I Will Come Again

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” John 14:3

Jesus encourages the disciples in this passage that if he is going to the cross to prepare a place for them in the heavenly realms of glory, surely He would be returning to take his own to Himself. This is a promise.

Jesus emphasizes His presence in this verse: the disciples would be taken to Himself and the disciples would be where Jesus is. Is that not our great comfort too, that we would be found ultimately in the presence of Jesus?

To be taken to Himself in the original language is an idiom for “to my home.”¹ So Jesus says that His Father’s house has many rooms (in the preceding verse) and that Jesus would be taking us to His home there, to be with Himself in glory.

Jesus indicates that His plan for His followers does not stop with the sacrificial cross and the triumphant resurrection. He has plans for His believers to dwell with Him—forever.

We do not have a lot of information about what our dwelling place(s) will be like in glory. We do not have descriptions about many things about heaven. But, Jesus has seen it fit to tell us that we will be in an eternal home with Him, where He dwells. And, is that not enough for us—to know that we will be with Him?

Jesus promises that He will take care of His disciples, just as He promises to take care of us. They would not be stranded at His departure, and they would not be forgotten. They would not be without hope.

Rather, their hope is a very personal one. It centers on the Lord Jesus Himself. The cross was necessary to their hope. The resurrection was necessary to their hope. And, now in this passage, the second coming was necessary to their hope.

The disciples were not present for the second coming—it had yet to occur. But, they will be raised, just as all the church with Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 teaches us that the dead in Christ will rise first, and then those who are alive at Jesus’ second coming will go to meet Him in the air with those raised first.

We know because of Jesus’ words to the thief on the cross next to Him that we will go to Jesus’ presence when we die (Luke 24:43). And then, we know from 1 Thessalonians that we will experience a bodily resurrection when Jesus comes to return again for His own.

Jesus emphasized His personal touch: the fullness of who the disciples are in their bodily resurrection would be meeting the Lord at His second coming. And, we who are alive have this hope: that Jesus will come for us too.

Here’s the significance: we will see the triumphant day when Jesus Christ rescues His own out of the world. We will be present for when Jesus shows the world who His own are by taking them to be with Himself. We will all depart to be with Jesus. And this will be a sign to all that Jesus is true, powerful, and in control. It will be a marvelous sign, and we who believe will all experience it together.

Jesus and the church will have our moment together when He comes out like a bridegroom for His bride. And the disciples were to be comforted that though their lives on earth were filled with unknowns, their future were secure.

Let me ask you: do you feel as though your life is insecure? You have experienced heartbreak and sorrow. Do you now feel like something else will come into your life to bring you sorrow? Do you feel like you could experience more pain? Those are very real and valid concerns of your heart. Jesus’ answer is that you are promised security in another world. His answer is to have faith in Him now and rest on the security of the world to come.

Jesus does not want us to live in fear. He wants us to be able to trust Him with our brief lives here so that we will meet Him for eternity in His everlasting presence. This may be a hard word to hear—that Jesus does not promise your pain will be concluded now that you have endured so much. He understands that. And, He is endlessly compassionate toward you. He promises you His soothing presence and His unique sovereignty that it all is transpiring for an eternal glory that outweighs this present earth (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

We have to trust Him. We have to trust that He sees farther and better than we do. And, we have to take the promise of His personal presence coming one day not so very long from now—and view it as enough for us. It’s what He extends. Will we receive, and put our confidence there?

¹Kruse, Colin G. John: An Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 4. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003.  

Lianna is author of Made for a Different Land: Eternal Hope for Baby Loss (Hope Mommies, 2019). More of her writing can be found at her website.

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