Section 125 &126, The Jewish Trial

Section 125 
FIRST STAGE OF JEWISH TRIAL
EXAMINATION BY ANNAS
(Friday before dawn)
JOHN 18:12-14, 19-23

Jesus faced six trials in all: three before Jewish officials, and three before Roman officials (see the list of these trials at Mat_26:57-58).-BKC

Jesus is taken first to Annas:

"We should note that John calls Annas high priest. The high priesthood was a life office. According to Moses, Annas was high priest, but the Romans had given the office to Caiaphas, so that Annas was high priest de jure, but Caiaphas was so de facto. As high priest, therefore, and as head of the Sadducean party, the people looked to Annas before Caiaphas, taking Jesus to him first. The influence of Annas is shown by the fact that he made five of his son and sons-in-law high priests. Annas is said to have been about sixty years old at this time. He questioned Jesus for the purpose of obtaining, if possible, some material out of which to frame an accusation."-Fourfold

Jesus stands up for himself against the accusations and one of the officers strikes him.

Section 126
SECOND STAGE OF JEWISH TRIAL
JESUS CONDEMNED BY CAIAPHAS AND THE SANHEDRIN
(Palace of Caiaphas. Friday.)
MATT. 26:57, 59-68
MARK 14:53, 55-65
LUKE 22:54, 63-65
JOHN 18:24

Jesus went from Annas to Caiaphas, the Sanhedrin also gathering there. They brought false witnesses to testify against him, but even the witnesses did not agree on their accounts.

"The council of the elders (also known as the Sanhedrin) was the Jewish nation’s official judicial body. This council was their final court of appeals. If the council found Jesus guilty, it was the last word - the nation found Him guilty. They met at daybreak since it was illegal to assemble at night."-BKC

"The purpose of Jesus’ trials was to find some legal basis on which to condemn Him to death. Judas’ testimony was crucial to the religious leaders’ case, but he was nowhere to be found. As a result witnesses were sought against Jesus, a highly unusual court procedure, attempting to find anything that would make Him worthy of death. While many false witnesses volunteered, none of them could agree on anything against Jesus." BKC

"Jesus refused to answer any of the charges brought against Him because He was never officially charged with any crime." -BKC

"The high priest Caiaphas asked Jesus two questions to get information that could be used against Him. In Greek the first question expects a positive answer: “You are going to answer Your accusers, aren’t You?” The second question expected an explanation from Him: “What is the meaning of the charges these witnesses are making against You?” But Jesus remained silent and gave no defense (cf. Isa_53:7). His silence frustrated the court and brought its proceedings to a standstill." -BKC

"When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?” John 18:22-23

"It was easier to evade the truth or to silence the One who spoke the truth than to attempt to answer the truth. Truth has a self-evident power of persuasion and those who oppose it find it difficult to deny. Jesus pressed this point and exposed their hypocrisy. They knew the truth but loved error." -BKC


Regarding the phrase "Son of God"

"But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”  Matthew 26:63-64

"Originally the Messiah was recognized as the Son of God (Ps. 2:7), but if the Jews had ever generally entertained such an idea, they had lost it before Jesus' day, The Messiah might of course be called the Son of God in that secondary sense in which Adam was thus called (John 1:49; Luke 3:38). But Jesus had used the term in an entirely different sense, and his usage had been extremely offensive to the Jews (John 5:17, 18; 10:30-39; Matt. 22:41-46). Caiaphas evidently wished Jesus to answer this question in that new sense which the Lord had given to the words. Caiaphas had no legal right to ask either of these questions. No man can be compelled to testify against himself, but he knew the claims of Jesus, and realized that if Jesus repudiated them he would be shamed forever, and if he asserted them he could be charged with blasphemy. Taking advantage, therefore, of the situation, Caiaphas put the question with the usual formula of an oath, thus adding moral power to it, for, under ordinary circumstances, one was held guilty if he refused to answer when thus adjured (Lev. 5:1)." -Fourfold Gospel

Regarding the priest tearing his clothes:

"This symbolic expression of horror and indignation was required of the high priest whenever he heard blasphemy. His reaction also expressed relief since Jesus’ self-incriminating answer removed the need for more witnesses."-BKC

Section 124, The betrayal and arrest

Section 124 
JESUS BETRAYED, ARRESTED, AND FORSAKEN
(Gethsemane. Friday, several hours before dawn)
MATT. 26:47-56
MARK 14:43-52
LUKE 22:47-53
JOHN 18:2-11

My summary:  As Jesus is talking, a group arrives. Judas comes up and kisses Jesus.  A nameless disciple pulls out his sword and cuts the ear of one of the group.  Jesus instructs this person, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword."  He is determined to fulfill his mission on earth.  By the end of the scene, the disciples flee.

Fourfold Gospel has this to say about Peter's use of the sword: "By the healing of Malchus' ear and the words spoken to Peter, Jesus shows that the sword is not to be used either to defend the truth or to advance his kingdom.While we know better than to rely upon the aid of the sword for the advance of truth, we are often tempted to put undue trust in other "carnal weapons" which are equally futile. Wealth and eloquence and elaborate church buildings have but little saving grace in them. It is the truth which wins."

Vincent's Word Studies pinpoints the nuances of the word used for Judas' kiss, "The compound verb has the force of an emphatic, ostentatious salute. Meyer says embraced and kissed."

It's a small detail but gives good insight into the potential personality and character of Judas; he had no trouble affecting love amid great betrayal. He was comfortable with the lie.

Here, there is a bit of "reverse kairos"--wrong time and wrong place:

"When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness."  -Luke 22:53

As we can work in the right moment and right circumstances, sometimes the circumstances conspire against us inherently.  Jesus acknowledged this truth.

The three synoptic gospels report this episode with great similarity.  All three begin in medias res with Jesus being interrupted in his speech by Judas and the crowd.  All three note the detail of the kiss and sword, then end with the disciples' flight.

In contrast, John's account is singular.  Jesus questions the party as to whom they are seeking.  There is no kiss.  Simon Peter is featured prominently as the person who drew his sword.  John doesn't mention the flight of the disciples but tracks Jesus as he is sent first to Annas.  Peter follows in stealth.

Section 123, The Garden of Gethsemane

Section 123
GOING TO GETHSEMANE, AND AGONY THEREIN
(A garden between the brook Kidron and the Mount of Olives. Late Thursday night.)
MATT. 26:30, 36-46
MARK 14:26, 32-42
LUKE 22:39-46
JOHN 18:1

It's not relevant in many ways, but I'll mention it because it's true.  I hate this section of scripture.  I don't like sad movies, difficult movies, or horror movies. My innards contract, and my spirit shrinks at the though of coming danger, alienation, betrayal.  So, my impulse is not to linger.  Let's just get it over with and move onto the promises and the resurrection.  But, I will force myself to spend some time here, because Jesus spent time here.  It's that simple and that complex.  God includes the painful.  He uses it.  It's part of the bigger, beautiful vision and can't be left out.

So this section tells of Jesus' struggle and prayer in the garden of Gethsemane.  First, the larger group of disciples was asked to sit while he prayed:

"And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” Mark 14:32

He took Peter, James, and John aside and revealed his distress to them.  His instructions to them were,

"Remain here and watch." Mark 14:34

He leaves them, goes farther, and falls on the ground, now only pleading to the Father, asking if there is another way.  When he comes back, he finds Peter sleeping, wakes him up, and warns him:

"Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Mark 14:38

Jack Abeelen emphasizes the persistence of Christ's prayer at the garden in contrast to the disciples sleep and stupor.

"...He was strengthened to accomplish the work...And when he had returned, he found them sleeping again...and this time he woke everybody up..Really?.. They don't get it.  Their hearts were overwhelmed.  They were sorrowful. They tried to escape through sleep.  They hadn't learned where their strength lies. But I'll tell you, prayer is bringing a gun to a knife fight. It is the armor you need to win the battle. Jesus talks to them.  They don't have a good explanation. Whoever has a good explanation for not praying enough...." -Jack Abeelen

"And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him." Mark 14:40

Abeelen again, "If our Lord is doing it, hour after hour, on the edge of Calgary, how much more should we be praying....Jesus could rise up because he had knelt down.  And he could stand up because he had bowed down.The boys would run. They had slept. They would bolt.  They would take off for the hills.  And the difference between the two pictures at Gethsemane is the Lord's example of prayerfulness and dependency upon the Father and then disciples, who were proud of their faithfulness, sure of their commitment, unable to see their need for God, and pretty much going at life like most people do, "I can handle this," and then seeing the results. His agony, excruciating, no one stood by him but his Father, and then at the critical hour, even the Father stepped away from him and he bore the sins of the world alone. The boys would learn: prayer was where it's at.  We need to learn, that's where your strength lies.  Don't be too independent. Don't sleep too often.  Try praying more often." -Jack Abeelen on Mark: 32-42.

I had forgotten the repetitive nature of  Christ's request and the disciples neglect.   Three times he asked for "the cup" to be taken from him and three times he wakes them. Jack Abeleen relates that this struggle lasted for three hours and believes that Christ's duress was related to the knowledge that he would be separated from the Father, not the physical torture and death.

It's true.  I wish I had better stamina in prayer.  I'm easily pulled off course.  What it obvious and should be "easy" for anyone else is much harder to do in practice.  More warnings, this time from Spurgeon:

"Watch and pray-danger lurking in trifles
Not only (says Manton) do great sins ruin the soul, but lesser faults will do the same. Dallying with temptation leads to sad consequences. Caesar was killed with bodkins. A dagger aimed at the heart will give as deadly a wound as a huge two-handed sword, and a little sin unrepented of will be as fatal as a gross transgression. Brutus and Cassius and the rest of the conspirators could not have more surely ended Caesar’s life with spears than they did with daggers. Death can hide in a drop, and ride in a breath of air. Our greatest dangers lie hidden in little things. Milton represents thousands of evil spirits as crowded into one hall; and truly the least sin may be a very pandemonium, in which a host of evils may be concealed-a populous hive of mischiefs, each one storing death. Believer, though thou be a little Caesar in thine own sphere, beware of the bodkins of thine enemies. Watch and pray, lest thou fall by little and little. Lord, save me from sins which call themselves little." -C. H. Spurgeon

It's the small things that turn into big things when repeated in pattern--for best or worse.  Habits define character.

Garden of Gethsemane, Wikipedia

Section 122, John 17, The High Priestly Prayer

Section 122
THE LORD'S PRAYER
(Jerusalem. Thursday night)
JOHN 17 

I once spent a month in this chapter---it's bottomless.  Right now, I don't know that I can spend another month here...just feeling worn out on studying the gospels and ready to keep moving. So I'm trying to take a global view, a broad glimpse, as I "fly over" John 17.

All throughout this passage, there is this sense of the correct kairos--timing.   First, Jesus establishes that the time is ripe,  "the hour has come." John 17:1  Then he establishes that he's "accomplished the work that you gave me to do." John 17:4

These are universally applicable to each of us--there is specific work for us to do during a specific time.  Solomon echoes this principle throughout Ecclesiastes.  It's crucial that we pay close attention to the timing, circumstances, and our correct work within these.  To the list, I would also add ability---we can have time and work all day long, but we must also be operating with the correct ability and authority, "since you have given him authority over all flesh." John 17:2

If I'm honest, this definition of eternal life has always puzzled me:

"And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." John 17:3

Is eternal life not eternal life?  It seems like a straightforward set of words, yet he defines it here as "that they know you."  Can we only live eternally by knowing God?  Do those who do not know God not live eternally?

I love that he mentions repeatedly that God's word has been given:

"For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me." John 17:8

"I have given them your word." -John 17:14

"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." John 17:17

Word, truth, and sanctification all in interconnection.

Jesus repeatedly contrasts the world and its values and perceptions with God's.  The world is hostile to his objectives; there's no diluting this.  It's clear that he protected the disciples while on earth, and that although he didn't take them out of it, he petitioned God for their continued preservation:

"While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled."  John 17:12

"I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one." John 17:15

The Fourfold Gospel frames our time in this world positively as well as protectively:

"The care which he asks in protection in, and not removal from, the world. It is best both for the Christian and for the world that he should remain in it. The world is blessed by the Christian's presence (Matt. 4:14- 16), and abiding in the world affords the Christian an opportunity of conquest and reward--Rom. 8:37; Rev. 2:26; 3:21."

"And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." John 17:19

Jesus was without sin, but for the disciples' sake, he sanctified himself.  This in itself is worth considering.  To sanctify means to set apart as holy, so Jesus being able to do that for himself confirms that his role is godly.

"To sanctify means to set apart to a holy use. As Jesus himself had been set apart as God's messenger to the world, so he had set apart the apostles as his messengers to it. This setting apart was not a formal, empty act, but was accomplished by God's imparting or developing a fitness in the one sanctified to perform the duties for which he was set apart." -Fourfold Gospel

"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." John 17:20

Jesus prayed into the future, over us, even way back when.  Fourfold points out that unity among the believers was mentioned in his petitions to the Father twice.  Why does the Church struggle so greatly with unity?  Is it because families struggle?  Individuals struggle?  What does the Lord make of this?

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one. John 17:22

Throughout these last few chapters, there's this bizarre sense that Jesus is talking with them, talking to them, but also in communication with God.  There is a repeated theme of God giving Jesus tasks, roles, abilities, and then of Jesus transmitting those same qualities and roles unto the disciples who were then being instructed to pass them on to us--the universal Church.  So, there is a mysterious, repetitive linking among all of these pieces.  Specific roles.  Specific duties.  Specific privileges.

There is also this sense that it is Jesus who connects God, who makes him perceivable and accessible, to the world at large:

O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. John 17:25-26

Section 121--Part X (John 15:18--John 16)

My Summary:

Jesus continues to impress upon the disciples his instructions for their future.  He warns them that the world will hate them because the world hated him. This hate is also a fulfillment of a prior prediction.  Reminding them a servant is no greater than his master, he explains that they will do these things because they do not know the Father. Reinforcing the joined nature of the Father and Son, Jesus states, "Whoever hates me hates my Father also." John 15:23

"The allusion is to Psa_69:4 (or Psa_35:19). The hatred of the Jews toward Jesus the promised Messiah (Joh_1:11) is “part of the mysterious purpose of God”"-RWP

Jesus does not mean to say that the world would have committed no sin at all if he had kept away from it. The meaning is that it would not have been guilty of the sin of rejecting Jesus. They would have been excusable.

Psalm 69:4--"More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?"  

Psa 35:19--"Let not those rejoice over me who are wrongfully my foes, and let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause."

He also clarifies that they are guilty because he has come and completed miracles and works, otherwise they would not be.

"But now I go unto him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?  But because I have spoken these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.  Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away." John 15:5-7

"The disciples had asked the Lord whither he was going (John 13:36; 14:5), but their question had a very different meaning from that which Jesus here suggests to them. They asked it to ascertain whether his departure would involve a separation or whether it would be a withdrawal from the world in which they could accompany him. The question which he suggests [672] has reference to the place to which he was about to journey, that place being the home and presence of his Father. The question asked was selfish, as if the apostles had asked, "What will your departure mean to us?" The question suggested was generous, intimating that  the apostles should have asked, "What will this departure mean to you?" -Fourfold

 He comforts them with the truth the the Holy Spirit will aid them and lead them into truth.  The Holy Spirit and the disciples will witness to the world regarding Christ:

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning." John 15:26-28

The Fourfold Gospel points out that the Spirit is to reveal and remind, not institute additional teachings:

"The Holy Spirit was to bring no absolutely new teaching. The Son of God here claims for himself all that the Spirit taught even to the declaration of things to come. The Spirit would bring to mind and republish in the minds of the apostles all the words which Jesus had spoken, and would add those things which, being now in the mind of Jesus, were really part of his teaching, but which he at this present forbore to utter, the apostles not being able to bear them." -Fourfold Gospel

I find this helpful because it takes the Holy Spirit out of the realm of unpredictable additional revelation-no more "wild card." It makes sense.  The Spirit teaches and reinforces what the Son taught which is teaching and reinforcing the vision and will of the Father.

Section 121 IX (John 15:1-17), The True Vine

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." -John 15:1-2

Note the adjective--"I am the true vine."

In Jesus's assumption and continuance of the vine imagery, it's clear that the different parts of the scripture speak and answer to each other.  The image of a vine was associated with the nation of Israel historically.

Interesting vine imagery and messianic anticipation from Jacob's blessing in Genesis 49:

"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk." Genesis 49:10-12

Also:

Psalm 80:8-19--"Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land." v.8-9

Futhermore, Israel's prophets picked up the vine imagery again and again:

Isaiah 4:2--"In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel."

Isaiah 5:1-2--"Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes." 

Isaiah 11:1-2--"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD."

Jeremiah 2:21--"Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?"

Hosea 10:1 " Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images."

"The vine was a symbol of the ancient church. See the passages cited above, and Hos_10:1; Mat_21:33; Luk_13:6." -VWS

"In His eighth "Ego Eimi" or "I AM" statement, Jesus says, "I am the True Vine." I find this intriguing. Why would He use the word "true" at this time? Perhaps it is because as we go through this chapter into the next, we'll see that Jesus knew His disciples would soon be kicked out of temple worship, barred from the synagogue, ostracized from the glory, tradition, and beauty of Judaism. Thus, I believe it is in this reference that Jesus declared, "I am the true Vine," as if to say, "Don't be deceived. It's not Judaism. It's not religion. It's Me."-Courson

Jon Courson has a different interpretation of this passage than most.  He views the "every branch that bears not fruit he taketh away" as meaning "lift up," in the sense of restore.  I'm not sure what to think of his interpretation.  It's more encouraging than the idea of being cut off, but I don't know that his argument is strong enough to overcome more traditional interpretations for me.  The four translations I've consulted maintain the sense of "take away" which argues further against it.

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you." -John 15:16

The choosing is clearly his:

"The pronoun is emphatic: 'It was not ye that chose me.'"-VWS

"That whatsoever, etc. (ἵνα)
Coordinated with the preceding ἵνα, that, as marking another result of their choice and appointment by Christ. He has appointed them that they should bring forth fruit, and that they should obtain such answers to their prayer as would make them fruitful" -Vincent's Word Studies

The teaching of loving each other as his command is also clear.  It seems to me that this starts with who he is and then moves to who we are because of him.

Section 121--Part VIII (John 14:25-31)

These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. 
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 
Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. 
And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. 
Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. 
But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. -John 14:25-31

It's good to remember the context of the verses---indeed, if they were spoken specifically to the disciples in this context, is it fair to apply all of them to our walks?

"The Spirit, Jesus said, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. This verse is addressed to the apostles. The context limits the “all things” to the interpretation and significance of His person and work. The Spirit worked in their minds, reminding them of His teaching and giving them insight into its meaning." -BKC

I think it is fair to apply this verse to us and many others.  We are the continuation of his work as his disciples. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will "teach you all things," and "bring to your remembrance."   The Holy Spirit is a teacher---high high high vocation if the Holy Spirit is associated with it for sure.  God puts a personal teacher inside us that teaches us continually.  Profound.

for my Father is greater than I. v28

This is not a contradiction to the unity of the trinity.  BKC explains it this way:

"The Father and the Son share the same essence (cf. Joh_1:1-2; Joh_14:9; Joh_20:28). The Father and the Son are “One” in purpose and essence (Joh_10:30). Thus the Father is greater in office or glory than the Son was in His humiliation." -BKC

"I'm leaving you well and whole. That's my parting gift to you. Peace. I don't leave you the way you're used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don't be upset. Don't be distraught." -John 14:27 The Message

What kind of "peace" is Christ referring to here---He is leaving them, yet he declares he is leaving them whole and well.  After these events, the disciples were in crisis and shaken up for quite a long time.  His words speak against the type of fear, the distress, that could and would set in.  Jesus knew their anxiety and spoke against it. -Source?

"As health implies that all the laws which regulate bodily life are being observed, and as it is disturbed by the infringement of any one of these, so peace of mind implies that in the spiritual life all is as it should be." Believer's Bible

"Jesus further defines the peace which He was leaving to the disciples as that peace which He had Himself enjoyed: "My peace I give unto you,"--as one hands over a possession he has himself tested, the shield or helmet that has served him in battle. "That which has protected Me in a thousand fights I make over to you." The peace which Christ desires His disciples to enjoy is that which characterised Himself; the same serenity in danger, the same equanimity in troublous circumstances, the same freedom from anxiety about results, the same speedy recovery of composure after anything which for a moment ruffled the calm surface of His demeanour. This is what He makes over to His people; this is what He makes possible to all who serve Him." -Believer's Bible

He did not ask what he did not model:

"Jesus further defines the peace which He was leaving to the disciples as that peace which He had Himself enjoyed: "My peace I give unto you,"--as one hands over a possession he has himself tested, the shield or helmet that has served him in battle. "That which has protected Me in a thousand fights I make over to you." The peace which Christ desires His disciples to enjoy is that which characterised Himself; the same serenity in danger, the same equanimity in troublous circumstances, the same freedom from anxiety about results, the same speedy recovery of composure after anything which for a moment ruffled the calm surface of His demeanour. This is what He makes over to His people; this is what He makes possible to all who serve Him." -Expositor's Bible

“We will… make our abode.” That word abode is the same Greek word as is rendered mansions in the former part of this chapter. God prepares a mansion for those who believe in Christ, and asks in return that we shall prepare our hearts as guest chambers for Him to dwell in. -FB Meyer

Section 121--VII, (John 14:22-24)

"Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me." John 14:22-24

"This is the fourth interruption of the talk of Jesus (by Peter, Joh_13:36; by Thomas, Joh_14:5; by Philip, Joh_14:8; by Judas, Joh_14:22).: -RWP

There were two Judas---one the son of James and the other, Iscariot.

#1--Judas Iscariot, "God is praised."

"Judas's epithet Iscariot most likely means he came from the village of Kerioth, but this explanation is not universally accepted and many other possibilities have been suggested." Wikipedia

#2--Judas Thaddeus, Jude, Jude of James, Lebbaeus

Sometimes Jude is described as the brother of Jesus.  The author of the book of Jude.

"In the Roman Catholic Church, he is the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes." He's associated with the symbols of a club, a flame around his head, or as holding an image of Jesus. -Wikipedia

To me, Judas's question feels like a variation on a question I ask and unbeliever's  ask too---"Why not reveal yourself to all, Why not save all?  Why only some?"  Commentators differ on how they view the question--most see it as Judas grappling with implications he didn't understand as were all the disciples at this point.

Make our Abode

"we will come and make our abode with him — Astonishing statement! In the Father’s “coming” He “refers to the revelation of Him as a Father to the soul, which does not take place till the Spirit comes into the heart, teaching it to cry, Abba, Father” [Olshausen]. The “abode” means a permanent, eternal stay! (Compare Lev_26:11, Lev_26:12; Eze_37:26, Eze_37:27; 2Co_6:16;" -JFB

The relationship between God and man in Christianity is endlessly complex.  The trinity is a fathomless riddle alone, and the idea that God would bother or wish to live in any man--what to make of that?  Comparing it to other religious systems, it's different from eastern conceptions which teach thousands of gods or man becoming god, or working to become part of a unity.  It's different than traditional Judaism which teaches a type of relationship between man and God but with much distinction and servitude.   It would be interesting to look into how the Jewish concept of God is changed through Christianity--a whole lifetime of study there...

Andrew MacLaren conveys some of the intensity of this relationship here:

"Lastly about this matter, Christ shows Himself to obedient love by a true coming. ‘We will come and make our mansion with him.’ And that coming is a fact of a higher order, and not to be confounded either with the mere divine Omnipresence, by which God is everywhere, nor to be reduced to a figment of our own imaginations, or a strong way of promising increased perception on our part of Christ’s fullness. That great central Sun, if I might use so violent a figure, draws nearer and nearer and nearer to the planets that move about it, and having once been far off on an almost infinitely distant horizon, approaches until planet and Sun unite." -MacLaren

The Link Between Love and Obedience

"And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments." 1 John 2:3

"And, as to this, he shows what an inseparable connection there is between love and obedience; love is the root, obedience is the fruit."-Matthew Henry

"Obedience grows out of love for Jesus and His Word." Expositor's Bible

The connection between the two:

1. It presupposes a sense of the evil of sin and a desire for righteousness.
2. Love desires to please, and ever shrinks from grieving its object.
3. Love is essentially imitative. To love evil is to be debased; to love goodness is to be ennobled.
4. The affections exert a strong influence on the will. The strength of evil lies in the love of it, and so the strength of goodness. -W H H Murray, BI

"We admire beauty, we reverence virtue, we praise modesty as elements of character; but never until the eyes behold them clothed in physical form do we love them. The qualities we admire, the woman we love." -W H H Murray, BI

"Love is the strongest passion known to mortals. It is stronger than hate, for death checks its cry. Leaving the bloody body on the sand, it returns content to its kennel. But love is not checked, is not weakened by death. There is no power like love. It will carry heavier burdens, endure more buffeting, do more service, face more perils, live on under the sense of deepest shame, beyond any other emotion that the heart of man is able to feel.."  -W. H. H. Murray, BI

"1. If a man over whom you have no authority consults you about a piece of work, and does not take your advice, you may think him a dull or a lazy man, but not a disobedient one. There can be no obedience or disobedience where there is no authority. But if the man is your servant the case is different. He may think that his own way is better than yours, but he has to accept yours. You are his master. So if I recognize the authority of Christ, I shall obey Him before I recognize that His commandments are good and wise. His words are laws to be fulfilled, not ethical treatises the soundness of whose principles I find by study.

2. In the training of children we do not explain everything before we expect obedience. A child of six does not easily understand why he should take offensive medicine, or a child of ten why he should learn the Latin declensions. He has to do it first, and to discover the reasons afterwards. And so if a child be not disciplined to truthfulness, industry, etc., before he can see for himself the obligation of these virtues, he will never see that lying and indolence are vices. Compel him to be industrious and he will discover the obligations of industry.

3. And so if we obey Christ His commandments will shine in their own light. It is not by meditation but by practice that we see the beauty of His words." R.W. Dale, BI

V. THE CLAIMS OF CHRIST PROVOKE RESENTMENT not only speculative criticism, but.

1. It is one thing to submit to an abstract law which conscience discovers, in this there is no humiliation; it is quite another thing to submit to the government of a Person. Nor is the claim resisted, because made by one who has “been made flesh” There are many who suppose they believe in God, but who refuse Him all authority over conduct. They regard Him as nothing more than an hypothesis to account for the universe. While He is nothing more than this the personal life is free; as soon as He claims authority the freedom seems lost.

2. But those to whom the great discovery of God in Christ has come, know that in His service there is perfect freedom. The rule of law is the real tyranny. The law can only command; but when Christ becomes Lord of conduct, He stands by us in every conflict; gives strength as well as defines duty. Christ becomes our Comrade, but yet He is our Ruler, and we are under the government of a higher Will than our own.

3. We have to obey God in Christ. But when the real secret of the Christian revelation is mastered, the obedience assumes an unique character. The fountains of our life are in Him. He is our higher, truer self. Not until we abide in Christ, and He in us, are we able to keep His commandments. -R. W. Dale

Beautiful things to think about--explains our spirit's inherent resistance to obedience but how obedience expresses and is changed by His love and our response.

Section 121--Part IV, Show Us the Father (John 14:7-11)

"If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 

"Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”  John 14:7-8

TSK cross reference picks up on all the nuances of "show"--the idea of God displaying his glory to Moses, that of us seeking His face, in Revelation, the reiteration of seeing him face-to-face, the idea of seeing only in a glass darkly now (1 Corinthians).  The desire for us to be with God without barrier, fully known and fully knowing, is a cavernous universal need. The Pulpit Commentary concludes that "To see and know the Father, to have irresistible evidence that the Eternal Power is one who has begotten us from himself, and both knows and loves us, is the highest and most sacred yearning of the human heart. The desire is implanted by God himself."

What was Philip after here?  Jesus told Thomas that "from now on" they do know God and have seen God.

"The yearning of the heart of man was truly set forth by Philip in his request to see the Father; but never before had it dawned upon human intelligence that the divine can find its supreme revelation in the simplicities and commonplaces of human existence." -Meyer

"The answer of Jesus tenderly rebukes Philip. The excellency of God is not physical, but spiritual. Righteousness, truth, love, holiness, etc. are all spiritual. A physical revelation of God, if such a [661] thing had been practicable or even possible, would have been of little or no benefit to the apostles. All the physical demonstrations at Mt. Sinai did not prevent the manufacture and worship of the golden calf." -Fourfold Gospel

"'How sayest thou?' reveals that sense of failure which Christ experienced when he sought to realize in the poor material of our human nature his own ideal." -Pulpit

"It is easy to observe it in the conversation of Christians, how soon a discourse of what is plain and edifying is dropped, and no more is said of it; the subject is exhausted; while matter of doubtful disputation runs into an endless strife of words." -M. Henry

"And the Father abiding in me, doeth his works. These works of mine are all signs of my relation to the Father. They are indications to Philip of the nature, and quality, and character, and feeling towards him of the Father himself." -Pulpit

"Surely this passage is the true justification of prayer to Christ himself, as identically one with the Father." -Pulpit

"Christ tells his disciples that they were not so ignorant as they seemed to be; for, though little children, yet they had known the Father, 1Jn_2:13. Note, Many of the disciples of Christ have more knowledge and more grace than they think they have, and Christ takes notice of, and is well pleased with, that good in them which they themselves are not aware of; for those that know God do not all at once know that they know him, 1Jn_2:3." M Henry

Section 121--Part VI, Another Helper (John 14:15-21)

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” John 14:15-21

Love Honors Commands

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments." -John 14:15
"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." John 14:21

If ye love me (ean agapāte me). Third-class condition “if ye keep on loving (Continued love prevents disobedience. rwp

In difficult times our care concerning the events of the day should be swallowed up in a care concerning the duty of the day. -MHenry

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.

He it is that loveth me (ekeinos estin ho agapōn me). Emphatic demonstrative pronoun ekeinos: “that is the one who loves me.” RWP

"The principle that underlies these words, then, is this, that love is the foundation of obedience, and obedience is the sure outcome and result of love." -MacLaren

"Christ’s ‘commandments’ are Christ Himself. This is the originality and uniqueness of Christ as a moral Teacher, that He says, not ‘Do this, that, and the other thing,’ but ‘Copy Me.’ ‘Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.’ His commandments are Himself; and the sum of them all is this-a character perfectly self-oblivious, and wholly penetrated and saturated with joyful, filial submission to the Father, and uttermost and entire giving Himself away to His brethren. That is Christ’s commandment which He bids us keep, and His law is to be found in His life." -MacLaren

"Obedience: There are two motives for keeping commandments, one, because they are commanded, and one because we love Him that commands. The one is slavery, the other is liberty. The one is like the Arctic regions, cold and barren, the other is like tropical lands, full of warmth and sunshine, glorious and glad fertility." -MacLaren, Biblical Illustrator

Practical religion
Since a vestment ornamented with gold is a beautiful and conspicuous object, but seems much more so to us when it is worn upon our own persons, thus also the precepts of God are beautiful when but praised, but appear far more lovely when they are rightly observed, and conspicuous in our own life. (T. H. Leary, D. C. L.)

Comforter

"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever." John 14:16 KJ

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you." John 14:16 NLT

pray---erōtaō
er-o-tah'-o
Apparently from G2046 (compare G2045); to interrogate; by implication to request: - ask, beseech, desire, intreat, pray. Compare G4441.  -Strongs

"The word translated pray that is used here of our Lord is not the same word used to describe an inferior praying to a superior, but of one making request of his equal." -Believer's Bible

"The Rabbinical writings often refer to the Messiah under the title Menahem (= Comforter), and speak of His days as the days of consolation." -Bullinger

"There is no adequate translation for the word Paraclete. It may be rendered “interpreter,” “comforter,” “advocate,” but no one word suffices. The Greek means “one whom you call to your side in the battle or law-court.” F.B. Meyer

"Another Comforter (allon paraklēton). Another of like kind. This old word (Demosthenes), from parakaleō, was used for legal assistant, pleader, advocate, one who pleads another’s cause (Josephus, Philo, in illiterate papyrus), in N.T. only in John’s writings, though the idea of it is in Rom_8:26-34. So the Christian has Christ as his Paraclete with the Father, the Holy Spirit as the Father’s Paraclete with us." RWP

"It means not only one who administers sweet whispers of consolation in sorrow, but one who, in any circumstances, by his presence makes strong. And the original Greek word, of which it is the translation here, has a precisely analogous meaning; its original signification being that of ‘one who is called to the aid of another,’ primarily as an advocate in a court of law, but more widely as a helper in any form whatsoever. And that is the idea which is to be attached to the word here:-a Comforter who makes strong by His presence; the Paraclete, who is our Advocate, Helper, Guide, and Instructor." -MacLaren

"Jansenius thinks the most proper word to render it by is a patron, one that shall both instruct and protect you."  -M Henry

"With His disciples, Jesus was limited in that He could only be in one place at one time. That is why He would say, "It is expedient for me to go away that the Comforter might come (Joh_16:7). The Comforter is One who will heal your hurts, still your storms, and supply your needs." -Jon Courson

Spirit of Truth

"This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can't take him in because it doesn't have eyes to see him, doesn't know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!" -John 14:17, The Message

“a most exquisite title” (Bengel). The Holy Spirit is marked by it (genitive case), gives it, defends it (cf. Joh_1:17), in contrast to the spirit of error (1Jn_4:6). -Vincent's Word Studies

"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." John 1:17

 “He is the Spirit of truth.” He will be true to you, and to his undertaking for you, which he will perform to the utmost. He will teach you the truth, will enlighten your minds with the knowledge of it, will strengthen and confirm your belief of it, and will increase your love to it. The Gentiles by their idolatries, and the Jews by their traditions, were led into gross errors and mistakes; but the Spirit of truth shall not only lead you into all truth, but others by your ministry. Christ is the truth, and he is the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit that he was anointed with. -M Henry

"The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth by reason of that which he does, because he inspires the truth into us, because he has the truth in himself." -Geneva

Even though this is a few chapters ahead, it bears upon the function of truth, sanctification:

"And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." John 17:19


Whom the world cannot receive

"whom the world cannot receive" v 17

ME: Why can't the world receive him? .....because "it neither sees him or knows him"

world
kosmos = world-system. -Scofield

"Cannot receive (ou dunatai labein). Left to itself the sinful world is helpless (1Co_2:14; Rom_8:7.), almost Paul’s very language on this point. The world lacks spiritual insight (ou theōrei) and spiritual knowledge (oude ginōskei). It failed to recognize Jesus (Joh_1:10) and likewise the Holy Spirit." RWP

"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Corinthians 2:14

With you and in you

But the disciples know him because "He dwells with you and will dwell in you." v 17

Oddness--a spirit dwelling with a person and then in a person.  What's the difference?

With you (par' humin). “By your side,” “at home with you,” not merely “with you” (meth' humōn) “in the midst of you.”
In you (en humin). In your hearts. So note meta (Joh_14:16), para, en.rwp

"The word “dwelleth” means to remain with them. Jesus was to be taken away, but the Spirit would remain. It is also implied that they would know his presence, and have assurance that they were under his guidance. This was true of the apostles as inspired men, and it is true of all Christians that by ascertaining that they have the “graces of the Spirit” - joy, peace, long-suffering, etc. they know that they are the children of God, 1Jn_3:24; 1Jn_5:10." -Barnes

As Orphans

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." v 18

He will not leave them as orphans but will come to them?
So, He is the Spirit?

Desolate (orphanous). Old word (orphos, Latin orbus), bereft of parents, and of parents bereft of children. Common in papyri of orphan children. In Joh_13:33 Jesus called the disciples teknia (little children), and so naturally the word means “orphans” here, but the meaning may be “helpless” (without the other Paraclete, the Holy Spirit). The only other N.T. example is in Jas_1:27 where it means “fatherless.” rwp

 Because I live, you also will live. v19

Their individual promise of resurrection is iron-clad promised

"At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." v 20

Which day?  The day he is resurrected?  The day he comes back to them?  The day he will ultimately return to earth?  MacLaren says yes, yes and yes:

"‘At that day’ covers the whole period of which He has been speaking, between His withdrawal from the disciples and His final corporeal coming to judgment-that great day of which generations are but the moments."  -MacLaren

"Christ is in the believer in the sense that His life is communicated to him. He actually dwells in the believer through the Holy Spirit. The believer is in Christ in the sense that he stands before God in all the merit of the Person and work of Christ." -Believer's Bible

That I am in my Father ... - That we are most intimately and indissolubly united.--Barnes

Manifest myself to him

I will love him and manifest myself to him.” v 21

The Unseen and Risen Christ will be a real and spiritual Presence to the obedient and loving believer  rwp

He that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father; not that love to is the cause, condition, or motive of the Father's love to his people; nor does his love to them begin when they begin to love Christ; but this expression denotes some further and greater manifestation of the Father's love to such persons, and shows how grateful to the Father are love and obedience to the Son: and I will love him; which must be understood in the same manner; Christ does not begin to love his people when they begin to love, and obey him; their love and obedience to him, spring from his love to them; which love of his towards them was from everlasting: but this phrase signs a clearer discovery of his love to them, which passeth knowledge; and some fresh mark and token of his affection for them; and which is explained in the next clause:
and will manifest myself to him; not in a visible way, or in a corporeal form, as he did to his disciples after his resurrection; but in a spiritual manner, as when he makes himself known to his people in ordinances, and favours them with communion with him, and they see his beauty, his fulness, his grace and righteousness, his power, and his glory. -Gill

"Obedience now is revelation afterward."

Section 121, Part V, Believe & Do Greater (John 14:12-14)

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it."  John 14:12-14

"I have already pointed out in a previous sermon that the key-word of this context is ‘Believe!’ In three successive verses we find it, each time widening in its application. We have first the question to the single disciple: ‘Philip! believest thou not?’ We have then the invitation addressed to the whole group: ‘Believe Me!’ And here we have a wholly general expression referring to all who, in every generation and corner of the world, put their trust in Christ, and extending the sunshine of this great promise to whosoever believeth in Him." -MacLaren

"Christ’s name is the revelation of Christ’s character, and to do a thing in the name of another person is to do it as His representative, and as realising that in some deep and real sense-for the present purpose at all events-we are one with Him." -MacLaren

"The express use of the name of Jesus therein is no specific token; the question is of the spirit and mind of him who prays” (Meyer).

Great point re "greater works":  "It is greater to save souls than to heal bodies." -Believer's Bible

Paraphrase for my own benefit:  Those who believe in Christ will "also do the works that I do."  This much I can reconcile with my knowledge and experience, but then he says that they will do greater works than these because he's going to his father.  Finally, he amplifies it further by saying, "if you ask me anything in my name."  Help!!!??

This throws all my triggers.  Anything.   Yes, I understand the conditional, "in my name," but all the same, it's a crazy grand promise.

Ha! I found this comment by Luther: "Our Lord Christ foresaw that this article would go hard with human reason, and that it would be much assailed by the devil."

This helps too:

"The first of these evidences enumerated is the larger sphere of power granted to the believer. By this the Lord does not mean the disciples shall perform greater miracles, but that they shall produce moral and spiritual revolutions which are instinsically more divinely wonderful than miracles. For instance, at his death Jesus had converted about five hundred disciples, but at Pentecost the apostles converted three thousand in one day. The converts of Paul also greatly outnumbered those of Christ's own ministry." -Fourfold Gospel

"This they ought to aim at, and have their eye upon, in asking. In this all our desires and prayers should meet as in their centre; to this they must all be directed, that God in Christ may be honoured by our services, and in our salvation. Hallowed be thy name is an answered prayer, and is put first, because, if the heart be sincere in this, it does in a manner consecrate all the other petitions." -Matthew Henry
Jesus' personal ministry in the flesh must be a local ministry. Only under the dispensation of the Spirit could it be universal. -VWS

Section 121---Part III: Way, Truth, Life (John 14:4-7)

Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:5-6

These verses have been parsed and pondered by the greatest theological thinkers over and over again.

"Luther speaks of it as referring to the past, present, and future." -Pulpit

E.W. Bullinger views the second and third nouns as amplifications and elaboration on the first "way:"

from Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, E. W. Bullinger, 1898 

from Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, E. W. Bullinger, 1898

Regarding the Way:

"Christ is the way, the highway spoken of, Isa_35:8. Christ was his own way, for by his own blood he entered into the holy place (Heb_9:12), and he is our way, for we enter by him. By his doctrine and example he teaches us our duty, by his merit and intercession he procures our happiness, and so he is the way. In him God and man meet, and are brought together."--Matthew Henry

"Further, the way to which we commit ourselves when we seek to come to the Father through Christ is a Person. "I am the Way." It is not a cold, dead road we have to make the most of for ourselves, pursuing it often in darkness, in weakness, in fear. It is a living way--a way that renews our strength as we walk in it, that enlivens instead of exhausting us, that gives direction and light as we go forward."
-Expositor's Bible

Regarding the Truth:

"All spiritual truth is associated with Christ, because it proceeds from Him and terminates in Him." H. J. Gamble, BI

 Truth lies between way and life, as if the way to life were through truth (Leigh)

"Christ, then, is "the Truth," because He is the Revealer of God." -Expositor's Bible

The two further terms used by himself are probably introduced to throw light upon the way to the Father. Thus there are numerous assurances that he is the Truth itself, that is, the adequate and sufficient expression of Divine thought. "All the promises of God are yea [i.e. are uttered] and Amen [i.e. confirmed] in him." He is the absolute Truth -Pulpit Commentary

"V. NOTWITHSTANDING THE INDIFFERENCE THAT MEN GENERALLY MANIFEST IN RELATION TO IT. I know of nothing which men are so reluctant to honour. If, indeed, you will lower its tone and destroy its vitality; if you will represent it as a philosophy amenable at the bar of man, and class it as a speculation with all other speculations it will be tolerated

VI. NOTWITHSTANDING THE WORLD’S HOSTILITY. Thus hostility has put the seal to the declaration. Had it not been mighty, it would never have awakened that hostility; had it not been right-hearted, it would never have dared it; had it not been immortal, it would never have survived it; but having awakened, dared, and survived it, in the person of Christ, and in His truth we see it, as if it came direct from heaven, bearing this testimony before all unequivocally and unshakingly, “I am the Truth.”

Take it with you as at once your defence and your law." J. Aldis, BI

Regarding the Life:

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, Ainvaresart

"In every man there is a thirst for life. Everything that clogs, impedes, or retards life we hate; sickness, imprisonment, death, whatever diminishes, enfeebles, limits, or destroys life, we abhor. Happiness means abundant life, great vitality finding vent for itself in healthy ways. Great scope or opportunity of living to good purpose is useless to the invalid who has little life in himself; and, on the other hand, abundant vitality is only a pain to the man who is shut up and can spend his energy only in pacing a cell eight feet by four. Our happiness depends upon these two conditions--perfect energy and infinite scope.

But can we assure ourselves of either? Is not the one certainty of life, as we know it, that it must end? Is it not certain that, no matter what energy the most vigorous of us enjoy, we shall all one day "lie in cold obstruction"? Naturally we fear that time, as if all life were then to end for us. We shrink from that apparent termination, as if beyond it there could be but a shadowy, spectral life in which nothing is substantial, nothing lively, nothing delightsome, nothing strong. That state which we shrink from our Lord chooses as a condition of perfect life, abundant and untrammelled. And what He has chosen for Himself He means to bestow upon us.

Why should we find it so hard to believe in that abundant life? There is a sufficient source of physical life which upholds the universe and is not burdened, which in continuance and exuberantly brings forth life in inconceivably various forms. The world around us indicates a source of life which seems always to grow and expand rather than to be exhausted. So there is a source of spiritual life, a force sufficient to uphold all men in righteousness and in eternal vitality of spirit, and which can give birth to ever new and varied forms of heroic, holy, godly living--a force which is ever pressing forward to find expression through all moral beings, and capable of making all human action as perfect, as beautiful, and infinitely more significant than the products of physical life which we see around us."

Upon Thomas' declaration of concern that he did not know the way:

"The patient gentleness of the Master with the slowness of the scholars is beautifully exemplified here, as is also the method, which He lovingly and patiently adopts, of sending men back to consult their own consciousness as illuminated by His teaching, and to see whether there is not lying somewhere, unrecked of and unemployed in some dusty corner of their mind, a truth that only needs to be dragged out and cleaned in order to show itself for what it is, the all-sufficient light and strength for the moment’s need.
The dialogue is an instance of what is true about us all, that we have in our possession truths given to us by Jesus Christ, the whole sweep and bearing of which, the whole majesty and power and illuminating capacity of which, we do not dream of yet. How much in our creeds lies dim and undeveloped! Time and circumstances and some sore agony of spirit are needed in order to make us realise the riches that we possess, and the certitudes to which our troubled spirits may cling; and the practice of far more patient, honest, profound meditation and reflection than finds favour with the average Christian man is needed, too, in order that the truths possessed may be possessed, and that we may know what we know, and understand ‘the things that are given to us of God.’"-MacLaren

THAT A MAN MAY, IN SPIRITUAL THINGS, KNOW MORE THAN HE IS CONSCIOUS OF KNOWING. “Ye know,” “We know not.” It may be said that our Lord is only attributing a certain knowledge with a view to stirring up His disciples to think so that they may come to know distinctly, just as we say to a child, “You know if you would only think.” -Biblical Illustrator

Hugo Grotius, 1583-1645

Hugo Grotius statue in his hometown of Delft, by Franciscus Leonardus Stracke,1886

In reading the Pulpit Commentary on John 14:6, I stumbled upon a reference to several classical theologian. Most I recognized: Luther, Calvin, and Augustine, but Grotius I did not. Off I went, first trying to discern what he meant by "Exemplum, Doctor, et Dater vitro eternate," and then into his biography and theory.

First, a quick analysis of his phrase:

The way--exemplum--example?   Yes.

The truth--doctor--cure, mend?  No.  More of a religious teacher"

1300, doctour, "Church father," from Old French doctour and directly from Medieval Latin doctor "religious teacher, adviser, scholar," in classical Latin "teacher," agent noun from docere "to show, teach, cause to know," originally "make to appear right," causative of decere "be seemly, fitting," from PIE root *dek- "to take, accept."?http://www.netherlands-tourism.com/hugo-de-groot-monument-delft/

The life--et Dater vitro etenate--data of life eternal?  More of "date when eternal life begins..."

date---early 14c., "a period or stretch of time, a season, an age;" mid-14c., "time when something happened or will happen," from Old French date (13c.) "date, day; time," from Medieval Latin data, noun use of fem. singular of Latin datus "given," past participle of dare "to give, grant, offer," from PIE root *do- "to give."

A Quick Glimpse of His Life

I came away with a basic sketch---Grotius was a Dutch child prodigy who lived in the 17th century. He attended Leiden University at age 11 and made a career of exploring the inter-relationships of Biblical doctrine and natural law. Engaged in the Armenian-Calvinism debates as well as contributing to Enlightenment philosophy, Hugo Grotius was smart enough to recognize the limits of academic knowledge. Briggs and I agreed this morning that he reminds us of Solomon and Ecclesiastes:

Grotius' personal motto was Ruit hora ("Time is running away"); his last words were "By understanding many things, I have accomplished nothing" (Door veel te begrijpen, heb ik niets bereikt). -Wikipedia
Amid all this philosophizing on matters of law and faith, he and his wife, Maria van Reigersberch, had 8 children, 4 who lived to adulthood.  He was imprisoned in Loevestein Castle for his controversial writings and escaped in a book chest to France where he wrote the bulk of his works. Even the end of his life was dramatic as he was shipwrecked traveling from Sweden from France, then died of illness.

Why bother with Grotius?  One could argue such bunny trails are sideways energy.  I assert that we understand our faith better by exploring the great heritage of those who have taken pains to study and apply His word through the centuries.

Section 121--Part II, Mansion (John 14:2-3)

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”  John 14:1-4 ESV

"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."  John 14:2 KJV

Mansions (μοναὶ)
Only here and Joh_14:23. From μένω to stay or abide. -VWS

I go to prepare
Compare Num_10:33. Also Heb_6:20, “whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus.” -VWS

 Jesus is thus our Forerunner (prodromos) in heaven (Heb_6:20). rwp

I will come again (πάλιν ἔρχομαι)
The present tense; I come, so Rev. Not to be limited to the Lord's second and glorious coming at the last day, nor to any special coming, such as Pentecost, though these are all included in the expression; rather to be taken of His continual coming and presence by the Holy Spirit. “Christ is, in fact, from the moment of His resurrection, ever coming into the world and to the Church, and to men as the risen Lord” (Westcott).

Where I am
"In absolute, eternal being and fellowship with the Father. I am (ἐγω εἰμι) is the formula of the divine existence (Joh_8:58). The phrase carries a hint of the essential nature of Jesus, and thus prepares the way for ye cannot come (see on Joh_7:7). The difference in character will make it essentially impossible." -VWS

"And if I go and if I prepare a place for you—a simple condition, soon to be realized by the event—I come again; I am ever coming, as I am now about to explain to you,
(1) in my resurrection (Joh_16:16, Joh_16:17);
(2) in the bestowment of the Comforter (Joh_14:17, Joh_14:25, Joh_14:26; Joh_16:7, etc.);
(3) in the intimate relations which, through the power of the Spirit (Joh_14:18, Joh_14:23)," -Pulpit Commentary

"The full perspective of the Lord’s approach to faithful souls is given in the extraordinary pregnancy of the "I am coming." Not until he comes m all his glory will the words be perfectly fulfilled; but the early Church, on the basis of communion with Christ himself in the power of his Spirit, expected that Christ had come and taken to himself one by one those who died in the faith (1Th_4:14). Thus Stephen expected the Lord to receive his spirit (Act_7:59); and the dying thief was to be with him, in Paradise; and Paul knew that to be from home, so far as body is concerned, was to be "at home or present with the Lord" (2Co_5:8). "To be with Christ" was "far better" than to labor on in the flesh (Php_1:23). The highest thought of peace and love was to the apostles union and presence with Christ. Our Lord asserts here that by his very nearness to them he will make their heaven for them. How soon this wonderful idea spread among men! Within twenty years, Thessalonians were comforted about their pious dead, with the thought that they slept in Jesus, and would together with them be "forever with the Lord."-Pulpit Commentary

"This intimates, what many other scriptures declare, that the quintessence of heaven's happiness is being with Christ there, Joh_17:24; Php_1:23; 1Th_4:17." -Matthew Henry

Other promises of Heaven:

"For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 2 Corinthians 5:1

"For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God." Hebrews 11:10

"For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.  If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city."  Hebrews 11:14-16

"For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come." -Hebrews 13:4

"The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name." -Revelation 3:12

"Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown." Revelation 3:11

Let others talk about cultural relevancy—I desire to be a voice for eternity. The Bible speaks of heaven 557 times; it's a fundamental, foundational truth. -Corson

My questions:

Why pick a house/mansion/rooms as a concrete illustration?

Matthew Henry clears it up:

"The circumstances of death, which is its portal, our utter unacquaintance with all that lies behind the veil, the terrible silence and distance which falls upon our dearest ones as they are sucked into the cloud, all tend to make us feel that there is much that is solemn and awful even in the thought of eternal future blessedness. But how it is all softened when we say, ‘My Father’s house.’ Most of us have long since left behind us the sweet security, the sense of the absence of all responsibility, the assurance of defence and provision, which used to be ours when we lived as children in a father’s house here. But we may all look forward to the renewal, in far nobler form, of these early days, when the father’s house meant the inexpugnable fortress where no evil could befall us, the abundant home where all wants were supplied, and where the shyest and timidest child could feel at ease and secure. It is all coming again, brother, and amidst the august and unimaginable glories of that future the old feeling of being little children, nestling safe in the Father’s house, will fill our quiet hearts once more." -Matthew Henry

He touches nicely upon our yearning for the physical here too without being presumptuous:

"And from the representation of my text, though we cannot fathom all its depths, we can at least grasp this, which gives solidity and reality to our contemplations of the future, that heaven is a place, full of all sweet security and homelike repose, where God is made known in every heart and to every consciousness as a loving Father, and of which all the inhabitants are knit together in the frankest fraternal intercourse, conscious of the Father’s love, and rejoicing in the abundant provisions of His royal House." -Henry

Why is Heaven a city?  I inherently prefer a rural Heaven, although I suppose the river running through it helps.

It's hard for my find to grapple with man-made environments being the ultimate manifestation of God's vision and plan. 

Love this:

"Sorrow needs simple words for its consolation; and simple words are the best clothing for the largest truths." -Andrew MacLaren

Alexander MacLaren on Gaps & Mystery

The gaps in our knowledge of the future, seeing that we have such a Revealer as we have in Christ, are remarkable. But my text suggests this to us-we have as much as we need. I know, and many of you know, by bitter experience, how many questions, the answers to which would seem to us to be such a lightening of our burdens, our desolated and troubled hearts suggest about that future, and how vainly we ply heaven with questions and interrogate the unreplying Oracle. But we know as much as we need. We know that God is there. We know that it is the Father’s house. We know that Christ is in it. We know that the dwellers there are a family. We know that sweet security and ample provision are there; and, for the rest, if we I needed to have heard more, He would have told us.

‘My knowledge of that life is small,

The eye of faith is dim;

But ‘tis enough that Christ knows all;

And I shall be with Him.’

Let the gaps remain. The gaps are part of the revelation, and we know enough for faith and hope.
May we not widen the application of that thought to other matters than to our bounded and fragmentary conceptions of a future life? In times like the present, of doubt and unrest, it is a great piece of Christian wisdom to recognise the limitations of our knowledge and the sufficiency of the fragments that we have. What do we get a revelation for? To solve theological puzzles and dogmatic difficulties? to inflate us with the pride of quasi-omniscience? or to present to us God in Christ for faith, for love, for obedience, for imitation? Surely the latter, and for such purposes we have enough.

So let us recognise that our knowledge is very partial. A great stretch of wall is blank, and there is not a window in it. If there had been need for one, it would have been struck out. He has been pleased to leave many things obscure, not arbitrarily, so as to try our faith-for the implication of the words before us is that the relation between Him and us binds Him to the utmost possible frankness, and that all which we need and He can tell us He does tell-but for high reasons, and because of the very conditions of our present environment, which forbid the more complete and all-round knowledge.

So let us recognise our limitations. We know in part, and we are wise if we affirm in part. Hold by the Central Light, which is Jesus Christ. ‘Many things did Jesus which are not written in this book,’ and many gaps and deficiencies from a human point of view exist in the contexture of revelation. ‘But these are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ,’ for which enough has been told us, ‘and that, believing, ye may have life in His name.’ If that purpose be accomplished in us, God will not have spoken, nor we have heard, in vain. Let us hold by the Central Light, and then the circumference of darkness will gradually retreat, and a wider sphere of illumination be ours, until the day when we enter our mansion in the Father’s house, and then ‘in Thy Light shall we see light’; and we shall ‘know even as we are known.’

Alexander MacLaren on John 14:1