John 13:1-101Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. 2And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him; 3Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; 4He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. 5After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. 6Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? 7Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. 8Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. 9Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. 10Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. (John 13:1‑10); John 14:1-181Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2In 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. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 5Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 7If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 8Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? 10Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. 12Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth 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. 13And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. 15If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. (John 14:1‑18); John 20:11-1811But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, 12And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. 14And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. 16Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. 17Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. 18Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her. (John 20:11‑18)
It is a wonderful thing for our souls to have the Father’s house revealed to us, so that we can enjoy it before we get there. There is no moral link between the Father’s house and this world—no possibility of putting them together in our hearts. Do we know anything of the complete break between these two places? The moment the Lord knew His hour was come, His first thought was to give those whom He was leaving in this world part with Himself where He was going.
There is the first communication of divine life and nature that brings with it the capacity for the entrance into our souls of all these things: It needed the knowledge of what He had wrought to enter into them. But He knows the need we meet at every turn, and He provides for it. All this is preliminary; up to this the Father’s house has not been mentioned. When the Lord Jesus is able to count upon the sorrow of hearts that will miss Him, He says, “Let not your heart be troubled. ... In My Father’s house are many mansions.” What a revelation! There had been no such thing up to this time in Scripture. Much of the Lord’s ministry had prepared the way for it; now the moment has come for the full revelation to break on us, a home where He has gone, His own home, now revealed and made ours.
The Way
Then He goes on to address His disciples: “Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” How were they to know it? Philip thought, if only he knew the Father, he could know the Father’s house. Jesus says, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” Every trait of the blessedness of the Father’s house was revealed and shining forth in the Person and ways of the Son here below. The heart that knows the Son knows the Father too, even the feeblest babe, for it is no matter of attainment; the Lord Jesus would start us with it. The cardinal truth of the revelation of the Father is found in the Gospel of John, as the One to whom I am related. For this reason, we all turn to the Gospel of John, for there we have all the precious revelation of the Father in the Person of the Lord Jesus here.
The Preparation
“I go to prepare a place for you.” There is nothing more important than to seize the meaning of that little sentence; it is not that any preparation is going on now, but how did I ever come to have a home prepared up there? Accomplished redemption prepares us for it. The Lord Jesus, in closing our whole history here, opens to us a heavenly home, fitting that home for us by His presence there and fitting us perfectly for that home. Thus, at the very opening of our way, we can give thanks to the Father; He has made us meet. Truth only becomes real to us as it supplies a need created in our souls. That need had been created in Mary Magdalene. The disciples were satisfied when they had inspected the sepulchre; they returned to their homes, but separated from the Lord, Mary’s heart had no home to go to, and she stood without the sepulchre weeping. He had delivered her from the fearful power of Satan, and the sense of what He was detained her there, until His voice broke upon her ear. She wished to resume the nearness with which she had known Him before, but He says, “Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to My Father.” He was going to introduce her into far deeper and fuller blessing than she could have known before. “Go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God and your God.” What additional light this is upon all that we have found of the revelation of the Father’s house. He is now able to open to us the place where He has gone and to associate us in the fullest way with Himself. “I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there ye may be also.” How simply this gives us our place; the yesterday of my life closed in the cross of Christ, the tomorrow to be with Him in glory, and the present so wonderfully filled with all we have been brought into while here. Are we living in the power of the things that are ours already? Do we know what it is in a little measure to bask in the light of the Father’s love? We have the Holy Spirit to be the power of the enjoyment of all these things in our souls, while we are waiting on the tip-toe of expectation for Him to come again, that where He is, there we may be also. What I seek is that we may enter into the power that is given us for the enjoyment of these things. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Cor. 2:99But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)). Arrested by this thought, many of us stop there and put it all off to the future, but the Apostle only quotes this from Isaiah to contrast it with what we have. “But God hath revealed them unto us, by His Spirit.” The things that God has prepared in His eternal counsels are now revealed to us by His Spirit, that we may know them and enjoy them as our present possession, that our hearts might live in them as a present realty.
Seeing the Unseen
“We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen” (2 Cor. 4:1818While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)). Do we know anything of such an attitude? Have we been looking at the things which are seen today or at the things that are unseen? These things are revealed so that we can look at them. “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col. 3:22Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:2)). Associated with Him, risen with Him, set your mind (JND). The affections and the mind are distinct things; the Spirit assumes that the affections will follow Christ there, but is the mind there? The cross upon earth answers to the heavenly glory. How fatal the influence of man that comes between me and that risen, glorified Christ. Are our hearts lingering in the scene out of which He has gone? Or are our hearts and minds set upon Him, where He is in the glory? “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:2020For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: (Philippians 3:20)). Citizenship was everything to a Grecian; it came before the dearest relationship. All that forms the moral life is in heaven now. How feeble is the grasp of these things! What is the practical power of them? Does everything about us bear witness to them, so that we are only waiting for Him to come, to take us to Himself, in whom all our joys and our hopes have centered while here? Not one thing has been withheld from us, and He is engaged in service for us in the glory, so that there may be no hindrance to our enjoyment of these things, so that we may be going about this dark world with our faces lit up, or at all events our hearts, with His love. We have found what satisfies us divinely and forever.
J. A. Trench