Good morning
For
as long as it takes we are going to study the gospel of John chapters fourteen
to seventeen.
Jesus
spent a lot of time teaching. If we ignore His directions, He has wasted his
time and energy to come to this earth. He did not just come to die for our sin
as some tend to believe. He came to enable us to make a difference in this
world. He said in Mark 16:15 “Go into all the world and preach the good news to
all creation” and in Matthew 28:19 and 20 “Therefore go and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
Doing and teaching His
commands are very important. George Müller made an amazing difference in his
time early in the 19th century and his work is still going on
even today. He had an amazing faith, which caused, in today’s terms, millions
of pounds to go through his hands without him having to have done a single
business deal or ever having to have asked for money. He simply prayed and
believed. His secret – he read through the whole Bible more than 300 times
during his seventy years ministry! “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).
Let’s open the Word at John
14. We are going to focus on John 14 to 17 - Jesus’ final words to His past and
present disciples and His prayer for all of us.
“Do not let your hearts be
troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms;
if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you
to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place
where I am going,” (John 14:1-4).
The teaching in these four chapters revolves around intimacy with the
Lord. Before we proceed it is important to understand the Trinity of the
Godhead. I have heard quite a number of explanations, but the one most logical to
me, I believe the Holy Spirit revealed to me.
We must always remember we
were created in the image of God. The systems by which man therefore functions
are actually systems God designed and also lives by. One can, therefore, see the
Godhead as a Company, such as in a business. The Company’s name is God. The Managing
Director of God is Father. He does all the planning, directing and commanding.
Another ‘Director’ is Jesus Christ. Since the creation of the earth He was in
control of every interaction with man and usually manifested to Old Testament
people, such as Abraham and Gideon, as ‘The Angle of the Lord’. From His birth
as a man until His ascension into heaven He was directly involved with mankind.
After that the third ‘Director’ of God, the Holy Spirit, became involved with
mankind until today.
One can also see the Trinity
as a family unit with the surname; God, where Father God is the father and
Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the two family members doing the father’s bidding.
When we, therefore, talk about
God we mean the Godhead, or otherwise, we will call the individual ‘directors’ by
name. The Bible, however, often refers to the Father as God, since He is the
head. In these chapters of John, Jesus gives clear direction concerning each of
these ‘directors’ future involvement with those who follow Him.
From
the above passage, we first of all learn that our heavenly house belongs to the
Father and in that house are enough rooms for all who want to be there. We also
learn that these rooms need to be prepared by Jesus himself so His disciples
could be where He is. But where is He? He is at the Father’s side, at His right
hand. “But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the
mighty God” (Luke 22:69). What does this preparation of Jesus entail? These
words of Jesus regarding the preparation were written in the present tense. In
other words, the process is continuous.
Father,
please help me understand the Godhead.
Next
time we will continue discussing Jesus' preparation process.
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