Page 21 - Signs of the End

THE SIGNS OF THE END 15

so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive
you unto myself; that where 1 am, there ye may be also” (John
14:1-3).

We should appreciate that the disciples were very nervous that night.
Their leader had indicated that He was soon to leave them (John
12:23). What were they to do? After all, they were not spiritual giants,
and without the remarkable Carpenter of Galilee walking before them,
they felt they had little power. We can tell by various responses among
the disciples that they were truly losing their grip.

Before that night w as over, Peter w as to deny that he even knew
the Lord three times over, in accordance with Jesu s’ own words. Judas,
of course, sold Him out altogether. Thom as was not to believe the
resurrection until he would place his fingers in the Lord’s wounds,
and Philip had the audacity to say, “Show us the Father, and it suf-
ficeth us,” (John 14:8). This last request shows the true panic among
the disciples. What the faithful Noah had not seen, what Abraham
had not seen, what the mighty kings David and Solomon had never
seen, the Lord w as to produce in that upper room. Philip felt that
Almighty G od should make an appearance to calm the fears of the
fishermen and tax collectors of rustic Galilee.

Thus it w as that the Lord m ade His important promise at a crucial
moment. He would be coming back, He said. And further, He would
not leave them leaderless:

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Com ­
forter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth;
whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither
knoweth him: but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to
you”(John 14:16-18).

After His resurrection the Lord continued to teach the disciples “the
things pertaining to the kingdom of God,” (Acts 1:3). The disciples
were still pressing Him to reveal the time of His return and the set­
ting up of the promised kingdom on the earth: