Recently Roni and I watched the film, “Melancholia.” By the way, that is not an endorsement. It was an odd and “artsy” movie (and by “artsy” I mean, “Lots of people staring blankly for long periods of time while moving in super-slow-motion as classical music plays in the background). It was not without its merits, though we did have to hit the “fast forward” button a time or two.

The movie was written and directed by Lars von Trier. There is a lot of side story, but, at the heart of it, it involves two sisters and the different ways they coped with imminent worldwide destruction. As it turns out, a rogue planet named “Melancholia” is speeding toward the earth and will soon collide with it. The movie considers how different people handle the approach of certain death.

Of the two sisters, one is a severe depressant. She is so depressed that she actually ends her marriage at the wedding party after her own wedding! She can barely cope with life at all. Her sister, on the other hand, is depicted as reasonable and strong. She takes her depressed sister in and tries to nurse her to health.

The interesting twist comes in the way that the sisters deal with the knowledge that they will all soon die (along with the rest of the planet). Ironically, the depressed sister grows stronger and has no fear whatsoever. She could not handle her own wedding day, but she is icily strong and stoic in the face of imminent apocalypse. The other sister, however, becomes increasingly unglued as the planet and death approaches. Lars von Trier actually wrote the movie after he went through a season of depression. He discovered that depressed people tend to come unglued in the face of small things but tend to handle massive tragedy much better than others.

This is what the movie depicts. What you see in the movie is the ironic switching of places: the depressed sister who cannot handle life but can handle death and the strong sister who can handle life but cannot handle death. In the end, the strong sister has to be led and comforted by the depressed sister to prepare herself for their certain demise.

It is, as I mentioned, an odd movie. At the heart of the movie rests this question: How do you handle the certain approach of death? How does one keep from being troubled when one knows death is coming? And what do people who are going to die draw on to help get themselves through approaching tragedy?

The movie succeeds brilliantly, by the way, at asking the questions. If fails terribly at answering them. God is almost completely absent from the film. The depressed sister grows stronger, but she grows stronger in a kind of fatalistic nihilism. She tells her sister that the earth is evil, that it will be best for it to be destroyed anyway and that nobody is going to miss it. So her strength comes from her fatalistic negativity. Her sister on the other hand just dissolves into hysterics, unable to cope at all.

In many ways, I think, the movie is a parable about life. After all, death is approaching. We will die. And how do we handle that fact? How do we handle the certainty of our own coming demise?

It is a question we all think about, at times. It was certainly a question the disciples thought about. After all, their lives had taken a rather unexpected turn. They had met and taken up with this Jesus. He had told them a lot about life, had He not? He had showed them how to live it and what pits to avoid along the way. He had, in essence, redefined their lives.

But the thought remained: what happens afterward? As Jesus continues to prepare their minds and hearts to grasp the reality of the coming crucifixion, He turns to comforting them and preparing them to think about what comes afterward.

Jesus begins by naming that creeping sense of worry that was slowly coming over the disciples. This worry was inevitable, given their situation. They could not have grasped, at that point, the realities of the cross and resurrection. Jesus knew that their hearts were troubled. He knew their hearts would be troubled still more at His crucifixion.

Let us also admit that He knows the trouble of our hearts too. We too, even on this side of the resurrection of Jesus, struggle at times with the approach of death, with thoughts of the end. I believe, then, that Jesus spoke to the disciples and speaks to us even now when He said:

¹ “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”

He names the trouble: “Let not your hearts be troubled…”

Let us remember that Jesus is not speaking dispassionately or in ignorance. It is interesting to note that the three chapters preceding our chapter this morning all contain references to Jesus being troubled:

John 11:33 – When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.

John 12:27 – “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.

John 13:21 – After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”

Jesus knew what it was to be troubled, but there is comfort in seeing the Savior who was troubled telling His disciples not to be, is there not? Even here we begin to see in types and shadows the substitutionary work of Jesus. He is troubled, so we need not be. He stands on the anvil of the wrath of God so we need never stand there. He sweats drops of blood so we do not have to.

“Let not your hearts be troubled.”

But Jesus goes further: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”

In what way are we equipped against the worry that is inherent to the human condition? How do we not worry? How, in other words, do we have peace? This is how: “Believe in God. Believe also in Jesus.”

The “also” there should not be read as an argument against the deity of Christ. On the contrary, it is a gripping pronouncement of Christ’s deity. “Believe in God…believe also in me.” That “believe also in me” is a continuation of the command to “believe in God.” To put it mildly, that kind of talk went well beyond what prophets and teachers would normally say.

What is happening here? What is happening is nothing less than a divine offer of current peace in anticipation of eternal joy. Belief, faith, trust, the audacity to believe is the doorway through which God comforts us.

“Let not your hearts be troubled…” If you will allow the paraphrase, it is almost as if the Lord Jesus is saying, “Brothers, friends, you are about to see things that are going to test you mightily. Your faith will be tested. Your hearts will be tested. Your love for the Lord will be tested. I do not tell you that you will not see worrisome things. I simply tell you that you must not let worry drive out faith. You must not let the horrors of my crucifixion and the uncertainty of the days ahead cause you to lose faith. More than that, you must not let your own coming deaths cause you to despair. Let not your hearts be troubled.”

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” “Oh, friends, listen: when the night is blackest and all hope seems to be gone; when you think it is over and that the whole adventure we have been on together has ended; when you see the stone rolled over the tomb and hear the devils laughing…then, precisely then, I want you to still believe. Believe against your eyes. Believe against your doubting hearts. Believe that all that I have told you is true, that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Believe, my dear disciples, that not even death can defeat me.”

Church, “let not your hearts be troubled…believe!”

Some of you experienced mind-numbing loss this year. Some of you experienced tragedy and pain. Some of you have had your faith tested. Some of you are in a battle. Some of you are fighting against the demons, and you feel that they are winning. Some of you are fighting against the Lord, and you do not want Him to win.

Listen to me. Hear me: believe!

Believe that Jesus is who He said He is. Believe that Jesus has done what He said He was going to do. Believe that there is a balm in Gilead, that there is comfort in the Lord. Believe that the paradox of the gospel is more true than the flimsy truths you think you see. Believe that God has drawn near to you in Christ and that He has drawn you near to Himself through Christ.

Church: dare to believe that the darkness does not win, that sin does not have to triumph, that marriages can be healed, that relationships can be restored, that the Lord can draw you out of deep, dark pits and that Jesus is greater than the devil.

Believe! Believe that God has great things in store for this church, that this church might yet have an impact on the nations. Believe that this year might yet be the greatest year in our hundred-year history.

“Let not your heart be troubled…believe in God; believe also in Me.”

Jesus offers us current peace in anticipation of eternal joy.

This eternal joy is coming and has come, now, in Jesus! And the joy that is coming is not a vague and nondescript joy. It is a particular joy, a specific joy, a joy orchestrated and architected by the Lord Jesus Himself.

² In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ 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. ⁴ And you know the way to where I am going.”

“In my Father’s house are many rooms.” First, I recognize that many of your translations say, “In my Father’s house are many mansions,” but that simply is not the best translation of the Greek word used there. Andreas Kostenberger explains:

“The rendering ‘mansions’ (rather than ‘rooms’), which crept into English translations through William Tyndale (1526) via the Vulgate, mistakenly suggests luxurious accommodations in modern parlance (the Latin word mansion referred to a stopover place, which was still the meaning of ‘mansion’ in Tyndale’s day.” [1]

I realize that the “mansion” tradition has become customary for us, almost sacred really. For instance, when I pastored in Oklahoma we would routinely sing Ira Stamphill’s hymn that many of you know well:

I’m satisfied with just a cottage below
A little silver and a little gold
But in that city where the ransomed will shine
I want a gold one that’s silver linedI’ve got a mansion just over the hilltop
In that bright land where we’ll never grow old
And some day yonder we will never more wander
But walk on streets that are purest gold

Though often tempted, tormented, and tested
And like the prophet my pillow’s a stone
And though I find here no permanent dwelling
I know He’ll give me a mansion my own

I’ve got a mansion just over the hilltop
In that bright land where we’ll never grow old
And some day yonder we will never more wander
But walk on streets that are purest gold

Don’t think me poor or deserted or lonely
I’m not discouraged I’m heaven bound
I’m but a pilgrim in search of the city
I want a mansion, a harp and a crown

I’ve got a mansion just over the hilltop
In that bright land where we’ll never grow old
And some day yonder we will never more wander
But walk on streets that are purest gold

Again, I know the idea of Jesus going to construct a “mansion” is part of our religious tradition, but please do not reach the point where you cannot be corrected by the facts of correct translation. As a matter of fact, Jesus never said that He was going to prepare for us what we think of as mansions: large, independent, columned homes with high ceilings, grandeur and awe-inspiring architecture. No, what He said was that His Father’s house had many rooms and He was going to prepare a room for us.

Before you grow disappointed with this idea, let me suggest to you that the reality of the situation is this: a room in the Father’s house is far superior than a mansion on your own lot. Furthermore, Jesus’ choice of terms here is telling because of the two images it invokes.

To begin, the other place in the gospels where we find Jesus speaking of “my Father’s house” is in John 2:16. Do you remember this? Jesus had gone up to the Temple and there He found people selling all manner of animals in the Court of the Gentiles. The Temple had been perverted into a shopping mall! So in John 2:16, we find this:

And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”

Now, what is interesting about this? Well, what is interesting is that Jesus refers to the Temple as “my Father’s house.” And, now, He speaks of going to prepare a room for us in “my Father’s house.” Obviously, there are temple ramifications here. The Temple was the dwelling place of God. That does not mean that God was confined to the Temple. No Jew would have thought that. But it means that the Temple was where the people of God encountered the living God in acts of worship. It was a sacred dwelling, it was the Father’s house.

So consider this: to have a room added to the Father’s house means nothing less than that our eternal existence will be spent in proximity to and joyful worship of and grateful service to the living God! Jesus may have been playing on the idea of “booths” here: the small dwelling places that the Jews constructed around the Temple during the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles for the duration of that holy feast. If so, He was saying to His disciples and He is saying to us that the room He builds for us in His Father’s house is no mere temporary hovel, no manmade squatter’s residence. No, through Jesus we take eternal refuge in the temple of the living God.

But there is something else happening here as well. Kostenberger also points out that, during this time, “it was customary for sons to add to their father’s house once married, so that the entire estate grew into a large compound (called insula) centered around a communal courtyard.”[2]

Ah! This is a compelling idea! When a groom would marry a bride during this time, he would said, “Don’t worry about the future. My father has a grand house. I will be adding us a dwelling place onto my father’s house. Then you and I will live there and enjoy the peace and stability and comforts of his house.”

Marriage language! Was Jesus drawing on marriage language? It is almost certain that this idea would have occurred to the original hearers, especially later as the doctrine of the Church developed and as the Church would be called “the bride of Christ.”

² In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

A permanent addition to the Temple…for you and for me! A Groom’s addition to His Father’s compound…for you and for me! A home…for you and for me!

More than that, notice that Jesus twice says He will personally prepare this addition for us.

² In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ 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. ⁴ And you know the way to where I am going.”

The idea of Jesus going ahead of us to prepare a place for us reminds us of the Lord going ahead of the Israelites to prepare the Promised Land for them (Deuteronomy 1:29-33).  William Barclay has helpfully shown that this image had a cultural connotation in the first century as well.

“One of the great words which is used to describe Jesus is the word prodromos (Hebrews 6:20). The Authorised Version translates it forerunner…In the Roman army the prodromoi were the reconnaissance troops. They went ahead of the main body of the army to blaze the trail and to ensure that it was safe for the rest of the troops to follow. The harbor of Alexandria was very difficult to approach. When the great corn ships came into it a little pilot boat was sent out to guide them in. It went before them, and they followed it, as it led them along the channel into safe waters. That pilot boat was called the prodromos.”[3]

This is especially helpful as we consider that Jesus’ going ahead of us to prepare a place was intended to keep His disciples from worrying. The future was the great unknown for the disciples. Even for those of us who believe, we sometimes tremble before the prospect of death. We look out and consider the end. We know what we believe and we believe what we believe, but sometimes we still worry about that moment of death. Our faith is never all that it should be.

Let me offer you a beautiful thought then: the Jesus who loves you and who died for you, the Lord who gave Himself for you on the cross and rose triumphant over the grave for you at Easter, that Jesus who has counted the hairs of your head and who knows your name…that Jesus has gone in front of you, ahead of you, into the valley of the shadow of death, into death itself. He has gone ahead of you, before you, and He has both conquered and illuminated the death.

It is not darkness that lay ahead. It is Jesus.

It is not a question mark that lay ahead. It is Jesus.

It is not a mere hope that we cling to. It is Jesus.

And He goes to prepare us a place, meaning He goes to prepare our eternal joy!

Jesus the architect of our eternal joy!

But there is more. Jesus reveals next the most crucial reality of the eternal joy He offers us here and now and of the joy He goes ahead of us to prepare for us.

⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

This is astounding!

Thomas: “How can we know the way?”

Jesus: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Here is one of the most well-known sayings of Jesus: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” R.C. Sproul has pointed out that, structurally, this statement is given in “an elliptical form” and not as “a string of descriptive terms.” In other words, as Sproul puts it:

“He was not saying, ‘I am A) the way, B) the truth, and C) the life.’ Rather…Jesus was saying: ‘I am the way because I am the truth and because I am the life. I am the way to the Father because I am the true manifestation or revelation of the Father. I am the way to the Father because I alone have the power of eternal life.”[4]

This is a powerful way of considering a powerful truth: Jesus is the way necessarily because Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the truth necessarily because Jesus is the life.

Jesus does not stand in relation to our eternal joy in the same way that a builder stands in relation to a house he has built. On the contrary, Jesus is the means to our eternal joy. I love the Latin rendering of this: “Sum via, veritas, vita”…“I am the way, the truth and the life.”

As the way, the truth and the life, Jesus is the only way, truth and life. This is because only Jesus could become the means by laying down His life on the cross of Calvary. Jesus is the way…and the way of Jesus is the cross…and the way of Jesus is the empty tomb. The path to eternal joy, to a room prepared for us in the Father’s house, is the path of Easter.

And it is the only path. “No one comes to the Father except through me.” There is no other way to eternal joy and peace and salvation than the way of Christ. There is no other way than Jesus.

Mark me: you will never find peace outside of Christ and Christ alone. You will never find joy outside of Christ and Christ alone. You will never be saved outside of Christ and His cross. You will never have life outside of Christ and His resurrection from the dead.

The late D. Martin Lloyd Jones was a great preacher of yesteryear. He was also an accomplished physician. He had an acute understanding of depression and even wrote a classic Christian work entitled Spiritual Depression. He knew better than most how to speak to the reality of depression, of crippling melancholy and of a loss of peace.

He once said:

“You will never have true peace until your mind is satisfied. If you merely get some emotional or psychological experience it may keep you quiet and give you rest for a while, but sooner or later a problem will arise, a situation will confront you, a question will come to your mind, perhaps through reading a book or in a conversation, and you will not be able to answer, and so you will lose your peace. There is no true peace with God until the mind has seen and grasped and taken hold of this blessed doctrine [of peace through Christ alone], and so finds itself at rest.”[5]

I invite you this morning to come to Christ and rest!

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