The Way to the Father

14 “Don’t let your heart be troubled.^(A) Believe^[a] in God; ^(B) believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going ^(C) to prepare a place for you? ³ If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again^(D) and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.^{(E) 4} You know the way to where I am going.”^[b](F)

⁵ “Lord,” Thomas^(G) said, “we don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus told him, “I am^(H) the way,^(I) the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The Comfort of Christ’s Coming

¹³ We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.^{(A) 14} For if we believe that Jesus died and rose^(B) again,^(C) in the same way, through Jesus,^(D) God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁵ For we say this to you by a word from the Lord:^(E) We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming^(F) will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.^{(G) 16} For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout,^[a](H) with the archangel’s^(I) voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ^(J) will rise first. ¹⁷ Then^(K) we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds^(L) to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage^[b] one another with these words.

Treasure in Clay Jars

⁷ Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power^(A) may be from God and not from us. ⁸ We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; ⁹ we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry the death of Jesus^(B) in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body. ¹¹ For we who live are always being given over to death^(C) for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life in you. ¹³ And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke,^[a](D) we also believe, and therefore speak. ¹⁴ For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus^(E) and present us with you. ¹⁵ Indeed, everything is for your benefit so that, as grace extends through more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving^(F) to increase to the glory of God.

¹⁶ Therefore we do not give up.^(G) Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person^(H) is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our momentary light affliction^(I) is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.^{(J) 18} So we do not focus on what is seen,^(K) but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

¹¹ He has made everything appropriate^[a] in its time.^(A) He has also put eternity in their hearts,^[b] but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end.^(B)