John 14:21, commentary and pictures

He who holds Christ's requirements and lives them is the one who truly loves Him, and that love is answered by the Father's love and Christ's love with a personal revealing of Himself. Obedience is the real proof of love and loyalty, not claims or feelings or outward forms, but doing His will in daily practice with purity and holiness of character. His commandments are the ten precepts of the moral law, the perfect transcript of God's character and the unchanging standard of righteousness by which love is tested. That revealing of Himself is not to the world but to loving, obedient disciples, given through the indwelling presence of the Father and Son by the Holy Spirit who teaches, recalls His words, and gives power to overcome. The promise is conditional, requiring sincere wholehearted keeping even at cost, and obedience so decides destiny that it is the condition of eternal life and the true sign of sanctification.

Setting and Wording

Christ spoke the words alone with the eleven in the upper chamber after Judas had left, as farewell words before His approaching separation and cruel death, to keep their hearts from being troubled. He gave this instruction in the upper chamber before He led them out through the city toward the Mount of Olives, where He then gave the teaching of the true vine. Near the close of His earthly ministry, with cruel death just before Him, the words were words of hope and comfort to His disciples.

The verse belongs to His instruction in John 13-17, especially John 14-16, given before His departure and His crucifixion. That instruction teaches that appointed work will fail if divine agency is left out of the effort and that ministry must be built upon Christ. It was spoken to prepare followers for opposition, for trials that would come to the church through unconverted believers, and for severe testing of faith and courage, to strengthen them to endure without failing and to stand fast in the most trying hour. It assures them of His love, that He would be with them through persecution, imprisonment, exile and death, and helps them remember His purposes and plans in their work, bringing strength, courage and assurance as long as time lasts to true believers who study it.

The chapter plainly outlines God's will, and God means just what He says in the verse. That will includes believers being made one with Christ in this life and remaining one with Him for eternity, in unity with one another and with Christ. Lived out in practical life the instruction cures dissension and seeking the highest place and produces unity and a love that stands as an impregnable wall against Satan's assaults, and only those who so live will stand the test of the shaking time when everything that can be shaken will be shaken. Those who minister in word and doctrine and are acquainted with present truth have the privilege of believing every word of it and living it out before their fellow ministers, being converted and understanding and doing genuine missionary work.

Its meaning is received when the Holy Spirit applies the Word to the heart, not through reading its letter alone, with lessons from Christ deepening through close attention to truth. When the mind is reshaped by the Spirit of God the instruction in John 14 can be understood with new enlightenment. The teaching shows what God desires to do for the human race and the provision He has made for it, and the Spirit's coming can open blinded eyes, bringing hope, encouragement and comfort in God's love.

The verse is a promise to be opened and read when in trouble and difficulty and hardly knowing what to do, to be believed as the Word of God and laid hold of. It is to be read at family worship and presented so that the young minds of children comprehend, and to be studied through the week by fathers, mothers and children in order to glorify God in every way possible. So received and lived it brings peace and hope and rejoicing even when discouraged and disheartened, brings the great peace of God into the mind so that children speak of the kindness and love of Jesus, with assurance that God will not leave His people comfortless, a promise proved true by experience.

Love Shown by Obedience

He who has the commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Christ, and he who so loves Him shall be loved by the Father, shall be loved by Christ, and Christ will manifest Himself and make Himself known to him. Having His commandments means having light about their binding claims and what they require, and keeping them expresses and proves love for Him. That manifestation is seen by faith and belongs to those standing under His banner who know that Christ is in the Father, they are in Christ, and Christ is in them, living because He lives.

Obedience is the true test of love, loyalty and discipleship, and having and keeping proves love while failure to keep His sayings proves lack of love. The test is proved not by pretension, profession, sentiment, oft-repeated words, religious forms and ceremonies, church membership, or saying without doing like the Pharisees, but by practice, doing His words and will, with fruit in obedience, purity and holiness of character. Knowing the commandments through diligent study and obeying them marks believers as sons and daughters, bringing the privilege of His companionship and harmony with God and calling for watchfulness to keep the soul pure and holy. Disobedience is the sign of disloyalty and apostasy, and loyalty to the laws of the kingdom is put to the test during the probation graciously given. This requirement applies in both Old and New Testaments as the condition for receiving approval and blessing.

Keeping is to be sincere, willing and steadfast, with the whole mind, heart, soul and strength, from the heart, understood and practiced in daily life as the true test of character and means being a doer of the Word. It must continue even through inconvenience, trial, loss of earthly things, social alienation and seeming different from neighbors, not to be hidden out of fear of neighbors or their disapproval. It rules out claiming discipleship while living for self and disregarding His commands, for a true disciple accepts His call to obedience and learns His meekness and lowliness. His love and response call for wholehearted service, for a divided, halfhearted service does not please Him, and children and parents alike are to give themselves fully.

True love always produces obedience and obedience is the sign of true love, stated so plainly that no one need fail to understand or misunderstand it. The religion of Jesus Christ is love, and because Christ and the Father are one, those who in truth receive Christ will love God as the great center of adoration and will also love one another, and in doing so they keep the law. The promise belongs to every sincere Christian and becomes real in the experience of the obedient, for loving obedience brings the Father's love and the coming of the Father and Son to make their abode with the keeper, and full and entire obedience brings joy, not mourning, doubt and uncertainty. Keeping His commandments keeps the believer abiding in His love, even as He kept His Father's commandments and abode in His love, so that His joy remains and the believer's joy is full. In the surrounding teaching His command to love one another as He loved His disciples is an example of the love His followers are to show, including dealing with erring brethren by the gospel plan.

No one can keep the commandments except by being in Christ with Christ in him, living because He lives under His banner. Only those who love His only begotten Son can keep His law, and love for Christ makes disregard of even the least commandment impossible. Keeping must be intelligent and brought into daily life as proof of love, and no one with light on the commandments can remain in Christ while disregarding even the least of them. Becoming one with Christ gives the mind of Christ, ending antagonism to the law and producing obedience to all the commandments and walking in His footsteps. This manifestation is spiritual and inward, not an outward appearance visible to the world, giving His presence and spiritual power with help in emergencies and perplexities.

Meaning of Commandments

To have his commandments is to have light about the binding claims of God's law and what they require, and to keep them is to refuse disobedience even when disobedience would seem a temporal advantage. Having and keeping in this sense expresses love for Christ, and keeping proves that love. Keeping is made possible by promised grace, for probationary time is given to form a character like Christ's and grace enables obedience to God's law under the covenant of grace. The human family must obey the light given even when it requires bearing the cross publicly, remembering that Adam and Eve's disobedience cost Eden.

His commandments are the Ten Precepts, not separate from the moral law. They are the same as the precepts of the moral law, which is perfect for converting the soul and is the transcript of God's character. That law is the standard of righteousness by which character is measured and by which pure love is tested, the rule of God's government in heaven and on earth. It reveals God's holiness and reveals His character, so no one can love God supremely while transgressing it, and claiming love while not keeping it shows His love does not dwell within.

The perpetuity of the law is affirmed: it remains in force, and Christ's death confirms its unchangeable character while magnifying it and making it honorable. Obedience to all of it is obligation and test, belonging to the plan of salvation and honoring both God who gave the law and Christ who died for it. The excuse that the commandments cannot be kept repeats Satan's charge against God and need never be made, for Christ stands with the marks of crucifixion as a living witness that the law can be kept. Failure to keep is therefore not inability but refusal to yield a stubborn will, and keeping is not mere theoretical acceptance but having His words stamped upon the soul and woven into the life with sanctifying effect on character.

The verse applies to choosing the Lord's side and accepting truth, including the Sabbath. It applies to accepting the claims of God's law and conscientiously keeping the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, the seventh-day Sabbath, even when this leads to exclusion from churches. Returning to Sabbath observance is the right course when done sincerely and in reverence for God. It applies to following every ray of light though keeping the Sabbath may cost employment and threaten livelihood, trusting God for help, with greater light given to those who respond to light already received.

Keeping His sayings and commandments is eating His flesh and drinking His blood, which brings the believer into harmony with the Redeemer. Being in harmony with the Redeemer is the evidence of keeping His sayings, returned in response to heaven's love seen at Calvary. The words both reveal God's love for fallen humanity and provide the measure for recognizing whether love for Christ is sincere. As His suffering, especially on the cross, is considered, the effects of sin are seen more clearly and His love impresses the heart increasingly.

Father and Son Respond

The one who loves by having the commandments and keeping them is loved by the Father and loved by Christ, and Christ makes Himself known to that obedient lover. The promise means that the Father and the Son come and make Their abode with the keeper of His words, giving abiding presence, guardianship, help to do His will and to overcome, and full joy. His sayings kept in love are the Father's words, and not keeping them shows lack of love. Full and entire obedience brings joy rather than mourning, doubt and uncertainty, and the experience proves the assurance real.
The manifestation is seen by faith and is known by those under His banner who live because He lives, even though the world does not see Him. It is not to the world but to disciples who love and keep His words, and to obedient believers rather than to pretenders. The disciples at first thought only of a visible appearing and were slow to comprehend what was spoken. The Holy Spirit was therefore promised to teach all things and bring His sayings to remembrance with truths not before understood, and after the resurrection Jesus opened their understanding to understand Scripture.
That coming to dwell is in the person of His representative the Holy Spirit, the Comforter sent in His name. The Comforter as Advocate teaches all things, brings Christ's words to remembrance, pleads that spiritual power be given, cooperates with all who receive Him, and enables believers to overcome spiritual foes so faith is not lost under most trying circumstances. He revives the hearts of humble and contrite ones when God's people search Scripture with desire to know truth. Genuine repentance and conversion bear fruit in obedience and forsaking of sin, not in words or profession alone.
Keeping His commandments keeps believers abiding in His love, even as He kept His Father's commandments and abode in His love, so that His joy remains and their joy is full. The manifestation is the mutual indwelling in which Christ is in the Father, believers are in Christ, and Christ is in them, with the Father and Son making Their abode with the keeper. Becoming one with Christ gives the mind of Christ, ends antagonism to God's law, and produces obedience to all the commandments and walking in the footsteps of the Saviour. The commandment so kept is to love one another as He loved, working for salvation with tender love for those of the same faith and digging out the bitter root of selfishness that divides hearts.
The promise that He will love and reveal Himself to those who love Him means the faithful are not abandoned in hardship but comforted and enabled to endure suffering. It was shown in His appearances to John in imprisonment and exile on Patmos, to Peter when an angel delivered him from prison, and to Stephen as he saw Jesus in heaven, and He will likewise manifest Himself to the faithful. It was illustrated by His presence with the three Hebrew captives in the fiery furnace, preserving them when loyalty to God refused the king's command to worship the image. It can include the Spirit's help in danger, as when a hostile mob tried to break up a meeting and the Spirit strengthened those gathered until the attackers left saying they had spoken the words of the Lord, and it is also described as hearing and answering prayer and as personal heart-to-heart instruction to perplexed souls.
The promise is conditional and positive and rich, and its words are spirit and life whose belief and practice are conditions of salvation. It is to be trusted by faith and claimed by acting faith and talking faith and working constantly, refusing to limit God and being true to the Master, even when no special feeling of blessing is present, for faith not feeling is what is needed. Doing so brings comfort, hope, assurance and the light of life, with abiding presence breaking earth's power over mind and character and sustaining continual communion, and with the Lord in the midst and power seen in human vessels presenting truth. Indifference to doing what God specified leaves little sense of God's presence and misrepresents Christ.

Tests Conditions and Warnings

The verse lays down Christ's test for proving loyalty or disloyalty, dividing the world today and in the judgment into only two classes, those who violate God's law and those who obey it. Having and keeping His commandments proves love for Him, and the one who so loves Him will be loved by the Father and loved by Christ, with Christ manifesting Himself to him, while failure to keep His sayings proves lack of love. This marks the clear distinction between those who serve God and those who do not. The world, which does not see or love Christ, cannot rightly recognize the truth or appreciate those who love God and obey His commandments. Obedience does not earn God's love, but follows its free reception and reveals that His love is present in the heart.

Obedience or disobedience to the commandments decides eternal welfare. Obedience is the condition of eternal life and the first price of eternal life, proving right to an inheritance with the saints. Through grace people are to reach God's required standard of character, not expect salvation while disobeying His law. The Father cannot save one going contrary to His will, for only the obedient child can be blessed. He who loves Christ by keeping His words will be loved by the Father, will be loved by Christ, will have Christ manifest Himself to him, and will have the Father and Son come and make their abode with him.

Obedience to the commandments is the only true sign of sanctification and of love to Christ, and the only true test of character and best evidence of love for God and for Jesus Christ whom He sent. Disobedience is the sign of disloyalty and apostasy. Talking sanctification while transgressing the law is of no value and just as unacceptable as the offering of Cain. Love for God is not mere sentiment or oft-repeated words, which are of no value by themselves, but a living working power made manifest in life practice, with fruit seen in good works by doing the will of the Father in heaven. The present time of probation tests whether people will respect a plain Thus saith the Lord or dishonor God's law by exalting human commandments above the divine.

The verse lays down the condition for receiving what is asked in Christ's name and for claiming God's promises in prayer. Doers of the Word give evidence by obedience that they are believers of the Word, and they have strong consolation because of the promises so that in confidence they lay hold on everlasting life. Petitions that claim a promise while disregarding its conditions do not show faith and love for Christ, for obedience is evidence of love and faith. Those who walk in the light of God's commandments receive answers, while one walking contrary to God's expressed will can expect nothing from the Lord. To receive His precious gifts one must meet Him on His own platform by complying with the conditions in His word, placing the feet in the path of His commandments with assurance that prayers will be answered, especially in time of necessity during the proving of God's people just before the Lord comes in the clouds of heaven.

Having and keeping is the same test given to Adam and Eve that decides every person's future destiny. Adam and Eve's disobedience cost them Eden. The human family must obey the light given about the binding claims of God's law, even when doing so requires bearing the cross publicly. The excuse that God's commandments cannot be kept repeats Satan's charge against God in heaven and need never be made, because Christ stands before God with the marks of crucifixion as a living witness that the law can be kept. Failure to keep the commandments is not inability but refusal to yield a stubborn will.

The manifestation promised is that the pure in heart shall see God, enduring the seeing of Him who is invisible, and without holiness no one shall see Him. It requires a purified heart cleansed from hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong and from inherent sin, rooted and grounded in the love of Christ, with entire sanctification and perfect conformity to the will of God. Keeping His commandments keeps believers abiding in His love even as He kept His Father's commandments and abode in His love, giving full joy. This obedient love brings the gift of the Comforter to abide forever, keeps the garments undefiled so the worthy walk with Christ in white, and clothes in fine linen clean and white which is the righteousness of the saints. That clothing marks the patience of the saints, giving right to the tree of life and entrance through the gates into the city and making ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb. The commandment to be kept is to love one another as He has loved, showing love for all in working for their salvation with specially tender love for those of the same faith, digging out the bitter root of selfishness that divides hearts.

Living the Promise Daily

Loving obedience brings Christ's nearness in persecution, reproach, imprisonment, exile, and death. He stands beside the believer before unjust earthly tribunals, takes the reproach aimed at His disciple as aimed at Himself, comforts the imprisoned heart with His love, and sustains the soul in union with Himself so the body may be harmed but the soul cannot. He gives grace proportionate to the trial, and for those who die for Him His promise of life preserves the sacrificed life for eternal glory. The disciples proved this when arrested for preaching Jesus and His resurrection, for their obedient witness showed their love and they remembered His promise through the Holy Spirit and were not intimidated or cast down by opposition.

The full force of the promise is learned only when believers are pressed into difficulty for loyalty to the commandments at a time when the law is trampled in the dust. Then the beauty and force of truth become apparent, leading many to conversion, and the keeping Christian surrounded by those without God's love learns how precious communion with God is. That communion brings assured hope and views of eternal redemption, and God helps His obedient people in emergencies and perplexities with inward spiritual presence and power, not an outward appearance seen by the world. Loyalty under pressure for the seventh-day Sabbath makes this assurance especially precious.

Daily obedience keeps the condition of His indwelling presence, bringing Him near in home life lived by right principles, with light, peace, and joy. His abiding presence breaks the power of earthly things over mind and character and sustains continual communion with God. Obedience does not produce sadness, gloom, mourning, doubt, or uncertainty, but lets the cheerful beams of Christ's righteousness shine into the heart, and in trial His presence through the Holy Spirit brings peace and comfort like the Sun of Righteousness driving away darkness.

The promise calls hearers to examine whether service and testimony flow from close connection and communion with God. It calls them to seek to understand and obey, to grasp His presence by faith and to obey and work while God works in them to will and to act according to His good pleasure. In trouble they are to trust His word and look to Him for presence and knowledge rather than relying on other people. God lives and works with everyone who loves Him and keeps His commandments, and as the great Physician He blesses those who go forward humbly yet trustfully to plant the standard of truth in every place, including medical missionary work.

The conditions of union with Christ and the promise belong to every sincere Christian, for true love always produces obedience and obedience is the sign of true love, stated so plainly none need misunderstand. Submission to God's control qualifies disciples to guide and teach the young with tenderness, love, and wisdom. When messengers believe and live by His words they are empowered from above to teach the truth, and when truth is presented in faith without limiting God the Lord is in the midst with power seen in human vessels. The promise places the highest of all power at the believer's command, to be appropriated in the family so parents and children reflect Christ's love, and it accompanies humble lowly service.

Loving obedience brings the gift of the Comforter to abide forever. Obedience and Christ's guardianship are to be evident in the life, and those who receive Him as personal Saviour and conform to His will by committing themselves and all their interests to His guidance receive power to become sons of God. Becoming one with Him gives the mind of Christ, ending antagonism to the law and producing obedience to all the commandments and walking in His footsteps, following the Prince of heaven who resigned His command in the heavenly courts and clothed divinity with humanity to perfect redemption. That union calls for self-denial and self-sacrifice, yet gives no cause for regret, for receivers are adopted into the royal family as sons and daughters, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ to an immortal inheritance. It calls for putting away selfishness, love of supremacy, passion, complaining, evil-speaking, and malice, keeping garments undefiled to walk with Christ in white in fine linen clean and white which is the righteousness of the saints, marking the patience of the saints with right to the tree of life and entrance through the gates into the city and readiness for the marriage supper.

He makes Himself near to those who draw near and take a step toward Him, advancing toward them in response. He manifests Himself to those who trust wholly in Him, who walk humbly before God and seek Him with contrition of soul, and who follow on to know the Lord. His love and response call for wholehearted service rather than divided halfheartedness, and children and parents alike are to give themselves fully to the Lord who accepts them. The humble meek person through whom Christ can reveal Himself without selfishness illustrates the promise, and attentive listening reflects love, with the one loving most most beloved by the Father.

Living faith works through love and purifies the soul, following Christ's own obedient example in word and will to make people pure, holy, and obedient. When worldly concerns take over the heart love for God is displaced, but God's love restores divine power which works with human effort to dislodge love of the world by keeping heaven in view unto active obedience and service. Keeping the commandments means loyalty to the principles of His Word in every part of life including business dealings, standing against man-made rules and standards that conflict with God's law. Those who abide in Him bear fruit representing His character, with all they are belonging to Him and ability cultivated to serve Him at His holy standard.