Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. John 14:1
We see many troubling things in the world today. Perhaps you see them in your own home, among your family members, or in your own life. Jesus has a remedy for our troubled hearts.
Jesus was now hours away from His trial, crucifixion, and death. As He shared the Last Supper with the men He had handpicked to be His apostles, He gave them difficult news. The disciples had expected the messianic kingdom to be inaugurated any day, but Jesus now made it very clear to them that He would be leaving. But Jesus encouraged them, “Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14:1).
The disciples were troubled. But the Lord had a reason for leaving: “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2–3). But all the disciples could see was that they would be separated from the Lord.
A Wonderful Promise
My wife and I live with a permanent ache because some of our children live far away from us. But in the few times each year when the whole family comes home, we are full of excitement because the family is together. The Father’s house will be like that. All God’s people throughout the ages will dwell together in perfect harmony. What a wonderful promise! When we see the insanity in the world around us, we must not be gripped by anxiety. Our citizenship is in heaven.
“You know the way to where I am going,” Jesus told His followers. Thomas, a straightforward guy, spoke up. “Lord, we don’t know where You are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Here is Jesus’ sixth “I am” statement and one of the greatest declarations ever made. Where was Jesus going? To the Father. And what is the way to the Father? Jesus told His disciples, “I am the way to the Father—the only way.”
The Only Way
For many centuries in the Western world, people have more or less accepted Christian doctrine. If we state today, however, that Jesus is the only way to God, it produces a threatening situation. But Jesus is indeed the way—the atoning sacrifice for our sins and the only way we can find forgiveness and eternal life. He is the truth—the ultimate and only reality. And He is the life—every living thing, visible and invisible, draws its physical and spiritual life from Jesus Christ.
Philip, who with the others still wasn’t grasping all Jesus taught, said, “Lord, show us the Father.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:8–9).
We can only experience God through Jesus. The revelation of God to man has always been through God the Son. That is why Jesus could say, “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58), taking the very name by which God had revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush. Only the person who has seen Jesus has seen the Father.
Put Our Eyes On Jesus
The years ahead will likely be more tumultuous than these recent years have been. But no secret coup will dethrone the Lord. The glorification of man and his rebellion and sin against God is broadcast here, there, and everywhere, and if we keep our attention on those things, we will be troubled. But if we take our eyes off what is happening around us and put them on Jesus, our hearts will be at rest.
Is your heart troubled over things taking place in our country? In the world? In your personal life? Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in Jesus. He is the way to heaven, and that’s where we are going. Put your eyes on Jesus and believe Him to show you the way.