Anchor My Faith

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Author: Stephen Weller
587 words, 3 minutes read time

The Command to Believe

Scripture: John 14:1

With the previous lesson we finished the section in which Peter made a promise to Jesus that Jesus said he would not be able to keep. With this lesson we begin a new section in which Jesus provides more information about how to get to where he is going, but we will see that it doesn’t help much.

^{Jn 14:1} “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”

“Let not your hearts be troubled” relates to the statement Jesus made in John 13:36 about going someplace where the disciples could not come at this time. The disciples were troubled over the possibility of Jesus leaving them in the very near future. Jesus tells his concerned disciples, especially Peter, to not be troubled but instead to believe in God and also believe in him. It is this belief that will prepare them to follow Jesus at a later time.

A cross reference on “troubled” leads us to several related verses. In John 14:27 (ESV), we find: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” The disciples are currently coming up short on “his peace” and thus the encouragement to “let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

John 16:22 – 23 (ESV) adds more encouragement: ²² “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. ²³ In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.” The disciples are experiencing sorrow over the soon departure of Jesus, but they are assured that he will return and then their hearts will rejoice.

“Believe in God” is an imperative (or command) to his disciples and to us if we wish to follow Jesus to where he is going. Belief denotes personal, relational trust in keeping with Isaiah 26:16 ESV: “O Lord, in distress they sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them.” Those whom God has chosen, his discipline is upon them to encourage them to seek him and come humbly to him and pour out a whispered prayer concerning their sin and need of salvation. We are to come to the place where we satisfy Romans 10:9 – 10 ESV: ⁹ “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Jesus told his disciples to believe in God and to believe in him as we see in the above verses from Romans 10. Belief in God must include belief in Jesus because it is the result of the work he did on the cross that we have access to salvation and to the Father.

Conclusion

What is the benefit of belief that Jesus commands his disciples to seek? In our next lesson we will see that Jesus is going to return to his Father to prepare a place for those who believe and then he is going to return to take us there.