Believe in God and in Me

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many rooms. 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, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to 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 (John 14:1-6).

Jesus encouraged the disciples not to be troubled at all that lay ahead of them. They needed to be confident. They needed to be stable in their thoughts and emotions. They needed to have a firm faith. The Apostle James wrote (1:5-7), If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. They needed that kind of faith and wisdom. How would they get them?

Jesus encouraged the disciples to believe in God and in Him. Many people in Israel believed in God. I would venture to say the disciples already believed in God and in Him. So why did Jesus encourage them to believe in Them if they already did? The word ‘believe’ is one of the most important words in the Bible. The word is pisteuo. It can mean a number of different things depending on the context in which it is used. It can mean ‘to be mentally persuaded’, ‘to have faith in’, ‘to entrust’ or ‘trust in’, ‘to commit to’, etc. What did it mean in this context? It meant to completely entrust one’s life to Him.

Jesus was not asking the disciples to believe in His ability to save them. They had already done that (John 13:10). The word here is in the present tense, meaning ‘to continue to trust’. It was one thing for the disciples to put their full faith and trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior while He was with them, in the flesh. It would be quite another thing for them to continue to put their full faith and trust in Him after He was gone from them. Even though they had already declared their faith in Him (Matthew 16:16), that faith was beginning to waver as evidenced by their panic, sorrow, and grave concern for themselves in the upper room. However, they wouldn’t hit rock bottom until Jesus had actually been crucified and buried. Then, for many of them, it would all be over.

So, Jesus encouraged the disciples to continue to put their full faith and trust in Him as they had in God, because He was, and is God. While the news of His impending death brought a crushing weight to their spirit, His resurrection from the dead would renew and restore them to full faith. And, the promise of ‘another Helper’ (one exactly like Jesus), who would live with them forever (John 14:15), would be an added encouragement to their faith in Christ. Though He would not be physically present with them, He promised He would never leave or forsake them (Hebrews 13:5) and that nothing would take them from Him (John 10:27-29). Those same promises, and many more, are given to all who believe in God and in His Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Pastor