“And you now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man will take from you. “And in that day you shall ask me nothing. Very truly I say to you, ‘Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Hitherto [up till now] you have asked nothing in my name: ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.”
Jesus then explains that he has been speaking to them in proverbs, parables. “These things have I spoken to you in proverbs; but the time comes when I shall no more speak to you in proverbs, but I shall show you the Father plainly. (John 16:25) I will not leave you comfortless [bereaved, orphaned, out in the dark], I will come to you.”
How would Jesus do that? How could he “come to” them while remaining seated at the right hand of his Father in heaven? How does he come to us on earth; and how can we go to him in heaven?
He and we do so spiritually, through the Spirit of God! This is The Divine Connection.
Jesus was referring not only to his post-resurrection appearances but also to coming into their hearts by the Spirit of God. This began on the Day of Pentecost, when Jesus came to live inside them by the Spirit of God. Physically, though, he remained seated in heaven, at the right hand [place of authority] of His Father.
It is by the Spirit that Jesus appears on earth (as he appeared to Saul on the Damascus Road) while remaining in heaven. It was by the Spirit that Paul was taken up into Paradise, where he heard things that he was not permitted to repeat (2 Corinthians 12:4).
Paul visited Paradise spiritually, and Jesus visits Earth spiritually. When “a door was opened in heaven” to John the Apostle, a trumpet-like voice called him up “in the spirit” to see the future unveiled; John’s spirit in the Spirit of God (Revelation 1:10 & 4:1, 2).
Each time we approach the Father in prayer, or worship Him “in spirit” (John 4:24), we ascend spiritually to the heavenly throne of God, where Jesus sits at his Father’s right hand. Jesus has prepared a place for us there “in him” (Ephesians 1:20). God sees us “in Christ”, that is, positionally, in the Person of His Son.
“But you have come to Mt Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven; and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous people who have been made perfect…” (Hebrews 12:22, 23)
Do you think of this when you pray? Do you ‘go there’ in spirit? Do you ‘walk’ in “Jerusalem which is above” (not the one below)? You are not the “son of the bondwoman” which was Ishmael, but “the son of the freewoman,” which was Sarah (Galatians 4:21-26) Do you occupy the place that Jesus has prepared for you? Or, do you live on a lesser level? Are you serving God freely under Grace, or are you serving Him in bondage, under Law?
Are you reading John 14:1-3 from a natural point of view, or from a spiritual point of view? May God stir up your spirit and grant you a desire to read this post again and again until you perceive that Jesus was speaking spiritually. John’s Gospel is a spiritual “bridge” over which many Christians have not yet crossed. If the spirituality of Christ’s words had been grasped and taught, the ethereal, airy-fairy New Age spirituality that is now so prevalent might not exist.
Go Higher!