The passage begins with the Lord Jesus comforting the disciples and telling them not to be discouraged. The disciples at this point probably knew that Jesus was departing from them soon, and they were perhaps confused and feeling down. Although Jesus was deeply troubled in heart and spirit, with the knowledge that one of His disciples would betray Him and with the prospect of going to the cross, He took upon Himself to comfort and encourage His disciples, when He Himself should receive emotional and spiritual support. Such was the love and sacrificial heart of the Master!
He exhorted the disciples to trust in God and to trust in Him. If He speaks the words of God and does the works and acts of God, surely He should be trusted like God! He then revealed that His departure is for their good and that He is going away to prepare a place for them and would come again to fetch them to be where He is. The Father’s house here refers to heaven and in heaven, there is more than enough room and space for everyone of Jesus’ disciples. The true Christian and believer has an inheritance that shall not be taken away from him. Rich men must one day leave their wealth and property; kings must one day leave their palaces and grandeur, but the poorest believer on earth has an inheritance and treasure which he will never be deprived of. The believer will arise with Him in the resurrection morning and claim his inheritance and home for all eternity.
This is the assurance given by the Lord Jesus Himself and it is indeed our eternal hope and glory. If we live with this eternal perspective and this certain hope, nothing can take away our confidence in Him, for we know that this world and her lusts will all pass away, but God’s Word and promise remains.
Thomas, when told that he and his fellow disciples know the way to the place Jesus was going, expressed that they did not know the way. Jesus replied,
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.
Jesus is the way to God because He is the truth of God and He is the life. He is the truth precisely because He embodies the supreme revelation of God – He is the self-disclosure of God, in Him we see God Himself in the flesh; He is the Word, the communication and revelation of God Himself; He is God incarnate. He is the life, the one who has ‘life in Himself’, ‘the resurrection and the life’; in Him is eternal life, the life of God. The answer to Thomas’ question is: Jesus is the way to come to God because He is the truth and the life and therefore no one comes to God the Father except through Him. Ponder over what Thomas Kempis, an old saint, expressed in his meditation:
Follow thou me. I am the way and the truth and the life. Without the way there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living. I am the way which thou must follow; the truth which thou must believe; the life for which thou must hope. I am the inviolable way; the infallible truth, the never-ending life. I am the straightest way; the sovereign truth, life true, life blessed, life uncreated.
Philip then requested, “Show us the Father and that will be enough for us”. Jesus answered with sadness, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘show us the Father’? Although Philip knew Jesus to an extent, he did not grasp that in Jesus, God the Father has made Himself known. The disciples ought to believe that Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Him. Not only everything Jesus does is what the Father gives Him to do, but He does everything the Father does. He was no mere envoy from God; He is the Son and whoever has seen Him has seen the Father; this affirms mutual indwelling between Himself and the Father. If the disciples find it difficult to accept this truth, at the very least, they should believe on the evidence of the miracles performed by Him, for the miracles are signs that the saving kingdom of God is at work in the ministry of Jesus and this in ways tied to His very person.
Jesus has been appealing for faith, and Jesus disclosed that the works the disciples will perform after the resurrection are greater than those done by Jesus before His death. The contrast is essentially not between the works of Jesus and the works of the disciples but between the works of Jesus that He performed during the days of His flesh, and the works that He performs through His disciples after His death and exaltation. After His exaltation, the Son is no longer limited by His pre-death humanness; the gift of the Holy Spirit which will be introduced later on would result in a far-reaching ministry which will embrace and reach the world. The prayers offered by His disciples to the Father or to Jesus will see their requests granted, resulting in the greater works that will be seen after His exaltation.