“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:1-3
After announcing Judas’s betrayal, Jesus imminent departure, and Peter’s denial, Jesus tells His disciples not to be troubled, but to trust Him. “Believe” is the simple but profound solution to all of our problems. We do what we do because our actions are nothing more than the product of our deepest convictions. The key is what we believe. Right thinking is basic to right action, and right thinking begins by thinking right about God. Thus, the entire fourteenth chapter is input from Christ about what God is like, and Jesus clearly equates Himself with God.
“Many rooms” literally is “dwelling places.” The imagery depicts not temporary housing, such as a hotel room, but a permanent residence with the Father in heaven.
“I go and prepare a place for you” means that Christ prepares a new “promised land” for the Church, the new Israel … believers. Jesus is telling us that though you may be disturbed now, you will have rest and refreshment later.
“Come back” means after the resurrection.
Through His death and resurrection, Christ went to prepare a place for us in heaven, where we will dwell with God forever. The true God cannot be known apart from Jesus Christ. Because of Christ’s work, we can know the Father and enter His eternal presence.
Surely this is the essence of unconditional love. God loves us just the way we are, but He loves us too much to leave us the way we are. These are the kind of truths Christ plants indelibly in our hearts.
God’s blessings on your day…