| Devotional Hours with the Bible |
Chapter 25 |
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The first thought Jesus gave His disciples was that all the world is the Father’s house. They were greatly distressed by what was transpiring in a little corner of the world. He assures them that the stage of action reached out far beyond the city and the country in which they lived. There are many mansions in the Father’s house. They were distressed that He was leaving them, but He was leaving only one of the mansions and going to another. They would not lose Him by His departure, for He would continue to be their friend, and would still be interested in their welfare. “I go to prepare a place for you.” Dr. David Smith thus explains the words of Jesus:
The disciples were like travelers, and His companionship had hitherto cheered them on their journey. And now He must leave them. But He was not forsaking them. He was only hasting on in advance to make ready for them. And when they arrived He would be waiting for them and would bid them welcome.
His going away was not a desertion of His friends. He was going on their account, to prepare a place for them. The thought of mansions prepared for us beforehand is a very beautiful one. We need not fear that when our time comes to go home there will be no place ready for us. We shall not go to the gate as strangers or aliens, but as those who are expected, those who indeed have been sent for. Jesus assured His disciples not only that He was going on to prepare a lodging place for them, but that when the place was ready He would come again, to receive them unto Himself, that where He would be they might be too. The separation was only apparent, not real, and certainly not final. The relation between them would not be broken by His going away. The ministry of His love which had come to mean so much to them, would not be interrupted by His departure. He was going to leave them in their present lodging place, but it would be only to prepare another lodging place for them in another part of His Father’s house.
“I am the way.” Christ is the way from earth to heaven and from heaven to earth. Through Him God comes to us with love and blessing, and through Him we go to God. He is the Mediator between God and man. He is the one ladder down which angels come on their ministries and up which they can ascend to the gates of glory. Christ is the way, and the only way. If we reject Him we can never get home. But if we believe on Him, and love Him, and abide in Him, there never can be any confusion, any mystery, any want unmet, any yearning unfulfilled.
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