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Episode 839: In this episode, we dive into John 14, where Jesus speaks about preparing a place for us in His Father’s house. We highlight the cultural context of this passage, explaining how the Jewish tradition of expanding family homes reflects the inclusivity of heaven. We discuss the significance of Jesus being the way, the truth, and the life, and how this message is an invitation for everyone to find their place in heaven.
Whether you’ve been following Jesus for years or you’re just starting to ask questions, there’s a seat for you here.
Join Jeff and Chris for honest conversations about Scripture, faith, and the everyday stuff we all navigate. With humor, personal stories, and plenty of back-and-forth, The Bible Guys explore what the Bible says and how it connects to your life.
Subscribe, bring your questions, and get to know the Bible one conversation at a time. Head over to TheBibleGuys.com for more information!
You're listening to the Bible guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Well, good morning, good morning, there you go, we talked. Oh yeah, good morning to you and you and you. Good job Chris. Hey, good morning everybody. Welcome to the Bible guys, Today's Thursday. I decided to save. The good morning, starting to worry that it wasn't gonna happen. I mean last week he jump right off on Monday. Yeah, was a close one. Yeah, so almost weeked right underneath the yes, just under the line there, good job man. Yeah. Well, hey, welcome to the Bible guys. This is a great episode today, Today's Thursday, and we're talking about God's well is gift of eternal life. It's it's actually a question for you. Yes, what interesting thing did you do in the last two days? What interesting thing did I do in the last two days? Yeah, the last five days? What? Well? I went to time Detroit? Oh yeah, do you like the Detroit thing? Yes, go to a show. We were and saw a concert. Yes, good with your wife, going a date, all that kind of stuff. What are you driving at? Nothing? I just was thinking that, you know, this is going to be one of those days where we let guests ask questions, and so I thought I'd ask you a question before we let the guest to it, because I never get to ask you questions like that for reals. Yeah, I had no agenda. I'm just curious about the wonderful life of zar Ball. Really huh, Well, I think that's sort of out of the blue and took me by surprise. Yeah, well, there you go. See, isn't that nice? Sure? I actually all right, you owe me one. Well, let me just say this. Let me just say this. I'm going to promote. I'm going to promote the David Whitney Hotel. It's a good hotel. The Whitney is amazing. In the eighteen hundreds, it was so lovely and wonderful, and we decided to make a weekend of it. They spent millions renovating that place. I'm sure millions and millions of I'm. Sure they did because we because we saw the fruits of it. And I'm telling you, it was extremely impressive. And somehow it felt ancient, and like the style of everything was ancient, but somehow it felt one hundred percent modern. I mean not eighty not eighty percent modern, one hundred percent modern. So other than the air duct system, like we realized how ancient that was. It made a lot of noise, it was small and all that stuff, but like everything felt old but it was brand new. Wow, and so it was just it was just incredible. Well cool. Yeah, So anyway, all that to say, it was a little expensive, but it was a Marriott hotel. Lit's get points. So that's why we did bonvoy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, well good, Yeah. I think it's just interesting. People love hearing about zar Ba. Oh come on, and you sang to us today. So then I thought, let's find out what it's been up to. That's really it. That was it. Well what about you, Jeff, how what have you been up to? Not much? So today is stumped the pastor and which is one of our favorite segments. I'm still confused, and it's always I just I think we do a lot of the same things at the beginning of every show. So I just thought I'll do something different. Man, all right, by that that makes sense to that thought makes sense. So you know, it's freaked out. He's like looking at me as I'm like, I'm like, what are you up too. I'm waiting like five minutes from how we're gonna go. Ah ha, but you even to find out I'm going through your wallet right picked. So, uh, the stump the pastor is we have guests that are listeners that will write in and say, hey, I've always wondered about this from the Bible, and since where the Bible? Guys, Usually the stumped the pastors are stuff about the Bible, are about faith or something like that. So Jony p she's one of our regular listeners. Yes, she makes lots of comments and things, and so she's she's like a platinum listener. Yes, probably, don't you think. Well, we've definitely level. We definitely received many questions from Jony. Yea and comments and so hi Jony, Hi Joni. And here's a question. She says, can you explain how it is possible? This is a heavy question. Can you explain how it is possible that I can be happy in heaven if my loved ones have not been saved and would not be there with me? Yeah, this is actually I love The heart behind the question. Yeah, the heart behind the question is it is incredibly sad. Yeah, So I actually don't I don't think that I can come up with a sadder thought, right. There isn't one no, there isn't one no. To be separated from a loved one for eternity is heartbreaking no matter what, it doesn't matter. That thought is just incredibly, incredibly sad. So it's the reality of like hell. So, you know, the some scholars over the past couple decades have tried to erase hell, the idea of hell. Yeah. Sure, And there was a very famous author and there was a wave that sort of swept through the chur which is even the theology through the churches that maybe God perhaps wouldn't condemn anybody, but just give everybody a second and third and a fourth chance, and maybe perhaps everybody makes it into heaven and that there is no hell. But at the same time, you know, if you were to, you know, take the Gospels literally and you know, take Jesus at his word, the Bible is pretty clear that there is a heaven, there is a hell, and it is a very sad thought that most people don't want to think about. But the idea is is, you know, when we get to heaven, how could we even be happy if our loved ones aren't with us? So I only have one answer, Jeff, and it's not based on It is based on scripture, but it is the only comforting thought that I can come up with, which is, I believe what the Scripture says when he says He'll wipe away every tear and there'll be no more sorrow. There's no more what is that revelation twenty one? There's no more. People ie every tear from their eyes. You have be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever, forever. So therefore, and by the way, this is the same answer that I answered in the Baptist Baba College mail room to Sean Sears, who's a pastor currently in Boston by the Way of Grace Church. He's a good friend of mine. But anyway, he asked me, he said, won't you get bored in heaven? He goes, the idea of eternity makes me want to throw up. That's what he said to me in the mail room. He said, he goes. If I think about eternity and I think about being there for billions and billions and billions of years, and then I think of that being like one day, and that being just the very beginning, and the idea of always existing forever. He said, it makes me want to throw up because I think to myself, that is the most boring existence that I could ever even imagine. He said, what would you say about that? Wow? And I actually said to me, I actually said to him, I said, well, I'm going to trust in Revelation twenty one that says it's impossible to be bored, right. So, like the idea of boring being a negative feeling to you know, boredom leads to depression, Boredom leads to you know, sadness, Boredom leads to all sorts of things that are negative. And the scripture says, and so I cling to the fact that it is literally impossible to be sad in heaven. Right. So therefore, you know, will the reality and the knowledge be available to me that our loved ones are not with us? I think so, based on everything we know about interpersonal relationships identity, right, you know, the apostles have identities, the martyrs have identities, Abraham and Lazarus have personal identities, you know, Elijah, Moses, you know, people beyond eternity. There's indications that we will retain knowledge of identity. So I believe that there will be identities. I think there would be knowledge. I think I'll recognize my wife in heaven. I think all the Boble says, the Bible says, you will be known and fully known, and you will know him because you'll see him as he is. Yes, Yeah, so you'll you'll know and be known. Yes, So I believe that I'll have the knowledge that that you know that this is my this was my wife, and maybe even still as my wife or you know, or or my children or whatever it is. Now, will my mentality be different? Will I be disassociated from the same feelings that I have from those identities? I don't. I don't know that. That's a great that's a great discussion. Right, Well, you will have you will have a perfect perspective. Right now, you have an imperfect perspective, that's imperfect feelings about your relationships, and in that context you will have you'll have a god like, a godly perspective. Yes, so it's probably safe to say even my feelings about my personal relationships with you, right so, like right now I have. Yeah, there's that guy. Yeah, so I think that I think I think it's safe to say that we'll feel different, we'll have knowledge that is different, but I think we'll have a personal identity knowledge in history. Yeah. So therefore, I'm going to cling to the fact that there will be people in my life that I know will not be with me in eternity. But yet I will cling to the fact that it is impossible to be sad about such things. Yeah, that's what That's what I believe. Yeah, I think it's likely that he will eliminate the memory. Really, yeah of that? Yeah, m. Do you have a scripture based on that or do you just. Thinking it's just based on that same scripture, same scripture. Okay, he's making everything new. The old have and the old earth has gone by this point, he's made everything new. So yeah, so Joni, here's here's the bigger thing. If the people that you love are still living, there is nothing more important than you learning God's words well enough to be able to explain the gospel and lead them to Jesus. And a lot of times we don't share the gospel, we don't use scripture because we're afraid they might be offended. But what do you have to lose if that's the final outcome? You don't have anything to lose. Right, Instead, James says, if any of us like wisdom, let us ask of God, who gives liberally to everyone who asks. Right. So we need wisdom and discernment on how we also need the tools we need to learn how to share the gospel. Whether you know Bernie Schmidt at Heritage Church teaches how to use the three circles right, the three circles of the Gospel and or the Romans Road or whatever. But learn some scriptures to be able to gently speak the truth in love? And was it Jude talks about some are saved by fear of hell, others are saved because of love. Right, So you're also looking for God's tactic on which is the thing that will get my loved one's attention to share the gospel them. If it's somebody who's already gone, well, then let that awareness build a passion in you to rescue as many others as you possibly can. That's part of my testimony. Talk about it. My father, my biological father, is an alcoholic, gave me up for adoption, abandon me all these things. When I became a pastor, later, I started a recovery program in our church specifically with the thought that I was never able to help my father, but I'm going to help other people's fathers, right right, And maybe it's the same that right now, maybe some alleviation of this pressure that you feel is use that as an impetus to say, I'm going to try to lead as many people to Jesus as possible, and God will bless you. And then and one last thing. I know this is long, but it's all Bible stuff, right, so it's definitely a worthy segment to go along. I would also say this too, So if you've been praying for a love who is still alive, who has rejected Christ and they and they have you know, been held bent no pun intended against becoming a Christian right or believing, and so maybe there's a discouragement that says, you know, my wayward relative or loved one or something will just never accept Christ, but they're still living. I would just say, don't ever stop praying, don't ever stop giving up hope, and especially if you have an opportunity, so you know, to share with them. I just want to say this real quick. I have a cousin who's listening right now. Donay, So usually say Hi, you Nay. Yeah, So Denay is my mother's brother who passed away from cancer. So her father and I and I. The very first time that Dnay ever came by was just this past year at my house. She was driving right down I seventy five and I said, hey, you're coming down I seventy five. I said, want you to pull over and and come join us on I was like, what is it Labor day or something more of it. So anyway, so she came by and we're just sitting having lunch or something in the back some room, and just very casually, I said, uh, yeah, I prayed with your father in the hospital, and you know, we went through the Sinner's Prayer and he said that, yeah, absolutely, I've prayed that before. He actually said I prayed that before, but you know, just to make sure, you know, he says, I'll pray it again. And I prayed the Soner's Prayer with them, and I didn't realize that she didn't know that, and so the entire time she was thinking her dad was not a Christian because his whole life he had never really talked about it and sort of rejected. And so she started crying and she said I didn't know, and I thought to myself, Wow, you know, don't ever give up. Don't ever give up praying for somebody, because even in the last moments of their lives, when they're faced with perhaps eternity or death. Uh, you know, you never know. You never know what aly spirit can do. Yeah, you do for someone else what you hope someone else will do for the people you love. Yeah right. And and so if you have access, share the gospel. If you don't have access, share the gospel with other people and pray that God will We'll bridge the gap right for you. And that's powerful. I love your heart on that, Jony, and God will comfort you in those those things. And I don't know how. So when you ask the question, how is it possible? I don't know how it is possible. But I do believe God's words are true, and God can do what I can't do. And God's ways are not my ways, and God's thoughts are not my thoughts. But Heaven will be heaven for you, yeah right. You know, speaking of heaven, Jesus spoke a lot of heaven and John. Fourteen, I love this passage is one of my favorite passages. John fourteen let's just read no great nodge. No. I like it though. That was a good, good transition. Yeah, I was just gonna embrace it. So we just have a few minutes. Let's just jump right into it, he says. Don't let your hearts be t trust in God, and trust also in me. There's more than enough room in my father's home. If this were not so, what I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you, and when everything's ready, I will come and get you so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I'm going. No, we don't know, Lord, Thomas said, we have no idea where you're going. How can we know the way? Jesus told him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you'd really known me, you would know who my father is. From now on. You do know him and have seen him. Do you want me to keep going? I think so? Okay, Philip said, Lord, show us the Father and we'll be satisfied. And Jesus replied, have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don't know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. So why are you asking me to show him to you. Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father's in me. The words I speak are not my own, but my Father's, who live lives in me, does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father's in me, or at least believe because of the work you've seen me. Do I tell you the truth. Anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I'm going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. Yeah, I love it. So at the very beginning verses two and three of the highlighted verses, there is more than enough room in my Father's home. If this were not so, I would have told you would I have told you that I'm going to prepare a place for your question mark. So you know it's interesting because when he says he's joined to prepare a place for you, I always think of the custom that the Jewish people lived under which was they would just expand the home. Yeah, right, and so so another version would say, in my father's house, there are many rooms, right, and there's a place for you. And what that really means. Is and audio adrenaline would say, it's a big house. Yeah, a big room, right, a big big table, lots and lots of. Our youth pastors in the nineties. Yes, so so yeah, So what they would do is there would be an expansion of a family. There would be a son, for instance, who would like get married off, you know, and they would they would celebrate it, you know, with a week for this wedding, and oftentimes at the end of that week, they would move into the brand new room that was added on to that father's house. And so it's like, hey, don't worry, we're going to expand our kingdom. The Amish do that today. Yes, they keep adding on to their homes and expanding and they'll build a new wing for the new couple. And yes, that's the same idea. Yeah, And so it's like and so that that's the way that they would have heard it. So in my father's house there are many rooms, and I'm going if it were not so, what I've told you that I'm going to prepare a place for you. And then, of course, you know one of the most famous verses ever, right, he says, I am the way the truth in the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. So he's talking about heaven. He's talking about, Uh, there's a place for you, and he says, you already know where I'm going at I love Thomas going no, we don't. What are you talking what are you talking about? Clueless all the time, He's like, you know what I'm talking about, and they're like, we have no idea what you're doing. It reminds me of The Chosen when when Jesus met with the woman at the well and uh and then she leaves and then they all walk up, and it's so funny the way they depicted this because because they're eating and and he goes, hey, you want some food, and Jesus goes, I have food that you don't know of from my father. And he says, what do you say, I have? I have food that yeah, that you know not of? That you know not of? And then and then all of a sudden they all look at each other and then in the Chosen One of the disciples goes who got him food? Like like like he's like he has no clue he has he's eating food. He's like, you have food, where's your food? Like, where'd you get food? Who brought him food? Right, He's like he has no clue what they're talking about? Right, that's what Thomas says. That would have been you because you're so literal. Maybe so I would have been like, you're not a rock, You're not a door? What are you talking about? Got a shepherd? What you are? You not bread? Are you saying that we have to go back into our mother's womb? Right? Womus? So you were nuts John chapter three? So yeah, it's it's funny when you when you read it that way, and I tried to read it that way when when I got to it right, No, we don't know, Lord, we have no idea what you're going. What are you saying? What are you? What are you doing? I love it because if you ever feel slightly confused when you're reading God's word or whatever, that guy's name is Saint Thomas, that that's what that's what the church calls him. Right now, you're Saint Chris, and I'm Saint Jeff and and that's saint desire. Anybody who's a follower of Jesus. The Bible calls us saints, but deeply religious people kind of elevate the word saint to be like super Christians, right right, And this this guy that we would elevate as being a super Christian following Jesus, goes, I don't understand anything you're saying, right right, And then Philip follows Saint Philip, Yes, follow day behind and go, Lord, just show us the Father will be satisfied. Like you keep saying words, but I don't understand what you're saying. Yeah, have you been with me this long, Philip, and you still don't get it? Right, That's what he says to Philip, and so yeah, he actually responds both to Thomas and Philip by saying, come on, guys, I'm plainly telling you where I am going, and I'm telling you that I'm going to heaven and there's a place prepared for you. Where are you going? Which way you're going? I am the way, Jesus says, I am the truth, I'm the life. No man gets to the Father. He's referring to heaven again, but through me and I love the promise of heaven, and I love the inclusion because once again, you know, we have to understand that Jesus is not being exclusive. He's being inclusive. And even though it seems narrow to think that you only can get to Heaven through Jesus, Jesus is saying, you know, everybody, everybody is qualified, everybody is invited. Every but he gets in the same way. It is God's will that none should perish rights. God's will is that everybody should be saved. As a matter of fact, the Bible says, today is the day of salvation. Right then, to receive the truth of God, to have a home in heaven is only a prayer away. It is a heartfelt act of faith away. No matter how far you feel, no matter how far you are, no matter what you have done. The invitation to go into the Father's House is for everyone, and all you have to do, the Bible says, is, believe in Jesus. Believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. He's the one who paid for your sin. He's the one that you trust in. He's the one that you put your faith in, not yourself, but in his act that he did on the Cross for you, believing in that, making him lord of your life. Turning from your sin home, there's a place prepared for you. So do you think that Thomas was taking this literally? Like where where is this? Yes? He's not hearing this in a spiritual statement. I actually think most of the time when the disciples act clueless, it's because Jesus talked in metaphors, and he talked in symbolism, and and by the way. And he's talking spiritual and they're thinking physical. Yes, yeah, yeah, yes, yes, Okay, Well, let's see, we've we've we've been to Galilee, and we've we've been to Magdala, and we've been to Besseeda and Bethesda. We got over to the Capitalists, we got all the way across the side of the lake over the Gathererines, because you remember, these guys didn't travel far. We went down to Jerusalem with Jesus a couple of times. I know where Bethany is, Where where's your father live? Right? Right? And and you know, if you're really the Messiah, doesn't your father live in the temple. I don't remember seeing mansions at the temple. What are you talking about? Right? I think that's what he's he's going through all the list of places he's been and he knows about He's like, dude, I have no idea what you're talking about. The hilarity of this is he says Jesus literally says, and you and you know. He's telling them, you know you know the way where I am going, And the very next sentence he goes, no, we don't know. Lord Thomas said, we have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way? We don't even know your destination. And you have to know the destination in order to know the path to. It, right, right, And this is a guy who's traveling all the time, so the travel part of it is important to him. Sure, right, are you? Are you a map guy? I think so a lot more than most people, but not nearly a map guy as you are. Yeah. I love maps, And if we're going to a new place, if I'm going to a new country, I always want to know what city am I going to. I want to know what's the name of the hotel, and then I look it up. I try to familiarize myself with the main roads. I want to understand what's in this outside outskirts of that area. I kind of wrap my head around with the flow of the area. Where are the rivers, where are the mountains? I just I want to know those things, and I'm might travel that. I'm twenty percent of who you are. Yeah, yeah, when I've been thinking that for a while. Yeah, I set myself up. That was as they set up. It's an enlightenment, isn't it when you come to that, when you finally come to. The under I literally can't believe. Thank you, I set myself up in the worst way. I'm twenty percent of who you are. That's about right, Chris, in every way. But I am. I am a kind of a map guy, to the point that even when Byde and I got married and we had no money, I don't want to let you get away with it. If I came across you know, one of those big map books, there was a one. I wanted it. Well, if you're going to a new state, I'd buy another. I remember you being in Africa when we went to Africa and we went together, and you were you and Kevin Valentine primarily were teaching UH in that Methodist compound, and I remember you saw a very primitive map on the wall that somebody wrote in pen that were that had like x's and barely had any writing at all whatsoever. It just had like sticks of mountains and rivers and everything else. And you walked up to it and you were like, hey, by the way, and you went buppupup, up up up, and you explained everything that map. And then then you even refer back to it, and I was like, how do you know that? And you said, there's a map on the wall. I was like, you're talking about that chicken scratch. I was like, what are you talking about. You're talking about that map, And I remember you refer to that map, and all of a sudden you knew everything from that chicken scratch, and I was like, wow, he's a map guy. I remember back then. So Thomas is a doubter. We know that. Yep. Right, he's a little bit more of a skeptic. I'm going to guess his personality type. Also wanted to know where are we going? How are we getting there? In that day, you better choose the right road because there were some really bad roads with really bad people going to rob you. Oh yeah, right. You had to make good plans also in those days. If you didn't plan, well, you weren't going to make it to the next ind to be able to sleep indoors tonight, you might skip a meal. You got to make it to the next well, right, right, So there's a. Lot of so travel is very serious. Yes, and so I think you've got Thomas's a touch of a warrior, and now he's being very practical with where are we going? I want to go? That sounds great. Oh, we have no idea what you're talking about. So we read this is so spiritual because Jesus is talking about eternity, he's talking about Heaven. I'm the way, and he's kind of concerned. And a lot of times we have a hard time seeing the spiritual because we're so obsessed with the physical. But I can tell you this, stick with it, don't give up, because do you know who went the farthest as the missionary for Jesus. Thomas Thomas in India. He went to southern India. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, through hostile lands in the gospel almost ironic, Yes, that's what I'm saying. So you know what God used Jesus finally did convince him of the spiritual when he had an encounter with the resurrected Lord, everything changed for Thomas. But then this need to know where we're going was built into him. And God will use those natural gifts and those natural strengths that you have that may cause you to doubt on the front end. He'll use those things to take you the furthest. And that's what happened with Thomas as he went the furthest with the gospel. God's not disappointed with you with that. That's a good application for Joni too. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's great, that's great. Hey, hey, that's definitely our time. So wow, what a great day, what a great topic, and a great passage. So hopefully we'll see you tomorrow on the Bible guys. Yeah, m hm hmmm