Thoughts on the Gospel of John (141) - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2024

You have heard Me say to you, I am going away and coming back to you. If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, I am going to the Father, for My Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.
John 14:28–31

Thoughts on the Gospel of John (141)
The disciples were enabled to look confidently into the future. As we have already seen, with the departure of Jesus they would not be losers. On the contrary – they would even gain. But this was difficult for them to understand, because their attention was focused on the visible, and they longed for the glorious kingdom of peace to be established.

The Lord prepares His disciples for the coming change. In doing so, He directs their gaze to Himself and His future with the Father. The more the disciples thought about what awaited their Lord there, the more they would overcome the feeling of bereavement caused by His departure.

For the Lord it must have been an unspeakable joy to be clothed by His Father with the glory that He previously had with Him from eternity (cf. ch. 17:5). When the disciples thought of His joy, did they not also have the greatest joy possible?

Jesus’ pathway back to His Father would lead through death. At first sight it seemed as if Satan, the great adversary of God, had succeeded by leading the Lord Jesus to the cross. However, Jesus’ death was not the result of the power of the devil, but on account of love for His Father. It was the Father’s will that His beloved Son would offer His body sacrificially for our sins, and Christ had come to do His will (cf. Hebrews 10:7).

Today’s reading: 1 Samuel 22:1-10 · Philippians 1:12-20