John 14:1-5
 
John 14:1 (KJB)
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
 
The word in the Greek for “Let…be troubled” is one word and it is in the Imperative Mood which means it is a command. The Lord Jesus is telling His disciples that the coming events will look very bad. That same Greek word carries with it the meaning of the inward anxiety along with the emotional shock the disciples will face especially as Jesus is crucified. It will be a night of terror for them and mixed emotions. Jesus is telling them since they believe in God that they are also to believe on Him. He wants them to hold on to that belief in Him so that faith will under gird them through this coming night and the next three days. Their faith in Jesus will sustain them through the times in which they do not understand what is going on. It is the same with all Christians. When we reach hard times, our faith in God, will sustain us during the times when things seem very confused.
 
John 14:2 (KJB)
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.
 
Mansions - Dwelling places, places to abide, rooms
 
Jesus commanded His disciples to not be troubled and to believe in Him. In the next few verses, Jesus gives the reason and basis for sustaining faith in Him. In this verse, He tells them that in His Father’s house are many mansions. This is pointing to the fact that Jesus is revealing that the permanent dwelling place is in the Father’s house. This means Heaven is the permanent abode of the believer in contrast to the transitory life on this earth. In the Hymn, “My Faith Looks Up To Thee,” the beginning of the fourth stanza goes, “When ends life’s transient dream,..” Life is very transitory on this earth but in Heaven it is where we will dwell permanently forever. Jesus is confirming that if there were no permanent dwelling places in Heaven, He would have told them. He then goes on to say that He is going to prepare a place for them. This means that soon He will be going to the cross and once the events of this weekend are completed, the salvation of all the true Christians will have been accomplished and it would just be a matter of time until all the Christians which God named before the foundation of the world would become saved and when the final one is saved, then the end will come.
 
John 14:3 (KJB)
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.
 
Here Jesus goes one step beyond by telling them that not only will He be going to the cross to secure their salvation but at the appointed day, He is going to return on the clouds of glory and bring all the believer’s home. It is the event known as the Rapture and we have already seen six times in this book that it will occur on the last day. The Lord Jesus is making God’s salvation package a completed event. The Bible speaks about a new Heaven and new Earth and when all the believers are raptured and the unbelievers are taken to judgment, then the world and the universe will be remade in righteousness. (Eph 3:21 KJV) Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. This is why Ephesians 3:21 states, “world without end” because it will be a world without end after it is remade. (2 Pet 3:13 KJV) Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Sin causes debilitation and since there will be no sin in the new heavens and earth, it will never end.
 
John 14:4 (KJB)
And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
 
Whither - Where
 
Jesus had just told them that He was going to the cross and to His Father’s house as He was preparing a place for them. He may have said this to them but their understanding was still clouded. The way to His Father’s house would be through suffering and troubles, just as Jesus faced in the past three years of His earthly ministry and the fact that He is going to be crucified very shortly. Those who follow Jesus can expect to be persecuted for their faith. (2 Tim 3:12 KJV) Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 2 Timothy 3:12 does not state that only a few will suffer persecution but all who will live godly in Christ Jesus. There will be many Christians who will align themselves with the world and will suffer nothing and when they get to Heaven, they will be empty handed, that is, they will have lived a barren Christian life and made no impact on this world with the gospel.
 
John 14:5 (KJB)
Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
 
Thomas was basically verbalizing what the other disciples were thinking. Thomas did not know where Heaven was, so then how could he know the way? Then they were still not settled in their mind that Christ was about to be crucified and this too was a puzzle concerning where Jesus was going to go very shortly. Their understanding was still on a physical earth and even though Jesus had just finished speaking about Heaven and His Father’s House, they were still short of understanding what this meant. Jesus is about to unravel the way they are to go.

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