You Need Antiproof

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You Need Antiproof

Fear drives proof. Have you ever noticed that when people are afraid, that’s when they need proof. But what they regard as proof tells you a great deal about them. When it comes to our current pandemic, when there’s fear, what do people cling to? They cling to numbers. They quote the numbers. They bring out charts and graphs. They compare the numbers from one state to another and from one country to another. They do this for a reason. They do this because the numbers make sense to them. These numbers give them comfort because to them they are proof. This morning we see Jesus’ disciples filled with fear. What sort of proof is it that they need to cling to so that they can know that everything is all right and ok? In John 14, we read: “¹ Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. ² My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”” (John 14:1–4 NIV11-GKE)

Here we are in the Easter season. But in these words we are not in the Easter season yet. It’s Holy Thursday in these words. Jesus is having a long conversation with his disciples, letting them know yet one more time that he will be put to death and will rise from the dead. But not only will he rise. He will also ascend and go to his Father in heaven. And he is going there to prepare a place for them.

Notice, he gives them a promise. And what happens next is that they follow up with a push-back. We read: “Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”” (John 14:5 NIV11-GKE)

Thomas speaks up in frustration, telling his Savior that they don’t know the way to where he is. How can they get there if they don’t know the way. Jesus then responds in such a beautiful, caring way: “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 NIV11-GKE)

So Jesus gives them a promise. Thomas responds with a push-back. Jesus then answers back with anti-proof. Now, when I use the word, “antiproof,” what I mean is that there is this sort of proof that is real proof, but it doesn’t seem like it right away. At first glance and first consideration it seems as if it is the opposite of proof. Thomas wants proof. So Jesus tells him, “I am your proof.” The only way to heaven is Jesus. Jesus is the way because only payment by him earns our way into heaven. Only faith in him gives us trust to receive heaven. Now, here’s the antiproof part of this. Jesus is asking Thomas to believe in him and trust him before he dies and rises. And earlier on, Jesus uses another example of this antiproof. The proof that Jesus gives that he is preparing a place for them is that he is leaving them. In a very weird, but counter-intuitive way Jesus gives them an amazing proof that what he is saying is true. If Jesus leaves, then he will come back. And he will come back with a purpose. He will come back and take them to be with him in heaven. There is where their home will be.

My dear friends, where do you go for proof? Where do you go for proof that everything will be ok? Where do you go for proof to know not just that you will have food, shelter, and clothing, but forgiveness, salvation, and a permanent room and home in heaven? Don’t look at numbers, instead look here, at Jesus’ words. Look here at this sort of anti-proof. For, at first glance, it doesn’t seem to make sense. But then, after you ponder it a while, it gives you strength and confidence that no numbers from any news outlet can give you. How amazing it is to know that Jesus has risen. And he has gone to his Father to prepare a place for us. Jesus gives his disciples antiproof. But in the words that follow, he gives them even more antiproof. We read: “⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”” (John 14:6–7 NIV11-GKE)

Thomas needed proof. But he was not the only one. Phillip needed proof too. Jesus says that he is the way to the Father. So, in verse 8, Peter responds: “Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”” (John 14:8 NIV11-GKE)

So notice that we find here the same pattern we found before. Jesus gives a promise, and then there’s pushback. Jesus lets them know that since is the way to the Father, they will see the Father. Phillip pushes back, saying “show us the Father.” In our final words then, Jesus responds once again with another antiproof: “⁹ Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. ¹² Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:9–12 NIV11-GKE)

Jesus tells Phillip that if they have seen Jesus, they have also have seen the Father. At first glance, this doesn’t make sense. Jesus is the one who spoke to them, day in and day out. The Father made only such exceedingly rare appearances, speaking from the heavens to them about Jesus. And they never saw him. They only heard him. Here is where we have this amazing truth to consider that when we have one person of the Trinity, we have them all. If we have Jesus, we also have the Father. What an amazing truth it is to know that since Jesus has risen from the dead our sins are forgiven. Since he has returned to his Father, he is now preparing a place for us. And that place with not only be with Jesus. It will also be with the Father.

And so, my dear friends in Christ, realize that in in these words you have antiproofs. You have proofs that are real proofs. But they only make sense to us after we are Christians. And they only make sense after we have thought them through and pondered them. And so, I invite you to look through God’s word for even more of these antiproofs. Lood for even more of these parts of God’s word that seem to not make sense and explain much of anything. But then, after you look into them a little further, you realize they explain so much. The bible says that we, as Christians, have two natures, that old self and the new one. This doesn’t seem to make any sense. But then, when we realize that in our lives, day by day, we have two opposing voices in our hearts waging war within us, then, only then does this antiproof become real proof. Rest your souls on this proof, that you know you have a place in heaven because Jesus died, and then rose, and then went away. But he went away for a purpose. He went away to prepare a place for you in heaven. Rest your souls on this antiproof, that you have the Father. How do you know this is true? This is true because you have the son. You need antiproof. You need proof that doesn’t make sense at first, but in the end is all that matters. And in Christ, that is what you have. Amen.