John 14:1,2 – TPT – Don’t worry or surrender to your fear. For you’ve believed in God, now trust and believe in me also. My Father’s house has many dwelling places. If it were otherwise, I would tell you plainly, because I go to prepare a place for you to rest.
Jesus is describing a place of comfort, rest, and safety in this often violent and dangerous world that we live in. The disciples had seen the gathering storm of hostility targeting Jesus over the last several months and the next day He would be violently beaten and killed. How could their hearts not be troubled? They had seen all of their hopes and dreams come true in the Lord over the last three years and now all of that is crashing down all around them. They had probably begun to realize that they too were now targets of the angry alliance of the Jewish leaders and the Roman occupying forces and their hearts were beginning to suffocate with fear. In that moment of anxiousness is when this stunning promise comes, “don’t let your heart be troubled”. Jesus was promising them a place of eternal rest that would begin in this life. The Holy Spirit would come and He would be their refuge. Here are some thoughts about this from the Passion Translation notes.
“There are many resting places on the way to my Father’s house.” Or “There are many homes in my Father’s household.” The Father’s house is also mentioned by Jesus in John 2:16, where it is his temple on earth, his dwelling place. This is not just heaven, but the dwelling place of God among men. There is ample room for people from every nation and ethnicity, room to spare, for the church, the body of Christ, is now the house of God.….Every believer is now one of the many dwelling places that make up God’s house.”
Maybe you feel anxious when you think about the uncertainty of everything in this complicated world. All of our foundations are being challenged, the economic future is terrifying, unprecedented pandemics in our modern world; it would be easy to be overcome with fear. The words of Jesus provide our answers and our comfort. “Don’t let your hearts be troubled…I am preparing a place of rest for you”. That place is available now, you don’t have to wait until you die. Be filled with the Spirit and enter into His rest.