JOHN 14:18

A friend graciously reminded me today of this promise of Jesus spoken to His disciples just before He was about to be taken from them to return to glory. Jesus realized more than ever that they were somehow troubled, restless, and afraid as He was about to be crucified. For three amazing years, He had walked with them, counseled with them, and accompanied them as they struggled to grasp and acquaint themselves with the realm of the spiritual. It seemed as if He would always be there as He was these past three years, but things were about to change. A new day was about to dawn. Darkness and evil were about to strike. They were about to fellowship suffering and sorrow as they had never before experienced. The enemy was about to pounce and attack in the most vicious way, and Jesus saw the need more than ever to preempt the enemy’s vicious attempt to decimate and destabilize His precious disciples by speaking veritable words of comfort to them “… I will come to you.”

If these words still bless me today as I heard them rehearsed to me again, I could just imagine what they did for His brokenhearted disciples back then. It was a personal, singular, direct, specific promise. May the Almighty help us and all the brethren, never to forget this. Jesus said, “. . .I will come to you”(John 14:18). He is not just going to send an angel or another divine being from the unseen heavenly realm, but we have His own, unchangeable, unshakeable, authoritative, infallible word – “I will come to you.” It must be pointed out here that nobody comforts the heart, allays the fears, eases the pain, fills the void, calms the mind, dries the tears, changes the atmosphere, reverses the damage, changes the trajectory, or overcomes the darkness like Jesus. Jesus can never be compared to any or replaced. He is indispensable to our survival and our existence. Without Him, we literally sink and disintegrate. He is indefatigable in making sure that we are alright in spite of all the trauma and misery surrounding us daily.

When Mary’s and Martha’s brother Lazarus died, we get the picture of a family and a community that seemed woefully comfortless. They were literally devastated and overwhelmed with almost inconsolable grief. However, right into the middle of their indescribable grief, Jesus deliberately and purposefully walked in. He could have sent two of His disciples to represent Him or even an angel, but He personally came. He said, “…but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep” (John 11:11). He said, “…Nevertheless, let us go unto him” (John 11:15). Sometimes, in our pride and arrogance, we want people to come to us. As disciples of Christ, we must do like Jesus, go to where the needs are, go to people in their pain, go to the places of hurt, grief, mourning, and desolation.

It really blesses me to know that we have such an amazing caregiver and burden-bearer in the person of Jesus, the mender of broken hearts. The Hebrew writer declared, “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted as we are . . .”(Hebrews 4:15). He knows the church, and He really cares. It resounds and reverberates in my spirit today, “I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you.” Receive Him as He comes through His Spirit to bring healing and to calm all your nerves and fears. He has a vested interest in us. We are not orphans! He indeed will come to us and make his presence felt!