<p>14:3- see on Lk. 17:34; 1 Cor. 13:12; 1 Thess. 4:15.</p><p><i>And if I go and prepare a place for you- </i>The Lord's death and glorification on the cross in God's eyes, being lifted up in glory from God's viewpoint, was in order to release the Spirit. This was symbolized by the water which came from the Lord's side, and His breathing His last breath / spirit toward the weak and fearful disciples. He had asked the disciples to &quot;prepare&quot; the Passover meal for them (s.w. Lk. 22:12). And now He demonstrates the mutuality between Him and His followers by saying that He was now going to prepare a place for <i>them</i>, an abiding place, on account of actually being the Paschal lamb.</p><p><i>I will come again- </i>The coming again refers therefore to His resurrection, and the spiritual intimacy with His followers which the gift of the Spirit would enable. There is of course some reference to the second coming, but the Lord is to go on now to explain that His physical coming and presence were to be experienced in spiritual essence by His presence amongst them through the Spirit. The way He was going was to the cross- not to Heaven. There our place was prepared. He &ldquo;came again&rdquo; in resurrection.</p><p>The fact we sin and fail inevitably militates against a robust faith that &ldquo;we will be there&rdquo;. The Lord predicted how Peter would deny him; but went straight on to assure the shocked and worried disciples: &ldquo;Let not your heart be troubled because some of you will fail me: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my father&rsquo;s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you&hellip; if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also&rdquo; (Jn. 13:36-14:3). These wonderful words of assurance were in the very context of predicting the disciples&rsquo; failure. It&rsquo;s as if the Lord is saying: &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t let the fact that you will fail me shake your faith that I will never fail <i>you</i>, and I will save you in the end, despite your weakness and collapses of faith&rsquo;.</p><p><i>And will receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also- </i>This speaks of the spiritual intimacy which would be achieved through the gift of the Spirit released by the Lord's death. His death was enabling or preparing the abiding place by the Spirit in every believers' heart. &quot;Where I am&quot; is a distinct present tense. His being so united with the Father, able to lift up His eyes to Heaven and pray with no senses of barrier, was to be shared with the believers on account of the gift of the Spirit released through His death. This idea of His relationship and unity with the Father being shared with us is the great theme of His prayer of chapter 17. Where He was in His relationship with the Father would be ours. He would 'receive us unto Himself'- a phrase so intimate that it implies the closest form of marital union. It is used of taking a woman unto oneself in marriage (Mt. 1:20,24). &quot;Unto myself&quot; is the very phrase He used in 12:32 of how the cross would draw all the men of the new creation &quot;unto me&quot;. This drawing unto and into Himself is all the work of the Spirit, an outflow of His work on the cross. The idea is not at all of going to be with Him in Heaven, but of being personally connected with Him; being received unto Himself is to be drawn unto Him on the cross. Again there is a connection with the prologue, where Israel generally did not &quot;receive&quot; Him, but those who did were given the Spirit of adoption, His grace / gift, His fullness (1:11,12,16 s.w.). The Jewish world refused to receive the gift of the Spirit (:17 s.w.). The same word is used of the receipt of the Spirit through His death (7:39; 20:22 &quot;receive the Holy Spirit&quot;; 1 Jn. 2:27 &quot;the anointing which you have received&quot;). There is a mutuality in all this; we receive Him, and He receives us (:20 s.w.). The receipt of the Spirit enables us to be received unto and into Himself, to be with Him where He was with the Father as He spoke those words. To deny the Spirit's operation is to miss out on the relationship with the Lord Jesus which is the essence of Christianity.</p>