John 14:1-10
Describing the Indescribable

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going."

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied."

Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father?' Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works."

New Revised Standard Version

Jesus' disciples were completely confused as they ate what we now call the "Last Supper" with their teacher. They knew he was in danger there in Jerusalem, and he was now explaining that he would leave them. "Where are you going?" "Why can't we go, too?" These men who had lived with Jesus for the years of his ministry couldn't comprehend what the next step would be for God's Messiah, which they knew as Jesus of Galilee. They did recognize that Jesus was somber in his teachings that evening, but the whole discussion simply made no sense!

In this excerpt from John's account of the Last Supper, Jesus assures them that his impending death was intentional and part of God's plan to bring Jesus' followers to live with God. He would provide for them suites in the palace of the King of the Universe. How amazing! On earth, these eleven men listening to Jesus were not deemed worthy even to enter the palace of the governor of Israel.

In response, the bewildered disciples offered up two questions that John recorded for us. We don't learn anything about the accommodations in God's palace, but we do get the answer to a very practical question from Thomas, "How do we get there?" Jesus' answer: "I am the Way." Still baffled, Philip makes a request that even Moses in the book of Exodus had asked, "Show us God." Jesus' response told them that they already had the assurance they needed, that they had seen God as they had walked with Jesus.

The truths we learn about heaven from this passage all center around "who". We do not find out anything about "where", "what", or "how", but we affirm that the most important question is "who", and the answer is Jesus. We know that heaven will defy our ability to describe it, because we will be living in God's dwelling place. We know that getting to heaven doesn't depend on our strength or knowledge, because Jesus has done everything needed to get us to heaven.

We will live forever with God, and we have a description of God in the life of Jesus. Jesus eagerly made time to set young children on his lap, so the Creator of All must act the same way. Jesus showed his love for the most unlikely people as he forgave the Samaritan woman and healed the son of the Cannanite woman, so God is eager to show love to us. Jesus healed the souls first, then the bodies of many people brought to him, and God is doing the same for us.

We will live with the perfect, holy embodiment of Love. We can't begin to understand what that means, so Paul quoted Isaiah when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:9,
    "No eye has seen,
        no ear has heard,
        no mind has conceived
    what God has prepared for those who love him."

I am eager to see you there!