OUR FATHER WHO LOVES THOSE WHO LOVE HIS SON

The book of John chapter 14 verses 15 - 24 continues with the Lord Jesus giving His disciples a last briefing before he was to leave them. 

He instructed them to keep His commandments to them as proof of their love for Him. The Lord then made the promise of the ages; He told them that He would ask the Father and the Father would give them a Helper who would be with them forever.

The Helper was the Spirit of Truth and He would dwell with them and be in them and through Him, Jesus would be with them even though is short while  would not be physically with them. Jesus also told them that because He lives, they would live as well.

The passage reads this way;

15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 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. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will  see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 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.”

22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”

23 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. 24 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.

One of the disciples asked Jesus how He would be reachable to them while being inaccessible to the world to which Jesus replied that the distinction between those in the world and them would be that those who kept Jesus words (which were actually the Fatherˋs words) would be those in whom the Father and the Lord dwelt.

This personal indwelling was not available to the world but only to those who heeded the words of Jesus and kept them.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO IS GLORIFIED IN THE SON

The book of John chapter 14 verses   12 - 14 says this;

12 “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. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

The Lord Jesus, a few hours from His arrest, reveals a truth to His disciples that to this day, is the most shocking thing about Christianity.

Ordinary people, made out of the dust of the earth, when in a state of belief in Jesus, would be able to supernatural things even greater than those that Jesus did.

Because of a mechanism of the glorification of the Father through the Son of God when heaven underwrites a request that is made in the name and authority of Jesus, anything we ask for in Jesus' name that is in in the set of works that Jesus did, He will fulfill.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO IS IN CHRIST AND IN WHOM CHRIST IS WITHIN

The book of John chapter 14 verses 7 - 11 continues with the intimate conversation the Lord Jesus was having with His disciples. The Lord was explaining to them that He and the Father were one and that to know Jesus was to know the Father.

Unable to comprehend what Jesus was was explaining to them,  Phillip asked Jesus to show them the Father and that they would then have what the needed to truly believe in Jesus.

Jesus was concerned because Philip, along with all the rest of them, had been with Jesus for along time  and still they did not grasp that Jesus, as He stood there with them, was the exact representation of the Father.

The passage reads this way:

7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”

8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”

9 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’? 10 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. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

The Lord ended this section of the passage by saying t by ere are two avenues of belief that they had access to. On one hand, they could see Jesus modeling the Father's voice and authority and believe in Jesus based on that. On the other, they could look at the miracles He was performing and understand that such astonishing works that they could derive their belief in  Jesus based on the miraculous signs He was demonstrating.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER IN WHOM WE BELIEVE

The book of John Chapter 14 verses 1 - 6 says this;

1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you 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 you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

The Lord Jesus, preparing His disciples for His departure, advised them that He would have to leave to prepare a place for them and that they would eventually be with Him.

The Apostle Thomas asked the Lord how they would know where to find Him because they did not know the way.

Jesus' response was the widely known scripture that declared that He was the way, the truth and the life and that there was no access to the Father except through Him.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE SON WOULD BE STRUCK AND HIS FOLLOWERS WOULD SCATTER

The book of John chapter 13 verses 36 - 38, just after the Lord Jesus had announced to His disciples that He was about to leave them,  the apostle Peter asked the Lord where He was going.

36 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?”

Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.”

37 Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.”

38 Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.

The apostle Peter thought that He would be able to follow Jesus into the maw of the vengeful authorities even at the risk of his own life but Jesus corrected Him by saying that Peter would deny even the knowledge of Jesus on three occasions before morning broke.

The Lord Jesus, in this moment of imminent danger to Himself, could see the upcoming events with clarity even to the number of times that Peter would be intimidated by the circumstances. 

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OUR FATHER WHO IS GLORIFIED IN HIS SON

The book of John chapter 13 verses 31 - 35 records the final commandment that the Lord Jesus gave to His disciples.

As the time of His arrest drew closer, He let his followers know that He was going to depart shortly but in this moment of sorrow, He adjured them to love one another in the same way that He loved them.

31 So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. 32 If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. 

33 Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you. 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

To love one another is the most universal way of demontrating to others that we are followers of Christ as we obey His command to do so.

Amen.

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