Jesus is going to be betrayed. Judas is on his way to the chief priests and Pharisees. Now Jesus has only a few hours before he will be crucified. These hours will be spent teaching his disciples those things that they most need to hear.

John 14 opens "let not your hearts be troubled" it also concludes with the same phrase in verse 27, showing us that John 14 is one literary unit. The disciples have heard that Jesus is about to be betrayed. They have heard that Peter will deny Jesus. But Jesus says, "Let not your hearts be troubled." All of this is part of God's plan. Jesus has come for this purpose. John's gospel has focused on Jesus' public teaching, but now chapters 13-17 report Jesus private teaching to his disciples. These are the things that the disciples most need to hear. And because you are Jesus' disciples, these are the things that you most need to hear! John 17 will make it clear that Jesus is not just speaking to the eleven, but to you who have believed through their preaching.

Do you often think of yourselves as those who have believed through the apostles' preaching? That is how Jesus thinks of you. After all, I have no business preaching anything beyond what the apostles taught. Their message is my message.

And Jesus explains in John 14 why this is so.

John 14 is built around the basic statement that we will always be with Jesus. John does this through reporting three requests from three different disciples. Thomas, Philip and Judas (not Iscariot) each make a different request, which feed back into that basic point.

Jesus says that the basic point is that if I go, I will come again and take you to myself. Therefore believe in God and also in me.

1) Thomas replies "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said, "I am the way." If you had known me, you would have known the Father

2) Philip replies, Lord, show us the Father, Jesus says, whoever has seen me has seen the Father then he adds that if you love me, you will keep my commandments

3) Judas replies, Lord how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus says, 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."

The first thing Jesus does when he is alone with his disciples, is to reveal the Trinitarian nature of salvation. Both the sovereignty of God and the conditionality of salvation is emphasized in this discourse. The sovereignty of God in salvation is revealed in its Trinitarian economy. And it is in that Trinitarian context, that the conditionality of salvation finds expression.

First Jesus says "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me." This might sound at first blush as though Jesus is distancing himself from God. But remember that Jesus is speaking in a Jewish context where monotheism is extremely important. For Jesus to say "believe also in me" is to put himself in the same position as God, the one in whom we put our faith. When Jesus talks about the accomplishment of salvation, he speaks in terms of something the disciples can play no part in. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all active, but the disciples are bystanders, simply watching what Jesus does.

But Jesus says that there is a place for us in the plan of redemption. (2-3) The basic point of this whole discourse is how to get where Jesus is. And what is more, Jesus says, you know the way.

Thomas is confused. "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus replies with one of the most famous lines in John's gospel, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." In our pluralistic age, we need to remember this. There are those who claim that there are many ways to God, but Jesus says that there is just one. But as he does in each of these sections, Jesus adds a conditional statement: "If you had known me, you would have known my Father also." The disciples still don't really know Jesus. But he assures them, "From now on you do know him and have seen him." Jesus will teach them the truth this night, and after his resurrection he will bestow upon them his Spirit, that they might truly know him and his Father. But the truth remains, If you do not know Jesus, then you do not know the Father. Jesus is the incarnate Word. He is the one who reveals the Father in word and in deed. That is why he is the way, the truth and the life.

But now Philip is confused. How can they now see the Father? "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." How can we see the Father in Jesus? It's a fair question-and one that Jesus takes his time to answer in verses 9-21. "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?" Can't you see the Father yet? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Weren't you listening when I told the Jews "the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing"? (5:19) Didn't you see the point when I said that "as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself." ? (5:26) What else did it mean when I said that "I and the Father are one."? (10:30) Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? If the Father is in me, then when you see me, you see the Father! And if you want evidence, Philip, just look at my works. Are these not the works of my Father? (Read verse 11) But Jesus now begins to connect the Trinitarian relationship to us. So far he has focused on his own exclusive relation to the Father. Now he begins to include us. (Read verse 12-14) The Son is going to the Father. The reason why we will do greater works than Jesus is not because we are greater than Jesus. It is rather that as long as the devil is the ruler of this world, the great work of the kingdom of God cannot be done. The gospel of the kingdom must go forth with power, and that cannot happen so long as the Son of God is not enthroned. Jesus must go to the Father and be seated at his right hand. Then he will do his most mighty works through his church. And this is why Jesus says that whatever we ask in his name, he will do it, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Another way of putting it is to say, "whatever you ask for the furtherance of the kingdom, I will do it." That is the significance of "in my name." Whatever we ask for the glory of God in Jesus Christ, he will do. But this cannot be divorced from the following conditional statement: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." Only the one who loves Jesus will be asking in his name. Do you love Jesus? Then do what he says. He only commands things that are good for you. Oh, you may not like them all the time. It can be hard to humble yourself and repent-you are stubborn after all! But if you love Jesus, you will keep his commandments. And indeed, Jesus knows that we fail. He just promised Peter that he would deny him three times! So Jesus promises to "ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth." This "Helper" is in Greek called the paracletos. It is a legal term for an advocate or counselor. The Father will send an advocate to help us to do that which is right. But here, the helper is named the Spirit of truth. The Spirit will open our eyes to the truth, so that we might rightly see the Father, and also rightly see ourselves-our sin and misery. This is a Spirit that the world cannot receive. The world is blind to its sin. It refuses to acknowledge the Father, and rebels against the commands of Christ. But this is a Spirit that the church knows, For he dwells with you and will be in you. And Jesus says that the coming of the Spirit is the coming of himself. "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." The work of Jesus and the work of the Spirit are so interwoven, that the coming of the Spirit and the coming of Jesus is seen as the same event. Jesus explains this by saying in verses 19-20 (read). Jesus will be seated at the right hand of the Father, and the world will not see him. But we do. We see by the eyes of faith Jesus seated in glory. We see the power of the Holy Spirit displayed in one another. Because Jesus lives, so do we. And in that day-in the day that the Spirit is sent upon them- they will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. We have heard a little about the Spirit in John's gospel. Jesus told Nicodemus that we must be born of water and Spirit to enter the kingdom of God. (John 3) Jesus told the Samaritan woman that the hour was coming when true worshipers would worship in the Spirit and in truth. (John 4) Jesus told his disciples that "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail" (Jn 6) John tells us that Jesus spoke of the coming of the Spirit at the Feast of Dedication (Jn 7) But only now does Jesus begin to explain the work of the Holy Spirit in the application of redemption. The Spirit dwells in you as the presence of the resurrected Christ. Therefore Jesus says, "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me." This is the flip side of "if you love me, keep my commandments." How do you know that you love Jesus? Because the one that loves Jesus does what he says.

But, you might say, I'm a sinner! I fail every day! Does that mean I don't love Jesus?

But what did Jesus say to do when you sin? Repent. You see, even when you sin, you can still love Jesus. If you repent of your sins, asking God to forgive you, and asking those you have sinned against to forgive you, then you are demonstrating your love for Jesus. And Jesus says, he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

Now Judas is confused. (This is not Judas Iscariot, but the other Judas). "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?" Plainly Judas has not yet understood what is happening. He still thinks in terms of an earthly kingdom in which Jesus' actions will be outward and obvious to everyone. Jesus replies with his final conditional phrase: "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. This summarizes what he has just said. But now he adds the negative: "Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me." The one who says that he believes in Jesus, but does not do what Jesus' says, does not really love Jesus.

But how is it that Jesus will manifest himself to his disciples, and not to the world? By the Holy Spirit.

In one sense, as we have seen, the Spirit is the presence of the risen Christ. Jesus said that he would come, and so he comes through the Spirit. In another sense the Spirit is the substitute for Christ. Jesus says that while he was with his disciples, he taught them these things, but that once he is gone, the Spirit will remind them of all that he said. The Father will send the Spirit in the name of the Son to teach them all things. Just as we are to ask the Father in the name of the Son, so also the Father gives the Spirit in the name of the Son. The kingdom of God, after all, revolves around the name of Jesus. His name, his authority, his power, are at the heart of the gospel. It is in his name that we speak to God, It is in his name that God speaks to us by his Spirit.

And in the gift of the Holy Spirit, we receive the peace of God. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you." The presence of the Holy Spirit brings a peace that is not like the world's peace. The peace of Christ is not always a peace of external harmony, but of internal harmony even when the world around you is a braying din. B. B. Warfield once told the story of an old man in a bustling town in the old West. The rowdies were brawling in the street, and the saloons were full of carousing, but he saw a young man walking tall and erect through the melee. The old man watched the young man pass by. Their eyes met. The old man said "What is the chief end of man?" Without missing a beat, the young man replied, "Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." The old man smiled. "I knew you were a Shorter Catechism boy." The one who has the peace of Christ etched in his heart by the Holy Spirit can walk through the chaos of this age without fear.

We're back where we started. "Let not your hearts be troubled." Yes, I am going away. But that is a good thing. For if I do not go, then the Helper cannot come. If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. In other words, the work of redemption must reach its final goal in the outpouring of the Spirit. Jesus time is running short. "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming." The devil is coming. He is coming to kill Jesus. Jesus makes it clear that: He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.

Jesus must go to the cross, not because the devil has any right to take him, but because the Father has commanded this.

If you love me, keep my commandments. The reason why Jesus tells us to do this, is because he did it first. He loved the Father, and so did what the Father commanded.

Obedience is not a matter of guilt, but of love. No-I did not say because you feel like it! Love is not especially a matter of the feelings. Love reaches to the whole person. Love has to do with the mind-because you know the beloved. (And remember the intimacy of the biblical sense of "knowing"!) Love has to do with the body-because you serve the beloved. The parent who loves his child demonstrates that through his actions. Only then can we talk about love as an emotion. Jesus loves the Father. Therefore he laid down his life for us.

Let us then lay down our lives in the service of Christ. Amen.

Copyright © 2004 Peter J. Wallace