Well we should know by now, what the intent of Jesus is, in giving His disciples this long dialogue as recorded for us by John in the 14th chapter...and was, in order to comfort them before the full impact of His leaving was to become reality. And we can can see that as we peek ahead to vs. 27, where the Lord repeats all that He had said in the first verse, and adds a further comment, "...neither let (your heart) be fearful."
Let's just review what it is that He has told them throughout the chapter so far. First, that He was returning to the Father; second, that He was going to prepare a place for them there, too; third, that He would eventually return to take them back with Him; fourth, that He had provided them the Way, and would provide them the means; fifth, that He would give them power to do and to be; sixth, if they lacked any thing, all they had to do was ask; seventh, that the Spirit of Truth would be sent to them, to comfort them from the inside out; eighth, that someday their eyes would be opened and it would all become clear to them; and finally, and perhaps best of all, as a result of their faithfulness to His commands, He would be their Peace, with a capital "P". God would provide!
Now we can't really get into verses 22-31 without fully grasping vs. 21. I truly believe that the Believer's main desire in every area of life, must be to have a personal revelation of the Lord Jesus. Of course, I can really only speak for myself, but I would have to say that every other spiritual blessing would have to take second place, in comparison.
"But", you might ask, "How does Jesus reveal Himself in this ultra-modern church age?" After all, He is no longer "the Word in flesh, tabernacling among men", nor does He say, as He did to the Doubter, "Reach out your finger and touch my hand", or "...your hand, to My side." Or even, in a vision of His throne, "Holy, holy, holy"! So the revelation that we have is a spiritual one, brought about through our bible reading and our praying, and our personal meditation and our fellowshipping...there is no other way in this present age, to experience His Being, and his nearness and His acceptance. By no other means than these...only by giving Him first place and first thought and first deed; and by sharing in His concern for the lost, and the dying and the castaways. That's the point at which Jesus becomes a Reality in our lives!
But how...on what terms does He choose to reveal Himself? Well the 21st verse makes it clear, doesn't it...by keeping His commands. Are you anxious to learn the key to earthly peace and joy? Well learn it from Him...by engaging in Heavenly pursuits! Saving faith begets loving obedience; that is, an obedience that does not hesitate when the way is a little unclear...or unclean; and does not hesitate to bear the cross, and the shame that goes along with it...because in fact, glory's in it! It's then and only then that we come to realize that He is not a God far away, and that the Kingdom is not a place far away; Jesus is in the here-and-now, for every one who knows Him and obeys Him, and who truly loves Him enough to be-so, and to do-so.
Remember that we obey out of love, and not of necessity. We don't obey His commands because it's necessary, but because we've come to love them! If there's any difference between keeping His commandments and having His commandments, there's a whole world of difference between a love-walk and a sentimental journey....the one, for a special occasion...the other, for a lifetime! And the greatest revelation of them all? Well, again, as we've learned from vs. 21, "He who loveth Me...will be loved"! Named to eternal life, united to Jesus by faith, and trasformed by the sanctifying work of Holy Spirit! My oh my.
Now let's look back to ch. 10.17,18 to see the importance of this... "Therefore does My Father love Me...". If it's true for Jesus, it most certainly is true for us! And on the heels of that, there's "the other Judas (not Iscariot)", back again, in 14.22, with another question, "But how can that be, Lord?" Judas is the last of the three disciples in this chapter to reveal his lack of understanding of the words of the Master Teacher. So as I say on other occasions, not to worry...we're in good company!
Then, "How is it that You manifest Yourself to us, and not to the rest of the world, relating back to vss. 19 and 21..."To whom, and why?" Judas (not Iscariot!), simply could not grasp truth when he heard it...that the goats were already being separated from the sheep. He was still thinking like a Jew, rather than a Jesus Freak! He hadn't yet grasped the teaching that God's Kingdom is a spiritual one. Remember Thomas' exclaimation, back in vs. 5..."Just tell us where and when, Lord!"
You know, there are still those in the world today who would universalize the teachings of Jesus...who would attribute spiritual and scriptural truths to every citizen of planet earth. But as Jesus has very clearly said, He would be revealed to those who love and obey Him...unlike His unbelieving brothers back in ch. 7.4, who had told Him, "...Go and show Yourself to the world!"; to which Jesus had replied, "My time is not yet come."
This was a real mystery, even to those who knew Him best, but He was speaking about dying, and about leaving this world without accomplishing the Jew's great hope of a new earthly kingdom. To them, the Kingdom of which He spoke was a far cry from the one they were dreaming-of. But Jesus, true to form, refused to be distracted, but kept pressing home eternal truth, as seen in vss. 23 and 24.
May we today, love Him such that we keep His words, perform His works, and reflect His wisdom in and through our every day. And God bless us, every one.
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