14 "“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also."
John 14:1-3
Our very familiarity with the wonderful words that begin this chapter tends to obscure a good deal of their significance, and it is good to study them in their immediate context, namely, our Lord's words to Peter in 13:36-38 and, indeed, the general theme of the previous chapter. In the Greek, there is an important connecting particle, omitted in the AV which could fairly he translated 'Nevertheless'. This makes the passage read thus: 'Peter, the cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied Me thrice. Nevertheless, let not your heart be troubled...'. This is a dramatic association of ideas, and when we further put 14:1 alongside the final words of Jesus in the Upper Room, in 16:33, 'Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world', a very wonderful message stands out. For it means that over against all human failure - Peter's denial, Judas's betrayal - Jesus sets His own coming victory in death and resurrection. It is as if Jesus were saying, to His disciples then and to us today, 'You are conscious of your sin, your weakness; there is the Judas in every one of you, there is the Peter in every one of you; but I am greater than all your weakness and sin. I have overcome the world, and through faith in Me you shall overcome also.' This is the basic, central message that is spelt out for us in the discourse that now follows, with its emphasis on the coining of the Spirit and the believer's union with Christ, and it is in this light that we must seek to interpret and understand Jesus' words.