If
I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also. Where I go, you know, and you know the way.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
John 14:3-5
John 13 [38.] Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for me? Most certainly I tell you, the rooster won’t crow until you have denied me three times.
John 14 [1.] “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also. Where I go, you know, and you know the way.”
John 14 [5.] Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
John 14 [6.] Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him.”
Meaning:
Jesus had begun to comfort his troubled disciples: “Don’t let your heart be troubled... In my Father’s house are many homes... I am going to prepare a place for you” (John 14:1-2). Peter had just been told that he could not follow Jesus now but would follow afterwards (John 13:36). In these verses Jesus completes the promise of the Father’s house, and Thomas asks the question that leads to one of Jesus’ greatest sayings.
- “If I go and prepare a place for you”
Jesus’ “going” meant his death, resurrection and ascension to the Father. His departure was not abandonment but preparation. Some readers compare it to the custom of a bridegroom preparing rooms in his father’s house before returning to bring his bride home. Whether or not Jesus had that picture in mind, his words carry the same warmth: he goes ahead to make ready a home for those he loves. The cross is the way he prepares it, for through his death he opened “a new and living way” into God’s presence (Hebrews 10:20).
- “I will come again, and will receive you to myself”
This is a clear promise of Jesus’ return. The angels told the disciples at the ascension, “This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky” (Acts 1:11). Paul describes believers being “caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Jesus does not merely send for his people; he comes himself to receive them.
- “That where I am, you may be there also”
The heart of heaven is not a place but a person. The best part of the Father’s house is that Jesus is there. Later that night he prayed, “Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory” (John 17:24). The disciples feared separation; Jesus promised permanent union.
- “Where I go, you know, and you know the way”
Jesus had told them many times that he was going to the Father, and he himself was the way. They knew more than they realised, because they knew him.
- “Lord, we don’t know where you are going”
Thomas spoke honestly. Earlier, when Jesus decided to return to Judea, Thomas had said, “Let’s go also, that we may die with him” (John 11:16). He was loyal and brave, but he wanted clear, concrete answers. After the resurrection he would insist on seeing Jesus’ wounds before believing, and then confess, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). Thomas’ question here opened the door for Jesus’ answer: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me” (John 14:6).
The Significance of John 14:3-5
- Hope beyond death
Jesus’ promise gives Christians a sure hope. Death is not the end, for Jesus has gone ahead to prepare a place and will come again for his people.
- Honest questions welcomed
Thomas was not rebuked for his question. Jesus welcomes honest confusion and answers it by pointing to himself.
- Knowing the way by knowing Jesus
We do not need a map of heaven. We need to know Jesus, who is the way to the Father.
Cross-References:
Acts 1:11: "This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky." The promise of Jesus' return.
1 Thessalonians 4:17: "So we will be with the Lord forever." Believers gathered to Christ.
John 17:24: "Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am," Jesus' prayer for his people.
John 14:6: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me." Jesus answers Thomas.
Conclusion: Jesus promised that his going away would prepare a place for his disciples, and that he would come again to receive them so that they could be with him forever. When Thomas confessed that he did not know the way, Jesus was ready to reveal that he himself is the way to the Father. These verses give every believer a firm hope in the face of separation and death.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible