THE discourse (V. 1) opens with the tender and touching words “Let not your heart be troubled.” Who but the Lord could have uttered such gracious words at such a solemn moment. The Lord had just foretold the thrice repeated denial of Peter, and just as the premonition of the denial is preceded by that gracious word, “Thou shalt follow Me afterward,” so it is followed by these touching words, “Let not your heart be troubled.” With the treachery of Judas and the denial of Peter before them, the disciples might well be troubled. Yet, says the Lord, “Let not your heart be troubled.”
In this early part of the discourse the Lord takes a threefold way to relieve our hearts of trouble. First, He sets Himself before us as the object of faith in the glory. “Ye believe in God” —One whom we have never seen—and now, as the Lord passes out of sight into glory, He can say, “Believe also in Me.” Thus Christ, as a Man in the glory, becomes the resource and stay of the heart. Everything on earth may fail us, the world tempt us, the flesh betray us, yet Christ in the glory remains the unfailing resource of faith. As one has said, “There is no solid comfort to be found outside of Christ.” Christian friends however true, relatives however loving, circumstances however favorable, health however good, prospects however pleasing—yea all on earth—will fail to give lasting comfort; but Christ in the glory remains the One to whom faith can turn and find in Him the unfailing resource of His people, throughout the long dark night of His absence.
(V. 2). Second, for the comfort of our hearts the Lord discloses to us the new home, “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.” Not only have we Christ in the glory our unfailing resource, but we have the Father’s house as our abiding home. For let us note that the word “mansions” is really “abodes” —a home which once it is reached will never more be left—there we shall abide. On earth we have “no continuing city.” We are pilgrims and strangers here. Our abiding home is in the Father’s house. Moreover in the Father’s house there are “many” abodes. On earth there was no room for Christ, and little room for those who are Christ’s, but in the Father’s house there is room for all that are Christ’s—the great and the small. If it were not so He would have told His disciples. He would not have gathered His disciples around Himself, and led them outside this world, were He not leading them into a scene of blessedness well known to Him as the Father’s house. To this home the Lord was going. On the cross He prepared His people for the place; His presence in the glory prepares the place for His people. Thus we are lifted above the weakness and failure of all things earthly, carried beyond the changing scenes of time, to enter in spirit a better world, there to find a home prepared in the Father’s house.
(V. 3.) Third, for the comfort of our hearts, the Lord sets before us His coming again to receive us into the home. In due time other Scriptures will disclose to us the order of events in connection with His coming, but here, for our comfort, we learn the supreme joy of His coming. His coming will indeed close our wilderness journey. It will heal all the breaches. among the people of God; it will gather together the divided and scattered saints. It will end the sorrows, the trials, and the labors of His people. It will take us out of a scene of darkness and death and usher us into a home of light and life and love. All this it will do and more, but, above all else, it will bring us into the company of Jesus. As He can say, “I will receive you unto Myself that where I am there ye may be also.” What would heaven be without Jesus? To be in a scene where there will be “no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying” —where all is holiness and perfection—will be blessed indeed, but if Jesus were not there the heart would still remain unsatisfied. The supreme happiness of His coming is that we shall be with Him. He has been with us in this dark world of death, and we shall be with Him in life’s eternal home—the Father’s house.
This, the highest aspect of His coming, discloses to us the secret longings of His heart. We learn, in these words of the Lord, the deep desire of His heart to have His people with Himself for the joy and satisfaction of His own heart. He wants our company. He is the object of our faith in heaven, we are the objects of His love on earth. If our treasure is in heaven, His treasure is on earth. Christ Himself has gone, but the heart of Christ is down here and, as one has truly said, “If His heart is here, He Himself is not far off.”
What comfort for troubled hearts fills these opening verses! Christ in the glory our unfailing resource; a home in the glory that awaits us; and a Man in the glory that wants us.
How blessed too is the manner of the Lord’s instruction, and how different to the way of mere men. In a little He will enlighten us as to the journey through this world and warn us as to trials and persecution, but first and foremost He discloses to us the glorious end of the journey. Such lofty themes we should have reserved for the close of the discourse. He takes a better and more perfect way. He will not let us face the journey through a hostile world until He has assured our hearts of the abiding home with Him in the Father’s house. He would have us face the journey in the light of the home to which it leads. It has been remarked, “The passage through the valley is changed, when once we have caught sight of the hills beyond.”
For our comfort, too, these transcendent revelations of the unseen world are set before us in simple and homely words. Truths so great that they may well stagger the highest intellect are conveyed in words so simple that they are within the grasp of a little child that believes in Jesus.