14:1 Jesus was troubled because of what lay before Him, and the Eleven were troubled (Gr. tarassestho) because they did not understand what lay before them. Jesus had just told them that He was going to leave them (13:33), but they had forsaken all to follow Him. Jesus had said that Peter would deny Him implying that some great trial was imminent (13:38).
God's revelations about the future should have a comforting and strengthening effect on His people (cf. 1 Thess. 4:18). This verse introduces a short section of revelation that has given much comfort to God's people as they think about the future (vv. 1-4). It is a favorite passage at funerals.
Jesus explained how to calm their troubled hearts. The verb "believe"or "trust"(Gr. pisteuo), which occurs twice, can be either in the indicative or the imperative mood in each case. The spelling of the words in both moods is identical in the Greek text. Probably in both clauses Jesus meant to give an imperative command: "Believe in God; believe also in me."This makes the most sense in the context, as most of the modern English translations have concluded. He meant, "Stop being troubled."Jesus was telling the disciples (plural "your") to trust in God and to trust in Him just as they trusted in God. This was a strong claim to deity and a great comfort. They could rely on what He was about to tell them as coming from God.
The NASB translates the singular "heart"(Gr. kardia) that Jesus used collectively whereas the NIV interpreted it to mean each of their hearts individually. The heart is metaphorically the center of personality.
14:2 Jesus next explained the reason the disciples should stop feeling troubled at the thought of His leaving them. He was departing to prepare a place for them, and He would return for them and take them there later (v. 3).
The Father's house is heaven. This is the most obvious and simple explanation, though some commentators understood it to mean the church. However the fourth Gospel never uses the house metaphor for the church elsewhere. Moreover the phrase "the Father's house"occurs nowhere else in Scripture as a figure of the church.
There are many dwelling places (Gr. mone, cognate with the verb meno, meaning "to abide"or "remain") in heaven. The Latin Vulgate translated the noun mansionesthat the AV transliterated as "mansions."The NIV "rooms"is an interpretation of mone. The picture that Jesus painted of heaven is a huge building with many rooms or suites of rooms in which people reside. The emphasis is not on the lavishness of the facility as much as its adequacy to accommodate all believers. Other revelation about heaven stresses its opulence (e.g., Rev. 21:1-22:5).
"The imagery of a dwelling place (rooms') is taken from the oriental house in which the sons and daughters have apartments under the same roof as their parents."451
Jesus assured His disciples that if heaven were otherwise He would have told them just how it was. This assurance recalls verse 1 where Jesus urged them to trust Him.
Jesus had previously spoken of His departure as including His death, His resurrection, and His ascension (13:31-32, 36). Consequently He probably had all of that in view when He spoke about going to prepare a place for believers. His death and resurrection, as well as His ascension and return to heaven, would prepare a place for them. The place, the Father's house or heaven, already existed when Jesus spoke these words. He would not go to heaven to create a place for believers there. Rather all that He would do from His death to His return to heaven would constitute preparation for believers to join Him there ultimately. The idea that Jesus is presently constructing dwelling places for believers in heaven and has been doing so for 2, 000 years is not what Jesus meant here. Jesus' going itself prepared the place.
14:3 The commentators noted that Jesus spoke of several returns for His own in this Gospel. Sometimes Jesus meant His return to the disciples following His resurrection and before His ascension (vv. 18-20; 21:1). Other times He meant His coming to them through the Holy Spirit after His ascension and before His bodily return (v. 23).452Still other times He meant His eschatological return at the end of the inter-advent age. Some interpreters view this return as the Rapture and others believe Jesus was referring to the Second Coming. Another view is that Jesus was really speaking about the believer's death figuratively.453Many interpreters believe some combination of the above views is most probable.454
Since Jesus spoke of returning from heaven to take believers there, the simplest explanation seems to be that He was referring to an eschatological bodily return (cf. Acts 1:11). Though these disciples undoubtedly did not realize it at the time, Jesus was evidently speaking of His return for them at the Rapture rather than His return at the Second Coming.
"John 14:3 is the only verse in the Gospels that is commonly accepted by contemporary pretribulationists and posttribulationists alike as a reference to the rapture."455
Other Scripture clarifies that when Jesus returns at the Rapture it will be to call His own to heaven immediately (1 Thess. 4:13-18).456In contrast, when He returns at the Second Coming it will be to remain on the earth and reign for 1, 000 years (Rev. 19:11-20:15).
". . . it is important to note that Jesus did not say that the purpose of this future coming to receive believers is so that He can be where they are--on the earth. Instead, He said that the purpose is so that they can be where He is--in heaven."457
". . . here in John xiv the Lord gives a new and unique revelation; He speaks of something which no prophet had promised, or even could promise. Where is it written that this Messiah would come and instead of gathering His saints into an earthly Jerusalem, would take them to the Father's house, to the very place where He is? It is something new. . . . He speaks then of a coming which is not for the deliverance of the Jewish remnant, not of a coming to establish His kingdom over the earth, not of a coming to judge the nations, but a coming which concerns only His own."458
The emphasis in this prediction is on the comfort that reunion with the departed Savior guarantees. Jesus will personally come for His own, and He will receive them to Himself. They will also be with Him where He has been (cf. 17:24). Jesus was stressing His personal concern for His disciples' welfare. His return would be as certain as His departure. The greatest blessing of heaven will be our ceaseless personal fellowship with the Lord Jesus there, not the splendor of the place.
14:4 Jesus could say that the Eleven knew the way to the place where He was going because He had revealed that faith in Him led to eternal life (3:14-15). This had been a major theme of His teaching throughout His ministry. However, they did not understand Him as they should have (v. 5).
These four verses answered Peter's initial question about where Jesus was going (13:36). They also brought the conversation back to the subject of the glorification of the Father and the Son (13:31-32).
