Preparation and Benefits

“In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.” (Jn 14:2)

In his passage Jesus begins a discourse to His disciples, preparing them for His death and speaking of the benefits that will come to those who believe and receive salvation through Him.  Jesus’ enemies would soon portray Him as a false prophet, worthy of crucifixion.  He wanted to set their hearts at ease, for their belief in Him as the Messiah was correct. Satan would portray Jesus as powerless, and yet great power would be given to not only Jesus, but to all who believed on Him.  Jesus spoke to His disciples about the truth so that they would be prepared for the deception that was to come.

In John 14 – 17 we read about the benefits Jesus would bring to the disciples after He went back to the Father.  It was important for them to know that there was a great purpose in His death, and that He had a great purpose for their lives, for they needed to have faith in both.  Without the belief in God’s purpose for our lives, we cannot apply our faith in Who Jesus is and all that He has done for us.  Our faith then becomes an intellectual exercise and we develop a belief that Jesus did all that was to be done . . . and what we do doesn’t matter.  This kind of thinking makes our faith impotent.

Jesus’ preparation of His disciples included His death on the cross and His departure from this world.  It was important that they know His sacrifice would be accepted by the Father, so that they would not lose their faith.  We see Jesus’ acceptance in Revelation 5;

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (verse 9)

Not only was Jesus’ sacrifice acceptable, but we were made acceptable by His blood.  Jesus made room for us in His Father’s abode.  Through the impartation of His Spirit to His believers, Jesus also made us “to be a kingdom and priests to serve God.” (Rev 5:10) The works of Jesus in His life and by His death prepared works of service for us to do, and by His Spirit we are empowered to carry them out.

Because Jesus has prepared a place for us and given us benefits through His Spirit, He nurtures and disciplines us to accomplish the greatness of our faith.  Just as we have faith in Who Jesus is, in the same manner we must have faith to be like Him in this world (1 Jn 4:7).  It is not our intellectual pursuits that overcome the world, but our active faith (1 Jn 5:4).  If we do not believe that Jesus calls us to be like Him, then the power of our testimony will be shaken when our enemy portrays us falsely as impostors.  It is the testimony of our blood-bought lives that overcomes satan (Rev 12:11).

Today, let us have faith that He who prepared a place for us is also working in us to serve God on this earth.  Then what He has begun will be finished.  Amen.