V. 1
Jesus had just told the disciples that one of them would betray Him.
He also told them that He would be leaving them.
He told Peter that he would deny Him.
Their hearts were understandably troubled.
Troubled- agitated, inward commotion, restless, anxious, and distressed.
Jesus never promised them or us a trouble free life.
Jesus does teach us that we can have an untroubled heart in the midst of a troubled life.
you believe in God, believe also in Me- This was the overarching solution for their troubled hearts.
Jesus knew that they believed in God the Father.
He was inviting and commanding them to believe in Him in the same way.
Jesus’ solution for them was not to have a list of things to do, but to have relationship with Him.
V. 2
2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
There is a vast difference between tents and mansions.
Tents are flimsy, less comfortable, and temporary.
Mansions are well constructed, comfortable, and permanent.
I go to prepare a place for you.
Jesus willingly went to the cross, so that He could ascend, that He could prepare a place for us.
Jesus was not a victim.
V.3
Jesus promised that one day He will physically gather His people together.
Much of the relief that God promises us includes the promise of us eventually being with Him.
Relief for a troubled heart includes keeping eternity in view.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Just as Jesus would physically die but yet live in another realm, so it is with everyone.
The great difference is that the Christian is alive with Jesus.
Vs. 4, 5
The disciples were free to express confusion with Jesus, and to not be rebuked over it.
V. 6
Thomas a Kempis- “Without the way there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living. I am the way which thou must follow; the truth in which thou must believe; the life for which thou must hope.”
The person of Jesus provides the source for the answers that every human being needs.
He Himself is the One we need to know and are able to know.
For the Christian– our direction, standard of truth, and our source for life are found in Him.
V. 7
The disciples understandably struggled to put Jesus in an equal place with the Father.
But Jesus is connecting the dots for them.
As much as they believed in Yahweh, God the Father, still, He must have seemed unreachable.
What a shock it must have been to hear Jesus make this declaration.
Hebrews 1:1-3 1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Vs. 8, 9
Philip had a troubled heart.
He knew Jesus better than the general public.
3 ½ years of constant fellowship.
Yet there was a degree of further understanding that Philip needed to experience.
NOTE-The same can be true for us.
We can know Jesus, but not sufficiently to calm our troubled hearts.
Vs. 10, 11
Jesus directed them back to the words He had spoken and the works they had seen Him do.
Jesus then tied all of that directly to the Father and their mutual oneness.
Remembering the works that Jesus has done on our lives will help our troubled hearts and remind us of all of His promises.
V. 11-Believe me-Jesus called them to not only believe in Him, but to believe what He said.
The First Of Three Words Of Assurance
V. 12
Jesus was physically leaving, but the work was going to increase, not decrease.
The works would not be more spectacular, but more far reaching in scope.
As a result of Peter’s first sermon, more people came to faith than in the entire time of Jesus upon the Earth.
This was also spoken to calm their troubled hearts.
There was still work to do.
They still had a purpose for life.
Vs. 13, 14
This is also spoken to calm their troubled hearts.
Asking in Jesus’ name-According to His plans and ways, and for the glory of the Father.
When we ask in that tone, Jesus will grant to us those requests.
The Second Of Three Words Of Assurance
Vs. 15-18
Jesus was leaving, but the disciples would not be left like abandoned orphans.
The Holy Spirit would be a Helper and Comforter like Jesus, except that He would indwell them.
They would continue to experience and sense Jesus, but not need to be physically with Him.
Vs. 19, 20
Jesus’ resurrection would validate and prove His words to them.
They would also understand that they would have eternal life.
V. 21
Great insights of eternal truths would be granted to them as they walked in loving obedience to Jesus.
NOTE- Greater insights into the truths of God and the person of Christ are granted to those who walk in loving obedience.
Vs. 22, 23
Faith brings salvation.
Loving obedience brings deeper fellowship.
Vs. 24-27
V. 27- J. Carl Laney- Peace then is the spiritual well-being that results in being rightly related to God. A major feature of such peace is inward contentment. This is not the kind of peace that the world offers. The world offers a peace based on favorable conditions and circumstances. The legacy of peace that Jesus provides is independent of external circumstances.
Vs. 28-31
The cross demonstrated the great love of God for sinful man.
Specifically, God’s love calms the troubled hearts of those who believe in Him.