“‘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.’ 5Thomas said to Him,
‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’ 6Jesus said to Him, ‘I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
These
well-known words of Jesus are like opening up a chest full of treasure! Gold,
sparkling gems, precious jewels and a deed for a house, a mansion! It’s all
yours simply through believing in God and also Jesus, His only begotten Son!
For, He says, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in
God, believe also in Me.”
And what might cause our hearts to be troubled? Lack
of wealth, ill-health, and certainly the death of a loved one? Well, as tough as they are Jesus says we shouldn’t
fret too much about these things. Why? Because He has fixed all of our
problems! But, you have to trust in Him to produce the results. He is telling
us to believe in Him!
Jesus
is not saying that you shouldn’t grieve the loss of a loved-one. Jesus wept at
the tomb of His friend Lazarus! However, He is saying that He has made
everything right for you – if you are believing in Him, which is to say that
there will come a day when all wrongs will be righted by God!
Some
of the newer translations of the Bible render the word “mansions” as “rooms.”
“In My Father’s house are many rooms.”
However, I would much rather dwell in a mansion than a room! Wouldn’t you? The
word simply means that there are many dwelling-places – enough for all who
believe. Jesus then said that He was going to prepare a place for you.
Never
mind rooms or mansions, the Devil, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry offered
to Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, the things he had stolen, if Jesus
would bow down and worship him, Satan. The idea was that instead of Jesus going
through all the ordeal of going to the cross and being crucified He could have
it all simply by surrendering to Satan and becoming one of his followers.
Would
it not have been far easier for Jesus just to swear allegiance to Satan than to
go through the hell of His crucifixion? Don’t miss what Jesus is saying in
these verses. He is saying that He is going to prepare a place for those who
believe in Him. Going where? He was going to the cross at Calvary !
He
was not just going to tidy-up a room before your arrival in Heaven. He wasn’t
just going to make few beds, clean out the cupboards and hoover the carpet! No!
He was going to purchase you a mansion! But more than that He was going to
purchase you yourself – if you are a believer in Him!
He
was going to suffer the wrath of God so that you will not have to suffer it
when you die! He was paying God in full the price that we human beings owe to
God for not giving God our undivided attention and utmost obedience in
everything we think, say and do! Jesus put God first in everything. None of us
do! I don’t!
So,
the gateway into !His Father’s house was by way of Jesus’ obedience in
everything even unto His death on a cross. Jesus lived the perfect life that
none of us can live and He paid the penalty that according to the Bible each of
us owes God.
Now, we have heard about Neil
Russell’s action-packed life, how he travelled here, there and everywhere! As a
sergeant, as one of the “Rats of Tobruk” he won a medal – a D.C.M.
(Distinguished Combat Medal). Neil was a very brave man indeed as well as being
a loving father and grandfather. It seems that his life was full of adventure.
As a believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ he will at present be with His Lord in glory. He will be awaiting
the resurrection at the Last Day, that’s the day when he gets his body back,
his renewed body! That’s the day when he gets his room, his mansion! Meanwhile,
like the rest of us here, Neil has to wait for the Lord to work all things together
for good, to bring His great plan to its final conclusion!
So, what is God’s great plan?
Well, in brief, He was going to create creation. He was going to make mankind
in His own image. He was going to send His Son, the middle Person in the
Trinity, into His creation as a human to live a perfect life representing all
who believe in Him, He was going to pay the death-penalty we owe to God for not
following God as we should, and He was going to be raised from the dead, and return
to Heaven.
Then He and His Father were
going to pour out the Holy Spirit, which They did. Then at some future point
after the Holy Spirit has worked with the Word throughout the earth He is going
to resurrect us all from our graves and judge the living and the dead! Then all
His followers are going to live with forever with Him here on the renewed
earth!
When Jesus was on earth His disciples were
wondering where He was going. Jesus said to them, “You know the way.” It was
then that Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where You
are going, and how can we know the way?” I reckon I’d be exactly like Thomas.
“Lord, what are You talking about? Show us in concrete terms. Seeing is
believing and all of that!”
How did Jesus
respond to Thomas? “Jesus said to Him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
The Bible
makes it clear that Jesus is the Mediator between God and man. The way to God
is through Jesus Christ. There is great comfort in knowing the way! It means
that we can stop pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps! It means that we
can stop beating ourselves up for being failures when it comes to pleasing God!
God knows you cannot save yourself. That’s why He sent a Saviour into this
world, His only begotten Son! He is the way!
He is the way
into Heaven. He is the way to get right with God. He is the way to have your
sins, all your sins past, present and future forgiven. He is the way to a clear
conscience before God. He is the way to find comfort when grieving. He is the
way to getting a room in God’s house, a mansion!
Let these words of Jesus sink
in, be comforted by them, Jesus said … “I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Therefore,
“Let not your heart be troubled.”
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