John 14:1-21
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Jesus is our foundation for faith...His resurrection gives us both faith and hope...And our place in heaven also gives us hope...Because He LOVES us, we will also live...So in faith we find this very strong link to hope...And in our faith, we have this hope for eternal life and sharing that life with Him and His Father...Those who follow Jesus have this hope that gives us this faith to believe that He was resurrected and is in heaven...And because He was resurrected, then He shows us that there is eternal life in heaven...That is why He told His Disciples not to let their hearts be troubled...To believe in God; but also to believe also in Him...Jesus said His Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, He would have told them so...So He would be going there to prepare a place for them...And when He would go and prepare that place for them, He would come back and take them at a later time to be with Him, so that they could be where He was...
He was going to prepare a place for them, and that place was in heaven...So while faith is a current and present Christian virtue, hope is virtue of the future and eternal life with Jesus and His Father in heaven...Because He still lives today, we shall live...And He told His Disciples this, "Because I live, you also will live."...