In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

John 14:2&3

Christ is still doing things for you.  On the night before He went to the cross, while He was still in the upper room with His disciples, Christ made a statement regarding His future.  He said, ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.’  This tells us that beyond His perpetual intercession for us, Christ is preparing a place for us in order that we may be with Him.  Considering all that has gone before, this is the capstone of a massive effort on His part to do us good in every way.  We have considered already that the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, intercession, and return of Christ are all for us.  Now we see that what He is presently doing is also for us.  This is the most encouraging news we could receive.  It settles our mind regarding our future, which puts our present situation, whatever it is, into perspective.  Our future is that which Christ Himself is preparing for us, and it involves being with Him.  This knowledge enables us to face our present and our future with peace and joy.  Christ has done, and is doing for us all these things which we have been considering.  Our future is as bright as He can make it.  Today, we look ahead to eternity with Him in the place which He is preparing for us.

Our Wise and Gracious God,
we rejoice that You are fulfilling Your plan in every detail.
We praise You that You
have brought us thus far and will not fail
to bring us home. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

John 14:3

The return of Christ is for us.  On the night before Christ went to the cross, He was instructing and comforting His very disturbed disciples.  He begins the passage which leads to our text with the words, ‘Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me.’  He then proceeds to describe the dwelling places which are in His Father’s house.  He further states that He is going to prepare a place for them.  His promise to them forms our text for today.  This leads us to the clear and unmistakable conclusion that Christ will inevitably return for all His people.  The balance of the New Testament confirms this.  The repeated theme of I Thessalonians is the return of Christ.  The affirmation of one passage is, ‘so shall we ever be with the Lord.’  The whole of the Book of Revelation is the graphic description of the events leading to the return of Christ, and includes the specifics regarding that return.  In every case where the subject arises, the Scripture links the return of Christ to His people.  Christ comes to judge the living and the dead and to gather His people.  For that reason, we say with all the saints, ‘Even so come, Lord Jesus.’

Our Glorious Living Christ,
we rejoice that You will surely come again.
We praise You that our life does not end with this earth.
but that eternity with You lies before us.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

‘Except Through Me’

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
John 14:6

We come to the conclusion of the text upon which we have been meditating for the past several days. Here is a statement which, if words mean anything, is one of this most dogmatic and exclusive of all time. It is a statement which, if we take it seriously, should engender some decisive thought and action. From it, we should consider the alternatives. Either Christ was a liar, Who was making false claims of His Own importance; or He was a lunatic, and utterly deluded; or He was, and is, the Lord of Life. This statement admits of no other possibilities. It is a statement which, if we accept it and believe it, puts us instantly at odds with any other religion or moral philosophy which does not accept it. ‘No one comes to the Father except through Me.’ We have but to articulate it, and immediately we are in controversy with the spirit of this and every other age. So, what are we to do? To reject Christ’s claims is to reject Him. To refuse to come to God through Him is, of necessity, to seek some other way. If we are wrong here, the consequences are eternal. Let us today allow the full weight of this claim to sink down in our hearts that we may become ever more firmly persuaded of this truth. The alternative is to reject it, and the Christ Who made it. ‘No one comes to the Father, except through Me.’

Our most Gracious and Loving Savior,
You are all our Hope.
We look to You alone and stand before a Holy God,
utterly clothed in the robes of Your Righteousness.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

‘I Am…The Life’

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 14:6

What is life? Again, we find something of which we speak often, most difficult to define in real terms. Life is more than mere existence. Life has various elements which comprise it. There is the physical, the metal, the spiritual, and the social. These elements of life occur simultaneously and intertwine continually. In our text Christ declares, ‘I am…the Life.’ What can He mean? Moreover, what must He mean? When it comes to Life, Christ is first, the Creator of it, “for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’” Beyond that, He is the Giver of it. ‘He gives to all, life, breath, and all things.’ He is the upholder of it. ‘In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.’ He, being Life, upholds it in the face of death. ‘Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”’ In short, there is no life apart from Christ. All else is, in fact, mere existence. It is Christ who makes this thing we call ‘life,’ more than that. Apart from Him there is no real meaning or purpose, or point to ‘life.’ To be in Him and with Him is to have life, and that for eternity. ‘And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.’ To exist apart from Him is to become absorbed with the temporal, and the fleeting. Christ turns our attention unto Himself, so that we can come to an understanding of what life is, and of how to obtain it. He is the Sum of all it means to live. Let us dwell today upon the larger issues which face us all. Let us turn to Christ, who said, ‘I am…the Life.’

O, Christ, Who is our Life,
we rejoice in You today,
that You are to us all we want and need,
for this life and for that which is to come.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning