John 14:1-4 - Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
John 14:1-4
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not 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 I am, there ye may be also.
And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
Did you ever realize or did you know that the Bible words in John 14:1-4 as used by Jesus are taken directly out of the oriental marriage ceremony?
Every preacher and teacher uses these words frequently and we hear them at almost every funeral service. They are wonderful words, Jesus used them, and they are still being used today inIndia. But let me give you the background.
In New Testament Bible days a wedding ceremony lasted ten days. On the tenth day the bride and groom are declared husband and wife. For the first 12 months of their wedded life the two young people just learn to understand and live with each other. (Not a bad idea.) They live two months with the groom’s parents, then two months with the bride’s parents. They commute back and forth between the in-laws every two months, concluding their first year of married life in the home of the bride’s parent’s.
At the conclusion of this first year of marriage there is a unique religious service, with all the people of the town present. The husband brings forth his wife, appearing before all the village people. He stands his wife in front of him, facing himself, with the best man on his right side and the virgins that attended the wedding on his left hand, and with loving authority the husband says to his wife before them all, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: If it were not 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 I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.”
Every son in New Testament times had to live in his father’s house until his father’s death. So the son after his first year of marriage leaves to prepare a “mansion,” new apartment, in his father’s house. After it is completed he returns for his bride and wife.
Jesus by using the very words of a bridegroom to his bride teaches us a lesson of great spiritual power. When you are married to me “Let not your heart be troubled;…” The bride trusts the groom while he is away preparing their “mansion” in his father’s house. She does not worry although she fails to receive a letter, or a bouquet of roses, or sweet smelling perfume every day. She believes her husband’s words, “Let not your heart be troubled…”
Jesus is coming back again for his own. He has declared it publicly before his people, therefore, let not your heart be troubled in any way for Jesus’ return is more certain than the return of a man for his wife.
Bishop K.C. Pillai, D.D.
Format: Verified Digitized
Pages: 2
As a convert to Christianity from Hinduism, Bishop K.C. Pillai came to the Western world on a singular mission: to teach the Eastern culture of the Bible. Although Christianity is generally considered a western religion, the Bible itself was written and set in the Orient, and it must be viewed through the light of that eastern window. The Bible is filled with passages that perplex the Western mind, and yet they were readily understood by the Easterner. When the reader becomes knowledgeable of the oriental idioms, customs, and traditions of the Biblical setting, these Scriptures become clear. God called Bishop K.C. Pillai to reveal these Biblical truths he called Orientalisms. At the time of the Bishop’s early life, his native India had remained an isolated country for thousands of years. Therefore, the customs and manners of the people were still aligned with the Eastern, Biblical culture. For over twenty years, Bishop Pillai taught these Orientalisms, bringing great enlightenment to the Christian world. His crusade of imparting this light of the Eastern Culture carried him to numerous universities and seminaries, as well as every major denomination throughout the United States, England and Canada. Still today, his teachings remain the foremost authority on the rare gems of Biblical customs and culture. Bishop K.C. Pillai’s conversion to Christianity is a witness of God’s heart, as well as a lesson in one of the most significant Eastern customs found in the Bible. The Bishop was raised as a Hindu. When a Hindu child of the ruling class is born, a little salt is rubbed on the baby who is then wrapped in swaddling cloth. This custom invoked one of the oldest and strongest covenants in the Eastern world, the “salt covenant.” In this particular instance, the child was salted for a lifetime of dedication to the Hindu religion. The “salt covenant” is used in like manner throughout the Bible to seal the deepest commitment. As a result of the salt covenant it is difficult for Hindus to convert to Christianity. When they do, their family actually conducts a funeral service to symbolize that the individual is dead to their family, the community and Hinduism. Their family will carry a portrait of the “deceased” to the cemetery and bury it. Many times Bishop spoke of his “burial day” when he was disinherited by becoming a Christian; the only Hindu willing to break that covenant of salt in his community during that time. K.C. Pillai answered God’s call and served as Bishop of North Madras in the Indian Orthodox Church. Sent on a special mission to the United States, he spent the last twenty years of his life acquainting Christians with the Orientalisms of the Bible. The interest Bishop Pillai generated in the field has led to numerous further studies by other scholars in the field of manners and customs in the Bible, as well. His books and teachings continue to illuminate and inspire students of the Bible throughout the world. A solid understanding of Orientalisms is essential to “rightly dividing” the Word of truth, and Bishop K.C. Pillai’s works remain an indispensable reference.
Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
John 14:1-4
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not 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 I am, there ye may be also.
And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
Did you ever realize or did you know that the Bible words in John 14:1-4 as used by Jesus are taken directly out of the oriental marriage ceremony?
Every preacher and teacher uses these words frequently and we hear them at almost every funeral service. They are wonderful words, Jesus used them, and they are still being used today in India. But let me give you the background.
In New Testament Bible days a wedding ceremony lasted ten days. On the tenth day the bride and groom are declared husband and wife. For the first 12 months of their wedded life the two young people just learn to understand and live with each other. (Not a bad idea.) They live two months with the groom’s parents, then two months with the bride’s parents. They commute back and forth between the in-laws every two months, concluding their first year of married life in the home of the bride’s parent’s.
At the conclusion of this first year of marriage there is a unique religious service, with all the people of the town present. The husband brings forth his wife, appearing before all the village people. He stands his wife in front of him, facing himself, with the best man on his right side and the virgins that attended the wedding on his left hand, and with loving authority the husband says to his wife before them all, “Let not your heart be
troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: If it were not 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 I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.”
Every son in New Testament times had to live in his father’s house until his father’s death. So the son after his first year of marriage leaves to prepare a “mansion,” new apartment, in his father’s house. After it is completed he returns for his bride and wife.
Jesus by using the very words of a bridegroom to his bride teaches us a lesson of great spiritual power. When you are married to me “Let not your heart be troubled;…” The bride trusts the groom while he is away preparing their “mansion” in his father’s house. She does not worry although she fails to receive a letter, or a bouquet of roses, or sweet smelling perfume every day. She believes her husband’s words, “Let not your heart be troubled…”
Jesus is coming back again for his own. He has declared it publicly before his people, therefore, let not your heart be troubled in any way for Jesus’ return is more certain than the return of a man for his wife.
Bishop K.C. Pillai, D.D.