Finding His comfort

When we read the Bible, we must remember that it was not divided into chapters and verses originally. So I continue reading through chapter divisions to get more understanding. This is particularly true of the chapters (13-17) we are considering in John. The 14th chapter of John is a continuation of the 13th where Jesus is talking to Peter. After telling Peter he is going to deny Him, Jesus continues to say, "Don't let your heart be troubled, trust....." John 14:1-6 (NLT) “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

The key to understanding this passage is in verse 6.."No one can come to the Father except through me."

Jesus was in the process of cutting the New Covenant. He was going to the cross to be the sacrificial Lamb of Passover, the Feast of deliverance into the Promise. He was telling Peter, and all of us, we will fail Him in our own nature, but "don't let your heart be troubled," believe or trust in God and in Jesus to make the way of escape into His promise for us. His promise of the New Covenant is one of royalty. The promise of the Abrahamic covenant was of possession. Can you see the progression?

In the New American Standard Version, verse 2 is translated, "In My Father's house are many dwelling places." One day as I was reading this, the Spirit reminded me of the royal way of speaking of their royal family heritage as "house". The "house of Tudor", or "house of Stuart", etc. All through the scriptures you see reference to this, i.e., "the house of David", "the house of Saul." The "house of the Father" is a royal House. Jesus was going to prepare a place for us in His House as His family. He was going to the cross so we could go to His Throne. There is no way to the Father except through Jesus and His sacrifice. We follow in the Way by leaving our human Adamic nature at the cross and follow all the way He leads us. He will return to this earth to rule the nations and we will be ruling with Him. He had to go to the cross for our sake and if we want all He has provided, we, too, must take up our cross and see our human nature die and His Nature live in us. It is a covenant response.

Jesus returned to them as He promised and breathed on them. Thus He ministered to them the New Birth He had won for them on the cross. John 20:22 (NLT)Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit." It is one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit to minister the New Birth to us. We are born into the Father's royal family.