“Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” John 14:5-6

On the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion, He told His disciples that He was going away to prepare a place for them in the mansions of His Father’s house. He promised them that He would come again to take them to be with Him forever in His heavenly kingdom. Jesus told them, “And where I go, you know, and the way you know” (John 14:4; cf. John 14:1-4).

It was then that “Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’”

Jesus replied in the familiar words of John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus told Thomas that He is the way to heaven, He is the truth, and He is the source of life. And He added the words, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

What do Jesus’ words mean? They answer for us a most important question: “How can we obtain eternal life in heaven and not be condemned to the eternal torments of hell in God’s judgment of this evil world?” And Jesus’ answer is very clear.

Jesus is the road or pathway to heaven! His doctrine, His teaching proclaiming Himself as the eternal Son of God and the promised Messiah and Savior of the world, is the truth! And, He is the source of eternal life — He created man in the beginning and gave Him life, physical and spiritual (Gen. 2:7; John 1:1-4), and through faith in Him and His sacrifice on the cross as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29; cf. 3:14-18), He is the source of eternal life today.

And Jesus Himself said He is the only way to be saved: “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Only those who look to Jesus and His cross for pardon and forgiveness will be saved and enjoy a place in the mansions of His Father’s house. As the Apostle Peter said of Jesus in Acts 4:12: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

What do Jesus’ words mean for you? The only way to go to heaven, the only source of true doctrine, the way to have life in communion with God the Father and to partake of the eternal joys of heaven is through faith in Jesus and the atoning sacrifice He made for you when He suffered and died on the cross. There is no other way!

Dear Lord Jesus, Son of God, and my only Savior, wash away my sins in Your shed blood, receive me into Your eternal kingdom, and grant me a place in the heavenly mansions of Your Father’s house. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:15-18 (Read John 14:15-24)

Do you love Jesus? It’s easy to say yes, but if we truly love Jesus, we will hear and do what He taught and commanded. Jesus said in John 14:21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.”

Among Jesus’ disciples, many loved Him and heard His Word, but one failed to love Him and keep His Word. He even betrayed Jesus for financial gain and did not know Jesus’ love for him well enough to look to Jesus for pardon and forgiveness. But for those who loved Jesus and kept His Word, Jesus had words of comfort as He went to the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of God the Father.

Though Jesus would no longer live and dwell with them as He had over the past three years, Jesus would not leave His true disciples as orphans in the world; He would come to them and dwell in them. “How?” we might ask. Jesus explained that when He said, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

Jesus told His disciples who loved Him and kept His Word that, when He was glorified and at the Father’s right hand, He would ask the Father to send them another Helper, God the Holy Spirit, who would dwell in them forever. This Helper (Parakleton in the Greek original) comes alongside believers and comforts and consoles them with the Gospel of forgiveness and life in Jesus and His cross. He leads and guides believers into the truth through reading and hearing His Word (the Bible), and He coaches them and encourages them as they live their lives in this world while awaiting the return of Jesus, their Savior. The world does not know Him, but believers know Him; He dwells in them and works in their lives.

Jesus did what He promised on the day of Pentecost, when He poured out His Holy Spirit upon His disciples, giving them a right understanding of the Scriptures and emboldening them to bear witness to Jesus and the salvation He provided for us when He suffered and died on the cross for the sins of the world and rose again. And Jesus still gives His Holy Spirit to all who believe and are baptized into His name today.

It is as Peter said on the day of Pentecost: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38-39). The Apostle Paul also wrote to Titus: “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).

Jesus has not left us as orphans in this world. He comes to all who know Him, love Him, and trust in Him and His Word by the indwelling Holy Spirit. His Spirit teaches us from God’s Word, brings us to a knowledge of the truth about our utter sinfulness, and points us to the cross of Jesus, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), for pardon and forgiveness. Through the Bible, the Holy Spirit leads and guides us in the truth, coaches us as we live out our lives for Jesus in this world, and preserves us in the true and saving faith unto life everlasting in the mansions of our heavenly Father’s house.

Jesus has not left us comfortless; He comes to us and dwells in us as believers, and He will keep us safe in His hands until we are with Him forever in heaven.

O gracious Savior, give us Your indwelling Holy Spirit, who has been with us and brought us to know and trust in You as our Savior, that You may dwell in our lives and lead and guide us safely through this world to Yourself in heaven. Amen.

[Scripture is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, where are You going?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.’ Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.’” John 13:36-38

Jesus had told His disciples that He was going away, speaking of His coming death, resurrection, and ascension, but His disciples did not understand. Peter questioned Jesus about where He was going and why he could not follow Him there now. Peter even told Jesus, “I will lay down my life for Your sake.”

It was then that Jesus revealed the weakness of Peter’s commitment: “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.”

In the Gospel of Matthew (26:35), we read that Peter told Jesus, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!”

Of course, we know what happened. As Jesus said, before the rooster crowed, Peter had three times denied being a disciple of Jesus (cf. Matt. 26:69-75; Luke 22:54-62; Mark 14:66-72; John 18:15-18, 25-27).

What do we learn from this? Never say never! It is foolish to put confidence in our fallen sinful flesh. It is safe to say that anyone who places confidence in his or her own human strength or resolve does not know the weakness and corruption of our own human nature. Such might consider the word of God recorded by Jeremiah the prophet in chapter 17, verse 9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”

And yet we think and say, “I would never do that!” Or with Peter, we say, “I would never deny Jesus, even if I had to die for Him!” We foolishly think we would never fall away from the faith!

But look at Peter, a bold disciple of Jesus, the one who confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God (cf. Matt. 16:16). His strength and resolve failed him, and he denied Jesus three times.

But what about you? Have you ever had the opportunity to confess or share your faith in Jesus but shrunk back and said nothing? Have you pretended by your silence not to know Him or be his disciple? And, if you are so confident you will never fall from the faith, consider all the other one-time believers who have fallen away.

Why does Peter himself say (2 Pet. 2:20): “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning”?

And why does God’s Word include the warning of Hebrews 6:4-6: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame”? Why does the apostle John speak of a sin unto death in his first epistle? (Cf. 1 John 5:16; Heb. 10:26ff.)

My point is this: Do not put confidence in your own sinful flesh but trust in the mighty working of God through His Word to both bring You to faith in Christ and His sacrifice on the cross and to preserve You in that faith through the continued hearing and learning of God’s Word. After all, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17), and “It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Phil 2:13). And remember that “He who has begun a good work in you [bringing you to know and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and making you a disciple of Jesus] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

O gracious and merciful God, forgive me for the many times I have faltered in my faith and failed to confess Your Son and my Savior, Jesus Christ. Give me the wisdom to continue in Your Word that Your Holy Spirit might strengthen and preserve me in the true and saving faith in Jesus and His atoning sacrifice on the cross. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 (Read John 13:31-35)

Before going to the cross to suffer and die for the sins of all, Jesus sought to prepare His disciples for the next phase of their discipleship — going out into the world and calling all to repentance and faith in Him as their crucified, risen and ascended Lord and Savior!

Their discipleship would be different because Jesus would not be visibly present with them but would ascend to the right hand of God the Father in heaven, a position of power and authority over all things that He might direct the ministry of His disciples and build and preserve His church, as promised in Daniel 2:44, a kingdom established by God that would supersede all the kingdoms of this world and endure forever.

Before returning to the Father, Jesus also gave His disciples a new commandment to guide them in their ministry, a command crucial to building the church: “As I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

How is this new? Jesus had already summarized the law by citing from the Old Testament Scriptures, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37,39; cf. Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18). The difference between these commandments and the new commandment lies in the example of how we should love. Not only are we to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, but we are to love one another as Jesus loves us.

How has Jesus loved us? We see that love explained in Romans 5:6-8: “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

In 1 John 4:10-11, we read: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Do you see Jesus’ point? We, as disciples and followers of Jesus, are to emulate Jesus’ sacrificial, patient, and enduring love for us in our dealings with one another. In fact, Jesus said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Since the goal of discipleship is to become like our teacher (cf. Luke 6:40; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 4:11-16), our goal is to be more and more like Christ Jesus as we grow in our knowledge of His great love for us, love that moved Him to take our guilt and punishment upon Himself and to die in our stead that we might turn to Him in faith and be pardoned and forgiven and given spiritual and eternal life through faith in His name.

This leads to the question: Do people recognize us as Christians, as followers of Christ, by our love for one another? Do we love one another as Christ has loved us? Do we live for others? Lay down our lives for others? Deal patiently with others? Forgive others? Seek the eternal welfare of others?

Sadly, it seems that Christians are often the worst when it comes to emulating the love of Jesus in their dealings with each other. We are often quick to judge and condemn, impatient, unloving, unforgiving, and self-serving. If Jesus loved us as we love others, He would have given up on us and condemned us to the fires of hell long ago!

How thankful we can be that Jesus’ love for us is far greater than our love for one another, that we are called to emulate Him rather than He to emulate us! Despite our unloving and self-serving nature, Jesus loved us, died in our stead on the cross to pay the just penalty for our sins, and now lovingly and patiently calls us to repent of our unloving ways and trust in Him and His cross for pardon and forgiveness. And He continues to work in us, His disciples, to cleanse us from our unloving ways and make us more and more to emulate His love in our dealings with one another.

Dear Lord Jesus, my loving and merciful Savior, let me see Your selfless love for me so that I might look to You for pardon and forgiveness and emulate Your love in my dealings with others. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:12-14

Jesus here tells His disciples that those who believe and trust in Him as the Son of God and their Savior will continue to carry out His works here in this world, even after He has ascended to the right hand of God the Father in heaven. Jesus’ work of gathering souls into His everlasting kingdom would not come to a close when He died on the cross to redeem us and then rose again and ascended into heaven. Jesus would work through those who believe in Him to carry the saving Gospel to the ends of the earth so that many would turn to Him in faith and be saved and added to His church and kingdom (cf. Mark 16:15-16).

And, because Jesus made full atonement for our sins by His death on the cross and then returned to the Father to rule over all things, pour out His Holy Spirit on believers, and intercede for them, the one who believes in Jesus is privileged to do even greater works than Jesus — to proclaim the redemption Jesus accomplished for all when He suffered and died on the cross and then rose again on the third day. And the Holy Spirit, working through the proclamation of the Gospel, raises up those who are dead in sin to faith in Christ, giving them God’s pardon and the blessings of life eternal in communion with God through faith in Jesus. Consider the mighty works done through Jesus’ disciples on the day of Pentecost when “about three thousand souls were added to them” (Acts 2:41).

Jesus said, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

This is not a blank check to ask anything our sinful hearts desire but, rather, a promise that when we ask in Jesus’ name — meaning that we ask in accord with Jesus’ will and to further His kingdom and bring Jesus glory — Jesus Himself, our God and Savior, will do it.

James warns against praying for the sinful desires of our hearts when He says: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” (James 4:3-4). John writes in his first epistle: “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15).

Jesus died on the cross for the sins of all and rose again in triumph. After many appearances to His disciples, Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father in heaven. But His work goes on! He continues to build and establish His kingdom and church, made up of all who repent of their sinful ways and look to Him and His cross in faith for mercy and forgiveness.

Though we no longer see Jesus with our earthly eyes, He has not left us but dwells in those who believe in Him by His Spirit. And He works through those who trust in Him. He empowers them to proclaim salvation through faith in His name, and He works through the proclamation of the Gospel to raise up the spiritually dead to spiritual and eternal life through faith in Him and His atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world.

Dear Lord Jesus, my Lord and my Savior, grant that I see my sin and guilt and look to You and Your cross in faith for pardon and forgiveness, and use me to carry out Your ongoing work in this world by empowering me to share the Gospel that others, too, may hear and believe in Your name. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]