Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
Troubled? Look to Jesus for Comfort.
During a personal conversation with His disciples, Jesus responded to a statement Thomas made about the way to heaven: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Many have used the first six verses of John 14 for comfort and hope, especially during times of distress and discouragement; in fact, this is the exact context of this passage, for Jesus began this by stating, “Let not your heart be troubled…” (14:1). Thus, we can recall these verses to cheer us whenever our hearts are troubled. Consider the threefold declaration of John 14:6 concerning what He just said in its context.
Jesus proclaimed that He is “the way”—“…believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1). From Adam to the present day, the way to salvation by man has always been by faith.
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Heb. 11:6)
The Greek word for “way” is the word hodos, which according to Strong’s Greek Dictionary, means “a road; by implication, a progress; figuratively, a mode or means—journey, (high-) way.” It is the same word Jesus used in the Parable of the Sower when He first mentioned seed falling by “the way side” (Matt. 13:4). Jesus has already paved this way through His sacrificial death (cf. Eph. 2:18; Heb. 9:28; 10:20). Therefore, with the understanding being our journey and pathway on the narrow and troublesome “way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (cf. Matt. 7:14), the only way to travel such is by developing a lifestyle of faith in God.
Jesus proclaimed that He is “the truth”—“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you” (John 14:2). It is as if Jesus reinforces the fact that what He is saying is indeed factual, and they can put their trust in Him because of His integrity. We are able to do this because it is impossible for God to lie (Heb. 6:18). Therefore, the message that He declares is always and only full of truth (cf. John 1:14, 17). Whether or not the Pharisees and Herodians believed what they said, the fact is that what they told Jesus was factual: “Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth” (Matt. 22:16). The apostle John declares,
And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)
As such, Jesus is the antithesis of Satan and his followers, who “abode not in the truth” (cf. John 8:44-46). In answering one of Pilate’s questions, Jesus stated that He came into the world “that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice” (John 18:37). Many have responded in such fashion as Pilate did: “What is truth?” (John 18:38). Without a proper examination of the divine scriptures, many will fail to understand the wonderful truths that Jesus came to give.
Jesus proclaimed that He is “the life”—“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 only real life worth living is in preparation for an eternal life with Jesus in a place that He is preparing for all of His faithful brethren. To emphasize this, Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). Therefore, there is a beautiful correlation between “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) and with what He said previously about the comforting message of heaven.