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Surveying the Text: Genesis

Joe Harby on

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INTRODUCTION

Just as Abraham walked through the land that he was promised without settling down to inherit the land, so we walk through the Bible, the land of promise, not yet in full possession of all that has been given to us. We have it already, we don’t have it yet.
As we will have occasion to repeat as we work our way through the Old Testament, the New Testament identifies some of the foundational books of the Old Testament simply by how often they are quoted. By this measurement, the most important books of the Old Testament are Genesis, Deuteronomy, Psalms, and Isaiah. This is one of many reasons why we must pay close attention to the book of Genesis.

THE TEXT

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth . . .” (Gen. 1:1).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Our usual practice is to take a text and then drill down into it. For this series of messages, the approach will be a bit different. We will take our text as a starting point, and then walk through the rest of the book that passage is in, trying to grasp the larger picture. Our approach will be more inductive than deductive, going from the smaller to the greater.

As our text indicates, this is the book of beginnings. Genesis gives us the Creation, the Fall, the Flood, and the call of Abraham and his seed. We have the beginning of the world, the beginning of work, the beginning of marriage, the beginning of music, the beginning of cities, and the beginning of God’s covenantal dealings with mankind. Everything starts here. If you get this book wrong, there will be a great deal wrong later on.

Genesis is framed or bookended by contrasting stories. God delivers His people from a great flood near the beginning of the book, and He delivers His people from a great drought at the end of it. Consider the respective roles of Noah and Joseph.

What are the dates of Genesis? How much time does it span? The book of Genesis extends from the Creation to the death of Joseph in Egypt, which happened circa 1600 B.C. Taking the date of creation as 4004 BC, as calculated by the good Bishop Ussher— the last theologian of note who was also good at math—this gives the book a span of multiple centuries, 24 of them to be exact. One book of the Bible encompasses 40% of all human history. This means that Joseph was as close in time to Charlemagne as he was to Adam. This is a few centuries more than the time of Christ until the present, so this should give us some perspective. So we have to read this one book, Genesis, beginning to end, with a time lapse camera.

The book divides naturally and readily into two sections. The first is found in Gen. 1-11, and has to do with human origins, the Fall, the history of the antediluvians, and the story of Noah. The second section tells the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was renamed Israel, and the twelve tribes of Israel came from his sons. The two sections deal respectively with the beginning of everything, and with the beginning of Israel—the beginning of the world, and the beginning of God’s redemptive purpose for that world.

THE AGE OF THE EARTH

As my earlier commendation of Ussher may have indicated, my perspective on Genesis is that which is called “young earth creationism.” Whether Mahalaleel was Jared’s father, grandfather, or great-grandfather, the fact remains that Mahalaleel was 65-years-old when somebody begat Jared (Gen. 5:15). Just get out your calculators.

But to take this position is not to argue that there are no literary or poetic elements in the first chapters of Genesis. Quite obviously, the first two chapters tell the story of creation from two different vantages, and in two different ways. This is a topic that needs far more time to treat it in adequate detail, but let me just say now that the presence of poetry does not automatically necessitate the presence of extended eons of time.

The issues involved are much greater than how many moments or years have ticked by. Obviously, by itself it is a matter of indifference how much time has elapsed or ticked by. It is nota matter of indifference to say that Scripture is mistaken, or that God used blood- soaked eons to create man, when the Bible plainly teaches that man was the one who created all the blood-soaked eons (Rom. 5:12). So do not, for the sake of a false peace with infidel geologists, give away the biblical answer to the problem of evil.

THE ANTITHESES

We have the foundation of what may be called the antithesis (3:14-15). Throughout all human history, we have a long war—perpetual antipathy between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman.

COVENANTAL ANTITHESES

That antithesis takes shape through covenants, covenants on both sides (Gal. 4:24). Throughout Scripture, God is a covenant making God, and He begins making them with His people in Genesis. He makes a covenant with Noah (9:8-17), and through him, with all mankind. He makes a covenant with Abraham (12:2-7; 15:1-21; 17:3-8), which He renews with Isaac (26:3-5), and again with Jacob (28:13-15).

THE COVENANTAL JUKE MOVE

But the covenant is never made out of clunkity clunkity two by fours. Genesis also establishes God’s pattern of what we might call “election and a twist.” God calls out Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees. This shows God’s sovereign authority to recruit His

children from the children of idolaters. But then Genesis also shows God’s sovereign authority to recruit His heirs from unlikely places among His own children—Isaac, not Ishmael, Jacob, not Esau, Joseph, not Reuben, but then Judah, not Joseph. This pattern started at the very beginning—Abel, not Cain, and then Seth instead of Cain. Another riff on this same kind of pattern is His way—which begins in Genesis—of choosing barren women in order to accomplish this. Remember Sarah.

With this in mind, it is important to follow Judah’s story line. It does not begin in a promising way, but it ends with a promise (49:8-12). Judah starts out with his sins well exposed, but he ends by offering himself for his brother Benjamin (43:8-9).

YET ANOTHER COVENANTAL REVERSAL

One important story in Genesis links to another story in Joshua. Tamar tricked her father- in-law Judah into sleeping with her, and she conceived twins as a result. The first one out had a scarlet thread tied to his wrist (Zarah, 38:28), but his brother Pharez still got out first. Years later, at the battle of Jericho, Achan was executed for his treachery, and he was a descendant of Zarah. Rahab was delivered from the destruction of Jericho because she put a scarlet rope out her window. She and her household were saved, and she then married Salmon, a descendant of Pharez. The scarlet marker of the messianic line was transferred.

JESUS IN GENESIS

A preacher is tasked with the proclamation of Jesus. However valuable Bible survey courses might be, they have no place in the pulpit unless it culminates in the proclamation of Christ. Fortunately, every page of the Bible provides us with material, including every page of Genesis.

The book of Genesis ends with the set-up for the enslavement of the Jews in Egypt. Jacob’s household goes down into Egypt as part of a great deliverance. But however great the crop was this year, there will always be weeds in it the following spring. God always delivers His people, which means He always has to get them into a jam first. God always tells death and resurrection stories.
We have the same death and resurrection pattern in the Genesis flood—and this flood, Peter tells us, is a type of Christian baptism (1 Pet. 3:20-21).

Hagar and Sarah represent two covenants, Paul tells us in Galatians. One represents flesh- service rendered to God while the other represents evangelical heart-service (Gal. 4:24).

There are many ways to do this, but let me finish with the first great gospel promise, found in Genesis, just a few pages in from the beginning of the world. We learn a wonderful thing as we overhear what God said to the devil.

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15).

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Church Discipline and Life

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

A church that does not or cannot discipline errant members of the congregation is a church with AIDS. It has no means of fighting off infections—whether those infections are moral or doctrinal or both. The infections can be in the heart or the head, but the church has to be able to deal with them.

To change the image, the church is constituted by Word and sacrament. A large number in the reformation tradition have also added discipline to this, but I would prefer to think of the garden itself as growing Word and sacrament only. Discipline is the fence that keeps the deer out. Discipline is not part of the very definition of the church, but without a fence, you won’t have a garden for very long. Fences are essential to gardens, but don’t themselves grow in the garden.

Obviously, a message like this is being preached for a reason—we do have some possible discipline cases in process, and we wanted you to be prepared for this as a congregation. But know that we do not operate on a hair trigger, and we would be delighted to have this be a message that turns out to be more theological than practical.

The Text

“I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner —not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore ‘put away from yourselves the evil person’” (1 Cor. 5:9-13).

Summary of the Text

Christians often get this text exactly backwards. Paul says that of course we are going to have to associate with dissolute pagans—but we try hard to be prissy about that kind of thing. And he says that we must of course not associate with those inside the church who live like this. This is in fact what distinguishes Christian morality from dry rot moralism. The former guards inside, the latter guards against the other. Pay special attention to that phrase near the end—do you not judge those who are inside? But what happens if we are diligent in this? Trying to guard the church against hypocritical profession is a sure fire way to draw the charge of . . . hypocrisy. Think about it for a moment.

The Five Reasons for Discipline

First, we are to discipline in order to glorify God, and this occurs because obedience glorifies God. We know from His Word that God intends discipline for His church (Matt. 18:15-19; Rom. 16:17; 1 Cor. 5; 1 Thess. 5:14; 2 Thess. 3:6-15; 1 Tim. 5:20; 6:3; Tit. 1:13; 2:15; 3:10; Rev. 2:2, 14-15, 20). God tells us what to do, and because we are His people we are called to obey Him. This answers the objection, “Who do you think you are?” We do not discipline in our own name, or on our own authority.

In the second place, we are to discipline in order to maintain the purity of the church. If we measure the “success” of discipline by whether or not the offender is restored, we will be forced to conclude that sometimes it “didn’t work.” But conducted biblically, church discipline always purifies the church (1 Cor. 5:6-8). It also prevents the profanation of the Lord’s Table (1 Cor. 11:27). It always works.

Third, we are to discipline to prevent God from setting Himself against the church. If we have a choice to distance ourselves from sin, and we choose rather to identify ourselves with it, then what will a holy God do with us (Rev. 2:14-25)?

Fourth, we are to discipline in a desire to restore the offender. We are not promised that the offender will be restored, but this end is nonetheless one of our goals. But at the same time I put this reason fourth for a reason. This rationale is clearly set forth in Scripture (Matt. 18:15; 1 Cor. 5:5; Gal. 6:1). This answers those who think “discipline is harsh and unloving.” The goal is not to destroy the offender; the goal is a confrontation in which we formally protest the fact that the offender is destroying himself.

And last, we are to discipline in order to deter others from sin. The Bible teaches that consequences for sin deter (Ecc. 8:11; 1 Tim. 5:20). The objection here is that “people sure wouldn’t want to mention any of their spiritual problems around those elders!” But the issue in discipline is always impenitence. But if he struggles against sin, as all of us do, then he will find nothing in church discipline except an aid and comfort in that struggle.

Conclusion

Many misunderstand what is actually being done in discipline, or what discipline requires. Discipline is not necessarily shunning or avoiding. It is rather avoiding company on the other’s terms. The heart of church discipline is a refusal of the Supper, which is why church discipline is called excommunication. The person is exiled from (ex) the Table of the Lord (communion). So the individual under discipline is denied access to the Lord’s Supper, as well as that general communion which that Supper seals. The offender must not be denied kindness, courtesy, opportunity to hear the Word preached, the practical duties owed to him by others, or anything else due him according to the law of love. Fundamentally, he is being denied only one thing: the right to define the authority of the Christian faith for himself.

Discipline is inescapable. Either we will discipline those who love what is sinful, or we will discipline those who love what is righteous. But as long as the antithesis between the two exists (which is to say throughout history) we must choose one way or the other. A refusal to discipline those who are threatening the integrity of the church is actually a form of discipline directed against those who love the peace and purity of the church, and who labor and pray for it.

One last thing—the encouragement that is found in this. The doctrine of adoption should be precious to us. And the Bible teaches that absence of discipline is a serious indication that God has not adopted us—which is far more terrifying than the prospect of discipline. This truth applies equally to congregations as to individuals.

“Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed” (Hebrews 12:4–13).

What then should our response to discipline be? God is our Father, Christ our brother. Therefore, lift up your hands that were hanging down. Strengthen your feeble knees. Walk on the straight path, with Christ just ahead of you.

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Hard Providence and Trusting God

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

We live in a world where rough things happen. Despite all our advances in technology, everyone in this room will still die. We still get sick. We still have financial challenges. We have the heartbreak of wayward children. We still have to deal with the perversity of sin that we can still find stirring under our own breastbone. In other words, as it says in Job, man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. How are we to respond? If we want to avoid platitudes, tough times demand tough thinking.

The Text

“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess. 5:18).
“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;” (Eph. 5:20).

Summary of the Text

The context of the Thessalonians exhortation is this. Paul is delivering a rapid-fire series of exhortations to them, including esteeming your leaders, being at peace with one another, warning the unruly, comforting the feeble, and so on. He then tells them to pray without ceasing, and comes to deliver our text. Right afterward, he says not to quench the Spirit. Now this cluster of exhortations shows that Paul is not assuming that the Thessalonians are somehow living in a la-la land, where it is quite easy to “give thanks in everything.” There are tough challenges in the same breath. This is not an exhortation only for those who live under marshmallow clouds and glittery rainbows, and who cavort in the meadow with sparkly unicorns.

In Ephesians, we find something similar. Right after a warning that the “days are evil” (Eph. 5:16), leading on to a caution about drunkenness (v. 18), Paul tells them to fill up on psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and tells them to “give thanks for all things.” This is what it means to be filled with the Spirit.

Reasoning Within the Constraints of Scripture

We are Christians, and so we should want to do as we are told. We should not want, under pressure, to reinterpret what God must have “meant.” We were not told to be “realistic.” We were told to give thanks in and for everything. This means that it is time for us to put on our big boy pants. “Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men” (1 Cor. 14:20).

We have to learn how to argue our case with God, as the psalmist frequently does. We must avoid, at all costs, murmuring in our tents, the way the children of Israel did in their tents in the wilderness. We may press our case with God, but we may never forget that His infinite and holy character is the only possible foundation for any sane argument. If that foundation is missing, then we have no argument, we have no complaint, and nothing is wrong with what is happening to us. You may appeal to God, and you may do so with loud cries. Jesus did that (Heb. 5:7). You may argue with God. Many holy men and women did that. You may not accuse God. You may not try to become a devil to God. You may not adopt into the premises of your argument anything other than the promises of God, grounded as they are in the character and attributes of the immutable and holy One. In short, whenever you argue with God, both of your feet must be firmly placed on the covenant of grace.

One Premise You Must Have

If God is up in Heaven, wringing His hands, and saying “oh dear” along with the rest of us, there is no possible way for us to do this. Since God wants us to do this, requiring it as He has, He wants us to get this premise down into our bones. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). We live our lives “according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (Eph. 1:11). And God saved us by grace through faith because we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).

So we are not being asked to thank God in and for an isolated anything. Everything that happens is part of a purpose, plan, plot, stratagem, and so on. God is running a play. God is telling a story, and so you thank God for this verb’s place in the story. God is not telling you to thank Him for that same verb in an infinite, godless vacuum. No—there is no such place.

Of Course Not

Now it is psychologically impossible for us to thank God for the sin when we are in the middle of committing it. But that is a limitation created by the sinning. Such a limitation does not place our disobedience outside the story—others may thank God for how He is using our sin for His glory. Remember that whenever we thank God for the cross of Jesus Christ—which we are to do constantly—we are thanking Him for the worst murder that was ever committed on this planet (Acts 2:23; Acts 4:27-28). We are thanking Him for the murder, and we are thanking Him in it. What we are not doing is joining in with the spirit of murder.

Now for the Hard Part

When the pain is sharp, when the burden is heavy, when the event is uncertain . . . the wait is long. We don’t mind waiting when we have something to divert us, but if the pain, or the burden, or the anxiety prevent us from being diverted, all we have is a long and interminable wait. “Wait on the Lord: Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord” (Ps. 27:14).

“But why do we have to wait?” we complain. We are happy to have patience, so long as we can have it now. But God does not want you in a day-at-the-beach story. He wants you in an adventure story. And have you ever noticed that your worst experiences are frequently the best stories later?

Walk it Through

Take “lousy experience x,” the thing that just happened to you this last week, and which still has you reeling. How do you process it? What precisely are you to do? You pray a prayer, something like this: “God in Heaven, I understand and believe that You govern all things for Your glory and our good. I believe that You are my Father, and that You do all things well. Therefore, I want to thank You in my trial and for my trial. Specifically, I want to thank You for lousy experience x, and ask You to receive my praise, as I sing the Doxology. ‘Praise God from whom all blessings flow.’”

Say to Them of Fearful Heart…

So it is not enough to speak the truths of God. We must speak the truths of God, supported by thereasons of God. “Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: Behold, your God will come with vengeance, Even God with a recompence; He will come and save you” (Is. 35:4).

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Grace and Peace

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

Today we celebrate the giving of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. As we consider this great event, we have to remember that the Holy Spirit is aPerson, not an impersonal force. He was given to the Church at Pentecost so that He might glorify Jesus Christ, who in turn brings us to the Father. Our salvation involves every person of the Trinity, and it is important for us to know how they work together in a divine conspiracy—to liberate us from the chains of our own selfish hearts.

The Text

“To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:7).

Summary of the Text

This salutation at the beginning of Romans has something in common with the salutations at the beginning of most of the epistles of the New Testament. It is virtually verbatim in many other letters (1 Cor. 1:3, 2 Cor. 1:2, Gal. 1:3, Eph. 1:2, Phil. 1:2 Col. 1:2, 1 Thess. 1:1, 2 Thess. 1:2, Phile. 1:3). In the pastorals Paul adds the word mercy (1 Tim. 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:2; Tit. 1:4). Peter does the same thing (2 Pet. 1:2), and in his first epistle he mentions grace and peace, but without mention of the Father and the Son (1 Pet. 1:2). The apostle John does it once, with the addition of the word mercy (2 Jn. 1:3).

What does it all mean? In order to answer that question we have to consider some other aspects of biblical teaching, and we also have to bring in a bit of church history.

How We Come to God

“For through him [Jesus] we both [Jew and Gentile] have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Eph. 2:18). The Bible teaches that we cannot come to God unless God has first come to us. We cannot come to the Father, except by Jesus, and we cannot come to Jesus unless it is by the Spirit. And we cannot have the Spirit unless the Spirit has been poured out. And this is what we find.

If you will permit a homely little analogy, the text above shows us how we come to God. The Father is the destination we are traveling to. The Son is the road, the way we must travel. The Holy Spirit is the car. For by this road we have access to our destination by means of this car. The triune God comes to us so that we might come to Him.

A Bit of Church History

Our church has, as one of its foundational creeds, the Nicene Creed. In the original form of the creed, it said that the Holy Spirit proceeded “from the Father.” For the Eastern Orthodox, it remains that way. In the Western Church, which includes both Roman Catholics and Protestants, one word was added, which in English is rendered with three words. That one word is filioque, which means “and the Son.” This means that we confess that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father “and the Son.”

Fruit and Gifts

The Holy Spirit gives gifts, and the Holy Spirit also bears fruit. Another thing He does is teach us to prioritize these things rightly. He is the one who works in our hearts so that we might understand the relationship of gifts and fruit.
We have a tendency to focus on those things God gives which flash and pop. We are attracted to shiny objects. Miracles are always impressive, and the prophets get to speak up front, and so on. But notice how the Bible ranks these things. Paul says that the church at Corinth was a very giftedchurch (1 Cor. 1:7). They were not lacking in any spiritual gift. But just a page or so later, he is saying that he could not address them as spiritual men, but rather as carnal men (1 Cor. 3:1). Please let this sink in. Having spiritual gifts does not make one a spiritual man. Later in the same book, he prioritizes everything wonderfully. The gifts are marvelous, but he still shows the Corinthians a “more excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31). The gifts include some that are reckoned as the “best,” but Paul goes on to argue for something better even than that.

And what he argues for is love (1 Cor. 13:1ff). In effect, he says that the fruit of the Spirit is far more evidence of His active presence than the gifts of the Spirit are. No one wants to be gifted like Balaam was, and yet devoid of integrity like he was. Jesus said that everyone would know that we were His disciples by our love for one another. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).

Just Be Nice?

Now “love one another” sounds kind of Sunday Schooly, doesn’t it? But love in a fallen world is hard as nails. Loving is tough, an arduous business. In order to make it possible, God had to pour Himself out upon the Church on the day of Pentecost, and He did so in the person of His Holy Spirit.

So Why is the Spirit Absent?

Back to our texts. It may have struck some as odd that the text for this sermon on Pentecost was a text that did not mention the Spirit at all. But the oddity goes beyond that. In all these passages, in all these salutations, the Holy Spirit is not named specifically at all, and the Father and the Sonare mentioned. The formulae is basically this: grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. If we were prone to take offense on behalf of others, we might wonder why the Spirit is being so consistently slighted.

But the Spirit is not absent here. Jonathan Edwards, the great Reformed theologian argues, I believe compellingly, that the Holy Spirit is the grace and peace. Given the nature of the case, the Holy Spirit draws attention away from Himself, and He goes under various names. For example, He is called the seven Spirits of God (Rev. 1:4). For another, He is called the finger of God (Luke 11:20; Matt. 12:28). He is called the river of living water (John 7:38-39). The Spirit loves to go incognito.

And in virtually every epistle in the New Testament, the saints of God are reminded of their daily and ongoing dependence upon Him. Grace and peace be upon you. This is the gift of the Father and the Son, giving themselves to you, in the person of their Spirit. Grace and peace be with you, both now and forever.

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Many Mansions

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

Today is Ascension Sunday, the time when we remember the ascension of the Lord Jesus into the heavenly realms, where He was ushered on the clouds of heaven into the presence of the Ancient of Days, where He was given universal power, authority, and dominion. From that place, He rules on earth, but also in that place, He is doing something else.

The Text

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 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. 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. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him” (John 14:1–7).

Summary of the Text

The immediate preceding context for this passage is Peter’s claim that he would lay down his life for Christ. Jesus responds by saying that Peter will deny Him three times before the cock crows. His statement right after that, no doubt because of the consternation among the disciples, was “let not your heart be troubled” (v. 1). He summons them to believe in Him the same way they believed in God (v. 1). His Father’s house contains many mansions—Jesus would have told them if it were otherwise (v. 2). He is going away to prepare a place for them there. If He goes to prepare a place, then that means He will come back to take them there (v. 3). He tells the disciples they know where He is going, and they know the way (v. 4). Thomas responds that they don’t know either of those things (v. 5). Jesus says in effect that they knew without knowing. He said that Heis the way, the truth, and the life. He is the way to the Father (v. 6). If they know Him, which they did, then they know where He is going (to the Father), and they know the way to the Father (Jesus). To know Jesus is to know the Father (v. 7). To attempt to know God apart from Jesus is to try to be a philosopher, instead of a Christian. A Christian knows God through Jesus.

Honest Thomas

We sometimes like to patronize the apostles, as though we would have done any better than they did. Peter once walked on water five yards farther than any of us could have done, and yet we goho, ho, ho at him because he looked at the waves and sank. Thomas is called Doubting Thomas because he refused to believe the resurrection unless he saw and touched Christ’s wounds for himself. But here he is the member of the class who refuses to pretend that he understands when he doesn’t. This is a disciple who will not blow smoke. He is the one saying what we all ought to be saying here— what do you mean?

A Promise for All

Jesus here is talking to the Twelve, and yet Christians naturally and easily (and rightly) apply these words to every saint in the history of the world. “My Father’s house” is obviously Heaven. The word rendered as mansions here is μονή (monay), and simply means dwelling places within a larger house. The English word mansion is only misleading to those who don’t know the history of the English word—it can refer to a spacious apartment in a much larger house, as in a king’s palace. “My Father’s house” is the palace, and Jesus was preparing the rooms for His disciples. The spiritual logic of understanding the afterlife requires us to apply this to ourselves. We are all given the words of the Bible for a reason. We are not supposed to think that while the apostles get the spacious apartments, we will get the bunkhouses on the back 40.

Faith in the Midst of Trouble

First, consider the Lord’s faith. He knew what was about to happen to Him, within hours, and yet He commands the disciples to believe in Him. He says that He is the way, when He will be nailed to a cross within hours. He says that He is the truth, when He will apparently be outmaneuvered by all the lies the world ever told. He says that He is the life, when His body will soon be a lifeless corpse. But Jesus saw through and past all that. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame (Heb. 12:2).

Then think about what Jesus was telling the disciples to do. The disciples were about to go through a maelstrom of trouble. Jesus was going to be arrested, betrayed by one of them, they were going to be scattered, one of them would deny Him, and just one of them—John—would stay with Him. In that context, Jesus commands them to believe in Him.

He tells them that they will be in trouble, but should not let the trouble be in them. Let not your hearts be troubled. They had left all behind them for Jesus. They had burned the bridges behind them to go with Jesus. And now He announces that He was going to leave them. Not only that, but He would depart from them in what appeared to be a spectacularly disastrous way.

Many Mansions, Many Rooms

There is therefore a two-fold meaning to the Ascension. From the right hand of God the Father, the Lord Jesus is ruling all the nations of men (Dan. 7:13-14), preparing the earth for His return. But this passage means that He is also preparing Heaven for the “arrival” of earth. When the rooms are ready, He will come to get us, and take us there.

Bring this down to the individual level. While Jesus is fitting Heaven out for us, His governance of all the circumstances of our lives (including the afflictions and big troubles in it) is an essential part of the process of preparing us for the rooms we will dwell in. He is working both ends toward the middle. Our longing and our prayer should be for that glorious meeting in the middle.

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