This will be a short study into the promises made to us who believe in Jesus for our salvation. We will only look at the 14^th chapter of John.

When we join our Rabbi and His disciples, they are in the “upper room” where they ate the Passover Feast together (commonly called “The Last Supper”). They have already finished with their meal and Jesus explains a few important things to them before they head out to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus is taken into captivity for His trials and crucifixion.

This discourse of the Master is to encourage His faithful followers, both in His company and all who will trust in Him in later generations, before He returns to the Father. 

Our chapter begins with, ¹ “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. ² There is more than enough room [or many rooms] 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? ³ When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. ⁴ And you know the way to where I am going.”

The first thing we can glean from this treasure-trove of hope is that our eternal dwelling will be with the Father and with our Savior. He says that we will live with Them (the Father and Jesus) in the Father’s house. For me, this dispels the idea that we each will have our own “mansion” in heaven. He didn’t say that here; He said that there is room (or a room) for [each of] us in the Father’s House. I find this to be more comforting than the notion of having my own house. It’s far more special to me to live in a room of my Father’s house than to live in my own house. This way of being with the Father and His Begotten Son is far more intimate than having a separate dwelling of my own. And to develop a visual of this Heavenly House, I turn to Revelation 21 where I learn that the New Jerusalem, God’s dwelling place, is like a beautiful jewel, 1,400 miles to a side, cubed. That’s a big house!

Another important thing to glean is that He will return to us. This is an absolute dogma that is held resolutely by all who call on the name of Yeshua. Where is the hope in our faith if we are not going to receive Him again? 

Equally important is His other promise herein, that we will always be where He is. We are about to see that He will not only build us a home with Him and the Father somewhere else, but that while we are here on Earth, he will remain with us. He will be with us forever! 

“Doubting Thomas”, at this point, interjects with a question.

⁵ “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”

In essence, Jesus tells Thomas that He is going to the Father. We know now that He was talking about His death and resurrection. We also know now that He was also alluding to His ascension back into the Spirit Realm. 

He also chides Thomas a bit by saying, “If you had really known me….” Thomas had followed Him for a little over three years at this point, so that statement probably had a degree of sting to it. 

More importantly to the rest of the world, Jesus very clearly and plainly discredits every religion known to mankind in one sentence. He said that, “No one can come to the Father except through me.” This makes John 14:6 a verse that all believers should commit to memory. Notice that Jesus said that He is THE way, THE truth, and THE life, and if that isn’t enough, He stamps His declaration with the indelible seal of His proclamation that no one can come to the Father except through Him. And let’s not forget His double-edged promise elsewhere that is, “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.  But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33)

However, the positive promise of our Lord here is that He will go and prepare a place for us. This is a promise that we all cling to with an unshakable trust. It is a bedrock stone of our faith. 

Unfortunately for Phillip, he didn’t pick up quickly enough on what our Lord was saying (and had been demonstrating for the last three-and-a-half years). He blurted out his own question. It’s a well-meaning question, which is honest and full of loyal devotion, but nonetheless dim. (One of the comforting telltale signs of authenticity of the New Testament is how the people involved were just as clueless as the rest of us would have been in their sandals.)

⁸ Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

⁹ Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. ¹¹ Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.”

I can almost feel the frustration that Jesus must have had for His young disciples. Still, I am grateful for Phillip’s question. For it gives our Rabbi the opportunity for yet another impactful, lucid teaching point: In His reply to Phillip, Jesus very clearly tells the world that He is God in human flesh. 

Just as importantly, Jesus also clues us in to a very important fact for us in the subsequent centuries: “The words I speak are not my own, but my Father Who lives in Me does His work through Me.” This is a pattern that we are to follow! This will be reiterated by Him next in this discourse. He is showing us the secret to His ability to do miraculous works. After all, although He was Almighty God in human mortal flesh, He had supernatural abilities imparted to Him by virtue of His faith in what the Father wanted, and His obedience to the Father’s will. This is huge for us. He is allowing us to infer that we, who are merely humans, housed in mortal flesh, can also achieve such wonders as His accomplishments by way of faith and obedience. He has not said this literally at this point, but He is about to. And lest you think that He was merely acting through His own divine abilities, and not faith, consider how He chose to not use His divine strengths on His own accord but, rather, He modeled for us how we (who are not divine) could do the same things. It’s all about tapping into the power of the Almighty by being one with Him. It is only in my current transition into my later years that I am finally realizing this. If only I had known the truth of the power available to us through faith and obedience in my younger years….

¹² “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. ¹³ You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴ Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!

Okay, He just laid it all out there for us. He just gave us two of the most impactful and puzzling promises known to the saints: We can do what He did; and He will do for us whatever we ask. He also tells us WHY. It isn’t for our amusement. It isn’t to tickle our fancy. It isn’t to make us feel superior to others. It isn’t to make our lives more comfortable, through riches or fame. The sole reason He gives is that it is to bring glory to the Father. 

Glory | Glorification: Honor, respect, praise, worship, fame, renown, superiority, perfection, light, purity, brilliance… When God receives glory from His creation, they are acknowledging His superiority to them all and yes, He does receive it. In fact, He expects and demands it, for it is right for Him to be glorified by us and angels. It is His due right and privilege. It is the truthful order of things.

It may be important to point out a couple or few things about His statements here:

1. He didn’t exactly tell us WHEN we might do the things that He has done. 
2. He didn’t exactly tell us HOW we could do them. 
3. He didn’t exactly tell us WHAT things we would be able to do.

WHEN

Did He mean that we would do these things before or after our own glorification (that transformation from mortal to immortal humanity—see 1 Corinthians 15)? Certainly, once we have been given a new nature we will have the ability to do what we now consider to be miraculous. So is He talking about that time? Or does He mean that we can do these same things that He did while in His mortal flesh while we are still in our mortal flesh? I believe that he meant the latter—we can do the things that He did while we are still in mortal flesh. 

The main reason why I think that we can do miraculous deeds while in our mortal state is that His disciples and apostles also did miraculous things while in their mortal state. The book of Acts is full of examples of this. Another reason is in verse 12 above, “anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works”. I know that this speaks to WHO, more than WHEN, but it still bolsters my faith that any mortal believer can do the same, since His apostles did. 

HOW

The fact that He gave us two promises: 1) we can do what He did, and (2) He will do for us whatever we ask, leaves us with a little mystery. Does He mean that these are independent of each other, or that we can only do what He basically does for us (really, through us)?

In other words, does every believer have the freedom and sovereignty to act independently of the Father and Jesus in whatever we do, regardless of how supernatural the thing might be? Or can we only do the miraculous through the process of prayer, which must then be answered? This has become an age-old debate, which has driven a rift into the fellowship. Since I am not an authority on this, by way of not performing miracles, I’ll not expound on my own beliefs about it here.

WHAT

He says that we who believe in Him will do the same works He has done, and even greater works. Of course, we have the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that chronicle His works on Earth while in the flesh. He performed miracles of all sorts: healing physical infirmities, afflictions, and deformations of pretty much any kind; He healed mental disorders; He healed emotional pain; and He healed spiritual afflictions as well. He demonstrated His authority over death, demons, and decay. He demonstrated His command of the truth and how His truth is absolute. 

Furthermore, John, in chapter 21, verse 25, tells us that there are too many of His works to list:

“Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.”

Does this indicate a limit to what we are entitled to accomplish, when compared to Jesus? Personally, I believe it does. After all, we know that Jesus is the One through Whom all things were made (John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16). Also, we know that Jesus will judge all mankind (Romans 2:16). And let’s not forget that Jesus alone can atone for our sins before the Father (1 John 2:2). So, aside from creating life, matter, time, and space; aside from judging all mankind; and excluding the provision of atonement before God Almighty, we have been given quite a bit of leeway to do some pretty amazing things. 

THE HOLY SPIRIT

¹⁵ “If you love me, obey my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate [Comforter, Encourager, Counselor. Greek reads Paraclete], who will never leave you. ¹⁷ He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. ¹⁸ No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. ¹⁹ Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. ²⁰ When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.²¹ Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”

This paragraph we just read is loaded with promises to bolster our hope and faith. It also contains the key to receiving these promises: “obey my commandments”.

The promises include the gift of the Holy Spirit, Who will comfort, encourage, counsel, and lead us, by way of living inside of us. This promise is automatic for all who call upon Jesus for salvation. There are no mantras to chant, no rituals to perform, no sacrifices to offer up day after day. All we need do is listen, love, learn, and follow. And this Holy Spirit, sent from the Father, will never leave us. Truth is ours to understand because He gives it freely. No intermediaries, priests, wisemen, gurus, imams, or any other human needed to receive the gift of true knowledge—just the Spirit of God, Who has already been given into our hearts, minds, spirits, souls, psyches, and bodies. He is with us, in us, surrounding us, intimately, to guide us into all righteousness. Nothing can shake him or take Him from us, and He will never leave us. Is this not comforting beyond all other human experience? And not only the Holy Spirit is within us, but Jesus and the Father as well. If that doesn’t bring goosebumps of hope, what will?

“Since I live, you also will live” is the very foundation of our hope in Christ. He told them this just hours before His torturous death on a cruel Roman cross. And yet they seem to have forgotten the promise just as quickly. Good thing that His words were true and He appeared to them not long after His death to remind them of these words. 

²² Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?”

Good question, Judas, excellent question! Judas just nailed one of the deepest questions concerning the Creator. Why just some and not all? Why Noah? Why Abraham? Why the Jews? Why only believers—the saints? Why not just lay it all out there for everyone all at once? Why all the mystery and intrigue? Interestingly, His answer is both revealing and yet not entirely revealing. 

²³ Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. ²⁴ Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. ²⁵ I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. ²⁶ But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.

So, the answer to Judas’ question is basically that God only cares for those who care for Him. But wait! Haven’t we had it pounded into our thick heads that God loves everyone?? Well, keeping in the modus operandi of mystery, the answer is both yes and no. He loves His creation, including mankind, as a whole, but he only loves those individuals who love Him back. Does He love Satan? Does He love the antichrist? When Satan was still going by the name of Lucifer, God loved him. When Satan turned on God and began to hate Him, Got returned the favor. When we act contrary to God and Jesus and become a kind of antichrist on our own, God turns His back on us as well. This is only just, and right. 

The long answer to Judas’ question then becomes something like, God reveals Himself to those who will accept Him. As for the rest of the world at large, if they are not going to care to open their eyes, He is not going to care to enlighten them. As I said, God loves those who love Him. 

²⁷ “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. ²⁸ Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, who is greater than I am. ²⁹ I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe.

And yet, again, they forgot these words just a few hours later. His gift of peace is no small offering. It can take us from defeated, oppressed, helpless slaves to tyranny and lead us into the freedom that only He can give. Remember, nothing comes between our Comforter and us. The Redeemer has all authority and power in heaven and on Earth. His strong hand is more powerful than all of creation combined. This is why Christians stood bravely in the Roman Coliseum while faced with certain death at the claws and jaws of ravenous lions. This is why martyrs have smiled in the midst of their torturous deaths, because the Savior was right there with them.

³⁰ “I don’t have much more time to talk to you, because the ruler of this world approaches. He has no power over me, ³¹ but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going.”

And not only did His actions in the ensuing hours prove His love for the Father, but His love for us as well. 

We have an enemy—the “ruler of this world”, Satan. He will do all that he can to coerce, compel, and cajole others to persecute us for our faith in Christ. But the Lord commands us to stand firm in our convictions of our place in Him and His place in us. He has not left us as orphans. He still remains with us—we just need to open our spiritual eyes to see Him in our very souls. Be at peace, dearly beloved in the Lord. He is soon to return and transform us. 

Gary