Friday, June 8, 2012

John 14 Recap of the Promises

I just can’t leave this chapter without reviewing all that was promised here. Just as Jesus meant to encourage and prepare His eleven disciples with these words, they have surely encouraged us! So let’s look back at the highlights of this Upper Room discourse. Jesus started and ended this discourse with the command, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” How would that be possible?

First, because He was going to to prepare a place for them/us. Heaven is a PLACE. It is not a state of mind, nor a warm fuzziness within you. It is an actual place that is promised to Jesus’ followers. And even now Jesus is setting up our personal place and role within it.

He’s coming back! Jesus promised in this chapter that He would return to take us to heaven to be with Him. That may happen collectively at the Rapture of the Church, or it may happen individually at the moment of our death. Either way, He’s coming for us!

He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life - the ONLY way to the Father. He’s also the way where there seems no way. He is the answer to our marital problems, to our heartaches, to our financial burdens, to everything that so easily besets us! His words are Truth, because they come from the Father. We can trust His promises! Where we were dead in our sin, He has given us new life.  We are new creations in Christ.

Because He returned to the Father’s right hand, He has sent to us the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comforts, counsels, leads us into truth, convicts us of sin, brings God’s Word to life in our hearts, and brings it to mind when we need it. He empowers us to live the life of obedience that is the evidence of a true believer. He changes us from the inside out, showing us where we need to check our attitudes and enabling us to do so.

Jesus gives us a peace that passes all understanding in the midst of great turmoil and sorrow. It has nothing to do with our circumstances. In fact it is steady in spite of our circumstances, because it is supernatural. Oh, the riches that are ours in Christ! Hallelujah! What a Savior!
 

1 comment: