²³ Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”

Straight answers Jesus gave to the disciples in the Upper Room, though clouded emotions and thick heads cannot always hear straight. Jesus answered Judas (not Iscariot, we must continually make that clear for this poor son of James) in the singular, though without doubt the other ten were listening over his shoulder (the other, nefarious Judas had already left, John 13:30). What Jesus had said previously at least two times, He reiterates again so there is no doubt about the ground rules for after He was gone, how to have an ongoing intimate relationship with God.

The evidence of genuine love for Christ shows in how a person responds to His teachings. Is that not one of the two key aspects of the so-called Great Commission, where Jesus, after the resurrection and just before His ascension to heaven, and before the coming of the Holy Spirit, charged His disciples to make disciples by 1) baptizing them and 2) teaching them to obey all that Christ commanded them (Matt 29:18-20). Evangelism (bringing people to faithful identification with Christ) and love (leading people to obey Christ). This constitutes a return to the proper relationship that was abandoned at the tree in the Garden of Eden. Obedience is the truest test of genuine love for God. Although love is not mentioned in the Great Commission, Jesus certainly made clear the relationship between love and obedience in the Upper Room.

There is no confusion here with salvation by works for that is not at all what Jesus taught. If we bring up the law, Jesus’ answer was that the Law is summed up, not in a merit-based effort, but in love for God and our neighbor (Matt 22:37-40). So, the Great Commission is to bring people to faith (the evidence of which is baptism) and love (the evidence of which is obedience). This is a far cry from earning salvation through obedience. Obedience is not the cause, but the result, the outward action. The reality is love (see 1 Cor 13:13).

And so Jesus reiterates what He said in vs. 21. When we love Him, we enter into a relationship with God that is like living together in the same house. He takes up the familial closeness only experienced by those who live, eat, work and sleep together. The Christian, together with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit (“We”) become a nuclear family unit. There are no closed doors; our lives have come under divine, triune occupation.

Lord, welcome to my life. I continually open every door to You for Your full possession. Teach me to live in the faith that You really do reside in Me.