DEVOTION
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
COME NOW; LET US LEAVE
John 14:28-31
28 "You heard 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. 29 I have told you now before it
happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not speak with
you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me,
31 but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what
my Father has commanded me.
"Come now; let us leave.
NIV
The time is coming and Jesus is getting his disciples ready for what is
about to happen. This is our great hope, and faith we have in the return of
Jesus. It should not require much faith, just or hope as he has said that he
will return. It is just a matter of believing him. In all reality, when we use
the word hope, we are actually saying, I hope he is coming back, so then we don’t
really believe him, we just hope what he said is true. Jesus told his disciples
that he was going away, but he would come back to them. Of course, that could have just meant he would
die and leave them but would be raised from the dead and return to them. But
it is also true he left them when he ascended into heaven and when he did, the
angels told his disciples that he would come back. We are waiting and ready for
his return. We are also glad, as his disciples were supposed to be that he was
going to the Father because the Father is greater the Jesus. This we have a
difficult time understanding as the Father and Jesus are one, they and the
Spirit are all God. The triune God, which in some sense is still a mystery. The
other thing Jesus told them is a reality we have to deal with all our lives. He
told them the prince of this world is coming, but he has no hold on him. He was
speaking of the devil, the evil one who had entered Judas who would betray him
to the Jews, that would ultimately bring about the plan of God. Jesus was
actually using the devil for the purpose of God. The devil would not actually cause
the death of Jesus, for he had no hold on Jesus. We know Jesus laid his life
down for us, it was not taken from him. However, we have to also know and
admit, the devil is still at his game of making every effort to take our life
from us. He may not care about our taking our physical life, for we all are appointed
once to die. The devil knows this physical body will die, he can wait for that.
He is interested in our spiritual death, taking our eternal life. But he had no
hold on Jesus, and he has no hold on us, but we still have to recognize his
attacks on our eternal life. This is why God gave us his armor, so we can take
our stand against the schemes of the devil. Jesus made sure His disciples knew
the truth and thus we also have been given the truth. The devil is the father of
lies, he never speaks the truth. We live now and for eternity by the truth, the
word of God, Jesus. Jesus says that he is going to do exactly what his Father
has commanded him to do. We know that was to die for our sins, to take our sin
upon himself and carry it to the grave. Praise God, we are not condemned by our
sin, rather we are saved from our sin. We have been set free. Now we wait for
those words of Jesus. “Come now; Let us leave”
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