One of the most beautiful of Christ’s promises is found in the gospel of John, “Let not your heart be troubled; you 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 to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-3)

This promise can stand on its own, but something very special is revealed when we get a bit of the context. In the previous chapter we read about a very interesting and touching conversation between our Lord and Peter. Peter is telling Jesus that he is willing to lay down his life for Him (John 13:37). Jesus responds by asking him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake?” and then assures Peter that he would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed the next morning (John 13:38). Peter’s impulsive loyalty was unquestionably sincere at the time he spoke but proved all together too fickle when put to the test.

We know that the NT Greek manuscripts do not have punctuation marks or chapter divisions. That would come much later. When we consider this fact, Christ’s promise, “Let not your heart be troubled…” (Jn. 14:1) is the most wonderful assurance of divine forgiveness, given to Peter before his fall, so that after his fall he would not “lose heart.”

Consider the Greek. “Let not your heart…” is second person singular. It is not “hearts”, but “heart”. This wonderful assurance of victory at the Second Coming, though applicable for every one of us, is a personal promise of victory to Peter –before the fact.

Only God does that. Only Divine Grace can go that far. And even though it is directly connected to the death and resurrection of Jesus, it is based on the Incarnation. God became one of us so He could walk in our shoes, feel with our hearts, understand our every situation and offer the certainty of forgiveness and redemption to us even while we were yet in darkness.

Like Peter our promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. But Christ’s promise is, “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.” This should give us hope and comfort, even while aware of our prone to failure, we will not despair, we will take heart because Christ has promised His forgiveness and victory, and ultimately His victory is ours.

Alvaro C Sauza is pastor of the Sandpoint Seventh-day Adventist Church.