After predicting Peter’s denial, Jesus told the disciples – Peter included – to not let their hearts be troubled. Though each of the disciples would abandon Jesus at the time of His crucifixion, it would be these men whom Jesus would use to build the foundation of His church. Each of these men would encounter the glory of Jesus’ Resurrection and would lay down their lives for preaching the Gospel to the ends of the Earth. Despite our sin and human limitations, God does not abandon or give up on us. In His unfailing love, He refines us to fulfill the call that He has placed on each of our lives. No one is beyond His redemptive work.
Jesus assured the disciples that they will be reunited with Him one day in Heaven – His Father’s house. By describing Heaven as a place of many mansions that Jesus will prepare for them in advance, He assured the disciples that through Him they have a heavenly inheritance that can never be taken away from them. Although this may have not made sense to the disciples at the time, they would have remembered Jesus’ words as they suffered for the sake of Gospel later in their lives. The disciples would endure ostracism, imprisonment, torture, and death for their decision to follow Jesus. In the following centuries and up until the present-day, many believers around the world continue to face similar situations and circumstances. And yet, despite losing everything in this world, the promise of an eternal inheritance would have brought immense comfort and courage to the disciples as they looked beyond their persecution and towards that heavenly reunion with Christ. What they did not understand during the Last Supper would also strengthen their conviction as they suffered for the Gospel: Jesus is the Son of God, and because they had seen Jesus, they had also seen God.
However, Jesus did not just offer future hope. He also assured the disciples of a present hope. This would come in the form of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. Jesus’ presence through the person of the Holy Spirit would equip the disciples to fulfill His Kingdom purposes. Next to the gift of salvation, the Holy Spirit is perhaps the greatest gift that a believer receives. It is the Spirit that helps us to understand God’s Word. It is the Spirit that transforms our hearts and desires as He perfects Christ’s righteousness in us. It is the Spirit that brings us comfort and peace in times of suffering and tragedy, and it is the Spirit that gives us the boldness and courage to share the Gospel with clarity. Without the Spirit, the Christian life is a hopeless and futile endeavour. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, His Spirit dwells within us and never leaves us. And yet, we can grieve the Holy Spirit when we choose sin and reject His voice. The Christian life is not a checklist of righteous or pious deeds. Nothing that we can do can ever earn our salvation or make us righteous before God. Rather, the Christian life is simply the everyday decision to submit oneself to the Holy Spirit and allow the Spirit to conform us to the image of Christ. The Spirit does the work. All that He requires of us is to simply be obedient to His call.
The promise of an eternal inheritance and the Holy Spirit can only come from one source. And Jesus spelt it out clearly for His disciples and for us:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Read the passage prayerfully a few times over and then answer the questions: John 14
Questions:
- How does Jesus describe Heaven and the eternal inheritance of believers? (v. 1-6, Luke 12:22-34),
- What do you observe from how Jesus describes His relationship with the Father in this passage? (v. 7-14, 19-24)
- What do you learn about the Holy Spirit? (v. 15-18, 25-31 cf. Gen. 1:1-2, Acts 5:3-4, Rom. 8:27, 1 Cor. 2:4-11, 1 Cor. 12:11, Gal. 5:22-2, Eph. 1:13, Eph. 4:30, 2 Thess. 2:13 Heb. 9:14)
Application:
- What comfort do you draw from the promise of an eternal inheritance in Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit?
- How is the Holy Spirit calling you to share these truths with someone in your life?
Conclusion & Heart Prayer:
Lord, what are You saying to me? And what are You calling me to do about it?
