More Promises

John 14:4-14

Main Idea: Jesus assures his disciples that following him will lead to heaven, and he promises them help from heaven while they follow him on earth.

1. The Promise of a Path to Heaven
2. The Promise of Power from Heaven
   1. Greater works
   2. Answered prayer

At the turn of the century, a USA Today article was written about billionaire Ted Turner, the founder of CNN and owner of the Atlanta Braves. Toward the end of the article, Turner explains his view of life:

You know, I’m not looking for any big rewards. I’m not a religious person. I believe this life is all we have. I’m not doing what I’m doing to be rewarded in heaven or punished in hell. I’m doing it because I feel it’s the right thing to do. Almost every religion talks about a savior coming. When you look in the mirror in the morning, when you’re putting on your lipstick or shaving, you’re looking at the savior. Nobody else is going to save you but yourself. (Quoted in Lieber, “He Wants,” 1–2C)

Though only a small minority of people would be bold enough to make that statement, it’s the way the majority of people live. What Ted Turner so brazenly stated is the underlying philosophy of religion.

In Scripture we’re forced to compare religion and the gospel. Religion is any system that teaches we have the ability to save ourselves. The gospel teaches we are completely unable to save ourselves. Religion says, “Look inside yourself for salvation.” The gospel says, “The only hope for salvation is outside yourself.” We clearly see the failure of religion in the Old Testament. The Israelites often fell into the trap of religion, assuming they could earn salvation by keeping the Old Testament law. The prophet Isaiah condemned the Israelites for living as if their works would justify them before God. They attempted to draw near to God with their mouths and honor him with their lips, but their hearts were far from him (29:13). In other words, they were trying to be good enough to earn God’s favor. In the New Testament Jesus contrasted religion and the gospel in his interactions with the religious elite. They did a lot of religious things—they tithed on everything they owned (even down to herbs and spices from their gardens), they fasted multiple times a week, and they memorized copious amounts of Scripture—all with the goal of earning God’s favor.

Jesus told them it was impossible, and in the place of religion he offered them the gospel. He promised his followers reconciliation with God, not through their effort and work but only through faith in him. Jesus did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. This is what Jesus reminds his disciples of in chapter 14. In this section of the Gospel of John, the disciples are on a roller-coaster ride, and it’s just beginning. So far this evening,

• They’ve had their feet washed by their Master.
• They’ve been warned of a traitor in their midst.
• They’ve seen Peter shot down as he proclaims his loyalty to Jesus.
• They’ve just found out that Jesus is leaving them.

After all the bad news, they finally receive some good news beginning in chapter 14. Jesus promises them he will return to collect them so they can be with him forever. He ends this promise with words of assurance: “You know the way to where I am going” (v. 4).

Thomas speaks for all of them when he expresses uncertainty: “Lord, we don’t even understand where you’re going, how could we possibly know the way?” (v. 5; my paraphrase). This question from the lips of Thomas brings a second promise from Jesus. These promises are given after Jesus gives them a command. He says, “Believe also in me” (14:1). The promises hinge on faith. These promises are given to those who have committed themselves to follow Jesus as his disciples.

The Promise of a Path to Heaven

This promise is not a future promise but a current one. Jesus doesn’t say, “You will know [future tense] the way to heaven.” Jesus tells them, “You know [present tense] the way to heaven” (v. 4). The significance of the perfect tense is it’s a past action that has future results. So in effect Jesus is saying, “In the past you came to know the way; this knowledge will continue into the future.” But the disciples aren’t certain they know the way. In fact, Thomas says he’s not even sure of the destination (v. 5). Jesus is the way to gain access to the Father. They may be confused, but they already know this path because they know Jesus.

This entire discussion is based on an understood, yet often overlooked, presupposition. Everyone who’s religious realizes something needs to happen for him or her to get to God, to make it to heaven. Whether their answer is good works, giving to charity, penance, last rites, karma, reincarnation, or martyrdom, all religious people acknowledge what the Bible teaches throughout: the way to God is blocked. Something hinders us from being with God, and it must be overcome. In the Old Testament God taught Israel this truth through an object lesson. Hanging in the tabernacle and then in the temple was a thick, heavy curtain called “the veil.” The purpose of the veil was to separate mankind from the earthly dwelling of God. The veil itself didn’t separate man from God. It was just a symbol. What really separates man from God is sin. The abundance of organized religions reveals that most people feel they need to do something to get to God, something to get through the veil of sin.

Because of our sin, we need a mediator. We need someone who can bring us into God’s presence. For the Jews, this person was the priest. Once a year he would pass through the veil and enter the presence of God to confess the sins of the nation. When Jesus died, the veil in the temple was torn from the top to the bottom. Just as the veil symbolized the separation of God and man, the tearing of the veil symbolized there is now a way to enter the presence of God. Jesus is the mediator. Being both man and God, he alone can bridge the chasm that separates a sinful person from a holy God. Jesus uses the imagery of a way, a path, a road to teach them he is able to take them from one point—their sinful, wicked state—to a different point—reconciliation with God.

The disciples don’t need to concern themselves with a location or a destination. They don’t need to obsess over a place. They need to focus all of their attention on a person. Just as heaven is about living with Jesus, salvation is about walking with Jesus. Jesus does not say he will point them in the right direction. He says he is the driver and the destination. One commentator wrote,

[Jesus] does not only give advice and directions. He takes us by the hand and leads us; he strengthens us and guides us personally every day. He does not tell us about the way; he is the Way. (Barclay, John, 157)

Salvation is more than praying a prayer. It’s putting your trust in a person. We create doubt when we view salvation improperly. We might worry about the words we said, or whether we were sincere, instead of trusting in Jesus. Through Jesus alone we are brought into a right relationship with the Father. The exclusivity of Jesus’s statement often angers people. Why is it so offensive? It’s offensive because it strikes a blow to our pride. What Jesus says to you and to me is, “You cannot make it to heaven on your own.” It feeds our proud nature to attempt to save ourselves. To accept the true Jesus revealed in Scripture requires humility.

Jesus doesn’t make this exclusive statement because he’s trying to win a popularity contest. He says it because it’s true. What Jesus says can be trusted because he himself is the truth. Jesus does not simply tell the truth; he embodies it. He is the source of truth, and the reason truth is absolute. Social commentators say we’ve been living in the age of postmodernism. Listen to these words on postmodern thinking from John MacArthur:

[T]he one essential, non-negotiable demand postmodernism makes of everyone: We are not to think we know any objective truth. Postmodernists often suggest that every opinion should be shown equal respect. And therefore on the surface, postmodernism seems driven by a broad-minded concern for harmony and tolerance. It all sounds very charitable and altruistic. But what really underlies the postmodernist belief system is an utter intolerance for every worldview that makes any universal truth-claims—particularly biblical Christianity. (Why One Way?, 9)

I visited the website religioustolerance.org and read this in their statement of beliefs: “We do believe: that systems of truth in the field of morals, ethics, and religious belief are not absolute. They vary by culture, religion, and over time.” Jesus condemns that thinking when he states, “I am the truth” (v. 6). If he is the true way to the Father, then only through him can we have life. He has driven this point home throughout the Gospel. Only through Jesus can anyone find life. Jesus repeatedly tells his disciples he is the source of life (cf. 1:3-4; 4:13-14; 5:21; 11:25). Why is it so important on this night for him to reassure them he is life? Because they will see him die. They will witness the life leave his physical body. They will watch as his lifeless flesh is taken down from the cross and carried to the tomb. Even as they watch this tragedy unfold, they will hear these words of reassurance echo: “I am the life.”

These three descriptions—the way, the truth, and the life—lay the foundation for the exclusive statement Jesus makes at the end of verse 6: “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Christianity is exclusive. But Christianity is not exclusive because of who it lets in. Jesus teaches, “Anyone may come” (see John 7:37; Rev 22:17). Christianity is exclusive because there’s only one way to get in. Jesus alone brings men to God. He is the way, not a way.

The reason the disciples eventually came to believe Jesus’s promise of a path to heaven is because Jesus is God. Their assurance is rooted in the deity of Christ. He has the right and authority to make these promises because he himself is God (John 14:7). Everything Jesus says and does demonstrates he is one with the Father (vv. 9-11). Jesus’s words reveal he is in the Father, and Jesus’s works reveal the Father is in him. The disciples should have realized Jesus is one with the Father by this point. He asks in effect, “How can you not yet believe?” There should be no way to miss it. He made the claim over and over, and his claim is backed up by such definitive acts that those acts alone should be enough to make them believe. Jesus can make the promise of heaven—both the reality of the place and the exclusivity of the path—for one simple reason: he is God.

The Promise of Power from Heaven

Here’s a promise to comfort the disciples’ hearts and calm their fears: Jesus is not withdrawing from them. He’s not leaving the difficulty and challenges of this life so he can kick back in a heavenly La-Z-Boy. He’s going ahead of them, but he will continue to actively work in them. He is going to heaven, and from there he will supply them with infinite resources. The power he will supply them will be seen through greater works and through answered prayer.

Greater Works

What does Jesus mean that his disciples will do greater works? He’s not saying just the Twelve will do greater works. He says, “The one who believes in me” (v. 12). Greater can’t simply mean “more spectacular.” If he meant “more spectacular,” then his disciples might have had this discussion:

“Hey, Peter, you’re creative. Jesus said we’d do more spectacular works than he did. What’s more spectacular than turning water into wine?”

Peter thinks for a second; “What about if someone walked on water? Oh wait, Jesus already did that.”

So James jumps in: “Let’s not worry about the water miracles, what’s more spectacular than healing a man who’s blind or lame or sick? . . . What’s greater than healing a man that’s half-dead?”

“Well,” Peter responds, “you could resurrect a man who’s all the way dead.”

Nothing could be done that’s more spectacular than what Jesus did, but if we look at this promise in the larger context of God’s plan of redemption (which is its setting), we can understand what Jesus means. The works the disciples would do were not more spectacular, but they were greater in extent.

Greater geographically. One historian writes,

Think of what Jesus in the days of his flesh had actually done. He had never preached outside of Palestine. Within his lifetime Europe had never heard the gospel. He had never personally met [the] moral degradation of a city like Rome. (Barclay, John, 165; emphasis original)

But his disciples have spread the gospel around the globe.

Greater ethnically. Jesus dealt almost exclusively with the Jews. However, his disciples would deal with both Jews and Gentiles.

Greater numerically. Acts begins with a few dozen disciples meeting in a room, but by Acts 2 three thousand are added to the church.

Greater spiritually. William Barclay writes, “The triumphs of the message of the Cross were even greater than the triumphs of Jesus in the days of his flesh” (John, 165). Jesus may have raised the physically dead, but the disciples were able to witness the spiritually dead come to life (Eph 2:4-7).

However, we set up a false dichotomy if we try to contrast the works of Jesus with the works of the disciples. The distinction is between what Jesus did on earth and what Jesus is accomplishing from heaven through his people here on earth.

Answered Prayer

The Spirit’s power will not only be seen in greater works, but it will also be evident through answered prayer (vv. 13-14). Jesus promises to answer the prayers of his disciples. But lest we run home and fall on our knees begging for a new boat, notice Jesus defines genuine prayer as prayer in his name and prayer that when answered will bring glory to God. To pray in Jesus’s name is not to recite a magical incantation but to pray in line with his will. It’s to pray with the understanding the request you bring is one Jesus would sign his name to. It’s a request that, if answered, would show the world who God is and what he cares about. Hudson Taylor, the faithful missionary to China, once said,

I used to ask God to help me. Then, I asked Him if I might help Him. Finally, I ended up asking Him to do his work in me and through me, if He would be so pleased.” (Quoted in Davey, When Heaven, 135)

That’s praying in Jesus’s name.

When we pray expecting him to answer, he will. Confident prayer in the name of Jesus—according to his will—will be answered, and when that answer comes, God will be glorified. John Piper writes,

Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need. Prayer humbles us as needy and exalts God as wealthy. (Desiring God, 160–61)

This passage is packed with wonderful promises Jesus made to his disciples: the promise of a place called heaven, the promise of a path to heaven, and the promise of power from heaven. Like an engagement ring, these promises bring us hope and excitement for that day when we see Jesus face-to-face. But all of these promises come after a single command: “Believe in me.” These promises are only for people who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ alone. Remember what Jesus promises:

• You do not need to rely on yourself, for he is the way.
• You do not need to live in uncertainty, for he is the truth.
• You do not need to fear death, for he is the life.

Reflect and Discuss

1. What is the underlying philosophy of religion? How is this different from the gospel?
2. How does the Old Testament display the failure of religion?
3. What does the Bible teach that all religions also acknowledge? What symbol does God give of this in the temple?
4. Why is Christianity exclusive?
5. What is so offensive about Jesus’s statement of exclusivity?
6. How will Jesus’s followers do greater works?
7. In what ways has Jesus’s promise of greater works been seen?
8. What does it mean to pray in Jesus’s name?
9. Why are Jesus’s words on prayer good news we can believe?
10. What can we believe about Jesus based on his words on prayer?