John 14 JOHN 14:1-3 Jesus’ Parting Words to His Disciples "Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me. There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you. I am going away to make ready a place for you. And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too. The three verses we have now read are rich in precious truth. For eighteen centuries they have been peculiarly dear to Christ's believing servants in every part of the world.
Many are the sick rooms which they have lightened! Many are the dying hearts which they have cheered! Let us see what they contain. We have, first, in this passage a precious remedy against an old disease. That disease is trouble of heart. That remedy is faith. Heart-trouble is the commonest thing in the world. No rank, or class, or condition is exempt from it. No bars, or bolts, or locks can keep it out.
Partly from inward causes and partly from outward causes--partly from the body and partly from the mind--partly from what we love and partly from what we fear, the journey of life is full of trouble. Even the best of Christians have many bitter cups to drink between grace and glory. Even the holiest saints find the world a valley of tears. Faith in the Lord Jesus is the only sure medicine for troubled hearts.
To believe more thoroughly, trust more entirely, rest more unreservedly, lay hold more firmly, lean back more completely--this is the prescription which our Master urges on the attention of all His disciples. No doubt the members of that little band which sat round the table at the last supper, had believed already. They had proved the reality of their faith by giving up everything for Christ's sake. Yet what does their Lord say to them here? Once more He presses on them the old lesson, the lesson with which they first began--"Believe! Believe more!
Believe on Me!" (Isaiah. 26:3.) Never let us forget that there are degrees in faith, and that there is a wide difference between weak and strong believers. The weakest faith is enough to give a man a saving interest in Christ, and ought not to be despised, but it will not give a man such inward comfort as a strong faith. Vagueness and dimness of perception are the defect of weak believers. They do not see clearly what they believe and why they believe. In such cases more faith is the one thing needed.
Like Peter on the water, they need to look more steadily at Jesus, and less at the waves and wind. Is it not written, "You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You"? (Isaiah. 26:3.) We have, secondly, in this passage a very comfortable account of heaven, or the future abode of saints. It is but little that we understand about heaven while we are here in the body, and that little is generally taught us in the Bible by negatives much more than positives. But here, at any rate, there are some plain things.
Heaven is "a Father's house,"--the house of that God of whom Jesus says, "I go to my Father, and your Father." It is, in a word, HOME--the home of Christ and Christians. This is a sweet and touching expression. Home, as we all know, is the place where we are generally loved for our own sakes, and not for our gifts or possessions; the place where we are loved to the end, never forgotten, and always welcome. This is one idea of heaven. Believers are in a strange land, and at school, in this life. In the life to come they will be at home.
Heaven is a place of "MANSIONS"--of lasting, permanent, and eternal dwellings. Here in the body we are in temporary lodgings, tents, and tabernacles, and must submit to many changes. In heaven we shall be settled at last, and go out no more. "Here we have no continuing city." (Heb. 13:14.) Our house not made with hands shall never be taken down. Heaven is a place of "MANY mansions." There will be room for all believers and room for all sorts, for little saints as well as great ones, for the weakest believer as well as for the strongest.
The feeblest child of God need not fear there will be no place for him. None will be shut out but impenitent sinners and obstinate unbelievers. Heaven is a place where CHRIST HIMSELF SHALL BE PRESENT. He will not be content to dwell without His people--"Where I am, there you shall be also." We need not think that we shall be alone and neglected. Our Savior--our elder Brother--our Redeemer, who loved us and gave Himself for us, shall be in the midst of us forever. What we shall see, and whom we shall see in heaven, we cannot fully conceive yet, while we are in the body.
But one thing is certain--we shall see Christ. Let these things sink down into our minds. To the worldly and careless they may seem nothing at all. To all who feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of God they are full of unspeakable comfort. If we hope to be in heaven it is pleasant to know what heaven is like. We have, lastly, in this passage a solid ground for expecting good things to come. The evil heart of unbelief within us is apt to rob us of our comfort about heaven.
"We wish we could think it was all true." "We fear we shall never be admitted into heaven." Let us hear what Jesus says to encourage us. One cheering word is this--"I go to PREPARE a place for you." Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people--a place which we shall find Christ Himself has made ready for true Christians. He has prepared it by procuring a right for every sinner who believes to enter in. None can stop us, and say we have no business there.
He has prepared it by going before us as our Head and Representative, and taking possession of it for all the members of His mystical body. As our Forerunner He has marched in, leading captivity captive, and has planted His banner in the land of glory. He has prepared it by carrying our names with Him as our High Priest into the holy of holies, and making angels ready to receive us. Those who enter heaven will find they are neither unknown nor unexpected.
Another cheering word is this--"I will come again and receive you unto myself." Christ will not wait for believers to come up to Him, but will come down to them, to raise them from their graves and escort them to their heavenly home. As Joseph came to meet Jacob, so will Jesus come to call His people together and guide them to their inheritance. The second advent ought never to be forgotten.
Great is the blessedness of looking back to Christ coming the first time to suffer for us, but no less great is the comfort of looking forward to Christ coming the second time, to raise and reward His saints. Let us leave the whole passage with solemnized feelings and serious self-examination. How much they miss who live in a dying world and yet know nothing of God as their Father and Christ as their Savior! How much they possess who live the life of faith in the Son of God, and believe in Jesus!
With all their weaknesses and crosses they have that which the world can neither give nor take away. They have a true Friend while they live, and a true home when they die. Technical Notes: 1. Let not your heart be troubled; ye 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 ye may be also. 1.--[ Let not...troubled. ] We must carefully remember that there is no break between the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th chapters. Our Lord is continuing the discourse He began after the Lord’s Supper and the departure of Judas, in the presence of the eleven faithful disciples. A slight pause there certainly seems to be, since He turns from Peter (to whom He had been speaking individually) to the whole body of the Apostles and addresses them collectively.
But the place, the time, and the audience are all one. Our Lord’s great object throughout this and the two following chapters seems clear and plain. He desired to comfort, establish, and build up His downcast disciples.
He saw their “hearts were troubled” from a variety of causes—partly by seeing their Master “troubled in Spirit” (13:21), partly by hearing that one of them should betray Him, partly by the mysterious departure of Judas, partly by their Master’s announcement that He should only be a little time longer with them and that at last they could not come with Him, and partly by the warning addressed to Peter that he would deny His Master three times. For all these reasons this little company of weak believers was disquieted and cast down and anxious.
Their gracious Master saw it and proceeded to give them encouragement: “Let not your heart be troubled.” It will be noted that He uses the singular number “your heart,” not “your hearts.” He means “the heart of any one of you.” Hengstenberg gives the following list of the grounds of comfort which the chapter contains, in systematic order, which well deserves attention. (a) The first encouragement is: to the disciples of Christ heaven is sure (v.2,3). (b) The second encouragement is: disciples in Christ have a certain way to heaven (v.4-11). (c) The third encouragement is: disciples need not fear that with the departure of Christ His work will cease (v.12-14). (d) The fourth encouragement is: in the absence of Christ disciples will have the help of the Spirit (v.15-17). (e) The fifth encouragement is: Christ will not leave His people forever, but will come back again (v.18-24). (f) The sixth encouragement is: the Spirit will teach the disciples and supply their lack of understanding when left alone (v.25,26). (g) Finally, the seventh encouragement is: the legacy of peace will be left to cheer them in their Master’s absence (v.27).
These seven points are well worthy the attention of all believers in every age and are as useful now as when first pressed on the eleven. Lightfoot thinks one principal cause of the disciples’ trouble was their disappointment at seeing their Jewish expectations of a temporal kingdom under a temporal Messiah failing and coming to an end. [ Ye believe in God, believe also in me. ] The Gospel words rendered “Ye believe” and “believe” in this place admit of being differently translated, and it is impossible to say certainly whether our English version is right.
Some, as Luther, think both words should be indicative: “ye believe and ye believe.” Some think both should be imperative: “believe and believe.” My own opinion is decided that the English version is right. It seems to me to express exactly the state of mind in which the disciples were. They did, as pious Jews, believe in God already. They needed, as young Christians, to be taught to believe more thoroughly in Christ. Among those who think that both verbs are imperative are Cyril, Augustine, Lampe, Stier, Hengstenberg, and Alford.
Among those who adhere to our English version and make the first “believe” indicative and the second imperative, are Erasmus, Beza, Grotius, and Olshausen. Let us note that faith, and specially more strong and distinct faith in Christ, is the truest remedy for trouble of heart. But we must never forget that true faith admits of growth and degrees. There is a wide gulf between little and great faith.
Ferus remarks that our Lord does not say “Believe my divinity,” but “Believe personally in Me.” Toletus observes that our Lord here teaches that Jewish faith was somewhat distinct from Christian faith. The Jew, not seeing clearly the Trinity, dwelt chiefly on the unity of God. The Christian was intended to see three Persons in the Godhead. Wordsworth remarks that the verb “to believe” followed by a preposition and an accusative, is never applied to any but God in the New Testament. 2.--[ In my Father’s house. ] This phrase can bear only one meaning.
It is my Father’s house in Heaven—an expression accomodated to our weakness. God needs no literal house with walls and roof, as we do.
But where He dwells is called His house. (See Deut. 26:15, Ps. 33:14, 2 Chr. 38:27, 2 Cor. 5:1.) There is something very touching and comforting in the thought that the heaven we go to is “our Father’s house.” It is home. [ Are many mansions. ] The word rendered “mansions” means literally “abiding-places.” It is only used here, and in the 23rd verse of this chapter, “abode.” We need not doubt that there is an intentional contrast between the unchanging, unvarying house in heaven and the changing, uncertain dwellings of this world.
Here we are ever moving; there we shall no more go out. (See also Heb. 13:14.) Our Lord’s intention seems to be to comfort His disciples by the thought that nothing could cast them out of the heavenly house. They might be left alone by Him on earth; they might be even cast out of the Jewish Church and find no resting place or refuge on earth. But there would be always room enough for them in heaven and a house from which they would never be expelled. “Fear not.
There is room enough in heaven.” Chrysostom, Augustine, and several other ancient writers think the “many mansions” mean the degrees of glory. But the argument in favor of the idea does not appear to me satisfactory. Bishop Bull, Wordsworth, and some few modern writers take the same view. That there are degrees of glory in heaven is undoubtedly true, but I do not think it is the truth of this text. The modern idea that our Lord meant that heaven was a place for all sorts of creeds and religions seems utterly unwarranted by the text.
From the whole context He is evidently speaking for the special comfort of Christians. Lightfoot’s idea, that our Lord meant to teach the passing away of the Jewish economy and the admission of all nations into heaven by faith in Christ, seems fanciful. [ If it were not so...you. ] This is a gracious way of assuring the disciples that they might have confidence that what their Lord said was true. It is the tender manner of a parent speaking to a child. “Do not be afraid because I am leaving you. There is plenty of room for you in heaven. You will get there safe at last.
If there was the least uncertainty about it, I would tell you.” We may remember that our Lord called the Apostles “little children” only a few minutes before (John 13:33). [ I go to prepare a place for you. ] This sentence is meant to be another ground of comfort. One of the reasons why our Lord went away, He says, was to get ready a dwelling place for His disciples. It is like the expression in Hebrews, “the forerunner.” (Heb. 6:20; see also Num. 10:33.) The manner in which Christ prepares a place for His people is mysterious and yet not inexplicable.
He enters heaven as their High Priest, presenting the merit of his sacrifice for their sins. He removes all barriers that sin made between them and God. He appears as their proxy and representative and claims a right of entry for all His believing members. He intercedes continually for them at God’s right hand and makes them always acceptable in Himself, though unworthy in themselves. He bears their names mystically, as the High Priest, on His breast and introduces them to the court of heaven before they get there.
That heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people is a very cheering and animating thought. When we arrive there we shall not be in a strange land. We shall find we have been known and thought of before we got there. 3.--[And if I go...receive you to myself. ] These words contain another strong consolation. Our Lord tells the disciples that if He does go away, they must not think it is forever. He means to come again and take them all home and gather them round Him in one united family, to part no more.
Poole remarks: “The particle ‘if’ in this place denotes no uncertainty of the thing but has the force of ‘although’ or ‘after that.’” (See also Col. 3:1.) Many think, as Stier, that the “coming again” here spoken of means Christ’s coming to His disciples after His resurrection, or Christ’s coming spiritually to His people in comfort and help even now, or Christ’s coming to remove them at last by death. I cannot think so. I believe that, as a rule, when Christ speaks of coming again both here and elsewhere, He means His own personal second advent at the end of the dispensation.
The Greek word rendered “I will come” is in the present tense and the same that is used in Rev. 22:20: “I come quickly.” The first and second advents are the two great events to which the minds of all Christians should be directed. This is Cyril’s view of the passage and Bishop Hall’s. [ That where I am, there ye may be also. ] Here is one more comfort. The final end of Christ’s going away and coming again is that at last His disciples may be once more with Him and enjoy His company forever.
“We part; but we shall meet again and part no more.” Let us note that one of the simplest, plainest ideas of heaven is here. It is being “ever with the Lord.” Whatever else we see or do not see in heaven, we shall see Christ. Whatever kind of a place, it is a place where Christ is. (Phil. 1:23, 1 Thess. 4:17.) JOHN 14:4-11 "And you know the way where I am going." Thomas said, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus replied, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you have known me, you will know my Father too. And from now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be content." Jesus replied, "Have I been with you for so long, and you have not known me, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father! How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father residing in me performs his miraculous deeds.
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, but if you do not believe me, believe because of the miraculous deeds themselves. We should mark in these verses how much better Jesus speaks of believers than they speak of themselves. He says to His disciples, "You know where I go, and you know the way." And yet Thomas at once breaks in with the remark, "We know neither the where nor the way." The apparent contradiction demands explanation. It is more seeming than real. Certainly, in one point of view, the knowledge of the disciples was very small.
They knew little before the crucifixion and resurrection compared to what they might have known, and little compared to what they afterwards knew after the day of Pentecost. About our Lord's purpose in coming into the world, about His sacrificial death and substitution for us on the cross, their ignorance was glaring and great. It might well be said, that they "knew in part" only, and were children in understanding. And yet, in another point of view, the knowledge of the disciples was very great.
They knew far more than the great majority of the Jewish nation, and received truths which the Scribes and Pharisees entirely rejected. Compared to the world around them, they were in the highest sense enlightened. They knew and believed that their Master was the promised Messiah, the Son of the living God; and to know Him was the first step towards heaven. All things go by comparison. Before we lightly esteem the disciples because of their ignorance, let us take care that we do not underrate their knowledge. They knew more precious truth than they were aware of themselves.
Their hearts were better than their heads. The plain truth is, that all believers are apt to undervalue the work of the Spirit in their own souls, and to fancy they know nothing because they do not know everything. Many true Christians are thought more of in heaven while they live, than they think of themselves, and will find it out to their surprise at the last day. There is One above who takes far more account of heart knowledge than head-knowledge.
Many go mourning all the way to heaven because they know so little, and fancy they will miss the way altogether, and yet have hearts with which God is well pleased. We should mark, secondly, in these verses, what glorious names the Lord Jesus gives Himself. He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." The fullness of these precious words can probably never be taken in by man. He that attempts to unfold them does little more than scratch the surface of a rich soil. Christ is "the WAY,"--the way to heaven and peace with God.
He is not only the guide, and teacher, and lawgiver, like Moses; He is Himself the door, the ladder, and the road, through whom we must draw near to God. He has opened the way to the tree of life, which was closed when Adam and Eve fell, by the satisfaction He made for us on the cross. Through His blood we may draw near with boldness, and have access with confidence into God's presence. Christ is "the TRUTH,"--the whole substance of true religion which the mind of man requires. Without Him the wisest heathen groped in gross darkness and knew nothing about God.
Before He came even the Jews saw "through a glass darkly," and discerned nothing distinctly under the types, figures, and ceremonies of the Mosaic law. Christ is the whole truth, and meets and satisfies every desire of the human mind. Christ is "the LIFE,"--the sinner's title to eternal life and pardon, the believer's root of spiritual life and holiness, the surety of the Christian's resurrection life. He that believes on Christ has everlasting life. He that abides in Him, as the branch abides in the vine, shall bring forth much fruit.
He that believes on Him, though he were dead, yet shall he live. The root of all life, for soul and for body, is Christ. Forever let us grasp and hold fast these truths. To use Christ daily as the way, to believe Christ daily as the truth--to live on Christ daily as the life, this is to be a well-informed, a thoroughly furnished and an established Christian. We should mark, thirdly, in these verses, how expressly the Lord Jesus shuts out all ways of salvation but Himself.
"No man," He declares, "No man comes unto the Father but by Me." It avails nothing that a man is clever, learned, highly gifted, amiable, charitable, kind-hearted, and zealous about some sort of religion. All this will not save his soul if he does not draw near to God by Christ's atonement, and make use of God's own Son as his Mediator and Savior. God is so holy that all men are guilty and debtors in His sight. Sin is so sinful that no mortal man can make satisfaction for it. There must be a mediator, a ransom-payer, a redeemer, between ourselves and God, or else we can never be saved.
There is only one door, one bridge, one ladder, between earth and heaven--the crucified Son of God. Whoever will enter in by that door may be saved; but to him who refuses to use that door the Bible holds out, no hope at all. Without shedding of blood there is no remission. Let us beware, if we love life, of supposing that mere earnestness will take a man to heaven, though he knows nothing of Christ. The idea is a deadly and ruinous error. Sincerity will never wipe away our sins.
It is not true that every man will be saved by his own religion, no matter what he believes, so long as he is diligent and sincere. We must not pretend to be wiser than God. Christ has said, and Christ will stand to it, "No man comes unto the Father but by Me." We should mark, lastly, in these verses, how close and mysterious is the union of God the Father and God the Son. Four times over this mighty truth is put before us in words that cannot be mistaken.
"If you had known Me, you would have known my Father." "He that has seen Me has seen the Father." "I am in the Father, and the Father in Me." "The Father that dwells in Me, He does the works." Sayings like these are full of deep mystery. We have no eyes to see their meaning fully--no line to fathom it--no language to express it--no mind to take it in. We must be content to believe when we cannot explain, and to admire and revere when we cannot interpret.
Let it suffice us to know and hold that the Father is God and the Son is God, and yet that they are one in essence though two distinct Persons--ineffably one, and yet ineffably distinct. These are high things, and we cannot attain to a full comprehension of them. Let us however take comfort in the simple truth, that Christ is very God of very God; equal with the Father in all things, and One with Him. He who loved us, and shed His blood for us on the cross, and bids us trust Him for pardon, is no mere man like ourselves.
He is "God over all, blessed forever," and able to save to the uttermost the chief of sinners. Though our sins be as scarlet, He can make them white as snow. He that casts his soul on Christ has an Almighty Friend--a Friend who is One with the Father, and very God. Technical Notes: 4. And where I go ye know, and the way ye 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 man comes to the Father but by me. 7.
If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also; and from now on ye know him and have seen him. 8. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. 9. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and yet have you 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 speak not of myself; but the Father who dwells in me, he 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. 4.--[ And where I go...ye know. ] This remarkable sentence was evidently meant to stir and cheer the disciples by reminding them of what their Master had repeatedly told them. It is as though our Lord said, “Do not be cast down by my going away, as if you had never heard Me say anything about heaven and the way to heaven. Awake from your despondency, stir up your memories.
Surely you know, if you reflect a little, that I have often told you all about it.” Is it not, again, like a tender parent saying to a frightened child, who says he knows not what to do and is ready to sit down in despair, “Come, you know well enough, if you will only consider”? Poole observes on this verse: “It is pleasant to notice how Christ continues His discourse to the disciples like a mother speaking to a little child crying after her when she prepares to go abroad. The child cries; the mother bids it be still for she is only going to a friend’s house.
It still cries; she tells it she is only going to prepare a place for it there, where it will be much happier than at home. It is not yet satisfied; she tells it again that though she goes, she will come again and then it shall go with her and she will part from it no more. The child is yet impatient; she endeavors to still it, telling it that it knows where she is going and it knows the way by which, if need be, it may come to her.” Let us note that disciples often know more than they suppose or admit, but do not use their knowledge or keep it ready for use.
Ferus compares them to infants lying in their cradles who have fathers and fortunes but do not know it. Let us note that Christ looks graciously on the little knowledge His people possess, and make the most of it. He can make allowance for their minds being clouded by grief or trouble and their consequent forgetfulness of truth for a season. 5.--[ Thomas said to Him, etc. ] This verse shows how foolishly a disciple may talk under the influence of despondency. Here is one of the eleven faithful Apostles declaring flatly that they neither knew where their Master was going nor the way!
The saying is characteristic of the man. Thomas always appears a doubting, slow-minded believer. But we must not judge disciples too sharply for words spoken under deep distress. When the passions and affections are much stirred, the tongue often runs away with a man and he speaks unadvisedly. Nor must we forget that disciples have very different gifts. All have not equally strong faith, clear understanding, and good memory.
Trapp quaintly remarks that believers in the frame of Thomas are like people who hunt for their keys and purses when they have them in their pockets. 6.--[ Jesus said...and the life. ] This wonderful saying is a brilliant example of a foolish remark calling out a great truth from our Lord’s lips. To the ill-natured remark of the Pharisees we owe the parable of the Prodigal Son (see Luke chapter 15); to the fretful complaint of Thomas we owe one of the grandest texts in Scripture. It is one of those deep utterances, which no exposition can thoroughly unfold and exhaust.
When our Lord says “I am the way,” He means, “the Father’s house is to be reached through my mediation and atonement. Faith in Me is the key to heaven. He who believes in Me is on the right road.” When our Lord says “I am the truth,” He means, “The root of all knowledge is to know Me. I am the true Messiah to whom all revelation points, the truth of which the Old Testament ceremonies and sacrifices were a figure and shadow.
He who really knows Me knows enough to take him safely to heaven, though he may not know many things and may be troubled at his own ignorance.” When our Lord says “I am the life,” He means, “I am the Root and Fountain of all life in religion, the Redeemer from death and the Giver of everlasting life.
He who knows and believes in Me, however weak and ignorant he may feel, has spiritual life now and will have a glorious life in my Father’s house hereafter.” Some think that the three great words in this sentence should be taken together and that our Lord meant, “I am the true and living way.” Yet the general opinion of the best commentators is decidedly unfavorable to this view of the sentence. To my own mind, it cuts down and impoverishes a great and deep saying. Musculus remarks that no prophet, teacher, or apostle ever used such words as these.
They are the language of one who knew that He was God. [ No man comes to the Father but by Me. ] Here our Lord teaches that He is not merely the way to our Father’s home in heaven, but that there is no other way, and that men must either go to heaven by His atonement or not go there at all. It is a clear distinct limitation of heaven to those who believe on Christ. None else will enter in there. Rejecting Christ, they lose all.
We should mark carefully what an unanswerable argument this sentence supplies against the modern notion that it does not matter what a man believes—that all religions will lead men to heaven if they are sincere, that creeds and doctrines are of no importance, that heaven is a place for all mankind (whether heathen, Mahometan, or Christian), and that the Fatherhood of God is enough to save all at last of all sects, kinds, and characters! Our Lord’s words should never be forgotten: “There is no way to the Father but by Me.” God is a Father to none but those who believe in Christ.
In short, there are not many ways to heaven. There is only one way. “Coming to the Father” in this place, we must remark, includes not only coming to Him in glory at the last, but coming to Him in a friendly relation for peace and comfort now in this life. “By Me” is literally “through” Me—as a door, gate, road, path, entrance.
It is an expression which would be peculiarly expressive to the Jews who were taught from their childhood to draw near to God only through the priests. 7.--[ If...known my Father also. ] This is a deep saying, like every saying which handles the mysterious union of the Father and the Son in St. John’s Gospel. The meaning seems to be: “If you had rightly, properly, and perfectly known Me as the Divine Messiah in all the fulness of my nature, you would then have known more of that Father to whom I am inseparably united.
No one can rightly know Me without knowing the Father, because I and the Father are One.” [ And from now on...seen him. ] The meaning of these words seems to be: “Understand from this time forward that in knowing Me you know the Father, and in seeing Me see the Father, so far as the Father can be seen and known by man.” Although the Son and the Father are two distinct persons in the Trinity, yet there is so close and mysterious a union between them that he who sees and knows the Son, in a certain sense, sees and knows the Father.
Is it not written of the Son that “He is the express image of the Father”? (Heb. 1:2.) The whole difficulty of the verse arises from the extreme mysteriousness of its subject. The relation between the eternal Father and the eternal Son and the eternal Spirit, who, while three Persons are one God, is precisely one of those things that we have no minds to take in and no language to express. We must often be content to believe and reverence it without attempting to explain it.
This only we may lay down with certainty as a great canon and maxim: the more we know of Christ, “the more we know of the Father.” 8.--[ Philip said...show us...suffices us. ] We are not told Philip’s motive in making this request. Perhaps, like Moses, he and the other disciples had a pious desire to see a more full vision and revelation of God’s glory as an authentication of their Master’s Divine mission. “Show me Thy glory” (Ex. 33:18).
Perhaps Philip’s petition is recorded to show how little clear knowledge the Apostles yet had of their Master’s nature, and how little they realized that He and the Father were one. “If we could only see once for all the Divine Being whom You call the Father, it would be sufficient. We should be satisfied and our doubts would be removed.” At any rate, we have no right to think that Philip spoke like the unbelieving Jews, who always pretended to want signs and wonders. Whatever sense we put on the words, we must carefully remember not to judge Philip too harshly.
Living as we do in the nineteenth century, amidst light and creeds and knowledge, we can have faint ideas of the extreme difficulty that must have been felt by the disciples in fully realizing their Master’s nature in the days where He was “in the form of a Servant” and under a veil of poverty, weakness, and humiliation. Melancthon remarks that Philip’s petition represents the natural wish of man in every age. Men everywhere feel an inward craving to see God. 9.--[ Jesus said...not known me, Philip? ] This verse is undoubtedly a gentle rebuke.
The expression “so long time” is noteworthy when we remember that Philip was one of the very first disciples whom Jesus called. (See John 1:43.) The meaning seems to be, “After three long years, Philip, do you not yet thoroughly know and understand who I am?” [ He who has seen me has seen the Father. ] This deep sentence can only mean, “He who has thoroughly seen me with the eye of faith and realized that I am the eternal Son, the Divine Messiah, has seen as much of my Father, whose express image I am, as mortal man can comprehend.” There is so close and intimate a union between persons in the Trinity that he who sees the Son sees the Father.
And yet we must carefully beware that we do not, like some heretics, “confound the Persons.” The Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Father. Musculus observes that to see with bodily eyes is one thing, and to see with the eyes of faith quite another. [ So how...show us the Father? ] This question is a further gentle rebuke of Philip’s ignorance. “What do you mean by saying, Show us the Father? What clear knowledge of Me can you have if you can ask such a question?” Let us note how Jesus calls Philip by name. It was doubtless meant to prick his conscience.
“You, Philip, an old disciple, so ignorant! Ought not you, after following and hearing Me for three years, to have known better than this?” 10.--[ Do you not believe, etc. ] This question continues the rebuke to Philip. It means: “Do you not yet believe and realize what I have taught— that there is a mystical union between Me and the Father, and that He is in Me and I in Him?” This question surely seems to indicate that our Lord had often taught His disciples about the union between Himself and the Father.
But, like many of the things He taught, the mighty truth passed over their heads at first and was not remembered till afterward. How little reason have ministers to complain if their teaching is little regarded when this was Christ’s experience! [The words that I speak...Father...he does the works. ] There can be little doubt that this is a very elliptical sentence. The full meaning must be supplied in this way: “The words that I speak to you, I speak not independently of the Father; and the works that I do, I do not do them independently of the Father.
The Father who dwells in Me speaks in Me and works in Me. My words are words given Me to speak, and my works are works given Me to do, in the eternal counsel between the Father and the Son. Both in speaking and working I and my Father are one. What I speak He speaks, and what I work He works.” The whole difficulty of the verse arises from forgetting the close and mysterious and insoluble union between the Persons of the Trinity.
How little we realize the fulness of the expression, “The Father dwells in Me.” 11.--[Believe Me...Father in Me.] Direct instruction follows the rebuke of the preceding verse. Our Lord repeats for the benefit not of Philip only but of all the eleven, the great doctrine He had so often taught them. “Once more I say, Believe, all of you, my words when I say that I and the Father are so closely united that I am in Him and He in Me.” The word rendered “believe” in this verse is in the plural number. Our Lord does not address Philip only but the whole company of the Apostles.
What an example we have here of the necessity of repeating instruction over and over again. Our Lord had evidently taught these things before to the eleven, and yet they had either not understood or not remembered. [ Or else believe me, etc. ] Here our Lord condescends to the weakness of the disciples. “If you will not believe the close union of Myself and the Father because of my word, believe it because of the works I work.
They are such works as no one could work of himself, and without the Father.” Let us carefully observe how our Lord here, as elsewhere, specially names His works, or miracles, as testimonies of His nature and Divine mission. To leave out miracles in the list of the evidences of Christianity is a great mistake. JOHN 14:12-17 I tell you the solemn truth, the person who believes in me will perform the miraculous deeds that I am doing, and will perform greater deeds than these, because I am going to the Father.
And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. "If you love me, you will obey my commandments. Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever--the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you. These verses are an example of our Lord's tender consideration for the weakness of His disciples.
He saw them troubled and faint-hearted at the prospect of being left alone in the world. He cheers them by THREE PROMISES, peculiarly suited to their circumstances. "A word spoken in season, how good is it!" We have first in this passage, a striking promise about the works that Christians may do. Our Lord says, "He that believes on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." The full meaning of this promise is not to be sought in the miracles which the Apostles wrought after Christ left the world.
Such a notion seems hardly borne out by facts. We read of no Apostle walking on the water, or raising a person four days dead, like Lazarus. What our Lord has in view seems to be the far greater number of conversions, the far wider spread of the Gospel, which would take place under the ministry of the Apostles, than under his own teaching. This was the case, we know from the Acts of the Apostles. We read of no sermon preached by Christ, under which three thousand were converted in one day, as they were on the day of Pentecost. In short, "greater works" mean more conversions.
There is no greater work possible than the conversion of a soul. Let us admire the condescension of our Master in allowing to the ministry of His weak servants more success than to His own. Let us learn that His visible presence is not absolutely necessary to the progress of His kingdom. He can help forward His cause on earth quite as much by sitting at the right hand of the Father, and sending forth the Holy Spirit, as by walking to and fro in the world. Let us believe that there is nothing too hard or too great for believers to do, so long as their Lord intercedes for them in heaven.
Let us work on in faith, and expect great things, though we feel weak and lonely, like the disciples. Our Lord is working with us and for us, though we cannot see Him. It was not so much the sword of Joshua that defeated Amalek, as the intercession of Moses on the hill. (Ex. 17:11.) We have, secondly, in this passage, a striking promise about things that Christians may get by prayer. Our Lord says, "Whatever you shall ask in my name, that will I do . . . If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it." These words are a direct encouragement to the simple, yet great duty of praying.
Everyone who kneels daily before God, and from his heart "says his prayers," has a right to take comfort in these words. Weak and imperfect as his supplications may be, so long as they are put in Christ's hands, and offered in Christ's name, they shall not be in vain. We have a Friend at Court, an Advocate with the Father; and if we honor Him by sending all our petitions through Him, He pledges His word that they shall succeed. Of course it is taken for granted that the things we ask are for our souls' good, and not mere temporal benefits.
"Anything" and "whatever" do not include wealth, and money, and worldly prosperity. These things are not always good for us, and our Lord loves us too well to let us have them. But whatever is really good for our souls, we need not doubt we shall have, if we ask in Christ's name. How is it that many true Christians have so little? How is it that they go halting and mourning on the way to heaven, and enjoy so little peace, and show so little strength in Christ's service? The answer is simple and plain. "They have not, because they ask not." They have little because they ask little.
They are no better than they are, because they do not ask their Lord to make them better. Our languid desires are the reason of our languid performances. We are not straitened in our Lord, but in ourselves. Happy are they who never forget the words, "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." (Ps. 81:10.) He that does much for Christ, and leaves his mark in the world, will always prove to be one who prays much. We have, lastly, in this passage, a striking promise about the Holy Spirit.
Our Lord says, "I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, even the Spirit of truth." This is the first time that the Holy Spirit is mentioned as Christ's special gift to His people. Of course we are not to suppose that He did not dwell in the hearts of all the Old Testament saints. But He was given with peculiar influence and power to believers when the New Testament dispensation came in, and this is the special promise of the passage before us. We shall find it useful, therefore, to observe closely the things that are here said about Him.
The Holy Spirit is spoken of as "a Person." To apply the language before us to a mere influence or inward feeling, is an unreasonable strain of words. The Holy Spirit is called "the Spirit of truth." It is His special office to apply truth to the hearts of Christians, to guide them into all truth, and to sanctify them by the truth. The Holy Spirit is said to be one whom "the world cannot receive and does not know." His operations are in the strongest sense foolishness to the natural man.
The inward feelings of conviction, repentance, faith, hope, fear, and love, which He always produces, are precisely that part of religion which the world cannot understand. The Holy Spirit is said to "dwell in" believers, and to be known by them. They know the feelings that He creates, and the fruits that He produces, though they may not be able to explain them, or see at first whence they come. But they all are what they are--new men, new creatures, light and salt in the earth, compared to the worldly, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is given to the Church of the elect, "to abide with them" until Christ comes the second time. He is meant to supply all the needs of believers, and to fill up all that is lacking while Christ's visible presence is removed. He is sent to abide with and help them until Christ returns. These are truths of vast importance. Let us take care that we grasp them firmly, and never let them go. Next to the whole truth about Christ, it concerns our safety and peace to see the whole truth about the Holy Spirit.
Any doctrine about the Church, the ministry, or the Sacraments, which obscures the Spirit's inward work, or turns it into mere form, is to be avoided as deadly error. Let us never rest until we feel and know that He dwells in us. "If any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." (Rom. 8:9.) Technical Notes: 12. Verily, verily, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go to my Father. 13. And whatever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14.
If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it . 15. If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; 17. even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; but ye know him, for he dwells with you and shall be in you. 12.--[Verily, verily...the works...do also.] Here we have another comforting word addressed to the disciples.
They must not suppose there would be an end of miraculous works when their Master went away and that they would be left weak and helpless and unable to do anything to arrest the attention of an unbelieving world. On the contrary, our Lord assures them, with two emphatic “verilys,” that miracles would not cease with His departure. He would take care that believers should have power to do works like His own, and to confirm their word by signs following.
I cannot doubt that this promise refers to the miraculous gifts which the first generation of Christians had power to exercise, as we read everywhere in the Acts of the Apostles. That the sick were healed, the dead raised, and devils cast out by disciples after the Lord ascended, is quite plain, and this fulfilled the words now before us. I can see no reason to suppose that our Lord meant the promise to be fulfilled after the generation He left on earth was dead. If miracles were continually in the Church, they would cease to be miracles.
We never see them in the Bible except at some great crisis in the Church’s history. The Irvingite theory—that the Church would always have miraculous gifts if men only had faith—seems to me a violent straining of this text. [ And greater works...do. ] The meaning of these words must be sought in the moral and spiritual miracles which followed the preaching of the Apostles after the day of Pentecost. It could not be truly said that the physical miracles worked by the Apostles in the Acts were greater than those worked by Christ.
But it is equally certain that after the day of Pentecost they did far more wonderful works in converting souls than our Lord did. On no occasion did Jesus convert 3,000 at one time and a “great company of priests.” [ Because I go to my Father. ] These words must point to the great outpouring of the Holy Ghost that took place after our Lord’s ascension into heaven, whereby the miracles of conversion were wrought.
There was an immediate and mysterious connection, we must remember, between our Lord ascending up on high and “receiving gifts for men.” If He had not gone to the Father, the Spirit would not have been sent forth. (Eph. 4:8.) Melancthon thinks the promise of this text is clearly bound up with the following verse, “He shall do greater works because I go to the Father, and because then whatever ye shall ask I will do.” 13.--[ And whatever...will I do. ] Here comes another great piece of comfort for the troubled disciples: viz., a promise that Christ will do everything for them which they pray for in His name and for His sake.
Whatever help, strength, support, or guidance they need, if they ask God for it in Christ’s name, Christ will give it. This is one of those texts that authorizes all prayers being made through Christ’s mediation, as in Prayer-book collects. The “whatever” must, of course, be taken with the qualifying condition, “whatever really good thing ye ask.” The connection with the end of the preceding verse should not be overlooked: “When I go to the Father, I will do whatever ye ask.” [ That the Father may be glorified in the Son. ] This is a difficult sentence.
The meaning probably is: “I will do whatever ye ask, that my Father may be glorified by my mediation, by sending into the world a Son through whom sinners can obtain such blessings.” Christ’s power to do anything that He is asked brings glory to Him who sent Him. 14.--[ If ye shall ask...I will do it. ] This verse is a repetition of the preceding to give emphasis and assurance to the promise. It is as if our Lord saw how slow the disciples would be to believe the efficacy of prayer in His name.
“Once more I tell you most emphatically, that if you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” We should notice both in this verse and the preceding one that it is not said, “If ye ask in my name the Father will do it,” but “I will do it.” 15.--[ If ye love...commandments. ] Here we have a direct practical exhortation. “If ye really love Me, prove your love not by weeping and lamenting at my departure, but by striving to do my will when I am gone.
Doing, and not crying, is the best proof of love.” The commandments here mentioned must include all the Lord’s moral teaching while on earth, and specially such rules and laws as He had laid down in the “Sermon on the Mount.” I cannot but think that in this verse our Lord had in view the disposition of His disciples to give way to grief and distress at His leaving them, and to forget that the true test of love was not useless and barren lamentation, but practical obedience to their Master’s commands.
Let us notice how our Lord speaks of “my commandments.” We never read of Moses or any other servant of God using such an expression. It is the language of one who was one with God the Father and had power to lay down laws and make statutes for His Church. 16.--[ And I will pray the Father, etc. ] This verse holds up to the eleven another grand consolation, viz., the gift of another abiding Comforter in place of Christ, even the Holy Ghost.
“When I go to heaven I will ask the Father to give you another friend and helper to be with you and support you in my stead, and never leave you as I do.” In this remarkable verse, several points demand special notice. One principal point is the mention of all the three persons in the blessed Trinity—the Son praying, the Father giving, the Spirit comforting. When our Lord says, “I will pray the Father and He shall give,” we must needs suppose that He accommodates language to our minds.
The gift of the Holy Ghost was appointed in the eternal counsels of the Trinity; and we cannot literally say that the gift depended on Christ asking. Moreover, in another place our Lord says, “I will send Him.” Burkitt remarks that the future tense here points to Christ’s continual intercession. As long as Christ is in heaven, Christians shall not lack a supply of comfort. When we read of the Holy Ghost being “given,” we must not think that He was in no sense in the Church before the day of Pentecost. He was ever in the hearts of Old Testament believers.
No one ever served God acceptably, from Abel downward, without the grace of the Holy Ghost. John the Baptist was “filled” with Him. In can only mean that He shall come with more fulness, influence, grace, and manifestation than He did before. When we read of the “Spirit abiding forever” with disciples, it means that He will not, like Christ after His resurrection, return to the Father, but will always be with God’s people until Christ comes again. The word “Comforter” is the same that is translated “advocate” and applied to Christ Himself in 1 John 2:2.
This has caused much difference of opinion. The word is only used five times in the New Testament and is four times applied to the Holy Spirit. Some, as Lightfoot, Bishop Hall, and Doddridge, maintain that our translation here is right, and that it is the office of the Spirit to comfort and strengthen Christ’s people.
Others, as Beza, Lampe, DeDieus, Gomarus, Poole, Pearce, Stier, and Alford, maintain that the word here should have been rendered “Advocate,” as in John’s Epistle; and that this word aptly expresses the office of the Spirit as pleading our cause and making intercession for the saints, and helping them in prayer and preaching. (See Rom. 8:26, Matt. 10:19,20.) I decidedly prefer this latter view. Those who wish to see an able argument in its favor should study Canon Lightfoot’s volume on New Testament Revision (p. 55).
Lampe sensibly remarks that the word “another” points to the phrase meaning “Advocate” rather than “Comforter.” That Jesus is our “Advocate” all allow. “Well,” our Lord seems to say, “you shall have another ‘Advocate’ beside myself.” Why use the word “another” at all if “Comforter” is the meaning? It is only fair to say that “the consolation of Israel” was a Jewish name of Messiah (Luke 2:25), and that some think that Christ was one Comforter and the Holy Ghost another.
But I do not see much in this. 17.--[ Even the Spirit of truth. ] The Holy Ghost is most probably so called because He brings truth specially home to men’s hearts—because truth is His great instrument in all His operations—and because He bears witness to Christ the truth. Elsewhere we read, “It is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth” (1 John 5:6). [Whom the world...neither sees him nor knows him. ] Here our Lord teaches that it is one great mark of the unbelieving and worldly that they neither receive, nor know, nor see anything of the Holy Ghost. This is strikingly true.
Many false professors and unconverted people receive Christ’s name and talk of Him while they know nothing experimentally of the operations of the Holy Spirit. It is written, “The natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them” (1 Cor. 2:14). [But ye know...dwells...shall be in you. ] Our Lord’s meaning here must be that the eleven knew something experimentally of the Spirit’s work.
They might not be fully acquainted with Him, but He was actually in them, making them what they were; and He would remain in them and carry on the work He had begun to a glorious end.
“Whether you know it thoroughly and rightly or not, He is actually in you now, and shall always be in you and never leave you.” Let us mark in this and in the preceding verse how our Lord speaks of the Holy Spirit as “a Person.” We should never speak of Him as a mere “influence” or dishonor Him by calling Him “it.” Let us never forget that “having the Spirit or not having the Spirit” makes the great distinction between the children of God and the children of the world. Believers have Him.
Worldly and wicked people have Him not. (Jude 19.) JOHN 14:18-20 "I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you. In a little while the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too. You will know at that time that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. The short passage before us is singularly rich in "precious promises." Twice our Lord Jesus Christ says, "I will." Twice He says to believers, "You shall." We learn from this passage, that Christ's second coming is meant to be the special comfort of believers.
He says to His disciples, "I will not leave you comfortless--I will come to you." Now what is the "coming" here spoken of? It is only fair to say that this is a disputed point among Christians. Many refer it to our Lord's coming to His disciples after His resurrection. Many refer it to His invisible coming into the hearts of His people by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Many refer it to His coming by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
It may well be doubted, however, whether any one of these three views conveys the full meaning of our Lord's words, "I will come." The true sense of the expression appears to be the second personal coming of Christ at the end of the world.
It is a wide, broad, sweeping promise, intended for all believers, in every age, and not for the Apostles alone--"I will not stay always in heaven--I will one day come back to you." It is like the message which the angels brought to the disciples after the ascension--"This same Jesus shall come in like manner as you have seen Him go." (Acts. 1:11.) It is like the last promise which winds up the Book of Revelation--"Surely I come quickly." (Rev. 22:20.) Just in the same way the parting consolation held out to believers, the night before the crucifixion, is a personal return--"I will come." Let us settle it in our minds that all believers are comparatively "orphans," and children in their minority, until the second advent.
Our best things are yet to come. Faith has yet to be exchanged for sight, and hope for certainty. Our peace and joy are at present very imperfect. They are as nothing to what we shall have when Christ returns. For the return let us look and long and pray. Let us place it in the forefront of all our doctrinal system, next to the atoning death and the interceding life of our Lord. The highest style of Christians are the men who look for and love the Lord's appearing. (2 Tim. 4:8.) We learn for another thing, that Christ's life secures the life of His believing people.
He says, "Because I live you shall live also." There is a mysterious and indissoluble union between Christ and every true Christian. The man that is once joined to Him by faith, is as closely united as a member of the body is united to the head. So long as Christ, his Head, lives, so long he will live. He cannot die unless Christ can be plucked from heaven, and Christ's life destroyed. But this, since Christ is very God, is totally impossible!
"Christ being raised from the dead, dies no more--death has no more dominion over Him." (Rom. 6:9.) That which is divine, in the very nature of things, cannot die. Christ's life secures the continuance of spiritual life to His people. They shall not fall away. They shall persevere unto the end. The divine nature of which they are partakers, shall not perish. The incorruptible seed within them shall not be destroyed by the devil and the world. Weak as they are in themselves, they are closely knit to an immortal Head, and not one member of His mystical body shall ever perish.
Christ's life secures the resurrection life of His people. Just as He rose again from the grave, because death could not hold Him one moment beyond the appointed time, so shall all His believing members rise again in the day when He calls them from the tomb. The victory that Jesus won when He rolled the stone away, and came forth from the tomb, was a victory not only for Himself, but for His people. If the Head rose, much more shall the members. Truths like these ought to be often pondered by true Christians. The careless world knows little of a believer's privileges.
It sees little but the outside of him. It does not understand the secret of his present strength, and of his strong hope of good things to come. And what is that secret? Invisible union with an invisible Savior in heaven! Each child of God is invisibly linked to the throne of the Rock of Ages. When that throne can be shaken, and not until then, we may despair. But Christ lives, and we shall live also. We learn, finally, from this passage, that full and perfect knowledge of divine things will never be attained by believers until the second advent.
Our Lord says, "At that day," the day of my coming, "you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in Me, and I in you." The best of saints knows but little so long as he is in the body. The fall of our father Adam has corrupted our understandings, as well as our consciences, hearts, and wills. Even after conversion we see through a glass darkly, and on no point do we see so dimly as on the nature of our own union with Christ, and of the union of Christ and the Father.
These are matters in which we must be content to believe humbly, and, like little children, to receive on trust the things which we cannot explain. But it is a blessed and cheering thought that when Christ comes again, the remains of ignorance shall be rolled away. Raised from the dead, freed from the darkness of this world, no longer tempted by the devil and tried by the flesh, believers shall see as they have been seen, and know as they have been known. We shall have light enough one day. What we know not now, we shall know hereafter.
Let us rest our souls on this comfortable thought, when we see the mournful divisions which rend the Church of Christ. Let us remember that a large portion of them arise from ignorance. We know in part, and therefore misunderstand one another. A day comes when Lutherans shall no longer wrangle with Zwinglians, nor Calvinist with Arminian, nor Churchman with Dissenter. That day is the day of Christ's second coming. Then and then only will the promise receive its complete fulfillment--"At that day you shall know." Technical Notes: 18. I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. 19.
Yet a little while and the world sees me no more, but ye see me. Because I live, ye shall live also. 20. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 18.--[ I will not leave you comfortless. ] The word we render “comfortless” means literally “orphans,” and is so translated in the marginal reading of the English version. It beautifully describes the helpless, solitary, friendless state, by comparison, in which the disciples of Christ were left when He died and was withdrawn from their bodily eyes. “In that condition,” says Jesus, “I will not leave you.
You shall not always be orphans.” It adds to the beauty of the expression to remember that He had already called them “little children.” Hence, there was a special fitness in the word “orphans.” [ I will come to you. ] The verb here is in the present tense: “I do come.” About the meaning of the sentence there is much difference of opinion. Even the Fathers, as Burgon says, “explain the words diversely.” There is no more unanimity, we must remember, among the Fathers than among modern divines. The “consent of Catholic antiquity,” about which many make so much ado, is more imaginary than real.
Some think, as Chrysostom, that the “coming” means only the reappearing of Christ after His resurrection from the grave on the third day. Others think, as Hutcheson, that our Lord only means His coming by His Spirit, as a pledge of his presence. Others think, as Augustine and Bede, that our Lord looks far forward to His second coming at the end of the world and speaks the words to the whole company of believers in every age: “I am coming again. I come quickly.” I decidedly prefer this last view. The first and second seem to me to cramp, narrow, and confine our Lord’s promise.
The last is in harmony with all His teaching. The second advent is the great hope of the Church. In the last chapter of the Bible, the Greek for “I come quickly” is precisely the same verb that is used here. (Rev. 22:20.) In saying this I would not be mistaken. I admit fully that Jesus came to His Church after His ascension, invisibly, does come to His Church continually, is with His Church even to the end of the world. But I do not think this is the meaning of the text. 19.--[ Yet a little while...ye see me. ] Again the meaning of our Lord is somewhat obscure.
I think He must mean, “Very shortly the wicked unbelieving world will no longer behold and gaze on Me, as I shall be withdrawn from it and ascend into heaven. But even then ye see Me and will continue seeing Me with the eyes of faith.” I cannot think that the present tense here, “Ye behold Me,” can apply to the second advent. It must surely refer to the spiritual vision of Christ which believers would enjoy. The world could not prevent them seeing Him. The Greek word for “ye see” implies a fixed, steady, habitual gaze.
Bishop Hall says, “Ye by the eye of faith shall see and acknowledge Me.” [ Because I live, ye shall live also. ] This great deep saying of Christ seems to admit of a very wide and full signification: “Your spiritual life now and your eternal life hereafter are both secured by my life. The life of the Head guarantees the life of the members. I live, have life in myself, can never die, can never have my life destroyed by my enemies, and live on to all eternity. Therefore ye shall live also. Your life is secured for you and can never be destroyed.
You have everlasting life now and shall have everlasting glory hereafter.” That word “I live” is a great full saying, and we cannot fathom it all. It does not merely mean “I shall rise from the dead.” It is certainly far more than the future tense. It implies that Christ is “the Living One,” the source and fountain of life.
It is like “In Him was life,” and “as the Father has life in Himself, even so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself” (John 1:4, 5:26). 20.--[ On that day ye shall know, etc. ] Here again I believe (with Cyril and Augustine) that our Lord specially refers to the day of His own second advent. Then, and not till then, His disciples will have perfect knowledge. Now they see and know in part and through a glass darkly. Then they shall fully understand the mystical union between the Father and Son and between the Son and all His believing members.
To confine the “day,” as Chrysostom does, to the resurrection of Christ from the dead seems to me to fall short of its full meaning.