In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. —John 14:2-3
The setting for this week’s Fighter Verse is the upper room on the night that the Lord Jesus was arrested. Trouble was in the air. Jesus was speaking and acting in a way that was disturbing to his disciples. He had washed all their feet including the one he said would betray him. During supper He spoke of His body being broken and His blood being shed. He spoke of soon going away to a place where they could not come. And even though Peter resolved to follow Jesus to the death, the Lord declared that Peter would deny him three times before the night was over.
Jesus then gives this instruction in John 14:1, “Let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me,” He continues with these words of assurance that have comforted His followers for generations: "In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also" (John 14:2-3).
On the eve of public ridicule and shame, on the eve of horrendous suffering and death, on the eve of the anticipated outpouring of his Father’s wrath, the Lord Jesus turns the attention of His disciples to the joy that is set before Him and ultimately to them. He who had "nowhere to lay his head" on earth (Luke 9:58) has an eternal home in the dwelling place of the King of kings. It is the home of infinite goodness and eternal joy and endless praise to the Lord of lords. It is the place that knows no weeping, no sorrow, no sickness, no death. It is the place where Jesus would soon be exalted at his Father’s right hand "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named" (Ephesians 1:21). It was "for the joy that was set before him" that Jesus endured the agonies of the cross (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus sets this joy before his disciples, giving them hope in the midst of the disillusionment that was about to befall them and in the suffering they would endure on their way to his Father’s house.
It is still true that anticipated future joy with Christ gives enduring grace to His disciples through their present sufferings.
Jesus made it plain to His disciples that they could not go with Him (John 13:36), but He was not leaving them without hope. He later warned them that they would soon be weeping (John 16:20). But He told them not to weep without hope. He was on his way to prepare a place for them and to make a way for them to get there. Sin and death were blocking the disciples’ way to the Father’s house. Within 72 hours this blockade would be broken (1 Corinthians 15:56). The way for Peter who was about to deny his Lord, would be opened to the Father. The record of debt would be cancelled and the demands of the law would be satisfied through Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:14).
Jesus further assures them that the weeping will come to an end and soon turn to joy (John 16:20). "I will come again! I will take you to myself! You will be with me, where I am!" Later that evening he adds "I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you" (John 16:22). What hope, what comfort!
O dear disciple of Jesus, don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God! Believe in Jesus! His Father’s house has plenty of room. If it were not true, Jesus who does not lie, would not have told us so. And Jesus is there, preparing a place for us. He will come again and take us to heaven with Him so that we will be with Him forever and ever. Surely He is coming soon. "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20)
For Reflection
What present trials or suffering threaten to steal your joy?
How might focusing on your future with Christ in heaven lessen the weight of present burdens?
Ask the Lord to increase your hope in the promise of life everlasting where "there is fullness of joy; at [His] right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11).