John 14 and 15 we see parts of Jesus’ sermon to His disciples wherein He ministers to them spiritually and emotionally, rather than requesting support from them in His last hours alone with them, revealing His servant heart (cross reference Matthew 20:26-28). John 14 begins with Jesus comforting the distraught disciples with “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me.” He proceeds to reiterate that He is going away to “prepare a place” for all believers, will come again to take them/us to “where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going” (John 14:3-4). This had the disciple Thomas say that they in fact didn’t know where Jesus was going and therefore didn’t know the way to where He was going. Jesus reassures, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also…” (John 14:5-7). If you recall in Exodus 3:14 where God appeared to Moses via the burning bush and referred to Himself as “I AM WHO I AM”, God identified Himself as such in order to point to His self-sufficiency and eternality. We are also told in John 1:1-8 that in the beginning of all creation that the Word was with God and the Word was God. This proves that Jesus is the same “I Am” as the “I Am” in Exodus. Further support of this is in John 1:14 where it says that the Word became flesh and dwealt among them:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it [refer also to John 16:33]. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.” (John 1:1-8)
“And the Word became flesh and dwealt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
This same great “I Am”, Jesus Christ, described Himself as “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser”. This picture of a vinedresser who gets rid of the dead branches while preserving the living, fruit-bearing branches illustrates the apostate Christians who never genuinely believed because there was no evidence of spiritual transformation and growing maturity demonstrated in their lives. Jesus says in John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me and I in him [being united with Christ; refer to Galatians 3:26-28], he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing”. Jesus goes on to describe, in John 15:6, the dead branches being gathered and thrown into the fire, referring to the Day of Judgement. This mighty, terrifying God who reserves His wrath for the lifeless, reserves His tenderness and eternal love for His disciples and for you and I who believe in Jesus, who is the Good News that has set us apart for Himself. And because He “chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master.” (John 15:19-20a). That is why “In the world you will have tribulations. But take heart; I have overcome the world”, as Jesus said in the last verse of John 16 in 33b. The next chapter of John, chapter 17, Jesus’ evening of ministering to His disciples’ hearts closes with His spectacular prayer as Supreme High Priest, which we will take a closer look at tomorrow.
Questions to ask yourself:
- In your opinion, what is the most stunning reality about Jesus’ heart towards His disciples, including you?
- How does it feel to have the all-powerful, all-wise, omnipresent God reserve His love and tender mercies for you, knowing the truth of what happens to those who never believe in Christ?
Prayer Prompt:
Thank Jesus for The Cross that He saved you from The Father’s wrath. Thank Jesus for His tender, devoted heart towards you who thought of you by name when He thought of returning for those He would save. Thank Jesus for the example He gave of loving grace and humility, and ask Him to continue to tenderize and humble your heart in His likeness for your benefit and His glory and Kingdom.