Thursday, March 15, 2012

A Morning Cup of Tea: Words of Faith

Good morning! I'm running a little late today but I'm here. I'm so sorry I did not write anything yesterday, but J had severe insomnia the night before and that kept me up a good bit of the night.
   Today we are in chapter 14 of John. The time is drawing near and Jesus is talking with eleven of his disciples, Judas Iscariot having gone to meet with the ones who sought to be rid of Jesus permanently. Jesus had already been telling them that he was going to leave them. This chapter he was giving them words of comfort, and reminding them what he had said before, Continue on with the works of the Father. 
  The first words he said in this chapter, Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 
  2. In my Father's house are  many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 
 3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. These are so comforting to me. 
   Jesus has given them a lot of information, and the disciples had seen him do many works in God's name, and they believed that Jesus was the Christ, but like the rest of us, they were a little unsure of what was going on. It's easy for us to understand and believe because we've seen the end of the book. We know how the story ends: He is the Christ, and if we keep his commandments he's going to come back for us! Good triumphs over evil! But though they have been teaching and doing, they've mostly been following Jesus, and now he's saying that he's going away and they need to take over. 
  So I think it's natural that Thomas ask How can we know the way, and Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father.  Jesus' answer:  I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
 If ye had known me, ye shoud have known my Father also. and from henceforth ye know him and see him.  (v6,7)  He further stated, when Philip asked to see the Father, that they had seen his works, which were not of Jesus but of God.
  Later in the chapter Jesus promises to send the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit. He would bring to remembrance all that Jesus had taught them. This tells us that we need to study so that the Comforter can bring to remembrance what had been taught. 
  Oh, there is so much in this chapter that Jesus is telling them. He wants them to pay attention because time is short and he wont have much opportunity to talk at length with them again. I'm being rushed here, so instead of going on to chapter 15 immediately I think we will talk more about this chapter. What are your thoughts on this chapter? I'd love to hear from you.
 

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