John 14:23

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM, IF A MAN LOVE ME, HE WILL KEEP MY WORDS, [ logon (G3056)] - rather, 'My word:' AND MY FATHER WILL LOVE HIM, AND WE WILL COME UNTO HIM, AND MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM. Astonishing disclosure! Observe the links in this golden chain. First, "If a man love Me." Such love is at first the fruit of love: "We love Him because He first loved us." Then this love to Christ makes His word dear to us. Accordingly, "If a man love Me, he will keep My word." Further, such is My Father's love to Me, that when any man loves Me, and My word is dear to him, My Father will love that man. Finally, such a man-with heart so prepared and so perfumed-shall become t...

23._And my Father will love him. _We have already explained that the love of God to us is not placed in the second rank, as if it came after our piety as the cause of that love, but that believers may be fully convinced that the obedience which they render to the Gospel is pleasing to God, and that they may continually expect from him fresh additions of gifts. _And we will come to him who loveth me; _that is, he will feel that the grace of God dwelleth in him, and will every day receive additions to the gifts of God. He therefore speaks, not of that eternal love with which he loved us, before we were born, and even before the world was created, but since the time when he seals it on our hearts by making us partakers of his adoption. Nor does he even mean the first illumination, but those degrees of faith by which believers must continually advance, according to that saying, Whosoever ha...

18-24 Christ promises that he would continue his care of his disciples. I will not leave you orphans, or fatherless, for though I leave you, yet I leave you this comfort, I will come to you. I will come speedily to you at my resurrection. I will come daily to you in my Spirit; in the tokens of his love, and visits of his grace. I will come certainly at the end of time. Those only that see Christ with an eye of faith, shall see him for ever: the world sees him no more till his second coming; but his disciples have communion with him in his absence. These mysteries will be fully known in heaven. It is a further act of grace, that they should know it, and have the comfort of it. Having Christ's commands, we must keep them. And having them in our heads, we must keep them in our hearts and lives. The surest evidence of our love to Christ is, obedience to the laws of Christ. There are spiritu...

Verse 23. _IF A MAN_] Not only my present disciples, but all those who shall believe on me through _their_ word, or that of their successors: _LOVE ME_] Receive me as his Saviour, and get the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost: _HE WILL KEEP MY WORDS_] Observe all my sayings, and have his affections and conduct regulated by my Spirit and doctrine: _MY FATHER WILL LOVE HIM_] Call him his _child_; support, defend, and preserve him as such. _AND WE WILL COME UNTO HIM_] God the Father, through his Son, will continue to pour out his choicest blessings upon his head and upon his heart: _AND MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM._] Will make his heart our temple, where God, the Father, Son, and Spirit, shall rest, receive homage, and dwell to eternity. Thus will _I manifest myself_ to the believing, loving, obedie

WILL KEEP MY WORDS - See John 14:15. WE WILL COME TO HIM - We will come to him with the manifestation of pardon, peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy Spirit. It means that God will manifest himself to the soul as a Father and Friend; that Jesus will manifest himself as a Saviour; that is, that there will be shed abroad in the heart just views and proper feelings toward God and Christ. The Christian will rejoice in the perfections of God and of Christ, and will delight to contemplate the glories of a present Saviour. The condition of a sinner is represented as one who has gone astray from God, and from whom God has withdrawn, Psalms 58:3; Proverbs 28:10

EXPOSITION JOHN 14:1 It is not necessary to follow Codex D and some of the versions, and here introduce into the text καὶ εἶπεν τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ._ _It is enough that the awful warning to Peter, which followed the announcement of the treachery of Judas and his departure, the solemnity of the Lord, and the clear announcement of his approaching death, had fallen like a thunderbolt into their company. Judas held the bag, and was their treasurer, their ἐπίσκοπος_ _(see Hatch's 'Bampt. Lect.'), and a referee on all practical subjects and details. He had turned against the Lord; and now their spokesman, their rock of strength, their most prominent and their boldest brother, the senior of the group, and with one exception the disciple most beloved and trusted by the Master, was actually warned against the most deadly sin—nay, more, a course o

JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM,.... This answer is returned, and these words are spoken, for the further confirmation and explanation of what was before said: IF A MAN LOVE ME, HE WILL KEEP MY WORDS; by his "words" are meant not his doctrines, but his ordinances; the same with his commandments, John 14:21, which he has said, ordered, and commanded to be observed, and which are observed by such who truly love him, and that from a principle of love to him, and with a view to his glory: and for the encouragement of such persons as before, he says, AND MY FATHER WILL LOVE HIM: which is to be understood not of the love of the Father, as in his own heart, which is not taken up in time, but was in him from all eternity; nor of the first discovery of it to his people, but of greater manifestations of it to them, and a quicker sense of it in their hearts, and als

I suppose that many of you know this chapter by heart. I notice that, in all old Christians' Bibles, this leaf is well worn, sometimes worn out. We have here our Lord's homely talk to his disciples; it is full of sublimity, yet it is blessedly simple. There is a sort of unveiling of himself in this chapter. It is not so much like a public discourse as a private conversation and this tends to make the Saviour's speech appear the more condescending, and yet also the more sublime. John 14:1. _Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me._ There is no cure for heart-trouble but heart-trust. «Ye believe in God,» you do trust in Divine Providence, now trust in the Saviour's great atonement. You have come close to God already, come closer still to the Incarnate God, the Lord Jesus Christ; hear him say to you, «Ye believe in God, believe also in me.» Your fa

CHAPTER 14 1. Let not Your Heart be Troubled! (John 14:1 .) 2. I Am in the Father and the Father in Me. (John 14:8 .) 3. The Other Comforter Promised. (John 14:15 .) 4. I Go unto the Father. (John 14:28 .) There is no break between these two Chapter s. The Lord continues His discourse to the eleven disciples. “Let not your heart be troubled!” What precious words of comfort! How many hearts have been soothed by them and how many tears they have dried! And after His loving words He said again: “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” ...

John 14:1 takes up the thoughts of the previous paragraph, not of the last verse. The thoughts of separation and treachery had led to perplexity, if not despair. Jesus bids them trust God and Himself. There is plenty of room in His Father's house (_cf._ Genesis 24:23; Genesis 24:25). John 14:2_ b may_ be interpreted in three ways: (_a_) Even if not He would have found room for them. To _you_ I would have said I go to prepare a place: this suits the context, but is forced, (_b)_ If not, I would have told you, for the whole object of going is to prepare a place for you. I could not have withheld the truth from you. This also is unna