No Fear of Death

shaken His disciples by telling them that one of their group would betray Him – and then he reminds them that He would be put to death very soon – and that they would not be able to follow Him immediately, but would follow Him later on.
Imagine for a moment how you would have felt, if you were hearing from one of your very closest of friends that he/she was about to die, and that you would not be able to see him/her for a time – but that soon you could most cer-tainly see him/her again. I suppose you or I might think that person was not thinking straight. For the fear of the separation that comes with death would appear to make that impossible. We think of death – too often – as a finality, a finish. But Jesus had another perspective on Death….
The words of Jesus in John 14 are spoken to comfort His troubled followers. They are words of comfort not only for those troubled disciples, but for everyone who has trusted in Jesus for eternal life.
Just how do the words of Jesus, spoken here, give us comfort? Many people seek comfort from this text by focusing upon the "mansions" or "dwelling places" to which our Lord refers as being in His Father’s house. Some seem to think of Jesus as the foreman of a construction project in heaven – a project which He has not yet completed. Jesus, we sometimes think had to go away so that He could finish up the project, and so that our dwelling places, now being built, will be completed in time for us to arrive.
Ø In reality, This misses the point almost completely. The disciples are troubled because Jesus will die, and because they will be separated from Him. They do not care about heavenly mansions, they care only about Him. Isn’t it amazing how in the reality of death, material possessions have no real value… These disciples (like we most often do) see death as the enemy, death as the thief which will snatch their friend away. Jesus’ words are delivered to give His disciples comfort con-cerning His death – to remind them again, that death is temporary for those that follow Him.
In John chapters 13-17, which is sometimes called the "Upper Room Discourse", Jesus gives comfort to His disciples by telling them two things.
1. First, He told them that His death was to be the means by which they would dwell with Him forever.
2. Second, He told them that during the time of His physical absence He would be even more present with them through the sending of His Holy Spirit, to dwell not only among them, but within them (ref John 14:16-31; 16:7-15).
In our text, the "going" of our Lord was directly linked with His "preparing" THEM for a place . More than this, His "going away" He described as the means by which they would "be with Him".
· The disciples dreaded Jesus’ death because they thought that it would separate them forever.
· Jesus encouraged them by assuring them that His death was the very means by which they would be united with Him forever.
· The death of our Lord was not the problem – it was the solution. Our Lord’s death did not create a problem for believers, it solved the problem.
· If Jesus had not been separated from them by His death (as a sacrifice to satisfy their sins, they would die in their sins and be separated from Him forever. Jesus’ going away , by death, paid the price for men’s sins, so that men may have assurance of being able to