If You Loved Me You Would Rejoice

JESUS WAS GOING TO THE FATHER
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 14:28 28"Youheard me say, 'I am going away
and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you
would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the
Father is greater than I.
Love’s Transformations—A Communion
Meditation by SPURGEON
“If you loved Me, you would rejoice because Isaid, I go unto the
Father.”
John 14:28
THE loving Jesus saw a shade of sadness fall upon the faces of the 12 while He
talkedto them of His departure. Though He was, Himself, to die, with His
usual self-forgetfulness He only thought of them and He desired to comfort
them–to comfort them about the present sorrow of His departure. See how
skillfully, how wiselyHe drew upon their love for their comfort. The most
common and usual source of comfort is Christ’s love to us, but in this instance
the most applicable and the most influential source of comfort was their love
to Him. He said, therefore, to them, “If you loved Me, you would rejoice
because I said, I go unto the Father.” It was well and wisely spoken, for He
touched them upon a point in which they were very tender–if anything could
move them to comfort, it would be His appealto their loyal love. He had
appealedto that, before, when He said, “If you love Me, keepMy
commandments,” but now, in softer, sweeter,more tender tones, He seems to
say, “If you love Me, ceaseyour sorrow and begin to rejoice.”
The Lord may give us drink from that same spring. It is a lowerspring
compared with the upper spring of His own sweetlove, but He may cause it to

flow most preciously so that when we are not bold enoughto drink of the
higher stream, we may taste of this. If we are able to say, “You know all
things, You know that I love You,” we may be cheeredby that Truth of God.
“So surely as you do love Me,” says Christ, “you will rejoice rather than
sorrow because I said, I go unto My Father.” Oh, what a blessedMasterwe
serve, who quotes our love, not to blame us for its feebleness,but to draw a
happy inference from it! So much does He desire our peace, our restfulness in
His own dear Self, that even the love we give to Him, He gives back to us and
bids us find comfort in it!
Let that stand as a preface. And now I shall deal with the text by way of
making some three or four observations upon it.
1. And the first is this–IT WILL BE MUCH FOR OUR COMFORT TO
TRY TO SEE THINGS IN CHRIST’S LIGHT. Notice the expression,
“If you loved Me, you would rejoice because Isaid, I go unto the
Father.”
Christ had told them that He was about to die. He had said in very plain
language on a former occasion, “The Sonof Man shall be betrayed unto the
chief priests and unto the scribes and they shall condemn Him to death, and
shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge,and to crucify
Him.” But now He looks atthe matter in another light. His present view of it
is, “I go unto the Father.” Their view of it was, “Jesusis to die.” His view of it
was, “I go unto My Father.” Oh, how often our hearts would grow happy if
we could but see things in Christ’s light! Let us try to do so.
For, here observe, that Christ sees through things. You and I look at them and
we see Pilate, Herod, the judgement seat, the scourge, the Cross, the spear, the
sepulcher–but Jesus looks throughthem and He sees the Father’s Throne and
Himself exalted upon it. Could we not, sometimes, try to see affairs in Christ’s
light by looking through them? Come, Brothers and Sisters, that present
affliction which seems not to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless, afterwards
yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness!Can you not look at the,
“afterwards,”and thus discern the end as the Lord does? Your present estate
is tossedabout and troubled, for you are on a stormy sea, but you are being
tossedtowards the port and driven, even, by the storm, towards your desired
haven! Can you not see through matters as Jesus did? Why dwell always on
this life? Can you not see whatit leads to? “The way may be rough, but it
cannot be long.” And then comes an eternity of joy! Can you not spy this out?
Your Lord did, for though His passage into Glory was infinitely rougher than
yours–though He had to swim through seas ofblood and breast the breakers
of Hell, itself, in His death-pangs–yetHe lookedbeyond all and said, “I go

unto the Father.” See things in Christ’s light! See the end as well as the
beginning and the middle–and you will be comforted!
Do you not see, too, that the light in which Christ sees things is such that He
notices the bearing of things? He says, in effect, “If you could see My death as
I see it–as a going unto the Father–youwould rejoice.” He sees the ultimate
result and bearing of things. Oh, if we could always do the same and perceive
what will come of our present sorrow!And if we just understood what it tends
to and what God means to bring out of it all, then we should not so much see
the fire as the pure ingot that comes forth of it! Then we should not so much
see the plowing and the scattering of the seedto be buried beneath frost and
snow, but we should hear the shouts of harvest and see the yellow sheaves
gatheredinto the garner. Oh, to see Providences in Christ’s light!
But I do not mean to dwell upon this. I only want to throw out the thought so
that every troubled one may now think of his own case as Christwould think
of it. If you have a sorrow, how would Jesus dealwith this sorrow if it were
His own? If you are, just now, in darkness, whatwould be Christ’s outlook
from the window of faith? What would He see as coming out of this affliction?
There is no better rule for Christian conduct than, “Whatwould Jesus do?” I
was much struck when I saw that question hanging up in our Orphanage
girls' school–“WhatwouldJesus do?” Friend, this is what you should do!
What does Jesus think about trial?–foraccording to the measure of your
capacity, my Brothers and Sisters, that is what you should think of it. Try this
holy rule and you will find the major part of your sorrows transformedinto
joys. A clearunderstanding of the nature of our trial would lead us to glory in
tribulation! All that has to do with Jesus is joyous when seenin His light! If
you understood His passion, you would see His Glory. If you understood His
tomb, you would see His Resurrection. If you understood His death, you
would see His Throne.
II. Our secondobservationis this–OUR LOVE OUGHT TO GO TOWARDS
OUR LORD’S PERSON. “Ifyou loved Me, you would rejoice.” Come, my
dear Friends, gatherup your thoughts a minute while I remind you that the
best love that we have should go to Jesus Christ, Himself–not so much to His
salvation, as to Himself, should our hearts fly. “If you loved Me, you would
rejoice.” We do wellto love Christ’s house, His day, His Bible, His Church,
His service, His blood and His Throne–but we must, above all these things,
love His Person. That is the tender point; “we love Him” and other things in
Him. We love His Church for His sake;His truth because it is His truth; His
Cross because He bore it for us and His salvationbecause purchasedby His

blood. I counselyou to pull up the sluices ofyour love and let the full tide flow
towards Jesus.
For, first, He is the source of all benefits. Therefore, in loving Him you value
the benefits, but you trace them to their fountainhead. Should we love the gift
better than the giver? Should the wife love her jewels better than the beloved
one who gave them? It must not be so! Love the very Personof Jesus–the God,
the Man, Emmanuel, God With Us. Realize Him as a distinct Existence. Let
Him stand before you now “with scars ofhonor in His flesh and triumph in
His eyes” as we sang just now. Love Him as the Source of your hope, your
pardon, your life, your future Glory!
Loving Him, we learn to prize all His gifts the more, for he that loves the giver
values the smallestgift for the giver’s sake. Your love to the Personof Jesus
will not make you think less ofthe benefits which He bestows, but infinitely
more. Shootat the centerof the target. Love Him and, loving Him, you will
value all that He gives.
Loving Jesus, we have Him for our own and that is a greatblessing. A man
may love gold and not have it. A man may love fame and not have it. But he
that loves Christ has Christ, for certainly there was never yet a hand of love
stretchedout to embrace Him unlawfully! He is the property of all who lay
hold of Him with their hearts.
Love Him, and then you will sympathize with Him. His work will awaken
your greatestinterest. When His cause seems to decline, you will grieve with
Him. And when He wins the day, you will shout the victory with Him. Love
Him and you will love the souls of men. Love Jesus and you will seek to bring
sinners to Him. Nothing cando you so much goodand fit you so well for His
service as to love Him. Love Him and you will love His people, for never heart
did love Christ and hate His Church. He that loves the Head loves the
members. “Everyone that loves Him that begat, loves him, also, that is
begottenof Him. We know that we love Jesus whenwe love the Brethren.
Love Christ and you will have a possessionwhich will lastforever, for other
things expire, but love never fails. “Whetherthere are prophecies, they shall
fail; whether there are tongues, they shall cease.” Buthe that loves, possesses
a coin that is current in the skies. He shall go on to love forever. When the sun
shall be darkened and the stars shall fall from Heaven like withered leaves, he
that loves Jesus shallstill go on to love and find in that love his Heaven!
Remember, if you love the Son, the Fatherwill love you. That is a precious
Word of His which you will find in the 16 th Verse. There is a common Object
of love betweenthe Believerand the Father. When youglorify Christ, the

Father says, “Amen,” to what you do. There is no lover of the Christ equal to
the Father. “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His
hands.” Therefore love the Son and yield all honor to Him, even as the Father
does.
If you love Him you may well do so. It is necessary–absolutelynecessary–that
you should love your own Lord, for I will tell you a secretthing, only to be
whispered in the believing ear–youare married to Him–and what is the
marriage state without love? What, then, would the Church be to Christ if she
loved Him not? What a wretched farce this union would be if there were no
love betweenthe soul and Christ to whom it is united! You are a member of
His body–shallnot the hand love the Head? Shall not the foot love the Head?
God forbid that we should be without love to Jesus Christ–love to His own
altogetherlovely Self. May God the Holy Spirit work in us abundantly to love
Jesus who tenderly says, “If you loved Me, you would rejoice!”
III. My third observationis that SOMETIMESOUR SORROWSPUT A
QUESTION ON OUR LOVE. Do you not notice that it was because theywere
very sorrowful, not seeing things in the Master’s light, that Jesus said, “If you
loved Me, you would rejoice”?Let us try, tonight, to check the sorrow which
may be in our bosoms at this hour, since it may castan, “if,” upon our love to
Christ.
Notice that if sorrow about the loss of an earthly thing eats into your heart, it
puts an, “if,” upon your love to Christ. Many are the cries of woe–“Alas,I
have lost my property! I have lostthe old house in which my fathers lived. I
have lost my job! I have lost my dearestfriend!” Is it, therefore, true that
because ofthis loss, you have no joy left? Have you lostyour Savior? I thought
you calledHim your Best-Belovedand you said that He was your All–is He
also gone? Did I not hear you say, “Whom have I in Heavenbut You? And
there is none upon earth that I desire beside You”? Is that true? Oh, over-
burdened heart! Oh, heavy spirit! Do you love Jesus? Thenwhy are you
disconsolate? An, “if,” comes up when we think of your despair.
So, too, when we too much repine under personalaffliction, a question is
suggested. You may be ill, tonight, or you may be fearing that an illness is
coming. Or you may be in pain or weakness. Because youfear that
consumption is upon you, your heart is very heavy. Truly, it is a sadthing to
be diseased, but who sentyou this? Whose will is it that it should be so? Who
is the Lord of the house? Is not the grief your Lord’s will, your Savior’s will?
You sayyou love Him and yet you will not let Him have His way and are in a
pet with Him and would dispute His love in sending this affliction! Is that so,

my Brother? Does not that murmuring of yours put an, “if,” of question upon
your love to your blessedSavior?
You say, too, that you have been trusting Him and yet you have fallen into
difficulties and straits. You do not know which way to turn and you suspect
that His Providence is not wise. Do you think so? If you loved Him as you
should, would you think so? Is there not an, “if,” somewhere?I do not mean
an, “if,” about your loving Him, but about your loving Him as you ought! I
think if you loved Him as He deserves, youwould say, “The King can do no
wrong. My King is kind, wise, loving. I yield everything into His blessed
hands.”
And so your sorrow is occasionedby the fear of death! You go burdened every
day about death, do you? That is a poor compliment to the Well-Beloved. I
thought you loved Him! Love Him–and not wish to see His face? It is a dark
passage, is it? Oh, if the way were still darker, since He is on the other side, let
us pass through it with a song! To be with Him where He is–are you
reluctant? Reluctantto behold His face? Reluctantto be forever in His
bosom? Is there not an, “if,” somewhere?
No, your grief is not about your death–it is about those that have died whom
you loved. You cannot forgive God for taking awaythose you loved so well.
Who has them, Friend? Who has them? I will tell you. It is One who, when He
was here, said, “Father, I will that they, also, whomYou have given Me, be
with Me where I am.” He prayed for them! He died for them! And now He
has His own and you are displeased? Do you stand fretting because Christhas
His own? What? Are you pettish because whatHe lent you, for a while, He
has takenback? Were not your dear ones always more His than yours? Do
you love Him, then, and grudge your child, your baby to Jesus? Do you
grudge your mother, your brother, your wife, your husband to Him that
bought them with His blood? Oh, I say again, it puts an, “if,” upon your love–
not on the existence ofit, but on the degree of it. If you loved Him, you would
rejoice that He sees the travail of His soul and has His saints with Him in
Glory.
IV. That brings me to the closing remark, which contains the gist of the text.
All the rest is meant to lead up to it, namely, this–that OUR LOVE TO OUR
DIVINE LORD OUGHT TO BE SUCH THAT HIS EXALTATION,
THOUGH IT SHOULD BE OUR LOSS, SHOULD, NEVERTHELESS,
GIVE US UNFEIGNED DELIGHT. I will put this very simply before you.
There is a daughter of yours in Christ and she is fading awayby consumption.
She is very happy in the Lord and full of joyful expectation. She is about to die
and you are all round the bed. You, her dear mother, stand there weeping

most of all. Now, your dear girl shall give you an explanation of my text. She
says, “Mother, do you not know that I shall soonbe with the angels and shall
see the face of God, without fault? If you loved me, Mother, you would rejoice
to think that I shall be awayfrom all this weakness andthis pain. If you love
me, you will be glad to think that your child shall be in Glory.” Your girl’s
sweetwords shall tell you what Jesus meant. He meant, “If you loved Me very
much. If you loved Me–notmerely My Presence andthe comforts that I bring
you, and the charm with which I invest your earthly life–but if you loved Me,
you would say, ‘BlessedLord, we readily deny ourselves Your company and
all the joy it brings because it is better for You to be gone to the Father. It is
more glorious for You to be in Heaven than here and, therefore, we rejoice in
Your exaltation.’”
You see how it was with those disciples. I need not enlarge upon their case.
When Jesus had died and risen again–andhad gone awayfrom His disciples,
He took upon Himself the Glory which He had laid aside. The Glory which He
had with God before the world was, He reassumedat the time when He
entered Heaven! Then, too, as the God-Man, He was invested with a new
splendor. The Fathersaid, “Let all the angels ofGod worship Him,” and they
adored Him. New songs went up from every golden streetand all Heaven rang
with, “Hosanna!Hosanna! Hosanna!” as Christ ascendedto His Throne, To
the Throne He ascends and there He sits, King and Priest, forever enthroned
until His enemies are made His footstool. No more the bloody sweat–nomore
the cruel spear–no more the dark and lonesome tomb! He is exalted above all
exaltation, higher than the kings of the earth, far above all principalities and
powers and every name that is named! We ought to be glad of this–
exceedinglyglad. These disciples were bound to be glad if they loved Christ,
for though they could no more enjoy His company, could not sit at the table
with Him, could not walk through the streets with Him any more, yet it was
goodfor Him to be gone to Glory and, therefore, they were compelled to
rejoice!
I want, in conclusion, to draw one or two parallel cases whichmay be
practically applicable to yourselves.
Suppose, Beloved, that it should always be for Christ’s Glory to leave you in
the dark? Would you not rejoice to have it so? A little while ago it was so with
me. A few years ago I remember preaching to you from the text, “My God,
My God, why have You forsakenMe,” and I think that if ever soulof mortal
man knew the biter meaning of that cry, I did. I preached hearing the
clanking of my own chains while I spoke to you. It was sadwork. That night,
before I went home, I knew the reason. There came into the vestry a man as

nearly insane as man could be. Despairhung like a cloud over his countenance
and, as he took my hand, he said, “I have never met a man before that seemed
to know where I am. Talk with me.” I saw him the next day and severaldays
and, by God’s help, savedhim from self-destruction. Then did I rejoice
because I saw that Christ was glorified! I would lose my Master’s company,
dark as the day would be to me without it–lose it, yes, by the months together–
if it would make Him glorious in the heart of one poor downcastman, or
bring a single sinner to His feet!
Be willing to say the same, Brothers and Sisters. Love Christ and be willing
for Him to give you the cold shoulder instead of the kiss of His lips if He might
be more glorified! God bring us to reachthat state of self-denialto be willing
to forego that greatestluxury of Heaven for which angels themselves pine–the
Presence ofthe Lord–if thereby Jesus may be the better served.
Well, now, suppose that you are going to be laid aside, afflicted, troubled and
it should be God’s intent that by this you should become more useful and
more fitted for His service? If you love Him, you will rejoice at this. You will
acceptchastisementwith thankfulness and say, “Lay on the stripes! Multiply
the pain! Only fashion me so that I can glorify You! Make no accountof
anything else but this–that You may be exalted in my mortal body whether I
live or whether I die!”
It is possible, dear Friend, that you are going to be eclipsedby one who has a
brighter light than any God has yet given you. None of us like this. Somebody
is coming forward who will preachbetter than you. That Sunday school
teacheris going to teach better than you. Somebody near you will display
more Grace and more gifts than you. What then? If you love Jesus you will
rejoice that it should be so! Do you remember what Paul did? There were
some who preachedChrist out of contentionand ill-will and wanted to get the
better of Paul. They desired that their names would be cried up above the
Apostles. “Ah,” said Paul, “so long as Christ is preachedI rejoice, yes, and
will rejoice!” Well spoken, Paul!
I like the valor of the soldier who helped to fill the ditch with his dead body
that his captain might march to victory. Throw yourselves into oblivion that
Jesus may triumph! It were a small sacrifice forall the Church to die a
martyr’s death if Jesus were but raised one inch the higher among men! Let
us exhibit the self-denying spirit which is born of love. “If you loved Me, you
would rejoice because I said, I go unto the Father.”
Suppose that it should also happen that some of you are going to be deprived
of all the privileges of hearing the Gospelbecause you are going away to a

foreign land? You are extremely sorry, but suppose that Jesus means to make
use of you to advance His Glory among the heathen–by naming His name
where it was never knownbefore? Then you may rejoice in banishment,
rejoice to deny yourselves Gospelprivileges, rejoice to be scatteredfar and
wide by mountain, streamand sea so that you might bring forth a harvest to
His Glory!
Brethren, if you should be sinking lowerand lowerin your own esteem, be not
sorry for it. If Christ is rising higher and higher in your esteem, countit all
gain! Sink, O self, down to death and the abyss! Sink, sink, till there is nothing
left of you! Go down, pride, self-conceit, self-trust, self-seeking!Go even
though your going should cause despondency, so long as Christ is crowned!
Sink, sink, Soul, if Jesus rises!If you can trust Him better, love Him better
and admire Him more, so let it be!
As you come to His Table, say in your hearts, “Lord, make me glad, or make
me sad, so long as You are exalted! Lord, let me have Your presence, but let
me be without it, so long us You are exalted and extolled!” PORTION OF
SCRIPTURE READ BEFORESERMON–John14:(parts).HYMNS FROM
“OUR OWN HYMN BOOK”–318, 317,786.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The BequestOf Peace
John 14:27
J.R. Thomson
This promise of the Saviorsank into his people's hearts. From the first,
inward peace, peaceofconscienceand of spirit, was valued as among the
choicestpossessionsofthe members of Christ's Church. They gave their
children names such as Irenaeus and Irene, which signify simply "peace."In
the course oftheir communion services it was their custom to greetone
another with the salutation, "Peace be with you!" In the catacombs ofRome
may still be read on many a Christian's tomb the brief but touching
inscription, In Face ("In peace"). So did they value the gift and legacyof their
beloved Lord.

I. THERE IS IN HUMAN LIFE MUCH THAT IS FITTED TO DISTURB
AND TO DESTROYPEACE.
1. Looking back to the past, many are troubled at the retrospectof their own
errors, follies, and sins.
2. Looking round upon the present, many cannotfail to discern in their actual
circumstances occasionsofdistress and alarm.
3. Looking forward to the future, anxious minds are perturbed by forebodings
and fears.
II. THE WORLD IS POWERLESS TO IMPART OR TO RESTOREPEACE
TO THE TROUBLED HEART. The consolationsofthe world are delusive, its
promises deceptive.
1. There may well be here a reference to the ordinary greetings of the East.
"Peace!" is the common salutation, and has been from time immemorial. Like
all such greetings, it often was and is altogetherthoughtless and insincere.
Our Lord's "peace" is something quite different.
2. But there is a deeperreference, viz. to the pretence of peace as givenby the
world, to which no reality corresponds. The world says, "Peace, peace;when
there is no peace."Superficial, deceptive, utterly false, is that insensibility to
terrible realities which frivolity and skepticismoffer to the troubled soul, Far
better storms of fear and care than such a calm as this!
For terrible is the awakening, whenthe judgment of the
All-righteous draws near.
III. CHRIST'S PEACE, AND HIS ALONE, IS VALID AND LASTING.
1. This is spiritual peace. It is not to be supposed that the Christian is exempt
from the cares and the calamities of life, that outward circumstances and
human societyare all to combine in order to his preservationfrom the
troubles which are incidental to human life. But there may be calm within
even while the storm rages without. The heart may be so free from fear.
2. This peace proceedsfrom the restorationof right relations betweenthe soul
and God. It is peace ofconscience, the substitution of harmony with the
government and the will of God for that state of discord which is the
experience of the nature that is alienatedfrom the eternal Ruler of all. To be
right with God is the first condition of human peace. Suchconcordit is the
work of the Redeemerto bring about.
3. This peace is both a bequest and a gift of Christ. It is a legacy, becauseit
was dependent upon the Lord's departure, and the subsequent establishment

of a spiritual dispensation. It is a gift, because apartfrom the Savior's
provision there was no means by which this blessing might be securedand
enjoyed. The peace in question is not to be earned by any effort or sacrifice of
ours; it is the bestowmentof the infinite love and grace of the Divine
Mediator.
4. This gift is essentiallyhis who bestows it. The peace which he enjoys he also
imparts. That peace whichflows from obedience and submission to the Divine
will was naturally the proper possessionofthe Son of God; and it is that same
peace which Jesus conveys to the heart that trusts and rests in him.
5. The peace of Christ is all-sufficient. In plenitude and in perpetuity it is
alone.
"The world canneither give nor take,
Nor canthey comprehend,
The peace ofGod which Christ has brought -
The peace whichknows no end." ? T.
Biblical Illustrator
If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, becauseI said I go unto the Father.
John 14:28-29
The death of the gooda reasonfor joy
D. Thomas, D. D.
Note the view which Christ had of His death. "I go."

1. Whence? Fromthe world.
2. Whither? To the Father, not to destruction, eternal solitude, nor to
fellowship with minor souls.
3. How? Not driven. Other men are sent to the grave; Christ freely went. The
generaltruths of the text are these: —
I. THAT GENUINE LOVE REJOICESIN THE HAPPINESS OF ITS
OBJECT.We find illustrations of this in —
1. Creation. Love made the universe in order to diffuse happiness.
2. Christ's mission. Christ came to make happy the objects of infinite love.
3. Christian labour. Happiness is the end of all church work.
II. THAT THE HAPPINESS OF MEN DEPENDSUPON FELLOWSHIP
WITH THE FATHER.
1. Happiness is in love.
2. The love, to produce happiness, must be directed to the Father. His
perfection delights in it; His goodnessreciprocatesit.
3. Love for the Fatheryearns for fellowshipwith Him. Love always craves the
presence ofits object.
III. THAT DEATH INTRODUCESTHE GOOD INTO A SPECIALLY
CLOSE FELLOWSHIP WITH THE FATHER. There were obstructions to
the fellowshipof the Man Christ Jesus with the Father.
1. The body with its infirmities.
2. The sinful world.
3. The influence of principalities and powers of darkness. These interfere with
the fellowshipof goodmen and God, and in addition they have what Christ
had not.
(1)Worldly cares.
(2)Inward depravity.
(3)Corrupt habits.At death, however, all these are removed, and the soulof
the goodman goes into the immediate presence ofGod. We need not, then,
sorrow for the departed good.
(D. Thomas, D. D.)
Joy and faith the fruit of Christ's departure

A. Maclaren, D. D.
I. THE DEPARTURE OF THE LORD IS A FOUNTAIN OF JOY TO
THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.
1. Christ's going is Christ's coming. The word "again" is a supplement, and
somewhatdestroys the true flow of thought. But if you strike it out and read
the sentence as being what it is, a description of one continuous process, you
get the true idea. "I go away, and I come to you." There is no moment of
absolute absence. To the eye of sense, the "going away" was the reality, and
the "coming" a metaphor. To the eye enlightened to see things as they are, the
dropping away of the visible corporealwas but the inauguration of the higher
and the more real.
2. Christ's going is Christ's exaltation. Hitherto we have been contemplating
Christ's departure simply in its bearing upon us, but here He unveils another
aspectof it, and that in order that He may change His disciples'sadness into
joy.(1). What a hint of self-sacrifice lies in this thought, that Christ bids His
disciples rejoice with Him because the time is getting nearerits end, and He
goes back to the Father! And what shall we say of the nature of Him to whom
it was martyrdom to live, and a supreme instance of self-sacrificing
humiliation to "be found in fashionas a man"?(2)The context requires that
for Christ to go to the Father was to share in the Father's greatness.Why else
should the disciples be bidden to rejoice in it? or why should He say anything
about the greatness ofthe Father? The inferiority, of whatever nature it may
be, to which He here alludes, falls awaywhen He passes hence. Now these
words are often quoted triumphantly, as if they were dead againstthe
doctrine of the Divinity of Christ. But the creedwhich confessesthatis not to
be overthrown by pelting this verse at it; for this verse is part of that creed,
which as fully declares the Father is greaterthan the Son as it declares that
the Sonis One with the Father. We candimly see that the very names
"Father" and "Son" imply some sort of subordination, but as that
subordination is in the timeless and inward relations of Divinity, it must be
supposedto exist after the Ascension, as it existedbefore the Incarnation; and,
therefore, any such mysterious difference is not that which is referred to here.
What is referred to is what dropped awayfrom the Man Jesus Christ when
He ascendedup on high. As Luther has it, "Here He was a poor, sad, suffering
Christ"; and that garb of lowliness falls from Him, like the mantle that fell
from the prophet as he went up in the chariotof fire, when He passes behind
the brightness of the Shekinahcloud that hides Him from their sight.
Therefore we, as His followers, have to rejoice in an ascendedChrist, beneath

whose feetare foes, and far away from whose human personality are all the
ills that flesh is heir to.
3. On both these grounds Christ's ascensionand departure is a source of
icy.(1) There can be no presence with us, man by man, through all the ages,
and in every land, unless He, whose presence it is, participated in the absolute
glory of Divinity.(2) And surely if our dearestone was far awayfrom us, in
some lofty position, our hearts and our thoughts would ever be flung thither,
and we should live more there than here. And if we love Jesus Christ, there
will be no thought more sweetto us than the thought of Him, our Brother and
Forerunner, who has ascendedup on high; and in the midst of the glory of the
throne bears us in His heart, and uses His glory for our blessing.
II. HIS DEPARTURE AND HIS ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS DEPARTURE
AS THE GROUND AND FOOD OF FAITH (ver. 29). He knew what a crash
was coming, and with exquisite tenderness He gave Himself to prepare the
disciples for the storm, that, forewarned, they might be forearmed. And when
my sorrows come to me, I may say about them what He says about His
departure. Aye! He has told us before, that when it comes we may believe. But
note —
1. How Christ avows that the greataim of His utterances and of His departure
is to evoke our faith. And what does He mean by faith?(1) A grasp of the
historic facts, His death, resurrection, ascension.(2)The understanding of
these as He Himself has explained them.(3) And, therefore, as the essenceof
faith, a reliance upon Himself as thus revealed, sacrifice by His death, victor
by His resurrection, King and interceding Priestby His ascension— a
reliance upon Himself as absolute as the facts are sure, as unfaltering as His
eternal sameness.
2. These facts, as interpreted by Himself, are the ground and the nourishment
of our faith. How differently they lookedwhen seenfrom the further side and
when seenfrom the hither side. "We trusted," said two of them, with such a
sad use of the past tense, "that this had been He which should have redeemed
Israel." But after the facts were all unveiled, there came back the memory of
His words, and they said to one another, "Did He not tell us that it was all to
be so? How blind we were not to understand Him!"
3. Faith is the condition of the true presence ofour absentLord.
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Love's importance

C. H. Spurgeon.
1. Jesus'love makes Him use the disciples'love to Himself as a comfort for
themselves when they are distressedabout His going away.
2. He appeals to the warmestfeeling in their hearts in order to raise their
spirits.
3. It is well when grace has put within us principles which are springs of
consolation. Fromour text learn —
I. THAT WE SHOULD TRY TO SEE THINGS IN CHRIST'S LIGHT.
1. He sees the whole of things. He says not only, "I go away," but also, "I come
againunto you."
2. He sees through things. He does not say, "I die," but He looks beyond, and
says, "I go unto the Father."
3. He sees the true bearing of things. The events which were about to happen
were in themselves sad, but they would lead to happy results. "If ye loved Me,
ye would rejoice." To see facts in His light we must dwell with Him, live in
Him, grow like Him, and especiallylove Him more and more.
II. THAT OUR LOVE SHOULD GO FORTH TOWARDS HIS PERSON. "If
ye loved Me." All about Him is amiable; but He Himself is altogetherlovely
(Song of Solomon5:16). He is the source ofall the benefits He bestows. Loving
Him: —
1. We have Him, and so His benefits.
2. We prize His benefits the more.
3. We sympathize in all that He does.
4. We love His people for His sake.
5. Our love endures all sorts of rebuffs for His sake.
6. The Father loves us (John 14:23)
7. We are married to Him.Love is the sure and true marriage-bond whereby
the soulis united to Christ. Love to a personis the most real of emotions. Love
to a person is the most influential of motives. Love to a person is, in this case,
the most natural and satisfying of affections.
III. THAT OUR SORROW OUGHT NOT TO PUT OUR LOVE IN
QUESTION. Yet, in the case ofthe disciples, our Lord justly said, "If ye loved
Me." He might sorrowfully say the same to us —
1. When we lament inordinately the loss of creatures.

2. When we repine at His will, because ofour severe afflictions.
3. When we mistrust His wisdom, because we are sore hampered and see no
way of escape.
4. When we fearto die, and thus display an unwillingness to be with our Lord.
Surely, if we loved Him, we should rejoice to be with Him.
5. When we complain concerning those who have been takenfrom us to be
with Him. Ought we not to rejoice that Jesus in them sees ofthe travail of His
soul, and has His prayer (John 17:24)answered.
IV. THAT OUR LOVE SHOULD MAKE US REJOICE AT OUR LORD'S
EXALTATION, THOUGH IT BE OUR PERSONALLOSS.
1. It was apparently the disciples'loss for their Lord to go to the Father; and
we may think certaindispensations to be our loss —
(1)When we are tried by souldesertion, while Christ is magnified in our
esteem.
(2)When we are afflicted, and He is glorified, by our sorrows.
(3)When we are eclipsed, and in the result the gospelis spread.
(4)When we are deprived of privileges for the goodof others.
(5)When we sink lowerand lowerin our own esteem, but the kingdom of God
comes with power.
2. It was greatlyto our Lord's gain to go to His Father. Thus He —
(1)Left the field of suffering forever.
(2)Reassumedthe glory which He had laid aside.
(3)Receivedthe glory awardedby the Father.
(4)Became enthronedfor His Church and cause.Conclusion:
1. It will be well for us to look more to our love than to our joy, and to expect
our joy through our love.
2. It will be well for us to know that smallness of love may dim the
understanding, and that growth in it may make us both wiserand happier.
3. In all things our Lord must be first. Yes, even in those most spiritual
delights, about which it may seemallowable to bane strong personaldesires.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
For My Father is greaterthan I.

Christ's equality with and subordination to God
Canon Liddon.
It is contended that our Lord here abandoned any pretension to be a person
internal to the essentiallife of God. But this saying can have no such force if
its application be restricted, as the Latin Fathers do restrict it to our Lord's
manhood. But even if our Lord is here speaking, as the Greeks generally
maintain, of His essentialDeity, His words express very exactlya truth
recognizedand required by the Catholic doctrine. The subordination of the
everlasting Son to the everlasting Father is strictly compatible with the Son's
absolute Divinity; it is abundantly implied in our Lord's language:and it is an
integral element of the ancientdoctrine which steadily represents the Father
as alone unoriginate, the Fount of Deity, in the eternal life of the ever-blessed
Trinity. But surely an admission on the part of One in whom men saw nothing
more than a fellow creature, that the everlasting Godwas greaterthan
Himself, would fail to satisfya thoughtful listener that no claim to Divinity
was advancedby the Speaker. Suchan admission presupposes some assertion
to which it stands in the relation of a necessaryqualification. If any good man
of our acquaintance should announce that God was greaterthan himself,
should we not hold him to be guilty of something worse than a stupid truism?
And should we not peremptorily remind him that the life of man is related to
the life of God, not as the less to the greater, but as the createdto the
Uncreated, and that it is an impertinent irreverence to admit superiority of
rank, when the realtruth can only be expressedby an assertionofradical
difference of natures? And assuredlya sane and honest man, who had been
accusedofassociating Himself with the Supreme Being, could not content
himself with admitting that God was greaterthan himself. Knowing himself to
be only human, would he not insist again and again with passionate fervour
upon the incommunicable glory of the greatCreator?
(Canon Liddon.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(28) Ye have heard how I said unto you.—Better, Ye heard how I said unto
you. (See John 14:19-20.)
If ye loved me, ye would rejoice.—True love seeksanother’s goodand not its
own. Their sorrow at His departure was at its root selfish, as all sorrow for

those who depart to be with God is, howeverlittle we think so. His departure
would be the return to the glory of the Father’s throne, and was matter for
joy and not for sorrow. For them also it was expedient. (Comp. Notes onJohn
16:6-7.)
For my Father is greaterthan I.—These words have naturally formed the
subject of controversyin every period of the Church’s history, betweenthose
who deny and those who acceptthe truth that the Son is “very God, of the
substance of the Father, begottenbefore all worlds.” And, as in all
controversies,statements have been made on either side which cannot be
supported by the words themselves. On the part of those who assertthe divine
nature, it has been contended that the Father is greaterthan the Son only as
regards the human nature of the Son; but this is not here thought of. In this
passage, as in others of the New Testament, it is plainly assertedthat in the
divine nature there is a subordination of the Son to the Father. (See, e.g., John
14:16;John 17:5; 1Corinthians 3:23; 1Corinthians 11:3; 1Corinthians 15:27-
28; Philippians 2:9; Philippians 2:11; and especiallyNote on John 5:19 et seq.)
On the part of those who deny the divinity of our Lord, it has been contended
that this text asserts the inferiority of His nature to that of the Father,
whereas the words could only have been uttered by one who meant in them to
assertHis own divine essence. If we try to imagine a man saying, “Godis
greaterthan I,” we feel at once that He who really said them claimed for
Himself that He was truly God.
MacLaren's Expositions
John
JOY AND FAITH, THE FRUITS OF CHRIST’S DEPARTURE
John 14:28 - John 14:29.
Our Lord here casts a glance backwardonthe course of His previous words,
and gathers togetherthe substance and purpose of these. He brings out the
intention of His warnings and the true effectof the departure, concerning
which He had given them notice, as being twofold. In the first verse of my text
His words about that going away, and the going awayitself, are representedas
the source ofjoy, which is an advance on the peace that He had just
previously been promising. In the secondof our verses these two things-His

words, and the facts which they revealed-are representedas being the very
ground and nourishment of faith.
So, then, we have these two thoughts to look at now, the departed Lord, the
fountain of joy to all who love Him; the departed Lord, the ground and food
of faith.
I. The departure of the Lord is a fountain of joy to those who love Him.
In the first part of our text the going awayof Jesus is contemplatedin two
aspects.
The first is that with which we have already become familiar in previous
sermons on this chapter-viz., its bearing upon the disciples; and in that
respectit is declaredthat Christ’s going is Christ’s coming.
But then we have a new aspect, one on which, in His sublime self-repression,
He very seldom touches-viz., its bearing upon Himself; and in that aspectwe
are taught here to regard our Lord’s going as ministering to His exaltation
and joy, and therefore as being a source ofjoy to all His lovers.
So, then, we have these thoughts, Christ’s going is Christ’s coming, and
Christ’s going is Christ’s exaltation, and for both reasons that departure
ought to minister to His friends’ gladness. Let us look at these three things for
a little while.
First of all, there comes a renewedutterance of that great thought which runs
through the whole chapter, that the departure of Jesus Christis in reality the
coming of Christ. The word ‘again’ is a supplement, and somewhatrestricts
and destroys the true flow of thought and meaning of the words. For if we
read, as our Authorised Versiondoes, ‘I go awayand come againunto you,’
we are inevitably led to think of a coming, separatedby a considerable
distance of time from the departure, and for most of us that which is
suggestedis the final coming and return, in bodily form, of the Lord Jesus.

Now greatand glorious as that hope is, it is too far awayto be in itself a
sufficient comfort to the mourning disciples, and too remote to be for us, if
takenalone, a sufficient ground of joy and of rest. But if you strike out the
intrusive word ‘again,’ and read the sentence as being what it is, a description
of one continuous process, ofwhich the parts are so closelyconnectedas to be
all but contemporaneous, youget the true idea. ‘I go away, and I come to you.’
There is no gap, the thing runs on without a break. There is no moment of
absolute absence;there are not two motions, one from us and the other back
againtowards us, but all is one. The ‘going’is the ‘coming’; the solemn series
of events which beganon Calvary, and ended on Olivet, to the eye of sense
were successive stagesin the departure of Jesus Christ. But lookedatwith a
deeper understanding of their true meaning, they are successive stagesin His
approachtowards us. His death, His resurrection, His ascension, were not
steps in the cessationofHis presence, but they were simply steps in the
transition from a lowerto a higher kind of that presence. He changedthe
limitations and externalities of a mere bodily, localnearness for the realities of
a spiritual presence. To the eye of sense, the ‘going away’was the reality, and
the ‘coming’ a metaphor. To the eye enlightened to see things as they are, the
dropping away of the visible corporealwas but the inauguration of the higher
and the more real. And we need to reverse our notions of what is real and
what is figurative in Christ’s presence, and to feelthat that form of His
presence which we may all have to-day is far more realthan the form which
ceasedwhen the Shekinah cloud ‘receivedHim out of their sight,’ before we
can penetrate to the depth of His words, or grasp the whole fullness of blessing
and of consolationwhichlie in them here. In a very deep and realsense, ‘He
therefore departed from us for a seasonthat we might receive Him for ever.’
The real presence ofJesus Christ to-day, and through the long ages with every
waiting heart, is the very keynote to the solemn music of these chapters. And
againI press upon you, and upon myself, the question, Do we believe it? Do
we live in the faith of it? Does it fill the same place in the perspective of our
Christian creed as it does in the revelationof the Scripture, or have we refined
it and wateredit down, until it comes to be little more than merely the
continuous influence of the recordof His past, just as any greatand sovereign
spirit that has influenced mankind may still ‘rule the nations from his urn’?
Or do we take Him at His word, and believe that He meant what He said, in
something far other than a violent figure for the continuance of His influence
and of the inspiration drawn from Him, ‘Lo! I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world’? ‘Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascendup into

heaven? that is, to bring Christ down from above, the Word,’ the Incarnate
Word, ‘is nigh thee, in thy heart,’ if thou lovestand trustest Him.
Then, again, the other aspectofour Lord’s coming, which is emphasisedhere,
is that in which it is regardedas affecting Himself. Christ’s going is Christ’s
exaltation.
Now observe that, in the first clause of our verse, there is simply specifiedthe
fact of departure, without any reference to the ‘whither’; because all that was
wanted was to contrastthe going and the coming. But, in the secondclause, in
which the emphasis rests not so much upon the fact of departure as upon the
goalto which He went, we read: ‘I go to the Father.’Hitherto we have been
contemplating Christ’s departure simply in its bearing upon us, but here, with
exquisite tenderness, He unveils another aspectofit, and that in order that He
may change His disciples’ sadness into joy; and says to them, ‘If ye were not
so absorbed in yourselves, you would have a thought to spare about Me, and
you would feel that you should be glad because I am about to be exalted.’
Very, very seldomdoes He open such a glimpse into His heart, and it is all the
more tender and impressive when He does. What a hint of the continual self-
sacrifice ofthe human life of Jesus Christ lies in this thought, that He bids His
disciples rejoice with Him, because the time is getting nearer its end, and He
goes back to the Father! And what shall we say of the nature of Him to whom
it was martyrdom to live, and a supreme instance of self-sacrificing
humiliation to be ‘found in fashion as a man’?
He tells His followers here that a reasonfor their joy in His departure is to be
found in this fact, that He goes to the Father, who is greaterthan Himself.
Now mark, with regardto that remarkable utterance, that the whole course of
thought in the contextrequires, as it seems to me, that we should suppose that
for Christ to ‘go to the Father’was to share in the Father’s greatness. Why
else should the disciples be bidden to rejoice in it? or why should He say
anything at all about the greatnessofthe Father? If so, then this follows, that
the greatnessto which He here alludes is such as He enters by His ascension.
Or, in other words, that the inferiority, of whatevernature it may be, to which
He here alludes, falls awaywhen He passeshence.

Now these words are often quoted triumphantly, as if they were dead against
what I venture to call the orthodox and Scriptural doctrine of the divinity of
our Lord Jesus Christ. And it may be worth while to remark that that
doctrine accepts this saying as fully as it does Christ’s other word, ‘I and My
Father are one,’ I venture to think that it is the only constructionof Scripture
phraseologywhich does full justice to all the elements. But be that as it may, I
wish to remind you that the creedwhich confessesthe unity of the Godhead
and the divinity of Jesus Christ is not to be overthrown by pelting this verse at
it; for this verse is part of that creed, which as fully declares that the Fatheris
greaterthan the Son, as it declares that the Son is One with the Father. You
may be satisfiedwith it or no, but as a matter of simple honesty it must be
recognisedthat the creedof the Catholic Church does combine both the
elements of these representations.
Now we can only speak in this matter as Scripture guides us. The depths of
Deity are far too deep to be sounded by our plummets, and he is a bold man
who ventures to say that he knows what is impossible in reference to the
divine nature. He needs to have gone all round God, and down to the depths,
and up to the heights of a bottomless and summitless infinitude, before he has
a right to say that. But let me remind you that we can dimly see that the very
names ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ do imply some sort of subordination, but that that
subordination, inasmuch as it is in the timeless and inward relations of
divinity, must be supposedto exist after the ascension, as it existedbefore the
incarnation; and, therefore, any such mysterious difference is not that which
is referred to here. What is referred to is what dropped awayfrom the Man
Jesus Christ, when He ascendedup on high. As Luther has it, in his strong,
simple way, in one of his sermons, ‘Here He was a poor, sad, suffering Christ’;
and that garb of lowliness falls from Him, like the mantle that fell from the
prophet as he went up in the chariot of fire, when He passes behind the
brightness of the Shekinah cloud that hides Him from our sight. That in which
the Fatherwas greaterthan He, in so far as our present purpose is concerned,
was that which He left behind when He ascended, eventhe pain, the suffering,
the sorrow, the restrictions, the humiliation, that made so much of the burden
of His life. Therefore we, as His followers, have to rejoice in an ascended
Christ, beneath whose feetare foes, and far awayfrom whose human
personality are all the ills that flesh is heir to. ‘If ye loved Me, ye would
rejoice, becauseI said, I go unto the Father; for My Father is greaterthan I.’

So then the third thought, in this first part of our subject, is that on both these
grounds Christ’s ascensionand departure are a source of joy. The two aspects
of His departure, as affecting Him and as affecting us, are inseparably welded
together. There can be no presence with us, man by man, through all the ages,
and in every land, unless He, whose presence it is, participates in the absolute
glory of divinity. For to be with you and me and all our suffering brethren,
through the centuries and over the world, involves something more than
belongs to mere humanity. Therefore, the two sources ofgladness are
confluent-Christ’s ascensionas affecting us is inseparably woven in with
Christ’s ascensionas affecting Himself.
Love will delight to dwell upon that thought of its exalted Lover. We may
fairly apply the simplicity of human relationships and affections to the
elucidation of what ought to be our affectionto Him, our Lord. And surely if
our dearestone were far awayfrom us, in some lofty position, our hearts and
our thoughts would ever be going thither, and we should live more there than
here, where we are ‘cribbed, cabined, and confined.’ And if we love Jesus
Christ with any depth of earnestnessandfervour of affection, there will be no
thought more sweetto us, and none which will more naturally flow into our
hearts, whenever they are for a moment at leisure, than this, the thought of
Him, our Brother and Forerunner, who has ascendedup on high; and in the
midst of the glory of the throne bears us in His heart, and uses His glory for
our blessing. Love will spring to where the beloved is; and if we be Christians
in any deep and real sense, ourhearts will have risen with Christ, and we shall
be sitting with Him at the right hand of God. My brother, measure your
Christianity, and the reality of your love to Jesus Christ, by this-is it to you
natural, and a joy, to turn to Him, and ever to make presentto your mind the
glories in which He loves and lives, and intercedes, and reigns, for you? ‘If ye
love Me, ye will rejoice, because Igo unto the Father.’
II. And now I candeal with the secondverse of our text very briefly. For our
purpose it is less important than the former one. In it we find our Lord setting
forth, secondly, His departure and His announcement of His departure as the
ground and food of faith.
He knew what a crashwas coming, and with exquisite tenderness, gentleness,
knowledge oftheir necessities, andsuppressionof all His own feelings and
emotions, He gave Himself to prepare the disciples for the storm, that,

forewarned, they might be forearmed, and that when it did burst upon them,
it might not take them by surprise.
So He does still, about a greatmany other things, and tells us beforehand of
what is sure to come to us, that when we are caughtin the midst of the
tempest we may not bate one jot of heart or hope.
Why should I complain Of want or distress, Temptationor pain? He told me
no less.’
And when my sorrows come to me, I may say about them what He says about
His departure-He has told us before, that when it comes we may believe.
But note how, in these final words of my text, Christ avows that the greataim
of His utterances and of His departure is to evoke our faith. And what does He
mean by faith? He means, first of all, a graspof the historic facts-His death,
His resurrection, His ascension. He means, next, the understanding of these as
He Himself has explained them-a death of sacrifice, a resurrectionof victory
over death and the grave, and an ascensionto rule and guide His Church and
the world, and to send His divine Spirit into men’s hearts if they will receive
it. And He means, therefore, as the essenceofthe faith that He would produce
in all our hearts-a reliance upon Himself as thus revealed, Sacrifice by His
death, Victor by His resurrection, King and interceding Priest by His
ascension-a reliance upon Himself as absolute as the facts are sure, as
unfaltering as is His eternal sameness. The faith that grasps the Christ, dead,
risen, ascended, as its all in all, for time and for eternity, is the faith which by
all His work, and by all His words about His work, He desires to kindle in our
hearts. Has He kindled it in yours?
Then there is a secondthought-viz., that these facts, as interpreted by Himself,
are the ground and the nourishment of our faith. How differently they looked
when seenfrom the further side and when seenfrom the hither side!
Anticipated and dimly anticipated, they were all doleful and full of dismay;
remembered and lookedback upon, they were radiant and bright. The
disciples felt, with shrinking hearts and fainting spirits, that their whole
reliance upon Jesus Christ was on the point of being shattered, and that
everything was going when He died. ‘We trusted,’ saidtwo of them, with such

a sad use of the past tense, ‘we trusted that this had been He which should
have redeemedIsrael. But we do not trust it any more, nor do we expectHim
to be Israel’s Redeemernow.’But after the facts were all unveiled, there came
back the memory of His words, and they said to one another, ‘Did He not tell
us that it was all to be so? How blind we were not to understand Him!’
And so ‘the Cross, the grave, the skies,’are the foundations of our faith; and
they who see Him dying, rising, ascended, henceforthwill find it impossible to
doubt. Feedyour faith upon these great facts, and take Christ’s own
explanation of them, and your faith will be strong.
Again, we learn here that faith is the condition of the true presence of our
absent Lord. Faith is that on our side which corresponds to His spiritual
coming to us. Whosoevertrusts Him possesses Him, and He is with and in
every soul that, loving Him, relies upon Him, in a closenessso close anda
presence so realthat heaven itself does not bring the spirit of the believer and
the Spirit of the Lord nearerone another, though it takes awaythe bodily film
that sometimes seems to part their lives.
We, too, may and should be glad when we lift our eyes to that Throne where
our Brother reigns. We too, may be glad that He is there, because His being
there is the reasonwhy He canbe here; and we, too, may feed our faith upon
Him, and so bring Him in very deed to dwell in our hearts. If we would have
Christ within us, let us trust Him dying, rising, living in the heavens;and then
we shall learn how, by all three apparent departures, He is drawing the closer
to the souls that love and trust.
BensonCommentary
John 14:28-31. If ye loved me — With a wise and rational affection, it would
allay your sorrows in the mean time, and howsoeveryou might have a
mournful sense of your own loss;you would rejoice on my account, because I
said, I go unto the Father: for my Father — Whose servant I am, as Mediator;
is, in this respect, greaterthan I — Consequently, it must be my honour and
happiness to be in a state of greaternearness to him than the present world
will admit. “These words,”as Dr. Macknightjustly remarks, “afford a strong
argument for the proper divinity of our Lord. For had he been a mere man, or
even a mere creature of the highest order, the comparisonwould have been
foolish and impertinent.” And now I have told you before it come to pass, &c.

— I have foretold my sufferings and death, in order that, when they happen,
your faith, insteadof being shaken, may be confirmed. HereafterI will not
talk much with you — I shall not have much opportunity to talk with you
after this; for the prince of this world cometh — To make his grand assault.
The devil will stir up wickedmen to kill me; but he hath nothing in me — No
right, no claim, no power. There is no guilt in me to give him power overme;
no corruption to take part with his temptation. Be assured, therefore, that I
shall undergo the punishment of death, not because Ideserve it; but that the
world may know — On the most substantial evidence;that I love the Father
— I suffer Satanthus to assaultme, and I undergo death, to show the world
how much I love the Father: for it is the Father’s will that I should thus act;
and as the Fathergave me commandment — Or, commission;(see John
10:18;) even so I do — BecauseI canrefuse no act of obedience to him, (how
painful or expensive soeverit may be,) whereby his glory may be advanced.
Arise, &c. — And therefore, that we may be prepared for this hour of trial
that is coming upon us, let us go hence — And retire to a place where we may
more conveniently give ourselves to prayer, and where I may be ready, when
my cruel enemies shall come to apprehend me, to yield myself into their
hands, and to submit to what my Fatherhas appointed for me.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
14:28-31 Christ raises the expectations ofhis disciples to something beyond
what they thought was their greatesthappiness. His time was now short, he
therefore spake largelyto them. When we come to be sick, and to die, we may
not be capable of talking much to those about us; such goodcounselas we
have to give, let us give while in health. Observe the prospect Christ had of an
approaching conflict, not only with men, but with the powers of darkness.
Satanhas something in us to perplex us with, for we have all sinned; but when
he would disturb Christ, he found nothing sinful to help him. The best
evidence of our love to the Fatheris, our doing as he has commanded us. Let
us rejoice in the Saviour's victories over Satanthe prince of this world. Let us
copy the example of his love and obedience.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Ye have heard ... - John 14:2-3.
If ye loved me - The expressionis not to be construedas if they had then no
love to him, for they evidently had; but they had also low views of him as the
Messiah;they had many Jewishprejudices, and they were slow to believe his
plain and positive declarations. This is the slight and tender reproof of a
friend, meaning manifestly if you had proper love for me; if you had the

highest views of my characterand work;if you would lay aside your Jewish
prejudices, and put entire, implicit confidence in what Isay.
Ye would rejoice - Instead of grieving, you would rejoice in the completion of
the plan which requires me to return to heaven, that greaterblessings may
descendon you by the influences of the Holy Spirit.
Unto the Father - To heaven; to the immediate presence ofGod, from whom
all the blessings ofredemption are to descend.
For my Father is greaterthan I-- The objectof Jesus here is not to compare
his nature with that of the Father, but his condition. Ye would rejoice that I
am to leave this state of suffering and humiliation, and resume that glory
which I had with the Fatherbefore the world was. You ought to rejoice atmy
exaltation to bliss and glory with the Father (ProfessorStuart). The objectof
this expressionis to console the disciples in view of his absence. This he does
by saying that if he goes away, the Holy Spirit will descend, and greatsuccess
will attend the preaching of the gospel, John16:7-10. In the plan of salvation
the Fatheris representedas giving the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the various
blessings ofthe gospel. As the Appointer, the Giver, the Originator, he may be
representedas in office superior to the Sonand the Holy Spirit. The discourse
has no reference, manifestly, to the nature of Christ, and cannot therefore be
adduced to prove that he is not divine. Its whole connectiondemands that we
interpret it as relating solely to the imparting of the blessings connectedwith
redemption, in which the Son is representedall along as having been sent or
given, and in this respectas sustaining a relation subordinate to the Father.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
28. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, becauseI said, I go unto the Father, for
my Fatheris greaterthan I—These words, which Arians and Socinians
perpetually quote as triumphant evidence againstthe proper Divinity of
Christ, really yield no intelligible sense ontheir principles. Were a holy man
on his deathbed, beholding his friends in tears at the prospectof losing him, to
say, "Ye ought rather to joy than weepfor me, and would if ye really loved
me, "the speechwould be quite natural. But if they should ask him, why joy at
his departure was more suitable than sorrow, would they not start back with
astonishment, if not horror, were he to reply, "Becausemy Father is greater
than I?" Does notthis strange speechfrom Christ's lips, then, presuppose
such teaching on His part as would make it extremely difficult for them to
think He could gain anything by departing to the Father, and make it
necessaryfor Him to say expresslythat there was a sense in which He could
do so? Thus, this startling explanation seems plainly intended to correctsuch

misapprehensions as might arise from the emphatic and reiterated teaching of
His proper equality with the Father—as if so Exalted a Personwere incapable
of any accessionby transition from this dismal scene to a cloudless heavenand
the very bosom of the Father—andby assuring them that this was not the
case, to make them forgettheir ownsorrow in His approaching joy.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Ye have heard how I saidunto you, I go away, and come againunto you; they
had heard our Saviour saying so, John 14:3. It is of the nature of true love, to
rejoice in the goodof the object beloved, as much as in its own, nay, before its
own.
Saith our Saviour,
if ye loved me, that is, as ye ought to love me, (for our Lord had before owned
that they did love him, giving it as a reasonwhy he rather revealedhimself
and manifested himself to them, than to the world, John 14:23), you would not
have been so unreasonably disturbed at my telling you that I shall leave you;
because I not only told you that I would come again to you, but because I told
you that I was going to my Father, John 14:2; from whom though I was never
separated, as I am God over all blessedfor ever, yet my human nature was yet
never glorified with him; so that I shall be there much happier than here;
being highly exalted, and having a name given me above every name,
Philippians 2:9.
For my Father is greaterthan I; not greaterin essence,(as the Arians and
Socinians would have it), he had many times before assertedthe contrary; but
greater,
1. Either as to the order amongst the Divine Persons;because the Father
begat, the Son is begotten; the Father is he from whom the Son proceededby
eternal generation:in which sense, divers of the ancients, amongstwhom
Athanasius, Cyril, and Augustine, and some modern interpreters, understand
it. Or:
2. As Mediatorsent from the Father, so he is greaterthan I. Or:

3. In respectof my present state, while I am here in the form of a servant; and
in my state of humiliation:
which seemethto be the bestinterpretation, if we considerthe words before,
ye would rejoice, becauseI said, I go unto the Father; for the true reasonof
that joy must have been, because Christ in his glorious state of exaltation
would be much more happy than he had been in his state of humiliation, while
he was exposedto the scoffs, reproaches, andinjuries of men, the temptations
of Satan, &c.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ye have heard how I saidunto you,.... Christ had not only told his disciples
that he should depart from them in a little time, but also that he should return
againto them, and comfort them with his presence, andreceive them to
himself, to be with him in his Father's house for ever: and this he again
suggests,
I go away, and come againunto you; so that they had not so much reasonto
be troubled and afraid, as they were:had he only said to them that he should
go away, without giving any hint of his coming again, they might well have
been uneasy; what made the friends of the Apostle Paul so sorrowful at his
departure, was most of all, because he had signified to them they should see
his face no more; but Christ assuredhis disciples that in a little time they
should see him again, to their unspeakable joy and comfort:
if ye loved me, adds he,
ye would rejoice;not but that the disciples did truly love Christ, and their
concernfor the loss of his bodily presence is a proof of it; nor was their love
unknown to him, nor does he call it in question, only corrects it, or rather uses
means to increase it, to draw it forth aright, that it might move and run in a
proper channel; they loved him, and therefore were unwilling to part with
him, but this was not a pure expressionof love to him, it showedtoo much a
regard to themselves, than to the objectloved; whereas had they considered
things aright, since it was to his greateradvantage to remove, they should
rather have discovereda willingness to it, and have rejoicedat it; this would
have shown pure love and unbiased affection to him: two reasons ourLord
gives why they should have rejoicedat his departure; one is,
because, says he,
I said, I go unto the Father; who was not only his, but their Father also;at
whose right hand he was to sit, an honour which no mere creature ever had;

where he was to be glorified and exalted above all createdbeings; and besides,
his glorificationwould secure and bring on theirs; as sure as he lived in glory,
so sure should they; yea, they should immediately sit down in heavenly places
in him, as their head and representative, and therefore had goodreasonto
rejoice at his going away:the other is,
for my Father is greaterthan I: not with respectto the divine nature, which is
common to them both, and in which they are both one; and the Son is equal to
the Father, having the self-same essence, perfections, andglory: nor with
respectto personality, the Son is equally a divine person, as the Father is,
though the one is usually calledthe first, the other the secondperson;yet this
priority is not of nature, which is the same in both; nor of time, for the one did
not exist before the other; nor of causality, for the Father is not the cause of
the Son's existence;nor of dignity, for the one has not any excellencywhich is
wanting in the other; but of order and manner of operation: these words are
to be understood, either with regard to the human nature, in which he was
going to the Father, this was prepared for him by the Father, and
strengthenedand supported by him, and in which he was made a little lower
than the angels, andconsequently must be in it inferior to his Father; or with
regard to his office as Mediator, in which he was the Father's servant, was set
up and sent forth by him, actedunder him, and in obedience to him, and was
now returning to give an accountof his work and service;or rather with
regard to his present state, which was a state of humiliation: he was attended
with many griefs and sorrows, and exposedto many enemies, and about to
undergo an accurseddeath; whereas his Fatherwas in the most perfect
happiness and glory, and so in this sense "greater". Thatis, more blessedand
glorious than he; for this is not a comparisonof natures, or of persons, but of
states and conditions: now he was going to the Father to partake of the same
happiness and glory with him, to be glorified with himself, with the same glory
he had with him before the foundation of the world; wherefore on this
account, his disciples ought to have rejoiced, and not have mourned.
Geneva Study Bible
{10} Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come againunto you.
If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, becauseI said, I go unto the Father: for my
Father is {l} greaterthan I.
(10) We should in no way be sorry for the departing of Christ from us
according to the flesh, but rather we should rejoice in it, seeing that all the
blessing of the body depends upon the glorifying of the head.

(l) This is spokenin that Christ is mediator, for in this regard the Father is
greaterthan he, in as much as the person to whom requestis made is greater
than he that makes the request.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
John 14:28. Instead of being terrified and alarmed, you should rejoice, that I,
etc. ἠκούσατε, κ.τ.λ. (John14:18)prepares for this.
εἰ ἠγαπ. με] intended by Jesus to be understood in its ideal sense, oftrue,
complete love, which consists simply and solely in entire self-surrender to
Him, so that all other interests are subordinated to it.
ὅτι ὁ πατήρ μου μείζων μου ἐστί] Statementof the reasonfor the joy which
they would have felt (ἐχάρητε): since my Father is greater, as generally, so
particularly, more powerful (comp. John 14:12; John 8:53; John 10:29; 1
John 4:4) than I; since I, consequently, through my departure to Him, shall be
elevatedin the higher fellowship with Him, to far greaterpowerand efficiency
for my aims, for victory over the world, etc. Comp. Melanchthon. In this gain,
which is awaiting me, how should not he rejoice who loves me? Others find
the motive to joy indicated by Christ in the glory and blessednesswhich
awaits Him with the Father. So Cyril (τὴν ἰδίαν δόξαν ἀναληψόμενος), and
several, including Tholuck, Olshausen, Kling, Köstlin, Maier, Hilgenfeld,
Hengstenberg, Baeumlein, comp. Godet. But thus the motive would lie only in
the departure to the Fathergenerally (with which the attainment of the δόξα
was necessarilyassociated), not to the Father’s superior greatnessofbeing,
irrespective of the fact, that on this view the reference whichJesus would be
giving to the love of the disciples would contain something selfish. Others
render: the occasionof joy lies in the more powerful protection which the
μείζων πατήρwould assure to the disciples, beyond what He, during His
presence on earth, was able to do (Theophylact, Euth. Zigabenus, and several
others, including Kuinoel, Lücke, De Wette). But this does not apply to the
condition of love to the person of Jesus, forthe above explanation changes it
rather into love towards His work. Others, as Luther, Beza, Grotius, Bengel,
Lampe, mingle togetherin the determination of the cause of joy, the interest
of Christ and of the disciples; comp. Calvin: “quia haec ultima est meta, ad
quam tendere vos oportet.”

The μειζονότης ofthe Father (formerly the point of controversywith the
Arians, see Suicer, Thes. II. p. 1368)does not rest in the pre-eminence of the
unbegotten over the begotten (Athanasius, Faustinus, GregoryNazianzus,
Hilarius, Euth. Zigabenus, and many others, including again also Olshausen),
for which specialexpedient the text offers no occasionwhatever, nor againin
the temporal humiliation of Christ (Cyril, Augustine, Ammonius, Luther,
Melanchthon, Calvin, Beza, Aretius, and many others, including De Wette,
Tholuck, and Luthardt), since God is also greaterthan the exalted Christ (see
John 14:16, ἐρωτήσω, John 17:5; 1 Corinthians 15:27-28;Php 2:9-11;1
Corinthians 3:23; 1 Corinthians 11:3, and generallythroughout the N. T.), as
He was also greaterthan the pre-existent Logos (John 1:1-3); but in the
absolute monotheism of Jesus (John17:3), and of the whole N. T. (see on
Romans 9:5), according to which the Son, although of divine essence,[157]and
ὉΜΟΟΎΣΙΟς with the Father (John 1:1; Php 2:6; Colossians 1:15-18, etal.),
nevertheless was, andis, and remains subordinated to the Father, the
immutably Highest One, since the Son, as Organ, as Commissionerof the
Father, as Intercessorwith Him, etc., has receivedHis whole power, even in
the kingly office, from the Father(John 17:5), and, after the complete
accomplishmentof the work committed to Him, will restore it to the Father (1
Corinthians 15:28). The remark of Hengstenberg is incorrect:Only such a
pre-eminence of greatnesson the part of the Fathercan be intended, as came
to an end with the departure of Christ to the Father.
[157]This forms the previous assumption of the declaration, which otherwise
would be without meaning and relevancy. Comp. on John 10:30. In truth,
from the mouth of an ordinary human being it would be an utterance of folly.
Expositor's Greek Testament
John 14:28. On the contrary quite other feelings should possessthem: joy in
sympathy with Him in His glorificationand in expectationof the results of His
going to the Father: ἠκούσατε … πατέρα. “If ye loved me,” an almost playful
way of reproaching their sadness. There was no doubt of their love, but it was
an unintelligent love. They failed to considerthe greatjoy that awaitedHim in
His going to the Father. This going to the Father was cause forrejoicing, ὅτι ὁ
πατήρ μου [μου is not well authenticatedand should be deleted] μείζων μου
ἐστί, “becausethe Fatheris greaterthan I”; and can therefore fulfil all the
loving purposes of Christ to His disciples. “The life which He has begun with
them and for them will be raisedto a higher level.” They had seenthe life He
had lived and were disturbed because it was coming to an end: but it was
coming to an end because absorbedin the greaterlife He would have with the

Father. The theologicalimport of the words is discussedby Westcott, who
cites patristic opinions and refers to Bull and Pearson. In all that Jesus did, it
was the Father’s will He carriedout, and with powers communicated by the
Father: the Father is the Originatorand End of all His work in the world.
Throughout the ministry of Jesus the Fatheris representedas “greater” than
the Son. That it should require to be explicitly affirmed, as here, is the
strongestevidence that He was Divine.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
28. Ye have heard, &c.]Literally, Ye heard that I said to you, I am going away
and I am coming unto you: comp. John 14:1-2; John 14:18.
because I said, I go, &c.] Omit ‘I said,’ which is wanting in all the best
authorities: If ye had loved Me, ye would have rejoicedthat I am going unto
the Father. The constructionis the same as in John 4:10, John 11:21;John
11:32, John 14:28. Their affectionis not free from selfishness:they ought to
rejoice at His gain rather than mourn over their own loss.
for my Father is greaterthan I] Becausethe Father is greaterthan I.
Therefore Christ’s going to Him is gain. This was a favourite text with the
Arians, as implying the inferiority of the Son. There is a real sense in which
even in the Godheadthe Sonis subordinate to the Father:this is involved in
the EternalGenerationand in the Son’s being the Agent by whom the Father
works in the creationand preservationof all things. Again, there is the sense
in which the ascendedand glorified Christ is ‘inferior to the Fatheras
touching His manhood.’ Lastly, there is the sense in which Jesus on earth was
inferior to His Fatherin Heaven. Of the three this last meaning seems to suit
the contextbest, as shewing most clearly how His going to the Father would be
a gain, and that not only to Himself but to the Apostles; for at the right hand
of the Father, who is greaterthan Himself, He will have more powerto
advance His kingdom. See notes on 1 Corinthians 15:27-28;Mark 13:32,
[John 16:19].
Bengel's Gnomen
John 14:28. Ἠκούσατε, ye have heard) On other occasionsHis wont is to say,
εἶπον, I have said; but this which He has said, concerning His departure, His
disciples eagerlyhad attended to, and that, too, with sorrow.—ὑπάγω, καὶ
ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς, I go away, and come unto you) In relation to the world He
saith, I came and depart [“I leave the world”], ch. John 16:28 : Καὶ, and

forthwith.—ἐχάρητε ἂν) ye would rejoice, or rather, ye would have rejoiced.
As to the Pluperfect, we have slightly touched upon the subject in John
14:2.[353]Ye would have rejoicedfor My sake, as I am setting out upon a
wished-for journey of departure, and for your own sakes, as love makes you
capable of perceiving that My departure is advantageous even to yourselves.
Love begets joy, both of itself, and also because it keeps the word of Christ,
which opens out all the most joyful prospects to us.—μείζωνμου, greaterthan
I) Many and various were the former disputations and treatises on this
passage, whichDion. Petavius has collected, Tom. ii. Theol. Dogm. l. 2, de
Trin. cap. 2; G. Bullus Def. Fid. Nicæn. Sect. iv.; Jo. Casp. Suicer. Thes. Part
ii. coll. 1368, Reinecc. adN. T., fol. 387. Nota few of the Greeks andLatins
have answeredthe Arians, and laid it down, That the Father, not as God, but
as the ἀγέννητος Father(not-begotten), is said to be greaterthan the Son, not
regardedin His characteras God, but as the Son, begotten of the Father; and
that this factdoes not do awaywith His unity of essence (τὸ ὁμοούσιον)or
consubstantiality with the Father. To these is to be added G. Arnold. Evang.
Bottschafft, p. 697. Others affirm, that Christ is inferior to the Father in
respectof His human nature;[354] which phrase of comparisonhas in it
nothing inept; comp. 1 John 3:20, “Godis greaterthan our heart.” Jesus both
had in His most holy soul, at one time, a greaterfeeling of His glory, at
another time of His humility, and expressedthat feeling accordinglyin His
words. Comp. note on Mark 13:32, “Ofthat hour knoweth no man, no, not the
angels, etc., neither the Son, but the Father” [spokenin relation to His human
nature, and His humiliation]. In this passageHe speaks under the feeling of
His ταπεινότης, lowliness:language such as was bestadapted both to the
capacityof understanding which the disciples had at the time, and to the
present (existing) time and circumstances, whenHe was treating of His
departure to the Father. Before His actualdeparture, He had been lowereven
than the angels, Hebrews 2:9; after His departure, He became greaterthan
His own self[i.e. the Worker, through His disciples, of greatermiracles than
even He Himself had performed in the days of His flesh. “He that believeth on
Me, the works that I do shall he do also;and greaterworks than these shall he
do, because I go unto My Father”], John 14:12, and equal to the Father, ch.
John 17:5, “O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory
which I had with Thee before the world was.” Noryet does He speak of His
Humiliation alone, but speaks as the Son of God in the flesh, directing His
aspirations (longing to go) to the Father. Greaterthan I; that is to say, more
blessed. Comp. this term as it occurs in ch. John 4:12, “Art Thou greaterthan
our father Jacob?” John8:53, “Art Thou greaterthan our father Abraham?”
1 Corinthians 13:13, “The greaterof these is charity;” John 14:5, “Greater

(more useful) is he that prophesieth than he that speakethwith tongues;” and
as to the thing itself, comp. Mark 10:18.[355] This considerationespecially
made the departure of Jesus outof the world to the Father a thing to be
desired.
[353]See note ch. John 4:10. If John had meant ye would rejoice, he would
have written the Imperfect, ἐχαίρετε ἂν, rather than the Aorist.—E. and T.
[354]So the Nicene Creed, “Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead,
and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood.”—E. and T.
[355]“Why callestthou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.”
He rested not in Himself, but referred Himself wholly to God, acting the part
of a traveller and pilgrim on earth, “not knowing Himself after the flesh”
(Augustine), but aiming towards the eternalgood. At the same time His
answerto the youth does not ignore His Godhead, but is adapted to his
comprehension. He refuses the title of goodness whenunaccompaniedwith the
ascription of Godhead.—E. andT.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 28. - Now, however, he leads them a step further. The disciples are to
dismiss their trouble and fear, because
(1) of the many mansions that he is going to prepare;
(2) because he was the "Way" to the Father;
(3) because they have had a theophany in him;
(4) because they shall carry on the work of Christ and fulfill all the
prophecies,
(5) and do all this under the powerof another Advocate or Helper;

(6) because he, the Holy Spirit, will indeed reveal him as he (Christ) had
revealedthe Father;and
(7) because the Father and Son would come and take up their abode in the
loving and obedient heart. But the Lord does more - he bids them not only to
dismiss their fear and harassment, but even to "rejoice."Ye heard that I said,
I am departing, and, in that very act, I am coming to you. If ye loved me, ye
would have rejoiced- a supposition involving uncertainty with a prospectof
decision. Perfectlove would castout fear. But why? Because Igo to the
Father, the theme of the whole discourse. But why should this cause you to
rejoice? Becausethe Father is greaterthan I! It is not easyadequately to
explain this memorable saying. The Arians made use of it to prove, from bur
Lord's ownlips, that his Person, evenhis pre-existent Divinity, was less than
the Father's;that his essence, admittedly generatedby the Father, was created
by him, and was not the same as that of the Father. The same view has been
held by the rationalistic school. The Socinians and modern Unitarians have
insisted on the entire dependence and purely human characterof our Lord.
The Son of man and Sonof Godare to many merely the self-chosentitles of
the greatestofthe sons of men, who thus is supposedto put himself on a level
with ordinary men who may learn to call God their Father. But is it? Could
any man, unconscious of a far closerrelation with God than that of the
greatestsaint, dare to say, as if to relieve anxiety on that head, "My Father is
greaterthan I"? Is there not in the very phrase a suggestionof Divine
sufficiency and relationto the Father which altogetherprecludes the purely
humanitarian position?
(1) A theologicalview which has largely prevailed among those who have held
the homoousia of the Father and the Son, is that the Lord was here speaking
of his human nature only. The Athanasian symbol says," Equal to the Father
as touching his Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching his
Manhood." But the "I" is here used of his whole Personality, as in John 8:58;
John 10:30, and throughout the discourse he is speaking of himself in the
Divine-human Personin which the eternaland temporal, the infinite and
finite, are indissolubly blended.
(2) Others have supposedthat he referred to himself as in a state of
humiliation. Hengstenberg says the Lord was speaking ofthe pre-eminent
greatness ofthe Father, which came to an end at his departure. Cyril, Luther,

Melancthon, De Wette, Tholuck, Luthardt, and Alford think that Jesus spoke
these words of the humiliated Christ in his condition of a servant - obedient
unto death. The Son, the Logos ofGod, was that Mode or Personalityof Deity
by which "God" createdthe universe, governedmankind, and proceededby
specialmanifestation- incarnation, life, and death - to redeem the world.
Calvin had said, while the Arians have abused this testimony, the orthodox
solution of the Fathers was neither harmonious nor sound; the true
significationof the passage, according to him, being found in the mediatorial
office of the Christ, and in his status exinanitionis. But this would not exhaust
the meaning, for in this very passagehe does describe the Fatheras greater
even than the exaltedChrist; and in John 1:1-3 as greatereventhan the pre-
existent Logos. And so
(3) we are led to see that there is indeed a subordination of rank and order in
the Son, involved in the very notion even of an eternal generation;and
compatible with the equality of Being and of essencewhichhe shared with the
Father. This is undoubtedly confirmed by John 17:3, 5; 1 Corinthians 15:27;
Philippians 2:9-11; 1 Corinthians 3:23; 1 Corinthians 11:3; and has been
through the whole history of Christologicalspeculationconceded(Bishop
Bull, in his three chapters on the "Subordination of the Son," has shown, by
abundant proof, that before and after the Council of Nicaea, the Fathers held
"that the Son has indeed the same Divine nature in common with the Father,
but communicated by the Fatherin such sense, i.e., that the Fatheralone hath
the Divine nature from himself, but the Son from the Father; that the Father
is the Fountain, Origin, and Principle of the Divinity which is in the Son").
This is abundantly, needful to avoid at once the errors of tritheism, and to
maintain the real unity of the Divine Being. Christ's going to the Father was a
ground of rejoicing, because his exaltation through death and resurrectionto
the position of powerand majesty unutterable, and the lifting up of his
Divine-human Personalityto the midst of the throne, gives to him, in his
relations with his disciples, the efficacyof the greatnessofthat Divine nature
which, by its own characteristics, couldnot have become incarnate. The
unrevealed God is greaterthan the revealed. The lifting up of perfect
humanity into the glory which the Son had with the Father before the world
was, should have been the cause ofjoy to the disciples. It is the wellspring of
joy to the Church (see Suicer, 'Thesaurus,'art. Μειζονότης;Bull's 'Defense of
the Nicene Creed,'bk. 4; Westcott's catenaofpassages in 'Additional Note to
John 14;' Lange and P. Schaff, 'Comm. on John').

PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
BRIAN BELL
John 14:19-31 9-20-09 “Outof Sight, but not out of Mind!”
I. INTRO:A. Pray: Back to school!Teachers& SchoolCounselors (Public
[Univ/College/HS/JrH/Elem]; Private School;Home School)B. Wed. Night
Series:Brushing up on Basics Series!- Starts this Wed. 1. #1 Why should I
trust the Bible is Accurate? (What are the Scriptures? How did we get the 66
books? ManuscriptEvidence;How we gotour English Bible? Why so many
different Bible translations?)
C. Left off in vs.18 w/Jesus promising the disciples, I will not leave you
orphans. Used of children w/o a father, but also of disciples w/o a master.
(LKGNT; Barret)D. Is anything troubling your heart today? What is it? Let
not your hearts be troubled. Ok, but how? E. Story: In the Philippines a
driver of a caribou wagonwas onhis way to market when he overtook an old
man carrying a heavy load. Taking compassiononhim, the driver invited the
old man to ride in the wagon. Gratefully the old man accepted. After a few
minutes, the driver turned to see how the man was doing. To his surprise, he
found him still straining under the heavy weight, for he had not taken the
burden off his shoulders. 1. When Jesus said, I will give you rest have you
been like this old man who took Him up on salvationbut not true rest, true
peace?
II. OUT OF SIGHT, BUT NOT OUT OF MIND! (19-31)A. OUT OF
SIGHT...!(19-24)B. (19)The world lives by sight, & when Jesus is out of
sight, He’s out of mind.1 1. But Christians live by faith & see the eternal
dimension of Christ behind their circumstances. a)We have confidence that
whatevercircumstance befall us, they can work togetherfor the goodof
conforming us to Christ’s image. 2. Our ability to see is influenced by what we
have been trained to look for! a) A doctor will see more by looking down the
throat of a sick child than any parent. b) An artist will appreciate a tour
through a gallery much more than someone w/o those sensibilities.
1
1 Chuck Swindoll; John 14; pg.98.

c) A seamstresswill appreciate a finely tailored outfit much more than
someone whose eyes have not been trained to notice such subtleties of style &
precision. d) The 1st time I went dove hunting I couldn’t tell a dove’s flight
pattern from the other birds. Now I can spot them when there 100 yards
away. 3. So, too if our eyes are trained to see God’s hand in our
circumstances, theneachpressure indenting the clay of our lives will be seen
not to bend us out of shape but to mold us into vessels ofhonor - fit for a king.
C. (21-24)3 principles that will strengthenour weak hearts:1. Knowledge of
the truth removes fear - Know (20). a) Information from God’s word takes
awaysuperstition & trauma of death (Belize conf) 2. Application of the
knowledge reduces anxiety - Keeps (21). a) If you have His commandments,
keepthem! Make His word a vital part of your life. 3. Love for the Lord
releasesguilt - Love (22). a) Love, the highest of motivation. When we love the
Lord we desire to please Him.
D. (22) If I was this Judas, I would make “not Iscariot” my middle name! [His
question from vs.19]1. But, also think it through from their understanding of
what would happen when Messiahcame (i.e. Displaying Himself to the world)
[Will happen at 2nd coming]
E. (23) We will come to him - It is 1 thing for us to go to heaven & quite
something else for heaven to come to us! (Warren Wiersbe)F. Make our home
with Him - God prepares a mansion for those who believe in Christ, & asks in
return that we prepare our hearts as guestchambers for Him to dwell in. 1.
As He enters the loving, cleansed, & believing heart, we hear Him say, This is
My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. Ps.132:14. 2.
Yes I’m going to prepare a mansion for you in My Fathers house; but while
you remain on earth in your temporary tents, We will come & make our home
in your heart & actually dwell there. a) Justas the glory of the Lord filled the
Tabernacle in the wilderness, so the Trinity will fill your heart with their
majestic presence.
G. ...BUT NOT OUT OF MIND! (25-31)H. (27a)My Peaceis not the power of
positive thinking; It is not feelings the disciples have to conjure up; nor
circumstances they have to coverup! I. My Peace=a heartuntroubled;
fearless in spite of suffering or conflict that comes our way. 1. It’s an inner
calm in the midst of tempestuous outer storms! [Read16:33!]
2
J. Illustration: 2 painters were once askedto paint a picture illustrating his
own idea of rest. The first chose for his scene a quiet, lonely lake, nestled
among mountains far away. The second, using swift, broad strokes onhis

canvas, painted a thundering waterfall. Beneaththe falls grew a fragile birch
tree, bending over the foam. On its branches, nearly wet with the spray from
the falls, sat a robin on its nest. 1. The first painting was simply a picture of
stagnationand inactivity. 2. The second, however, depictedrest. 3. Outwardly,
Christ endured one of the most troubled lives ever lived. Storms and turmoil,
turmoil and storms. Wave after wave broke over Him until His worn body
was laid in the tomb. Yet His inner life was as smooth as a sea of glass, and a
greatcalm was always there. K. Restis not some holy feeling that comes upon
us in church. It is a state of calm rising from a heart deeply and firmly
establishedin God. Henry Drummond L. My peace I give in times of deepest
grief, Imparting calm and trust and My relief. My peace I give when prayer
seems lost, unheard; Know that My promises are ever in My Word. My peace
I give when you are left alone - The nightingale at night has sweetesttone. My
peace I give in times of utter loss, The way of glory leads right to the cross. My
peace I give when enemies will blame, Your fellowship is sweetthrough cruel
shame. My peace I give in agonyand sweat, ForMy ownbrow with bloody
drops was wet. My peace I give when nearestfriend betrays - Peace thatis
merged in love & for them prays My peace I give when there's but death for
thee - The gatewayis the cross to getto Me.2
M. My peace - Who is qualified & authorized to speak of & offer this peace?
1. No one except...He that is calledthe Prince of Peace!Who’s Ministers are
the messengers ofpeace!His Word is the Gospelof Peace!His Way is the path
of peace!N. Why does He give it now? Becauseanything left us by a dying
friend is valued & esteemedall the more highly. 1. My peace I give to you -
Picture Jesus reading His own Last Will & Testament:Lands & houses, the
worlds goods, silver& gold, he had none to leave. But what He has He gives
unto us. a) My PeaceI give to you; My Love I give to you(15:9); My Joy I give
to you(15:11) 2. An angelannounce peace atHis birth; He Himself
bequeathed peace at His death, Peace Ileave with you! [Proving once again,
He loved them to the end!]
3
2 L.S.P. (not sure who this poet is); takenfrom June 13th, Streams in the
Desert.
3. Were these words confined to them? No, they stood as the representatives of
all His people...ReadJn.17:20-22. a)Yet not all people! Is.57:19-21(NLT)May
they have abundant peace, both near and far(Jew & Gentile), says the Lord,
who heals them. But those who still reject me are like the restless sea,whichis
never still but continually churns up mud and dirt. There is no peace for the
wicked, says my God.

O. (27b) Why should our hearts be troubled, if Jesus is the way to the Father;
if He reveals the truth about the Father; & if He shares the life of the Father
with us? P. Also, Jesus’words, let your heart not be troubled, infer that his
disciples have the ability to keeptheir emotions afloatduring the tempests
they experienced. 1. Ok, once again, how do we do that? - [1] Remember we
have the Paraketos/the Holy Spirit to empower us [2] Jesus’Promises,
because fearusually grips us when we either ignore or forgetwhat God said
[3]We have His Peace
Q. (28b) If you loved Me, you would rejoice becauseI said, ‘I was going to the
Father.’1. (Bruce Milne) Jesus invites them to rise above what His departure
is going to mean for them, to considerwhat it will mean for Him. Their love
for Jesus shouldallow them to be happy for Him that He is going away, since
the journey, albeit through the horrors of the cross, willtake him againto the
intimacy of the Father’s bosom, & to the “glory I had with you before the
world began.”
R. (28c)For My Father is greaterthan I - In what sense? 1. JW’s argue from
this statementthat Jesus is a lessergod. 2. So in what sense is He talking
greater? The Father is greaterin office & glory than the Sonwas in His
humiliation on earth. By going back to the FatherHe would be exaltedagain
in glory.
S. (30) I will no longertalk much with you, for the ruler of this world is
coming - 1. His teaching time was now limited because Satanwas moving his
forces againstJesus throughJudas. 2. Satanthought Jesus’death was a
victory for him, but actually it was Jesus’victory over Satan.
T. (30) He has nothing in me-no hold on me(NIV); no claim on me(ESV); no
powerover me(NLT) 1. He sure has a lot on us! Imagine Satandropping a
match on all our sinful dry leaves. - But there is nothing flammable in Jesus!
4
U. (31) 2 more reasons whyJesus facedthe cross - to show His love/obedience
to His Father
V. (31b) Arise, let us go from here - Showing His willingness to suffer. 1. I will
not wait for the enemy; I will go & meet Him. 2. I will go to the place where
Judas will look for me. 3. I will go to the garden of Gethsemane where I am to
agonize, & from there to Calvary where I am to die! a) I have a baptism to be
baptized with & how distressedI am till it is accomplished!3
W. Obedience, motivated by love, gives Jesus a warm blanket of peace in the
midst of the chilling storm front beginning to roll into His life. 1. His

obedience sets the perfectpattern for us when we find ourselves leftalone in a
torrential downpour of fateful circumstances!
X. END:Even though the wind & waves obeyHim, Christ may not calm all
your storms. But, He can take your fearful heart & transform it into a calm,
inner eye of faith in the midst of your storms. First learn to trust Him! 1.
Is.26:3,4 You will keephim in perfectpeace(shalom/shalom), Whose mind is
stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, Forin
Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength.
CALVIN
Verse 28
28.If you loved me you would rejoice. The disciples unquestionably loved
Christ, but not as they ought to have done; for some carnal affectionwas
mixed with their love, so that they could not endure to be separatedfrom him;
but if they had loved him spiritually, there was nothing which they would
have had more deeply at heart, than his return to the Father.
For the Father is greaterthan I. This passage has beentortured in various
ways. The Aryans, in order to prove that Christ is some sortof inferior God,
argued that he is less than the Father The orthodox Fathers, to remove all
ground for such a calumny, said that this must have referred to his human
nature; but as the Aryans wickedlyabused this testimony, so the reply given
by the Fathers to their objectionwas neither correctnor appropriate; for
Christ does not now speak either of his human nature, or of his eternal
Divinity, but, accommodating himself to our weakness,places himselfbetween
God and us; and, indeed, as it has not been granted to us to reach the height of
God, Christ descendedto us, that he might raise us to it. You ought to have
rejoiced, he says, because Ireturn to the Father; for this is the ultimate object
at which you ought to aim. By these words he does not show in what respect
he differs in himself from the Father, but why he descendedto us; and that
was that he might unite us to God; for until we have reachedthat point, we
are, as it were, in the middle of the course. We too imagine to ourselves but a
half-Christ, and a mutilated Christ, if he do not lead us to God.

If You Loved Me You Would Rejoice

If You Loved Me You Would Rejoice

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