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John 14

Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure by promising access to the Father, the Spirit’s presence, and his own peace.

Jesus speaks to his disciples about going to the Father while they struggle to understand his departure. Thomas asks about the way; Philip asks to see the Father. Jesus answers by pointing to himself and his union with the Father. He promises to prepare a place for them and to send the Holy Spirit, who will teach them and remain with them. His words about peace and love lead toward his own obedience as danger draws near.

fear for the futuregrieffeeling distant from God
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1“Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
2In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.
3If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.
4You know where I go, and you know the way.”
5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
7If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him and have seen him.”
9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.
11Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
12Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father.
13Whatever you will ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.
15If you love me, keep my commandments.
16I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever:
17the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive, for it doesn’t see him and doesn’t know him. You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
18I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.
19Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also.
20In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
21One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”
22Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?”
23Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
24He who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word which you hear isn’t mine, but the Father’s who sent me.
25“I have said these things to you while still living with you.
26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.
27Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.
28You heard how I told you, ‘I am going away, and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I said ‘I am going to my Father;’ for the Father is greater than I.
29Now I have told you before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe.
30I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me.
31But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. Arise, let’s go from here.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
John 14:6Jesus answers Thomas’s uncertainty by identifying himself as the sole way to the Father and the source of life.
John 14:27Jesus leaves his disciples his own peace while speaking of departure and the approaching prince of the world.
John 14:21Jesus joins love for him with keeping his commands and promises to reveal himself to those who love him.
Where this chapter reaches

John 14 and 1 John share the link between love for God and keeping his commandments, along with the promise of God dwelling in believers. Acts records the gift of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promises here to his disciples.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

Which promise in Jesus’s words addresses a fear you could name in writing?

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How does Jesus’s own obedience to the Father shape your understanding of love in this chapter?

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Questions people ask about John 14

What does John 14:6 mean by Jesus being the way?

Thomas asks how the disciples can know the way when they do not know Jesus’s destination. Jesus identifies himself as the way to the Father, making an exclusive claim about access to God through him. The following verses explain that knowing Jesus means knowing the Father he reveals.

Who is the Counselor in John 14?

Jesus identifies the Counselor as the Holy Spirit in verse 26 and calls him the Spirit of truth in verse 17. The Father will send him in Jesus’s name. He will remain with the disciples, teach them, and bring Jesus’s words back to their minds after his departure.

Does John 14:14 mean God will give anything someone asks for?

Jesus attaches this promise to asking in his name and states its purpose: the Father’s glory in the Son. The surrounding verses connect faith in Jesus with his works and commands. Asking in his name means bringing requests under his authority and purposes; adding his name to a request guarantees nothing.

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What the Bible says about fear →What the Bible says about grief →What the Bible says about doubt →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).