The Sabbath School

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 25, 1897

The Sabbath School

International Series.

LESSON XI.—SABBATH, MARCH 13, 1897.

THE HEAVENLY MANSIONS; THE FATHER REVEALED IN CHRIST; IN HIS NAME.

Lesson Scripture John 14:1-14.

1 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 5 And whither I go, ye know the way. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; how know we the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also: from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I say unto you I speak not from myself; but the Father abiding in me doeth his works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask me anything in my name, that will I do.”

QUESTIONS.

1. What comforting exhortation did Jesus deliver to his disciples?

2. What course did he urge upon them?

3. What comforting revelation did he make to them?

4. What did he declare to be the purpose of his leaving them?

5. What event would follow his departure? For what purpose?

6. What knowledge did he assure them that they already had?

7. What reply did Thomas make?

8. What striking statement did this inquiry draw forth from Jesus?

9. How did he say that access is had to the Father?

10. According to his teaching, what does knowledge of him involve? Was this true of the disciples?

11. What request did Philip then make?

12. With what question did Jesus introduce his reply?

13. What general truth did he then state?

14. What inquiry did he base upon this statement?

15. With what question did he refer to the union between himself and the Father?

16. Whose were the words and works of Jesus?

17. What confidence did he urge them to have?

18. What promise did he make to the believer in him? On what ground?

19. How did he place himself at the command of the believer? With what purpose in view?

20. How did he repeat the promise?

NOTES.

1. The instruction Jesus gave to his disciples on that last night before his crucifixion has been the comfort of believers in all ages. He began with, “Let not your heart be troubled,” and the discourse flows on in one channel of love, and ends at last with the word, “Be of good cheer.” We are to be of good cheer while in the world, because he has overcome it, and we are not to be troubled, for he is coming again.

2. “Of what coming again does the Lord here speak?—The same of which he spoke in Matt. 24:30, 31, his glorious return at the last day to ‘gather his elect.’ Acts 1:11. Visibly he departs, visibly will he return; and there he will receive his people to himself into his heavenly kingdom.” The comfort which Jesus offers to the believer is not, “You will soon die and come to me,” but, “I will come again.” “One of the most solemn and yet most glorious truths revealed in the Bible is that of Christ’s second coming, to complete the great work of redemption.” . . . The doctrine of the second advent is the very key-note of the Sacred Scriptures. From the day when the first pair turned their sorrowing steps from Eden, the children of faith have waited the coming of the Promised One to break the destroyer’s power and bring them again to the lost Paradise. . . . About his coming cluster the glories of that “restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” Then the long-continued

rule of evil shall be broken; “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever.” It is then that the peaceful and long-desired kingdom of the Messiah shall be established under the whole heaven.” “The more of heaven we have here below, through the outpouring of the Spirit, the more rapturous become our anticipations of the glory that is to come.”

3. “Jesus says: ‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.’ ‘I am that Ladder which Jacob saw, the base of it resting firmly upon the earth, while the topmost round reaches to the throne of God. I am the Light that shines upon every soul who climbs up by me. I am the Life, inspiring with faith and love as you move onward and upward.’ All truth is found in Christ. . . . Only by presenting the truth as it is in Jesus, will our work be effectual in reaching the hearts of men.”

4. “‘I am the Way.’ It is not a cold, dead road we have to make the most of for ourselves, pursuing it often in darkness, in weakness, in fear. It is a living way—a way that renews our strength as we walk in it, that enlivens instead of exhausting us, that gives direction and light as we go forward. . . . Wherever you are, at whatever point of experience, at whatever stage of sin, this way begins where you are, and you have but to take it and it leads to God. . . . From your person, as you are at this moment, there leads a way to the Father.” “Just where the sinner is, in that very quagmire, begins the way. Not a single step heavenward can he take until he depends on Christ.”

5. “In Christ we behold God. . . . In Christ blessing little children; joining in the harmless gaiety of the Cana wedding-feast; mourning over Lazarus; allowing the penitent woman to touch him; showing gentleness, courtesy, consideration, tenderness to everybody,—we have the manifestation of the unseen Jehovah. Such as Christ is, such is God.”

6. “Our Saviour said, ‘Greater works than these shall ye do; because I go unto my Father.’ What are these ‘greater works’? If our lips are touched with the living coal from off the altar, we shall reveal to the world the wonderful love manifested by God in giving Jesus, his only-begotten Son, to the world, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” After the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, the disciples “saw that the prophecies had been literally fulfilled. They could search the Scriptures and accept their teachings with a faith and assurance which they had never known before. The divine Teacher was indeed all that he claimed to be. The prophecies relating to Christ and his mission were no longer a mystery to his disciples, but a living reality; and as they told their experience to the world, as they exalted the love of God, the divine assurance which they manifested was an evidence to men that they had received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Men’s hearts were melted and subdued. The promise, ‘Greater works than these shall ye do; because I go unto my Father,’ was fulfilled.”

Suggestions for Further Study.

1. Just now Christ is preparing a people for the place which he has prepared for them. Are we ready for our place?

2. The third verse brings up the whole question of Christ’s second coming. This opens an almost boundless field for study. Note especially 1 Thess. 4:16 to 5:6.

3. The central thought of heaven is to be with Christ. Why would a sinner be unhappy in heaven?

4. Study verse 10 as revealing the innermost principle of the Christian life: “The Father abiding in me doeth his works.” Revised Version.

5. How is life only in Christ taught in this lesson?