I think, if you study the Gospel by John, you will find it is taken for granted in chap. 11 that the Jews would not have Him. He, the Son of God, brings in the doctrine of resurrection; in chap. 12 there is a flitting across the earth of His various glories—Son of man and Son of David. Then chap. 13 and 14 form a little compartment by themselves. Chap. 13 gives a most amazing display of the Christ Jesus, when the time was come for the Paschal Lamb. He takes the ground of knowing all about the saints up to the present time. So you and I have a standing in chap 13, seeing the Lord prepares us for all the evil that has taken place on the earth. Chap. 14 is in strong contrast to chap. 13. There He knew everything about the men down here; now about the Father up there. This extends from vers. 1-20, and from ver. 21 to the end. He speaks and acts as the One who knew everything about His saints, and what would alone make them happy down here. He is bringing out all the amazing truth about “Abba,” and how it is to be learned; and that it is the word for us. In the first chapter then of this Gospel we find a remarkable testimony of the Spirit of God to the higher glory of the Son, as the only-begotten Son of the Father, ver. 14; and then in ver. 18, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” There is this contrast between the two verses: in ver. 14 it is Himself presented as the Word made flesh; but what shines out, because it is seen to be in Him, is this glory of the Father. “We beheld His glory;” not merely Messiah presented with all the promises, but in the adorable Person of the Lord there was a glory that surpassed altogether the glory for the earth, whether as promised to Abraham or to David, “The glory as of the only-begotten Son of the Father.” Then in ver. 16 He speaks of our receiving out of His fullness grace for grace. In ver. 18 we see what the great object of the Lord was in coming into the world. It was not merely that He had the light in Him, but He “declared Him.” He told God out. The word translated “declared” has a particular force and meaning. He was the perfect presentation of the Father. In the Lord Jesus I get all about the Father. Any one whose eyes were opened saw nothing but the Father, and saw nothing superadded to it.
In chap. 14 He takes the place of teaching them something more in detail about Him; and the way He approaches the subject is remarkable, and shows His grace. When He got to talk about the Father, neither Thomas, nor Philip, nor Jude could make out what it was all about; but He approaches the subject in a very beautiful way, by bringing the place belonging to the Father before them. He says, “If I go away, I am going to a place where My presence is needed to make it ready for you"; so He brings in this thought of the Father in that way to them, in connection with the place.
But oh! what was in the heart of Christ at that time, with all the sorrows pressing upon Him connected with the place He was going into as sin-bearer, as being the one forsaken of God—to bring before the cavilings of His disciples that He knew all about the Father? He displays His knowledge about the Father; He was going to the Father, and He was going to prepare a place for them there. Do you know the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is up there in glory, connects you individually (if you are believers in Him) with Abba, Father? Where was the first thought of “sonship” found? If I say, “The Father,” you say, “Well, I understand that, because I am one of His children.” It is very blessed to say this, but more blessed to say, “That Father had one only Son, and He deputed Him to bring many sons to glory. The only-begotten Son is the One to whom He committed it to bring many sons to glory.”
I suppose I may be bold to say, beloved, that never does a single child of God occupy the mind of the Lord Jesus, but His mind approaches him, as taking him up in connection with His Father, who gave them to Him. The Lord Jesus, if He looks upon me as a son of God, says, “Well, poor thing, My Father gave you to Me; and in you I see the estimate of My Father's thought of the worth of My blood, in your blessing and acceptance of Me.” Is this your thought when you say, Abba, Father? The Father thinks of the blessedness of having such a Son as that Son was and is; and of that Son to enlarge the circle, bringing us in. He knew me as one the Father had given to Him. I was a child of wrath once, as others, and am now brought home to enjoy and live to God. I had nothing to bring to God and Christ in their holiness but my sins; and He has taken them all away, and given a stab to my selfishness; and yet something far better than that-Christ looks upon me as one in whom He sees His Father's estimate of His work. He thinks, “There is a man that I have plucked out of the world that belongs to Satan—there is a man that is to be led by Me into the Father's house.”
So He introduces the subject here. “I am going away, and where am I going? Well, My Father has got a house in heaven, and you could not be there; but I am the beginning of the creation of God Myself; I shall get there; and once there, the place will be ready for you.” If you think of all God's glory, the light and the brilliancy—if I think of the house which the Lord has made ready for me, I say, “What a blessed place, for my Lord will be there! not to do a work, but as the One in His Father's house.” The Lord will be up there at home, and you and I will find out what makes it a home; and this is, His own Self in the place.
Then He goes on to show what His own personal love is to the people He will come to fetch. He says, “I shall not do a work in the house, and send some one else to fetch you there—no, I shall do it.” “I shall come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” “I shall want you to be with Me.”
When He got to this point, He had made the first step in His subject. Then He enters on what is His subject. He says, “Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” He knew right well what the effect of His saying it would be. He was right in what He said; and what was He looking at? He was looking at the Spirit which was inseparably connected with them. There was a good deal more knowledge than they had any idea of. Thomas thought he had caught the Lord saying something inconsistent. “We cannot know where You are going until You tell us; how can we know the way? We cannot, until You tell us where You are going; for who can tell the way to any place whose name has not been mentioned?”
Just one word in connection with that as a practical point. You and I ought to receive things because Christ says them, not because we understand them. Take an instance of this. Suppose I had been with the Lord Jesus in chap. 5, and heard Him say, “He that heareth my word, and believeth [on] him that sent me, hath everlasting life.” I might have done one or two things on hearing that word. I might have said “I know nothing about that word, eternal life, and therefore can form no judgment at all as to what its introduction depends on;” or else, here is a Person who knows all about it, and He says, “If any man believes God, he has the blessing.” Which of the two is the wise man? He is talking about what He understands; and I receive it, What is the consequence? He says, “Hath everlasting life,” and He also takes the other side, “Shall not come into condemnation.” What Thomas ought to have done was not to have judged the words of his Master. He was only bandying words with the Lord. Surely, instead of saying what he did, he ought to have asked, “Well, Lord, and what next?” and thus taken the place of a learner. It makes a wonderful difference whether we take the place of being receivers from Him, or the place of being able to judge of what He says.
The Lord then takes another step, and He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The Lord Jesus Christ is presented down here on earth as the One who could say of Himself, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” Philip had said, “Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” Jesus says, “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?”
Before I go on to follow that out, I would remark that there are three things presented here. First, Himself “as the way” to the Father (not to God, this is in Hebrews), which you will find extends to the end of ver. 15. Secondly, having spoken of Himself as “the truth,” He opens it out in vers. 16, 17, 18. Then as “the life,” He shows this out in vers. 19, 20. These verses are a kind of divine commentary by the Lord about Himself as the way, the truth, and the life.
Jesus said to Philip, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me?” etc. The human mind often makes great difficulties for itself on this subject—difficulties that do not exist. People have often said to me, “I do not like that word Trinity; I do not see how there can be three in one, and one in three.” My answer is very simple: “I have no particular love for the word, yet I have a particular love for the truth which men have coined that word to represent, though I cannot say I understand it.” Very often learned men have gone entirely wrong, upon it, and simple men too. There are certain landmarks laid down in scripture. I remember an essay by a man who was thought most highly of, which speaks of the Trinity as being three different, forms in which the one person is spoken of. My simple answer is, that I find at the baptism of Christ all three together. The Father was saying, “This is my beloved Son;” the Son coming out of the water; and the Spirit descends on Him. That meets the question entirely.
A person says he wants to understand the how and why of it! Let me take a point nearer myself. I am spirit, soul, and body. If I were only a spirit I should not be a man, but rather an angel. Do I doubt the fact? No. Do I know the why or the how? Not a bit. I believe, if my body were killed to-night, my spirit would go to Jesus; but my body may stay in the grave as Stephen's has. Can I understand the how of it. Certainly not. I see a doctor often has a resource: he can arouse the body by appealing to the mind; through the mind he arouses the body. I do not understand it; but am I going to sit in inquest over it? Here are three Persons in one can I understand God? Certainly not. As you read the pages of Scripture, they show that He is God. and you are man: if I cannot understand it, is it any wonder? Do I understand myself? Certainly not. Abraham's body will rise, and Abraham's soul and spirit will dwell in that body: is it then for me to ask how? Certainly not.
If you take the name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, it was new. Israel had known something of the Spirit and the name of Messiah, but never as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. If I think of the blessed Lord as a Babe laid in a manger, or a Man Standing in the water, can I say there was not a direct line of connection between Him and the Father? A man is a fool that argues upon this question! Every work of Christ was fully done in co-operation with His Father: there was a real connection between them that none but God could understand.
When the Lord was speaking in this way to Thomas, first of all saying, “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also,” I suppose He was referring to that hidden union which but one eye could trace. Yet Philip says, “Now do show us the Father: then it will be all plain!” Smart words from a fool! He was talking about things he did not understand. It is my wisdom to take the place of being a learner: it would have been wisdom for Philip to have said “We wait to hear a little more about this;” but his mind brought forth, as ours do, very foolish things. “Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” Christ knew better than Philip about it. He knew that, if Philip could have been present in glory, it would not have been pleasant to him.
God put all His glory in the Son of man, as being a vessel or lamp fit to show it forth. He put it into the Lord Jesus. What an exquisite dealing on the part of the Father! The Lord does not tell us about Himself. He says, “Do you know, have you heard, about a Man dwelling upon earth who is called Jesus? have you seen His works, marked His words? Well, in all these you see Me; I am in the Father:”
(To be continued)