GOD'S GREATEST DESIRE: THAT WHERE I AM, THERE YE MAY BE ALSO

That Where I am, There Ye May Be Also.

John 14  Part 2, Jesus and the FATHER are One

The last blog focused on battling against worry  (see https://lnkd.in/d6HwhYV if you’ve not read it). It brought your attention to the 20 times where Jesus uses the word FATHER in John 14. So much repetition indicates the supreme importance of HIS relationship with the FATHER. It was HIS lifeline during HIS time on Earth. It was the source of HIS breakthrough in the many adverse situations. Jesus set the example of making the effort to get quiet in the FATHER’s presence and listen to the tick, tick, tick of the FATHER’s heart. The clock spring is the love of the FATHER for the Son and for people. Grasping this reality will bring great peace to our hearts and allow God to put HIS love for people in our hearts too.

John chapter 14  starts out with a most encouraging two part verse,

John 14:1   “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in ME.

To rephrase, you are not to let worry get to the heart level!! Please don’t cross the line from concern worry, it’ll soon become panic or lead to paranoid behaviors. 

The Promise and God’s Greatest Desire for Mankind:

In these verses, as we’ve often seen, Jesus sets a stage for what He is about to say or do.

John 14:2   …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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

4   And where I go you know, and the way you know.

In verse 5, below, Thomas is confounded by what Jesus said. To paraphrase, he’s saying, “What are you talking about, Jesus?” Notice how Jesus redirects the conversation, drawing attention to the higher priority in verse 6.

        5   Thomas said to HIM, “Lord, we do not know where YOU are going, and    how can we know the way?”

6   Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the FATHER except through ME.

Verse 6 answers so many questions and makes the Gospel so simple a little kid could get saved just hearing it. So many people who don’t accept Christ hang onto the false teaching that there are many ways to God, but this verse definitively nails that lie. Of great significance is the way Jesus lovingly emphasizes the necessity of our getting to know the FATHER. It reminds us of God’s great desire for mankind as expressed in John 3:16. We should always be asking the Lord for wisdom to be able to redirect conversations to the basic fundamental of relationship to God the FATHER through the Son. I have nothing against honest, intellectual debate, but we never see Jesus argue. HIS declaration in verse 6 should end doubtful disputations; people accept or reject what HE says but there’s little left to discuss if they reject it.

Let’s back-up a little in order to see more of this emphasis on our coming to the FATHER. Look back at verses 2 and 3. They beg the question, “Where was He going?” We see the answer in a few places after the Resurrection. Among them is:

In Peter’s first sermon right after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit began-

Acts 2:32   This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

33   Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the FATHER the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.

Then just before Stephen was stoned-

Acts 7:55   But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven,  and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

56   And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

So we see where Jesus is preparing a place for us to be with HIM. Hallelujah!!! This is the greatest desire of God’s heart, “that where I am, there you may be also.”

The rest of the chapter shows the supernatural, intellectually incomprehensible, reality of the Trinity and what a relationship with GOD the FATHER is all about. Our finite brain cannot grasp an infinite GOD, but we know HIM because of the faith that came when HE knocked on the door of our hearts and we invited HIM in and let Him sit on the throne of our hearts. Look at Philip’s struggle trying to comprehend what Jesus was describing of HIS connection with the FATHER-

John 14:7   “If you had known ME, you would have known My FATHER also; and from now on you know HIM and have seen HIM.”

8   Philip said to HIM, “Lord, show us the FATHER, and it is sufficient for us.”

I am sure that, due to my engineering brain, I would have reacted like that too. Jesus goes a step further-

John 14:9   Jesus said to HIM, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known ME, Philip? He who has seen ME has seen the FATHER; so how can you say, ‘Show us the FATHER’?

Don’t you just love it when Jesus short circuits limited human reasoning? yet HE can say, “He who has seen ME has seen the FATHER”

This verse challenges all disciples of Jesus with these questions:

§  Do people see Jesus in us?

§  Do people hear HIS voice when we speak?

§  Do people sense the supernatural Presence of the Holy Spirit when we’re around, or when they visit our churches?

There’s a great old book that shows the process involved to move toward an answer of “Yes” to all of the above. You can download a PDF, “The Release of the Spirit” by Watchman Nee, with a study guide, for free at https://thechurchincupertino.net/Watchman_Nee/Books/The%20Release%20of%20the%20Spirit.pdf

Check out the nutshell description from the preface:

The author strongly recommends to all the servants of Christ that they learn a most fundamental lesson in their Christian experience; namely, the breaking of the outward man for the release of the inward spirit. Work which is out of the spirit is alone the work of God. And only through the breaking of the outward man can the Holy Spirit freely work.

The Lord’s response to Philip, in John 14:8 above, shows the completeness of the connection of The FATHER and the SON. They are so intertwined that they are one.

The following verses are just mind blowing and critical to keeping our hearts in sync with God’s. The SON is in the FATHER and the FATHER is in the SON.

Prayer:       FATHER, continue to draw us closer to You, cause us to hear and reflect Your heart to people. Help us to yield to Your power that releases Your Spirit through us. Teach us to discipline our lives to take time to spend with YOU alone, with the Word, daily, so that You make the Word flesh in us.

For further study: Watch this young man’s 16 min. You Tube video teaching, from the Hebrew, about the intertwining. You will hear God’s heart’s desire for oneness with people. My friend Joe Taverna's son will bless your socks off. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41hc2zPAddc&t=5s