Are you troubled in heart, friend? Does the chaos of the world shake you? Do you feel anxious of soul and uneasy of mind? As the darkness deepens and the violence of the wicked rises like the tumultuous waves of a stormy sea, does hopelessness threat to invade and unseat your confidence in Christ? Take courage—Jesus’ disciples are no strangers to the anguish of a troubled heart.
We enter our scene upon the final hours of Jesus’ life. He and his disciples have just shared their last meal together, and Judas Iscariot has stolen away into the night to betray the Lord to the Pharisees. Jesus has just shattered His disciples’ expectations with the announcement that He would be leaving them, and that where He was going they could not follow (John 13:36). After three years together—learning from Jesus, preaching to the multitudes, performing miracles and working toward what they thought would be a political, earthly kingdom—the disciples were devastated. Imagine, their beloved Rabbi, the one for whom they had left everything was going away. All they had built their lives around, their purpose, their ambitions, evaporated like the morning mist.
The disciples did not yet understand the Messiah’s larger purpose, even though Jesus told them plainly that He would be handed over to the scribes and Pharisees to be put to death (Matthew 20:17–19). As the chaos of the cross unfolded before their eyes, and as the darkness of the powers of evil pressed in upon their hearts they succumbed to fear, to doubt, to hopelessness and despair. All but one deserted their Lord, and after His death they hid themselves behind locked doors for fear of the same fate (Matthew 26:56; John 20:19).
Do you notice the same pattern in your own life? When circumstances quake and uncertainties rage, do you begin to lose confidence in the Lord? Does your faith tremble and hide? Does anxiety drive you to flee instead of to pray? Beloved, know this: Christ has great compassion for the troubled of heart. Do not think that He looks down upon your weaknesses; He understands. What’s more, He wants you to be comforted. See how lovingly He prepares His disciples for what is about to happen! With impeccable wisdom and unfathomable grace He gives them the promises upon which they might build their faith and so be strengthened for the trials ahead.
“Let not your hearts be troubled,” Jesus told them. “Believe in God; believe also in me” (John 14:1). Right away we see that Jesus’ solution to our restlessness is relationship with Him. He beckons our attention away from our tumultuous surroundings and fixes it squarely upon Himself. Yet how often do we turn our focus to anxiety-inducing sources like the news, social media and the weightless words of wicked men? How much attention do we even have left to pour into prayer, reading our Bibles and pursuing meaningful, edifying fellowship? If we look long at the world we should not be surprised that the smoke of its burning should cloud the eyes of our faith. “The world is passing away along with its desires” (1 John 2:17)—let us take care that it does not erode the foundation of our faith as it does so.
Next, Jesus imparts hope to the disciples—not temporal hope, but future hope; hope beyond their circumstances. “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:2–3). Here, Jesus speaks with complete confidence about His Father’s house: Heaven. That word “rooms” (often translated “mansions”) is mone in Greek and means “staying or abiding, a dwelling, abode.” It points to the idea of permanence, a place where one dwells continually.
Does it seem as though your place in this world is becoming more precarious by the day, dear believer? Take heart! Though nothing in life is certain, we need not wonder about life beyond this earth; we can be certain of it because our Lord was certain of it. Like a mother and father expecting a child, Jesus prepares a place for us because he is joyously anticipating our arrival. An eternal home awaits us, and we can be confident that it will be both glorious and secure—a welcome made ready for us in love by the One who has prepared it. For it is not streets of gold, or pearly gates, or angels that make a place heavenly; it is the presence of Jesus!
Finally, Jesus declares to His disciples how they are to navigate this dark and hostile world so that they might be with Him forever. Jesus told them, “You know the way to where I am going” (John 14:4). The disciple Thomas voiced their confusion at this statement: “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (v.5). Jesus replied not with a set of instructions, but with a statement of identity: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (v. 6). Jesus calmed the disciples’ worried hearts by reassuring them that they could indeed know the way—it was not hidden from them. Nor, praise God, is it hidden from us!
The Son of God has been made manifest for our sakes, to lead us to faith and hope in God (1 Peter 1:20). You see, Heaven and Jesus are inextricable; you cannot have one without the other. Put another way, if you do not have Jesus then you shall not have Heaven. Jesus does not show us the way, He is the way. He speaks truth because He is the truth. And He offers us eternal life because He is life itself! It is only by knowing Him that we are assured of Heaven, and it is only by faith in Him that we find eternal life.
We may not understand the larger purpose of what God is doing in the chaos of our world right now. It seems like the darkness is pressing in and growing stronger every day. We may be tempted to despair and to forsake the confidence we once had in the Lord. But Jesus stands ready to calm the storm inside us with a word: Believe. Trust is the antidote to a troubled heart, beloved. Feed your faith by seeking the Lord, by deepening your relationship with Him through His Word, fellowship and prayer. Strengthen your soul with His promises—promises of Heaven and life everlasting. And rest assured that in Christ we have been given everything we need to make it through any circumstance so that on that final Day, when the trumpet sounds and our Lord returns, we will be with Him forever (1 Thessalonians 4:15–17)!