfillment of these promises as believers, in the power of the Spirit, took the gospel to the world. The Spirit is still at work in all believers today.

The admonition “do not let your hearts be troubled” was spoken specifically to the disciples in the face of Jesus’ impending death. Believers today are not in the same specific situation, but the admonition still applies. We should not let our hearts be troubled by anxiety or worry about Jesus’ care and plan for us.

When we face trouble, we may think that, if only Jesus were here with us, in person, standing beside us so that we could talk face to face, we could get through the trial. We are tempted to think that we could trust Him better if He were visible and in the flesh. When we begin to have these thoughts, we need to let our hearts be comforted by two key facts: Jesus has done everything that needs to be done for us to be welcomed into the Father’s house, so we are children of the King; and the Holy Spirit lives in us to help us, if we will yield ourselves to His leading. When we rest in the salvation that Jesus provided and rely on the Holy Spirit to help us navigate the dangerous world around us, we can keep from being troubled in our hearts.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

John: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament by Edward W. Klink III

More insights from your Bible study – Get Started with Logos Bible Software for Free!

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Questions about John

What does it mean to let not your heart be troubled in John 14:1?

VERSE OF THE DAY

Psalm 136:1,26 (New Living Translation)

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Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.

All Praise and Thanksgiving are good to the lord for he is to be honored. His good honors, grace, faithfulness and love endure forever

PSALM 136 – GOD’S NEVER-ENDING MERCY

Video for Psalm 136:

Psalm 136 – God’s Never-Ending Mercy

Psalm 136 is a special psalm, with each one of its 26 verses repeating the sentence, His mercy endures forever. Psalm 118 repeated that affirmation five times. Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, the phrase has somewhat of a liturgical sense to it, as if the assembled people of Israel said or sung this in response to the direction of the Levites leading singing and worship. Ezra 3:11 indicates that this encouragement was part of a responsive singing among God’s people: And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever toward Israel.”

The sentence is used several other times in the Old Testament, each time in the context of some kind of public praise or declaration. His mercy endures forever is found:

• In David’s psalm of praise recorded in 1 Chronicles 16:7-36.

• In the assignments of the priests in David’s day (1 Chronicles 16:41).

• In Israel’s praise at the dedication of Solomon’s temple (2 Chronicles 5:13, 7:3, 7:6).

• In the record of the LORD’s victory over the Ammonites as they praised (2 Chronicles 20:21).

• In the future praise by Israel after the destruction suffered in the Babylonian conquest (Jeremiah 33:10-11).

• In the dedication of Ezra’s temple (Ezra 3:11).

We picture a great multitude of the people of God gathered in the temple courts. A priest or Levite would call out a reason to give God thanks, and His people would respond with, “For His mercy endures forever.”

“In Jewish tradition Psalm 136 has been called the Great Hallel (or Great Psalm of Praise). It does not use the words hallelu jah, but it is called the Great Hallel for the way it rehearses God’s goodness in regard to his people and encourages them to praise him for his merciful and steadfast love.” (James Montgomery Boice)

A. The enduring mercy of God from the beginning of time.

1. (1-4) The enduring mercy of God in His essential nature, who He is.

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
For His mercy endures forever:
To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His mercy endures forever;

a. Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good: As in the previous psalm, Psalm 136 gives thanks and praise to God for His goodness. The fact that God is good is fundamental to all that He is and does. We know that God is love (1 John 4:8 and 4:16), and that love is an expression of His goodness. This is a wonderful reason to give Yahweh thanks.

i. “Give thanks is not the whole meaning of this word…and therefore calls us to thoughtful, grateful worship, spelling out what we know or have found of God’s glory and his deeds.” (Kidner)

ii. “He is good beyond all others; indeed, he alone is good in the highest sense; he is the source of good, the good of all good, the sustainer of good, the perfecter of good, and the rewarder of good. For this he deserves the constant gratitude of his people.” (Spurgeon)

iii. Because we are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27), we know something of what is good. However, we are fallen (Romans 5:19), and our knowledge of good is corrupted. Yet our entire concept of good is rooted in God and His goodness.

iv. Those who question God’s goodness do so according to some standard of what is good and what is evil. The very existence of that standard connects them to something beyond themselves – back to the Creator who made them in His image.

b. For His mercy endures forever: This is the first of 26 times this phrase is repeated in this psalm. It was probably the answer of the congregation of Israel to each first line spoken by the priests or Levites.

i. 1 Chronicles 16:37-41 suggests that His mercy endures forever was sung daily as part of the morning and evening sacrifices.

ii. “Most hymns with a solid, simple chorus become favourites with congregations, and this is sure to have been one of the best beloved.” (Spurgeon)

iii. The greatest demonstration of the always-enduring mercy of God was seen in the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.

c. His mercy endures forever: The declaration proclaims that God’s hesed (mercy) never ends and will always be given to His people.

i. Mercy is the translation of the great Hebrew word hesed, which may be understood as Yahweh’s grace, His loyal love, His covenant love unto His people. Some scholars have overemphasized its covenant aspect, taking too much feeling from the word. Hesed combines loyalty to a covenant with true love and mercy.

ii. For centuries it was translated with words like mercy, kindness, and love. In 1927, a scholar named Nelson Glueck (among others) argued that the real idea behind hesed was “covenant loyalty” and not so much love or mercy. However, many disagreed and there is no good reason for changing the long-held understanding of hesed and taking it as a word that mainly emphasizes covenant loyalty (see R. Laird Harris on hesed in the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament).

d. Give thanks to the God of gods…to the Lord of lords: Reasons are repeatedly found to thank and praise God. Here each reason is connected to who God is. He is greater than any of the supposed gods or lords of the nations. This idea may be drawn from Deuteronomy 10:17.

i. LORD…. God…. Lord: “The opening stanzas refer to the One to Whom reference is made throughout, by the three great names by which He as known: Jehovah, the title of grace (Psalm 136:1); Elohim, the name of might (Psalm 136:2); and Adonai, the title of sovereignty (Psalm 136:3).” (Morgan)

ii. The Lord of lords: “All lords in the plural are summed up in this Lord in the singular: he is more lordly than all emperors and kings condensed into one.” (Spurgeon)

e. To Him who alone does great wonders: God’s people were invited to praise Him as the God of true power and miraculous wonders. Most of the rest of this psalm describes many of these great wonders, that were and are an expression of His great mercy, His hesed to His people.

i. “The attributes here mentioned are those of ‘goodness’ and ‘power;’ the one renders him willing, the other able to save; and what can we desire more, but that he should continue to be so?” (Horne)

ii. “His works are all great in wonder even when they are not great in size; in fact, in the minute objects of the microscope we behold as great wonders as even the telescope can reveal.” (Spurgeon)

iii. It is true that God alone does great wonders, and the following lines tell us that creation is the beginning (not the end) of those wonders.

2. (5-9) The enduring mercy of God in His work as Creator.

To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who made great lights,
For His mercy endures forever—
The sun to rule by day,
For His mercy endures forever;
The moon and stars to rule by night,
For His mercy endures forever.

a. To Him who by wisdom made the heavens: Here the singer refers back to Genesis 1 and points to God’s creative work as a demonstration of His never-ending mercy to His people.

i. “The psalm looks at the story of Creation from an original point of view, when it rolls out in chorus, after each stage of that work, that its motive lay in the eternal lovingkindness of Jehovah. Creation is an act of Divine love.” (Maclaren)

ii. “As far back as the creation his eye had travelled, and all through the stormy, troubled days he could detect the silver thread of mercy. Oh that we had his eyes to see always the love of God!” (Meyer)

iii. “There are no iron tracks, with bars and bolts, to hold the planets in their orbits. Freely in space they move, ever changing, but never changed; poised and balancing; swaying and swayed; disturbing and disturbed, onward they fly, fulfilling with unerring certainty their mighty cycles. The entire system forms one grand complicated piece of celestial machinery; circle within circle, wheel within wheel, cycle within cycle.” (The Orbs of Heaven, cited by Spurgeon)

b. Laid out the earth above the waters: In this section, the work of God as Creator is described with elements from the first four days of creation (Genesis 1:1-19). Because each of these is an expression of His never-ending mercy toward His people, we can say that God created the heavens and the earth with His people in mind.

i. “The heavens above and the earth beneath declare the wisdom of their great Maker, and proclaim aloud, to an intelligent ear, the divinity of the hand that formed them. The heavens display the love of God to man; the earth teaches the duty of man to God.” (Horne)

ii. “Paul echoed the same truths in Lystra when he taught the Gentiles there that God ‘has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy’ (Acts 14:17).” (Boice)

iii. The theme of creation in this psalm “…invites the Christian not to wrangle over cosmological theories but to delight in his environment, known to him as no mere mechanism but a work of ‘steadfast love’. No unbeliever has grounds for any such quality of joy.” (Kidner)

B. The enduring mercy of God to His people.

1. (10-15) The enduring mercy of God in the deliverance from Egypt.

To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn,
For His mercy endures forever;
And brought out Israel from among them,
For His mercy endures forever;
With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who divided the Red Sea in two,
For His mercy endures forever;
And made Israel pass through the midst of it,
For His mercy endures forever;
But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,
For His mercy endures forever;

a. To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn: The previous psalm mentioned the deliverance from Egypt and the striking of the firstborn (Psalm 135:8-9). Here again God is praised as the One who rescued Israel from their slavery and degradation in Egypt – another expression of His never-ending mercy.

i. The singer recounted God’s great wonders flowing seamlessly from the work of creation described in Genesis 1 to the work of deliverance described in Exodus. We rightly regard (or should regard) the Exodus account as historical, describing what really happened. Therefore, the context and flow of this psalm demonstrates that what God described in Genesis 1 really happened. The psalmist does not treat them differently, as if one were a legend and the other actual history.

b. To Him who divided the Red Sea in two: God did not only bring the Israelites out of Egypt, but He also delivered them from Pharaoh’s attempt to re-capture them. In mercy to Israel, God overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea.

i. God’s use of history in this psalm is important. As in countless other places in the Scriptures, God used His work in the past to give hope, faith, and confidence to His people both for the moment and for the future.

ii. “The word for dividing the Red Sea is peculiar. It means to hew in pieces or in two, and is used for cutting in halves the child in Solomon’s judgment [1 Kings 3:25]; while the word ‘parts’ [two] is a noun from the same root, and is found in Genesis 15:17, to describe the two portions into which Abraham clave the carcasses. Thus, as with a sword, Jehovah hewed the sea in two, and His people passed between the parts, as between the halves of the covenant sacrifice.” (Maclaren)

iii. Overthrew Pharaoh and his army: “…as in Hebrew, shaked off. The word is applicable to a tree shaking off its foliage, Isaiah. 33:9. The same word is used in Exodus 14:27: ‘And the Lord overthrew (shook off) the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.’” (Barnes, cited in Spurgeon)

2. (16-22) The enduring mercy of God from the wilderness to the Promised Land.

To Him who led His people through the wilderness,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who struck down great kings,
For His mercy endures forever;
And slew famous kings,
For His mercy endures forever—
Sihon king of the Amorites,
For His mercy endures forever;
And Og king of Bashan,
For His mercy endures forever—
And gave their land as a heritage,
For His mercy endures forever;
A heritage to Israel His servant,
For His mercy endures forever.

a. To Him who led His people through the wilderness: This short statement is a reminder of many mighty and loving acts of God. Yahweh provided guidance, food, water, structure, leadership, healing, victory, and many other things to Israel through the wilderness.

i. “It was an astonishing miracle of God to support so many hundreds of thousands of people in a wilderness totally deprived of all necessities for the life of man, and that for the space of forty years.” (Clarke)

ii. “…through that vast howling wilderness, where there was neither way nor provision; through which none but the Almighty God could have safely conducted them.” (Poole)

iii. This was a great demonstration of God’s never-failing mercy. “Their conduct in the wilderness tested his mercy most severely, but it bore the strain; many a time he forgave them; and though he smote them for their transgressions, yet he waited to be gracious and speedily turned to them in compassion.” (Spurgeon)

b. To Him who struck down great kings: The previous psalm described the defeat of Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan, as well as the giving of Canaan to Israel as a heritage (Psalm 135:10-12). These were all demonstrations of the never-ending mercy of God.

i. Great kings: “Great, as those times accounted them, when almost every small city had their king; Canaan had thirty and more of them. Great also in regard of their stature and strength; for they were of the giant’s race, Deuteronomy 3:11-13, Amos 2:9.” (Trapp)

ii. “The Lord who smote Pharaoh at the beginning of the wilderness march, smote Sihon and Og at the close of it.” (Spurgeon)

iii. And slew famous kings: “What good was their fame to them? As they opposed God they became infamous rather than famous. Their deaths made the Lord’s fame to increase among the nations while their fame ended in disgraceful defeat.” (Spurgeon)

3. (23-25) The enduring mercy of God in ongoing deliverance and help.

Who remembered us in our lowly state,
For His mercy endures forever;
And rescued us from our enemies,
For His mercy endures forever;
Who gives food to all flesh,
For His mercy endures forever.

a. Who remembered us in our lowly state: The song makes a sharp yet skillful transition from God’s great wonders of the past to His faithful help in the present. It is good for us to look to the past for evidence that His mercy endures forever, but even better for us to see the evidence in our own day.

i. “After all, ‘his steadfast love endures for ever’, and the refrain is designed to show the relevance of every act of God to every singer of the psalm.” (Kidner)

ii. Rescued us from our enemies: “Sin is our enemy, and we are redeemed from it by the atoning blood; Satan is our enemy and we are redeemed from him by the Redeemer’s power; the world is our enemy, and we are redeemed from it by the Holy Spirit.” (Spurgeon)

b. Who gives food to all flesh: The psalmist asked God’s people to praise and thank Him not only for His work as deliverer, but also as provider. This is more evidence of God’s never-ending mercy, which is extended to all flesh, not only to Israel.

i. Food to all flesh: “…by whose universal providence every intellectual and animal being is supported and preserved. The appointing every living thing food, and that sort of food which is suited to its nature, (and the nature and habits of animals are endlessly diversified,) is an overwhelming proof of the wondrous providence, wisdom, and goodness of God.” (Clarke)

ii. “He promised to Noah and to all ‘flesh’ to sustain it with his grace (cf. Genesis 9:8-17). Here the psalmist makes use of the word ‘flesh’…and thus makes an allusion to God’s promise (cf. Genesis 9:11, 15-17).” (VanGemeren)

4. (26) Gratitude to the God of enduring mercy.

Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven!
For His mercy endures forever.

a. Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven: In directing us to do this, the psalmist not only had in mind our appropriate gratitude, but also reminds us that the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is the God of heaven. He is the God who really exists and really reigns.

i. God of heaven: “Therefore the final call to praise, which rounds off the psalm by echoing its beginning, does not name Him by the Name which implied Israel’s special relation, but by that by which other peoples could and did address Him, “the God of heaven,” from whom all good comes down on all the earth.” (Maclaren)

ii. “His mercy in providing heaven for his people is more than all the rest.” (Trapp)

b. For His mercy endures forever: The singer has given us many reasons to respond to God with this statement, and we are persuaded. The never-ending mercy of God – His lovingkindness, His grace, His loyal love – will never stop finding a way to bless and help His people.

i. “And do you suppose that such mercy is going to fail you? It endureth forever! You fret and chafe like a restless little child; but you cannot fall out of the arms of God’s mercy.” (Meyer)

ii. Spurgeon suggested many things that Psalm 136 as a whole teaches:

· The past, present, or future will not end His mercy.

· The storms of life will not end His mercy.

· Distance from loved ones will not end His mercy.

· Death itself will not end His mercy.

· God’s never-ending mercy should make us merciful to others.

· God’s never-ending mercy should make us hopeful for others.

· God’s never-ending mercy should make us hopeful for ourselves.

iii. “One night in February 358 A.D. the church father Athanasius held an all-night service at his church in Alexandria, Egypt. He had been leading the fight for the eternal sonship and deity of Jesus Christ, knowing that the survival of Christianity depended on it. He had many enemies – for political even more than theological reasons – and they moved the power of the Roman government against him. That night the church was surrounded by soldiers with drawn swords. People were frightened. With calm presence of mind Athanasius announced the singing of Psalm 136. The vast congregation responded, thundering forth twenty-six times, ‘His love endures forever.’ When the soldiers burst through the doors they were staggered by the singing. Athanasius kept his place until the congregation was dispersed. Then he too disappeared in the darkness and found refuge with his friends.” (Boice)

iv. “Many citizens of Alexandria were killed that night, but the people of Athanasius’s congregation never forgot that although man is evil, God is good. He is superlatively good, and ‘his love endures forever.’” (Boice)

(c) 2020 The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – ewm@enduringword.com

Verse of the Day

for Thursday, November 29, 2018

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.

—Psalm 136:1 and 26

Related Topics: God, Heaven, Lord, Love, Praise, Worship, Thanksgiving, All Topics…

Thoughts on Today’s Verse…

Our thankgiving arises from the nature of God and his glory and goodness. The steadfast reason we give thanks is because God is good and his love is inexhaustible, beyond decay, and never ending.

My Prayer…

O great Lover of my soul, thank you for sending Jesus as the demonstration of your love. I love you Father. I love you for who you are and what you have done. I love you for what you have promised. I love you for the blessings you shower upon me. I love you for giving me hope. I love you because you first loved me. I love you because you are worthy of all love. But I confess that my love is not as strong as yours, so please, fill me with your love by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, your Son and my Savior, I lift my heart to you. Amen.

The Thoughts and Prayer on Today’s Verse are written by Phil Ware. You can email questions or comments to phil@verseoftheday.com.

What Does Psalm 136:1 Mean? ►

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Psalm 136:1(NASB)

Verse Thoughts

Gratefulness of heart to the Lord God almighty is like a golden stream that threads its way through this wonderful song of praise. We have a repetitive chorus that rehearses the truth of God’s goodness. It is the recurring reminder, that God’s love and grace touches every facet of our lives, “O give thanks to the LORD; for He is good: for His mercy endures forever.”

The repeating, melodious heartbeat, that caresses every part of the created universe, rejoices that His loving-kindness is everlasting, His steadfast mercies endure forever, His faithful love is never-ending, and His unwavering goodness, stretches into the furthest extremities of eternity.

“O give thanks to the LORD; for He is good: for His mercy endures forever,” is the insistent drumbeat that is designed to grab our attention in every verse of this glorious song of praise, which proclaims the never-ending truth that God is good, and the mercies of the Lord are everlasting, forever and ever, Amen.

As all the deeds and misdeeds of Israel are pronounced and publicised throughout this hymn of praise, the tender loving-kindness and great compassion of the Lord continues to be shed abroad. Mercy and grace, along with goodness and faithfulness, are some of the eternal attributes of our heavenly Father – and the regular rhythm and insistent beat of this joyful chorus, echoes the joyful refrain, “O give thanks to the LORD; for He is good: for His mercy endures forever. O give thanks to the LORD; for He is good: for His mercy endures forever.”

The wonderful certainty that the loving-kindness of our heavenly Lord is everlasting, and that His truth endures from one generation to another, should permeate every fibre of our being and thrill the heart of every believer with the fullness of His joy and a heart of gratitude.

The Lord rescues the perishing, pardons the guilty, protects the weak, and fills the hungry with good things. He comforts the sorrowing, heals the broken-hearted, gives His all-sufficient grace to help the needy, and fulfils all His precious promises. He is worthy of all praise and deserving of our grateful thanks. He alone is the God of all gods for His love is eternal, His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever, and He is faithful to fulfil all that He has said.

Should not we, who are His blood-bought children, rejoice to hear such worthy instructions on praise and thanksgiving? Indeed, worship and reverent homage is often the central ingredient adopted by God’s people in honouring the LORD – as directed by David, Solomon, and other great kings of Israel. Should we not take up the Palmists refrain and give our most grateful thanks to the LORD, for He is good, and His lovingkindness is everlasting.

The wisdom of Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles, similarly reminds us that rejoicing in the Lord is our worthy calling, for His steadfast mercy truly does endure from generation to generation. His faithful love is never-ending, and His unwavering goodness stretches into the outer limits of the universe and the furthest extremities of eternity.

Let us endeavour to give thanks to the Lord and be glad in Him! Let all who are saved by grace and morally upright, shout for joy to the God of our salvation! Let us glory in the name of the LORD, for “praise is pleasant and lovely” and praise is “comely for the upright.” May we rejoice in the Lord and delight, day by day, in His gracious deliverance.

Let us give thanks to the LORD, in remembrance of his holiness. Let us give thanks for the LORD as we commemorate the glory in the Holy One of Israel. Let us give praise to His name together, for sending Jesus to be our kinsman-Redeemer and to die on the Cross for our sake, and may we never cease to give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/psalm-136-1