"Do Not Let Your Heart Be Troubled"

 

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 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. And you know the way where I am going.” John 14:1 – 4 (NASB).

 

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27.

 

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace.” John 16:33a.

 

Jesus will shortly be betrayed, arrested, mocked and tortured, and then crucified. Yet, His desire is that His followers know His peace. He follows His words to Peter about Peter’s impending denial of Him with the words, “Do not let your heart be troubled…”

 

Much of what Jesus is saying in the Upper Room is shrouded in mystery for His immediate hearers, the unthinkable and the unknowable and the unbearable and the unbelievable is about to descend upon them, envelope them, disorient them – until they are overwhelmed with ever greater unfolding mystery and glory on Easter, Pentecost, and beyond. What Jesus says in John chapters 13 – 17, in the Upper Room, is dense – its depth and height and breath are ever expanding – what we may think is simple is not so simple, and what we may consider mysterious and complex is yet something we can experience in Christ as we are drawn into the koinonia of the Trinity. When Paul writes of “the peace of God that passes all understanding” (Phil. 4:7) he means exactly that, we cannot comprehend the peace of God, we can experience it but we cannot understand it – it simply doesn’t make sense.

 

We must look foolish to the angels with our substitutes for the peace of God, our therapies, our diversions, our self-centered preaching and teaching – when Jesus desires for us to receive His peace, when His peace is offered to us again and again, and yet we think it too simple to receive – we refuse to acknowledge our dependence on our Lord and Savior, we must find a more reasonable way to have peace, a way that has the approbation of mankind, that humanity approves of, that makes sense to the world – that we can take some credit for devising or participating in, or at least paying for. Why would we rather be dependent upon humanity than upon Jesus Christ? How foolish we are in our supposed wisdom.

 

“If it were not so, I would have told you.” Does not life come down to this, the Word of Jesus? Can we trust the Word of Jesus? Can we trust Jesus Christ?

 

Did the disciples remember this statement through the tragic events they were about to live through? Did they hear Jesus’ voice saying, “If it were not so, I would have told you”?

 

Jesus has a place for us with Him and in Him. Jesus is preparing that place, He has prepared that place; it is a place of discovery and peace and rest and joy and wonder – a place beyond human words. If it were not so, He would have told us – do we believe this? Do we look into the eyes of Jesus and believe Him? Do our hearts beat with trust in Him?

 

This is not about amassing the evidence of others that tells us that Jesus can be trusted, though we may indeed rejoice in the testimony of others. This is about me and you encountering Jesus Christ, one to one – however He may graciously bring this about – and saying, “I trust you Lord Jesus with all that I have and all that I am. I give myself to You and I receive You into my heart and mind and soul, into the depths of my life.”

 

When we are disoriented, in confusion, in hurt, in despair – when our earthly certainties turn into nightmares, this is about hearing Jesus saying, “If it were not so, I would have told you.”

 

When the suffering and confusion and hatred of this world bombard us, are we hearing Jesus say, “If it were not so I would have told you.”

 

Jesus has prepared a place for us, a place deep within the holy Trinity – He invites us to that Place today. Jesus says, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

 

Jesus is saying, “If it were not so, I would have told you.”

 

Can Jesus be trusted, and do I trust Him?

 

Can Jesus be trusted, and do you trust Him?