Hope Of Heaven

Sunday Service

John 14:1-6

Jesus told His disciples not to let their hearts be troubled. This was to provide them with assurance that would encourage them with what lay ahead as they waited for His return. After announcing His departure, Jesus shared with His disciples SIX TRUTHS about heaven that serve to comfort and calm our hearts in the midst of a chaotic and confusing world.

1. THE PEACE OF HEAVEN (v. 1a)
Jesus wanted His disciples to look past their pain and problems to the future, for lit in this world is temporary (Philippians 3:20) and does not compare to the glory that awaits believers in heaven (2 Corinthians 4:17).

2. THE PROMISE OF HEAVEN (v. 1b)
Jesus also commanded His disciples to continue believing in Him and God the Father - to continue believing what they knew to be true about God and Himself. Jesus was assuring them that because He was God made manifest in human form, that His authority was equal to God the Father. And, He promised His disciples that He would indeed return.

3. THE PLACE IN HEAVEN (v. 2)
Jesus spoke of heaven as if He had been there. This is because He was from heaven. ‘My Father’s House’ is a reference to heaven because that is where God resides (Matthew 6:9). Moreover, being in heaven is to live with God - in His ‘mansion’.

4. THE PLAN FOR HEAVEN (v. 3a)
Jesus will return in the sky to ‘rapture’ His children prior to the tribulation (1 Corinthians 15:15). He will bring unto Himself all who have died in faith and we will return to live and reign with Him.

5. THE PERSON IN HEAVEN (v. 3b)
Although heaven is difficult to describe, we know that there will be no death, sorrow or pain. This verse however, points more to the fact that Jesus will be in heaven when we arrive. We should look forward to this the most because Jesus is the source of all of our joy - and He will be so for all eternity.

6. THE PATH TO HEAVEN (vv. 4-6)
Jesus’ response to Thomas, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me.” Jesus didn’t just come to show us the way to heaven. He is the way. Jesus became the way to heaven through His sinless life of obedience to God the Father and His sacrificial death to fulfill God’s plan of salvation. And, Jesus is the only One who can give us life and is the only way to the Father - because He is the only One who came from the Father (Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5).

Thank God for providing sufficient evidence in His Word that heaven is real. Ask Him to remind you of heaven any time your heart becomes troubled by something going on in your life or in our world. Ask Him to use you to help others know the hope of heaven through a relationship with Jesus Christ.