Jesus Comforts His Disciples

14 “Do not let your heart be troubled (afraid, cowardly). Believe [confidently] in God and trust in Him, [have faith, hold on to it, rely on it, keep going and] believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and I will take you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also. ⁴ And [to the place] where I am going, you know the way.” ⁵ Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; so how can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “^[a]I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Jesus’ Oneness with the Father

⁷ If you had [really] known Me, you would also have known My Father. From now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”

⁸ Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father and then we will be satisfied.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and you do not know Me yet, Philip, nor recognize clearly who I am? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not say on My own initiative or authority, but the Father, abiding continually in Me, does His works [His attesting miracles and acts of power]. ¹¹ Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe [Me] because of the [very] works themselves [which you have witnessed]. ¹² I assure you and most solemnly say to you, anyone who believes in Me [as Savior] will also do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these [in extent and outreach], because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in My name [^[b]as My representative], this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified and celebrated in the Son.^{(A) 14} If you ask Me anything in My name [as My representative], I will do it.

¹⁵ “If you [really] love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments.

Role of the Spirit

¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another ^[c]Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive [and take to its heart] because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He (the Holy Spirit) remains with you continually and will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans [comfortless, bereaved, and helpless]; I will come [back] to you. ¹⁹ After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. ²⁰ On that day [when that time comes] you will know for yourselves that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. ²¹ The person who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him [I will make Myself real to him].” ²² Judas (not Iscariot) asked Him, “Lord, what has happened that You are going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus answered, “If anyone [really] loves Me, he will keep My word (teaching); and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling place with him. ²⁴ One who does not [really] love Me does not keep My words. And the word (teaching) which you hear is not Mine, but is the Father’s who sent Me.

²⁵ “I have told you these things while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the ^[d]Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you.^{(B) 27} Peace I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.] ²⁸ You heard Me tell you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming back to you.’ If you [really] loved Me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going [back] to the Father, for ^[e]the Father is greater than I. ²⁹ I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does take place, you may believe and have faith [in Me]. ³⁰ I will not speak with you much longer, for the ruler of the world (Satan) is coming. And he has no claim on Me [no power over Me nor anything that he can use against Me]; ³¹ but so that the world may know [without any doubt] that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father has commanded Me [and act in full agreement with Him]. Get up, let us go from here.

Jesus Is the Vine—Followers Are Branches

15 “^[f]I am the true Vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that continues to bear fruit, He [repeatedly] prunes, so that it will bear more fruit [even richer and finer fruit]. ³ You are already clean because of the word which I have given you [the teachings which I have discussed with you]. ⁴ Remain in Me, and I [will remain] in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself without remaining in the vine, neither can you [bear fruit, producing evidence of your faith] unless you remain in Me. ^5 [g]I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him bears much fruit, for [otherwise] apart from Me [that is, cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken off] branch, and withers and dies; and they gather such branches and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you remain in Me and My words remain in you [that is, if we are vitally united and My message lives in your heart], ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified and honored by this, when you bear much fruit, and prove yourselves to be My [true] disciples. ⁹ I have loved you just as the Father has loved Me; remain in My love [and do not doubt My love for you]. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments and obey My teaching, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. ¹¹ I have told you these things so that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy may be made full and complete and overflowing.

Disciples’ Relation to Each Other

¹² “This is My commandment, that you ^[h]love and unselfishly seek the best for one another, just as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you keep on doing what I command you. ¹⁵ I do not call you servants any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you [My] friends, because I have revealed to you everything that I have heard from My Father. ¹⁶ You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed and placed and purposefully planted you, so that you would go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit will remain and be lasting, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name [as My representative] He may give to you. ¹⁷ This [is what] I command you: that you love and unselfishly seek the best for one another.

Disciples’ Relation to the World

¹⁸ “If the world hates you [and it does], know that it has hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, the world would love [you as] its own and would treat you with affection. But you are not of the world [you no longer belong to it], but I have chosen you out of the world. And because of this the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember [and continue to remember] that I told you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. ²¹ But they will do all these [hurtful] things to you for My name’s sake [because you bear My name and are identified with Me], for they do not know the One who sent Me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have [the guilt of their] sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ The one who hates Me also hates My Father. ²⁴ If I had not done among them the works (attesting miracles) which no one else [ever] did, they would not have [the guilt of their] sin; but now [the fact is that] they have both seen [these works] and have hated Me [and continue to hate Me] and My Father as well. ²⁵ But [this is so] that the word which has been written in their Law would be fulfilled, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’^(C)

²⁶ “But when the ^[i]Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of Truth who comes from the Father, He will testify and bear witness about Me. ²⁷ But you will testify also and be My witnesses, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

Jesus’ Warning

16 “I have told you these things so that you will not stumble or be caught off guard and fall away. ² They will put you out of the synagogues and make you outcasts. And a time is coming when whoever kills you will think that he is offering service to God. ³ And they will do these things because they have not known the Father or Me. ⁴ I have told you these things [now], so that when their time comes, you will remember that I told you about them. I did not say these things to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

The Holy Spirit Promised

⁵ “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ ⁶ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts [and taken complete possession of them]. ⁷ But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the ^[j]Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him (the Holy Spirit) to you [to be in close fellowship with you]. ⁸ And He, when He comes, will convict the world about [the guilt of] sin [and the need for a Savior], and about righteousness, and about judgment: ⁹ about sin [and the true nature of it], because they do not believe in Me [and My message]; ¹⁰ about righteousness [personal integrity and godly character], because I am going to My Father and you will no longer see Me; ¹¹ about judgment [the certainty of it], because the ruler of this world (Satan) has been judged and condemned.

¹² “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear [to hear] them now. ¹³ But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth [full and complete truth]. For He will not speak on His own initiative, but He will speak whatever He hears [from the Father—the message regarding the Son], and He will disclose to you what is to come [in the future]. ¹⁴ He will glorify and honor Me, because He (the Holy Spirit) will take from what is Mine and will disclose it to you. ¹⁵ All things that the Father has are Mine. Because of this I said that He [the Spirit] will take from what is Mine and will reveal it to you.

Jesus’ Death and Resurrection Foretold

¹⁶ “A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.” ¹⁷ Some of His disciples said to one another, “What does He mean when He tells us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I am going to My Father’?” ¹⁸ So they were saying, “What does He mean when He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.” ¹⁹ Jesus knew that they wanted to ask Him, so He said to them, “Are you wondering among yourselves about what I meant when I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’? ²⁰ I assure you and most solemnly say to you, that you will weep and grieve [in great mourning], but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. ²¹ A woman, when she is in labor, has pain because her time [to give birth] has come; but when she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of her joy that a child has come into the world. ²² So for now you are in grief; but I will see you again, and [then] your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away from you your [great] joy.

Prayer Promises

²³ In that day you will not [need to] ask Me about anything. I assure you and most solemnly say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name [as My representative], He will give you. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked [the Father] for anything in My name; but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy may be full and complete.

²⁵ “I have told you these things in figurative language (veiled language, proverbs); the hour is now coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in My name, and I am not saying to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf [because it will be unnecessary]; ²⁷ for the Father Himself [tenderly] loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from the Father. ²⁸ I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

²⁹ His disciples said, “Ah, now You are speaking plainly to us and not in figures of speech! ³⁰ Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; because of this we believe [without any doubt] that you came from God.” ³¹ Jesus answered them, “Do you now [at last] believe? ³² Take careful notice: an hour is coming, and has arrived, when you will all be scattered, each to his own home, leaving Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. ³³ I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]