John 14

“Don’t let this throw you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I’m taking.”

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe in me also.

There are many rooms in my Father’s house. If this were not true, would I have told you that I am going there? Would I have told you that I would prepare a place for you there?

If I go and do that, I will come back. And I will take you to be with me. Then you will also be where I am.

You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus Is the Way to the Father

Thomas said, “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?”

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. So how can we know the way?”

Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

If you really know me, you will know my Father also. From now on, you do know him. And you have seen him.”

Philip said, “Master, show us the Father; then we’ll be content.”

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father. That will be enough for us.”

“You’ve been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don’t understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, ‘Where is the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren’t mere words. I don’t just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act.

Jesus answered, “Don’t you know me, Philip? I have been among you such a long time! Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father? Don’t you believe that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. The Father lives in me. He is the one who is doing his work.

“Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it. That’s how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do.

The Spirit of Truth

Believe me when I say I am in the Father. Also believe that the Father is in me. Or at least believe what the works I have been doing say about me.

What I’m about to tell you is true. Anyone who believes in me will do the works I have been doing. In fact, they will do even greater things. That’s because I am going to the Father.

And I will do anything you ask in my name. Then the Father will receive glory from the Son.

You may ask me for anything in my name. I will do it.

Jesus Promises That the Holy Spirit Will Come

“If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. 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!

“If you love me, obey my commands.

I will ask the Father. And he will give you another friend to help you and to be with you forever.

That friend is the Spirit of truth. The world can’t accept him. That’s because the world does not see him or know him. But you know him. He lives with you, and he will be in you.

“I will not leave you orphaned. I’m coming back. In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see me because I am alive and you’re about to come alive. At that moment you will know absolutely that I’m in my Father, and you’re in me, and I’m in you.

I will not leave you like children who don’t have parents. I will come to you.

Before long, the world will not see me anymore. But you will see me. Because I live, you will live also.

On that day you will realize that I am in my Father. You will know that you are in me, and I am in you.

“The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him.”

Anyone who has my commands and obeys them loves me. My Father will love the one who loves me. I too will love them. And I will show myself to them.”

Judas (not Iscariot) said, “Master, why is it that you are about to make yourself plain to us but not to the world?”

Then Judas spoke. “Lord,” he said, “why do you plan to show yourself only to us? Why not also to the world?” The Judas who spoke those words was not Judas Iscariot.

“Because a loveless world,” said Jesus, “is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we’ll move right into the neighborhood! Not loving me means not keeping my words. The message you are hearing isn’t mine. It’s the message of the Father who sent me.

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them. We will come to them and make our home with them.

Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. The words you hear me say are not my own. They belong to the Father who sent me.

“I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. 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.

“I have spoken all these things while I am still with you.

But the Father will send the Friend in my name to help you. The Friend is the Holy Spirit. He will teach you all things. He will remind you of everything I have said to you.

I leave my peace with you. I give my peace to you. I do not give it to you as the world does. Do not let your hearts be troubled. And do not be afraid.

“You’ve heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away, and I’m coming back.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I’m on my way to the Father because the Father is the goal and purpose of my life.

“You heard me say, ‘I am going away. And I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad I am going to the Father. The Father is greater than I am.

“I’ve told you this ahead of time, before it happens, so that when it does happen, the confirmation will deepen your belief in me. I’ll not be talking with you much more like this because the chief of this godless world is about to attack. But don’t worry—he has nothing on me, no claim on me. But so the world might know how thoroughly I love the Father, I am carrying out my Father’s instructions right down to the last detail.

“Get up. Let’s go. It’s time to leave here.”

I have told you now before it happens. Then when it does happen, you will believe.

I will not say much more to you. The prince of this world is coming. He has no power over me.

But he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father. They must also learn that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me to do.

“Come now. Let us leave.