John 14:1-3 (NASB)
“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.”
When I have felt fear about the reality of
death, this is the one passage of Scripture that I read again and again to give
me encouragement. Jesus knew that the
disciples were troubled because He had just shared with them some troubling
truths (read John 13). Despite His own
troubled heart, Jesus reached out to comfort and encourage others just like He
did so many other times including His first words on the cross, asking God to
forgive those who were being so cruel to Him.
All of us are to reach out and encourage others, yet so few actually do
this. The Lord is our role model in the
ministry of encouragement.
The Bible does not say too much about
heaven, but here is one passage that describes heaven as a place with many
dwelling places or residences where each believer will stay. My imagination—maybe yours too—runs rampant
with thoughts of these dwelling places ranging from huge mansions to little
apartment buildings depending on how much fruit you bore while on the
earth. However, I’m just pretending, the
Bible is silent about what these dwelling places really will look like. These heavenly homes where you will be
forever someday are where Jesus will be also.
To think of death not as a horrible thing
but as an avenue to arrive at your real home should give comfort to the believer
in Christ. To the non-believer, there is
no hope of a heavenly home so the reality of death indeed should bring terrible
fear. Yet, to any non-believer reading
this, you have hope of changing your destiny by confessing your sinful ways and
asking Jesus to become the Savior and Lord of your life.
Jesus says that someday He will return and
take home all those who believe in Him.
Some believe that verse 3 is Jesus’ own prediction about the
rapture. He is coming again or you
simply don’t believe what He says. These
statements of our Lord should give significant relief whenever you starting
having fearful thoughts about dying or any other thoughts that cause you to be
troubled.
Jesus said “let not” in telling His
disciples not to be troubled. It’s a
choice that you have. You can choose to feel anxiety and depression and
distress and fear or you can choose to “believe in God, believe also in
Me”. Choosing the latter means that you
believe that God is in control; that He knows what He is doing, that He will
take care of whatever is troubling you.
Again, an exercise of faith, there’s no other easy way to alleviate the
trouble you feel in your heart.
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