THE GREAT CONSOLATION

JOHN 14:1-3

OCTOBER 22, 1995

 

There is no doubt that for centuries, believers have found great consolation and comfort in the promise of Heaven.  Through times of illness, chaos, persecution, suffering, and martyrdom, Christians have lifted their eyes off of the present circumstances toward the future in Heaven.  Heaven is indeed the great consolation of the saints.

 

I think that it is interesting that most people believe they are going to Heaven.  Those who have a false security consider that Heaven is their destiny, but that is not true consolation.  It is nothing more than psychological mind-games, telling yourself that something is true, even when it is not true, in order to override the weight of life's troubles.

 

Our text deals with real troubles, real solutions, and real comfort.  The focal point is the promise of Heaven made by our Lord.  Those whom He saves, He also brings to Himself forever in Heaven.  That is great consolation!

 

I.  Real Troubles

 

What Jesus describes taking place in the disciples was something real, not imagined.  They felt trouble beating in their breast.  The word used is the same we have already seen in John 5 and in 13:21.  It expresses a deep inner agitation, something that is literally felt, a stirring in the mind, a whirling of the imaginations, a consciousness of the weight of anxiety.  

 

The word is a present passive imperative verb, which implies that (passive voice) what Jesus had spoken to them about leaving them shortly (13:33, 36) caused the trouble.  They began to imagine what it would be like without the Lord around.  For over 3 years these men had walked day by day with Christ, they had known the breath-taking wonder of His love, they felt personally the warmth of His constant presence, they knew a great security with Christ being near.  Now, all of this was threatened!  After 3+ years of bliss, they now faced the agony of "losing" the One person in the world that was dearest to each of them.  No wonder they were troubled!

 

Jesus word to them is a command (imperative mood).  It could literally be translated, "Stop now being troubled!"  It was an action in progress (present tense) that must come to a grinding halt.  As long as they were paralyzed by a sense of 'trouble' they would miss what He was teaching them, they would be slow to respond to divine direction, and they would have no courage to face even more dangerous days.

 

"Wait a minute!" you say.  "These men were believers.  Why did they have troubles?"

 

1.  An experience of all believers

 

Every believer faces trouble.  It is part of life itself.  As long as we are in this world, we will face trouble, saint and sinner alike.  J.C. Ryle (Expository Thoughts on John's Gospel) calls the words of Christ in our text, "A precious remedy against an old disease."  The disease, of course, is trouble.  He goes on to describe it:

That disease is trouble of heart.  That remedy is faith.  Heart trouble is the commonest thing in the world.  No rank or class or condition is exempt from it.  No bars or bolts or locks can keep it out.  Partly from inward causes and partly from outward, partly from the body and partly from the mind, partly from what we love and partly from what we fear, the journey of life is full of trouble.  Even the best of Christians have many bitter cups to drink between grace and glory.  Even the holiest saints find the world a vale of tears. (180)


2.  An experience of varied proportions

 

Troubles come in all shapes and sizes.  Sometimes we bring troubles on ourselves through poor decisions, through violations of the law of God, through undiscipline.  This seems only to add to our misery when we know that the troubles we have we have ourselves created!  How often have we seen it?  The Christian girl marries an unbelieving man and the troubles that ensue are imaginable.  A believer fails to seek the Lord in an important decision and reaps the trouble of the flesh's wisdom.  A saint of God gets lazy in his spiritual walk, neglecting God's Word and neglecting prayer, then finds himself suddenly confronted with great spiritual opportunities, but a cold heart.  Oh the troubles we get ourselves into!

 

But sometimes, as in the case of our text, the troubles come from without.  The disciples certainly were not in favor of Christ leaving them.  They did not understand that His departure meant their full redemption (and ours!).  So Christ gives them, what they considered, the bad news.  They could do nothing to change it, even though Peter sought to talk Christ out of it and to offer his top-notch body guard services.  What about those times that you, as a believer, find yourselves  in a troubling circumstance that you can do nothing to change?  How does it affect you?

 

Maybe there is a physical problem you face which you have done everything to avoid, but it strikes you.  I think of my good friend in my hometown who was struck with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.  Here was a guy who was in the best of shape and a picture of health, but unavoidably was struck with this disease.  To say that is not troubling is unrealistic!  Forty-one years old and the prospects don't look too bright.  Brethren, these are real problems!

 

We can think of other problems, such as changes in the economy that throw our jobs out of synch or management decisions that eliminate our jobs or mistreatment by others simply because we are Christians.  

 

Yet, in light of it all, our Lord says to the disciples and says to us, "Quit letting your heart be troubled!"  Is He serious?  Is there a way for Christians who face the weight of problems to be consoled and comforted so that they can go on with life in joy, peace, and blessing?

 

II.  Real Solutions

 

Jesus does not give the disciples a 'pie-in-the-sky' solution to their problems.  He offers real solutions for real problems.  We must see that the message of Christ to His disciples is spoken just as pointedly to us as well.

 

1.  Consoling commands

 

The first thing Jesus does, as we see in verse 1, is to give three commands to these troubled disciples.  First, quit being troubled in your hearts.  Stop what you are doing, He is commanding.  We must see that Jesus was not being unrealistic.  It was not like a child crying hysterically and with one word you demand that child to stop, but he cannot do it because he has lost all control of his emotions.  Trouble in the heart is something that you can deal with!  You do not have to go on with it.  Hear what I am saying, for some of you are deeply troubled in your hearts today and our Lord tells you, 'Quit your troubling, move on into peace'.

 

Do we not have to realize sometime that there are solutions to the vast majority of the problems we face?  At times we think the world has caved in on us, that we are so deep in the abyss of trouble that there is no way out.  We give up, throw up our hands in despair. Then we hear the command of Christ to us, "Let not your heart be troubled."  Can you obey Him?  Or better yet, will you obey Him?

 

But notice that there are two other commands.  "Believe in God," says our Lord.  Some of our Bible translators miss the strength of these imperative in their translations.  Jesus is not stating a fact, "You believe in God."  Certainly they believed in God!  But He is telling them that though they believed in God to a degree, they must increase their belief.  They must cast themselves on the living God, they must meditate upon the glorious character of God and believe Him to be all that God's Word reveals Him to be.  You are troubled, BELIEVE IN GOD!  He has not been shaken by your troubles.  His promises have not been voided by your trouble.  His faithfulness has not diminished one bit by the things you face.  So, believe in God!

 

Who is this great God in whom you are to believe?  The 1689 London Baptist Confession can help us to answer this question and see why we are to believe in God.

1  There is but one, and only one, living and true God.  He is self-existent and infinite in His being and His perfections.  None but He can comprehend or understand His essence.  he is pure spirit, invisible, and without body, parts, or the changeable feelings of men.  He alone possesses immortality, and dwells amid the light insufferably bright to mortal men.  He never changes.  He is great beyond all our conceptions, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty and infinite.  He is most holy, wise, free and absolute.  All that He does is in the out-working of His changeless, righteous will, and for His own glory.  He is most loving, gracious, merciful and compassionate. He abounds in goodness and truth.  He forgives iniquity, transgression and sin.  He rewards those who seek Him diligently.  But He hates sin.  He will not overlook guilt or spare the guilty, and He is perfectly just in executing judgment.

 

2  God is all-sufficient, and all life, glory, goodness and blessedness are found in Him and in Him alone.  He does not stand in need of any of the creatures that He has made, nor does He derive any part of His glory from them.  On the contrary, He manifests His own glory in and by them.  He is the fountain-head of all being, and the origin, channel and end of all things.  Over all His creatures He is sovereign.  He uses them as He pleases, and does for them or to them all that He wills.  His sight penetrates to the heart of all things.  His knowledge is infinite and infallible.  No single thing is to Him at risk or uncertain, for He is not dependent upon created things.  In all His decisions, doings and demands He is most holy.  Angels and men owe to Him as their creator all worship, service and obedience, and whatever else He may require at their hands.


No wonder our Lord said, "Believe in God!"

 

But because of the holy otherness of God, we may struggle with believing Him.  So God has come to man and revealed Himself clothed in humanity, even Jesus Christ.  So our Lord goes on and tells the disciples and us, "Believe also in Me."  You must realize that by putting belief in God the Father and in Christ on equal footing, He H HeHe is either fully equal to the Father as God or He is a blasphemer.  

 

This is the heart of the gospel itself, our believing in Christ.  Keep in mind that the word 'believe' does not mean that we are just to mentally acknowledge the existence of God and the Christ, but we are to trust the living God and His Son, Jesus Christ.  We are to cast our eternal welfare wholly upon the Son of God who has born our transgressions and satisfied the justice of God for us.  If we can trust Him with our eternity, we can trust Him with whatever troubles our hearts.  If He is sufficient to save us from the wrath of an infinitely offended and an infinitely holy God, then He is sufficient to console us in the midst of our earthly troubles.

 

2.  Consoling actions (cross and resurrection and ascension)

 

The simple words of verse 2 show the consoling actions of our Lord, "For I go...."  Wrapped up in that phrase, as Jesus described His going back to heaven to prepare a place for us, are all of the glorious reasons of His coming to earth in the first place.  The consolation of a home in heaven is because there is first the consolation of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ!  Yes, Christ was leaving the disciples, but it was a triumphant leaving!  He was leaving them to head to the cross.  He was leaving them so that He might become sin for them.  He was leaving them so that He, the sinless Son of God, might become a curse for them.  He was leaving them so that He might bear all of their transgressions and impute to them His own righteousness.  He was leaving them so that all that God demanded in the salvation of sinners might be accomplished on their behalf.  He was leaving them to show forth His conquering power in the resurrection.  He was leaving them to vanquish every foe of sin, Satan, and hell.  He was leaving them to ascend back to the Father to intercede for them.  He was leaving them that one day He might return for them permanently.

 

My brethren, whatever may be troubling your heart, if there is no consolation in that, you are in sad shape!  Even for an unbeliever, there is consolation in this, for this is the gospel of Christ that can be savingly applied to you through faith in Jesus Christ.  This is the hope that we have as Christians so that life is never the same again.  We are never to wander aimlessly through life with despairing hearts.  Christ has conquered for us!  Christ has gone ahead of us!  Christ has done for us what we needed more than any other thing imaginable.

 

III.  Real Comfort

 

And so I would say, as we consider that we do face real troubles, yet we have real solutions in Christ, so there is real comfort.  Look further at this text.  See that it does not give us vapid answers to the troubles of life, but solid, concrete comfort that we can rest in.

 

1.  Room enough to be comforted

 

Jesus told the disciples and us, "In My Father's house are many dwelling places."  What a magnificent truth this is for us.  Notice that there are 'many dwelling places'.  This means there is room enough for every believer to be comforted.  There is room enough for you who are unbelievers to be comforted in knowing that God has not shut the door to your being saved.  

 

When this word for 'dwelling places' (monoi) was translated into Latin, the Vulgate translators used the Latin word mansiones.  Consequently, when this was translated into English, the early translators followed the Latin rendering rather than the Greek original, and so we have the popular word "mansions."  But the picture given in this text is not that of separate mansions located apart from the main house.  Instead, it is the scene of one giant house, the Father's house, with rooms prepared in it for those whom the Father has redeemed through the Son.  I think of seeing the magnificent palace in France, Versailles, with room after room after room.  Or the Biltmore House in North Carolina with its scores of magnificent rooms.  Those are mere dumpy shacks in comparison to the glorious house of our heavenly Father!  He wants us to stay in His house!  And there is plenty of room in His house for all of the redeemed.  

 

Why are you fretting all of your earthly cares and worries?  You have a dwelling place in heaven in the house of the Father that is specially prepared for you!

 

2.  Reason enough to be comforted (Adequate promise)

 

Notice the promises of our Lord:  "...for I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."  Here is the great consolation of Heaven.  He has prepared a special dwelling place for us in the Father's house.  Jesus Christ, our Mediator, our Redeemer, our Lord who knows everything about us, who knows every trial we face, this same Lord has wisely prepared a dwelling place for us.  You may be weighed down by the cares of this life, but remember, this life is temporary.  "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ...."

 

"I will come again and receive you to Myself" He promises.  I have heard a lot of talk lately about how bad the world has gotten.  And indeed it has!  We wonder how it can sink any lower into the moral perversions which seem to be rampant in our day, the hatred, the love of pleasure, the carelessness with human life, the debauched behavior that has become accepted in most every culture.  It may get worse!  But in spite of that, our Lord will one day break through the clouds of heaven and return for His bride!  When He comes He will receive us to Himself.  What comfort in those words!  We read those words earlier from I Thessalonians 4:13-18.  No wonder they end with, 'Therefore comfort one another with these words'.  It is a comfort to know that Christ will return for us and that we will not always be living in the presence of sin, perversions, unholiness, and impurity.  One day, we will enter into His glorious presence and be changed by the exertion of His power upon us so that our bodies will be glorified like His:  "...who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself" (Phil. 3:21).

 

3.  Relationship enough to be comforted

 

I think that on some occasions when we envision Heaven, we think of a rather spacious, but impersonal place.  Here are all of these saints from other eras gathered into this celestial city and I only know a few.  That is foreign to our text.  The point Jesus drives home to the disciples is that the relationship which He has begun with them will only continue and grow throughout eternity.  He is not distancing Himself from them, but preparing the way for the disciples to enjoy their Lord for all eternity.

 

Notice the language used:  "I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."  The thing that was troubling their hearts was that they would no longer be with Jesus.  So our Lord corrects this fallacy.  He tells them that He will come to retrieve them and will receive them to Himself in all of His radiant glory.  Then they would forever be with the Lord.

 

We must see that the Lord Himself is the focal point of Heaven.  We often hear of wanting to go to Heaven to see this person and that person, and certainly there is a great attraction and truth in that.  But that is not the focus of Heaven.  In Heaven we will be lost in the glory of our Sovereign King, the Lord Jesus Christ.  The passage Tommy read to begin our worship describes this beautifully (Rev. 22): 

And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bondservants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.  And there shall no longer be any night; and they shall not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall illumine them; and they shall reign forever and ever.


Conclusion

 

While Christ prepares a place for us in Heaven, He also prepares us for Heaven.  That is His saving work and sanctifying work.  The only way that you know that Jesus is preparing a place for you in Heaven is that He is preparing you for Heaven.  His preparations fit us for that celestial realm where all is holy, where love for God is pure, where obedience is unquestioned.  Has that preparatory work begun in your heart through the new birth?  My friend, the great consolation of Heaven is for those whom Christ savingly prepares for Heaven.  Is that you?

 

If it is, then get your eyes off of your troubles.  Cast your anxieties at His feet.  Believe in God, believe also in His Son.  Let your faith in Christ and His promises fill your heart with the comfort and consolations which you need.

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