John 14:1-4 Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me.… The very term changed the whole character and aspect of Hades. The invisible became visible in the form of the most benign and beautiful of all the institutions that lend charm and joy to life. My Father's house! then for the first time men dared to think of death as a going home. It seems a vast, awful world, this invisible which stretches out to the infinite all round us; the trembling soul may well shudder as it goes forth to meet its destiny. But the thought "My Father's house," dissipates all dread. Be it what it may, and where it may, this vast unknown, it is filled with that nameless benediction, a Father's presence and lit with the light of a Father's smile. It is this sense of a loving Presence, meeting us at life's outer gate, and bringing us into a bright home full of light and beauty and living joy, which, for the Christian, has so utterly dissipated the terror; and this made death seem to St. Francis a sister to take him by the hand and conduct him home. It is the activity, the animation, the joyful tasks, the abounding interest, of the life of the invisible world unveiled by Christ, which is the characteristic revelation of the gospel. It is not a world of shades, but a world of sons in strong immortal forms, instinct with energy, rich in faculty, busy with the tasks that occupy the angels; a world glad with work and bright with song. (J. B. Brown, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.WEB: "Don't let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. |
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