WE ARE THE MANSIONS

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. John 14:2

One of my greatest memories as a child growing up in small country church in Savannah, TN singing old hymns with deep conviction and passion. For a country girl, hearing good singing followed by a pot luck was about as good as it got.

In particular, we often sang a popular hymn called "I've got a mansion just over the hilltop".

You may remember the catchy chorus:

I've got a mansion just over the hilltop

In that bright land where we'll never grow old

And some day yonder we will never more wander

But walk on streets that are purest gold

This song was so popular that even Elvis did a cover of it!

Considering we sang this song at church almost every other week, it ended up dramatically shaping the way I viewed the afterlife in Heaven.

When I thought of Heaven, I often contemplated the details of my own personal mansion.

I've recently been doing a deep study in John chapters 13-17, and I quickly noticed that the context of the conversation Jesus had with His disciples at the last super didn't seem to be focused on a literal mansion some day yonder in Heaven.

The context communicates Jesus was speaking about His ascension into Heaven(Acts 1:9-11), followed by Him sending the Holy Spirit so He could dwell in believers for all of eternity(Acts 2).

I decided to look up the Greek word for "Mansions" to see if this word is referring to a literal mansion. The Greek word  is monē.

1  a staying, abiding, dwelling, abode

2  to make an (one's) abode

3  metaph. of the God the Holy Spirit indwelling believers

The definition is not a literal mansion, but rather a metaphor for God the Holy Spirit indwelling believers and abiding with us.

This Greek word is only used twice in the New Testament, both times at the last supper. The other use is in John 14:23.

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 home(monē) with him. John 14:23

By looking at the Greek word, as well as how this word is used, I think it's clear Jesus is not depicting a time when He and the Father will be dwelling with us in a literal five story mansion for all of eternity.

Jesus was prophesying of Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit would be poured out and make His abode in believers forever.

Jesus even tells his disciples that He is not speaking literally to them, but figuratively.

"Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father." John 16:25

We often interject our literal mindset into the words of Jesus when often He was speaking metaphorically and non-literal.

I am sorry to disappoint you, but I am not certain if we have a literal mansion just over the hilltop in Heaven some day. As I told a friend of mine who was upset about this teaching. If you want a literal mansion, you can have one.

But I have great news for you that will dramatically impact your life. YOU are the mansion where the Holy Spirit dwells RIGHT NOW!

"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own." 1st Cor. 6:19

"And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:“I will dwell in them, and walk among them, I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” 2nd Cor. 6:14-18 "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,  having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,  in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." Ephesians 2:19-22

"you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 1st Peter 2:5


In the New Covenant, the temple is not made of stone, it's made of believers in Jesus Christ.

 As Christians we have the Holy Spirit permanently dwelling in us for all of eternity! We have unlimited access to God's presence 24/7, 365 days a year!

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever" John 14:16 That's why there is not a single verse in the New Testament that predicts the temple of stone will be rebuilt some day in the future. The only references to the temple of stone in the New Testament are to its destruction.

"Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.  And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Matt. 24:1-2

It's a historical fact that the temple was destroyed in AD 70 by the Roman armies which was documented by the historian Josephus.

"The original temple was a shadow of things to come. It was designed to be a temporary edifice looking forward to the completed work of Jesus Christ (Isa. 66:1–3; cf. 1:11–13; Mal. 1:10–11)."

"Jesus’ completed redemptive work makes the need for a rebuilt temple unnecessary. His ministry begins with the declaration that He is our tabernacle (John 1:14), "the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (1:29), "the temple" (John 2:19–21), and the "chief cornerstone" (Matt. 21:42; Acts 4:11; Eph. 2:20)."  

In partial summary:

1) Jesus never mentions a literal mansion in Heaven in eternity at the last supper.

2) In the New Covenant WE are the spiritual temple made up of believers in Jesus Christ. 

3) There are no verses in the New Testament that prophesy the rebuilding of the temple of stone because the Old Covenant temple was a temporary structure that looked forward to the completed work of Jesus Christ on the cross which was a final and permanent sacrifice for sin, making the Old Covenant temple with it's sacrifices outdated and obsolete. (Heb. 8:13, 10:12)

Let’s finish the rest of that discourse by Jesus:

John 14:3  If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, so that where I am you may also be.

Again John 14:3 says, “I go and make ready a place for you... that where I AM (present tense) you may be also...” Well, He was sitting right in their midst when He said that, yet He was in another realm also. John 17:11 says “And now I am no more IN the world, but these are in the world...” Once again, He was right there in their midst praying for the disciples, but in another realm also. Most Christians have no problem attributing these things to Jesus, however this same Jesus the Christ has some interesting things to say concerning US.

Let’s look at this entire discourse:

John 14:1-3 KJV

1) Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

2) 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.

“Jesus’ words, ‘I go to prepare a place for you,’ were not spoken at His Ascension. He wasn’t on His way to Heaven. The Lamb of God was on His way to Calvary!… The subject of John 14 is not Heaven. Heaven is real, but it is not mentioned once in that chapter.”

The Greek word for “mansions” is mone and means “dwellings” or “rooms” (Strong’s #3438). Also, the word “mansions” in John 14:2 is the same Greek word as “abode” in John 14:23 where Jesus says, “…If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” Question: Since we are the dwelling place of God (1 Cor. 3:17; 2 Cor. 6:16; 1 Tim. 3:15; Heb. 3:5-6; 1 Pet. 4:17), these “mansions” (dwellings, rooms) are in us, where the Godhead abides? Since the fullness of the Godhead lived in Jesus bodily (Col. 1:19; 2:9), why is it hard for us to believe that we, His Church, are His Mansion, His dwelling-place?

Did you catch that? Jesus said, “You know where I am going and you know the way there.” Then, Thomas replied, “Lord, we don’t know where you’re going or how you’re going to get there.” Why did Jesus say His disciples knew where He was going and the way He was going to get there when Thomas said they didn’t know? Was the Lord wrong? Of course not! So, why did He say it? Because, “Jesus believes you know things that you don’t think you know… When Jesus says you know something, then you know it! The problem is that we are prone to not capture things that we know. Have you ever listened to someone and they’re saying something and you can feel all over you that what they are saying is true but you can’t wrap your mind around it? You know it (inside your gut), but you need your mind renewed so you can capture it. You understand? Well, this should give you confidence that you know things that you don’t think you know.”

Jesus wasn’t talking about a place He was going but about a place He was at at that moment. “He was saying, ‘I am there right now, and I am going to prepare a place for you. Then, I’m going to come and received you unto Myself so that you too can dwell in heavenly places.’ He was not, in this instance, talking about His second coming in order to come and take us all to live in Heaven. He was talking about the new birth and the sending of the Holy Spirit that would enable us to live an exalted life, a heavenly life, while walking on the earth, experiencing and enjoying everything that He is. As he said “ I am that I am.” (Exo 3:14)  And God said unto Moses, `I AM THAT WHICH I AM;' He said also, `Thus do you say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you.'

“We were created to live in a heavenly realm. We were created to live like Jesus lived. We were created naturally. Ephesians 2:6 says that we have been raised up — He quickened us when we were dead in our sins and He made us alive — and has raised us up and seated us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Jesus was moving in the heavenly realm while on the planet. In all actuality we’re in Heaven right now. We have confidence that we’re already seated in the place that most of us have been spending our lives trying to get to.

Jesus/God said it I am and I am that I am.

The first confirmation was that God revealed to him a strange name. This new name, the I AM, is the name that Jesus took, "Before Abraham was, I Am," and then He tacked on to it, "I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life." "I Am" really is a statement of being to which you tack any name, anything you like to it. I am everything. This really is God saying, "I am the universal and you are now operating on the resources of the universal."

The universal I Am is present tense because there is only one tense. There is no past or future for those are only human conveniences just the same as there is no here, or there, or space, or time. There never has been with God, only the eternal now. I Am. I Am the sufficiency now. That's why God tells us not to take thought about tomorrow because there is no tomorrow. It's a phony, it's a joke, because when you get to tomorrow, it's today again. You never catch up. Don't fuss about a possibility, in actuality what happens tomorrow is a possibility. Don't fuss about possibilities, today is the actuality.

Jesus said, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," because this world is evil, it comes to us in evil form. You turn it to good. You can turn into good the evil which is in reach of you by saying, "Oh, praise the Lord, you are handling that." You turn something which you don't like into a place of praise and acceptance and doing something with the love of God because it is within your reach.

So live in today and be sure you don't see as evil what always is in this evil world coming to us as evil. Be sure you turn it around and see it as only an expression in which God is showing you some new phase of His goodness. Through the spirit of praise and peace, you may do the works of God. That's the I Am. So the I Am is the eternal now and the eternal total sufficiency because you can tack any name you like after I am, just as Jesus did. We are now the I Am’s. He is the Father I Am, we are sons I Am. This is the wonder of the liberation, I Am. And, of course, I have found the secret now. My I Am is His I Am, expressed by my I Am.

ROYAL PRIESTHOOD

You Are a Chosen Generation, a Royal Priesthood

There's a new breed of 'priest' arising in the earth today. "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people..." (1Peter 2:9) We are all called to be priests, not just a select few. This new breed of 'priest' understands CHANGE. This new breed of 'priest' understands that the LAW has changed and is fulfilled.

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" (1 Peter 2:9 KJV).

Psalm 24 also speaks of this same generation

"Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord Almighty–He is the King of glory" (NIV).

From these verses we can see that there is a spiritual generation that has nothing to do with our date of birth. It is the generation of God’s overcomers, who have been on the earth throughout human history. This generation transcends 20, 50, 500 or 3,000 years difference in natural age.

We also see from Psalm 24, that it is this spiritual generation that ushers in the "King of glory." He is being ushered in through a holy generation that has existed throughout all the ages of man. The year of our birth does not qualify or disqualify us from being a part of this generation. Rather it is the attitude of the heart. The famous verse from Joel that was quoted by Peter in Acts is specifically for both old and young people:

The Apostle Peter, who applied the above verse to his generation, is part of the same generation that you and I belong to. We are the generation that seeks His face.

What does it mean to seek His face?

After “two days,” after 2,000 years, He has promised to “revive” us. He is quickening us, restoring us to life and health. “In” (during) the Third Day He has determined to “raise us up.” He has roused us from sleep and empowered us to stand up again.

Now we “live in His sight,” literally, “in His face,” His presence. We are ascending. We are being raised up to “follow on,” to run after the Lord in the Most Holy Place. We met with Him as our Savior in the Outer Court (Acts 4:12). We experienced Him as Baptizer in the Holy Ghost in the Holy Place (Matt. 3:11; Acts 1:5; 2:1-4). Now we meet with Him yet a third time as Lord.(face to face)

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people..." (1 Pet. 2:9). A royal priesthood! A priesthood of kings, and a kingdom of priests! A company of overcomers, who have power with God and with men! As priests they have power with God, and as kings they have power with men. As priests they have "access by faith into this grace" of our holy standing; and as kings they have the power of God to rule and reign in all circumstances and over all opposing forces. As priests they can intercede with God on behalf of men; and as kings they can impart life and power and deliverance to the captive, and set the oppressed free. Such is the kingdom of Melchizedek. He reigns, but he also intercedes; and in fact he reigns by interceding. His very power and kingly authority is for the benefit and sake of others. Jesus said, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore..." (Matt. 28:19). And again, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8). He is King! and Priest! And He has designated His kingly authority and His priestly authority to such as are of Him and in Him. In this realm the flesh "profiteth nothing." 

Natural advantages, fleshly attainments, racial distinctions, educational standards, ecclesiastical success--these profit nothing. This priesthood knows nothing of father, mother, genealogy, beginning of days nor end of life. It is the sphere and realm of the Spirit of God, a priesthood and a Kingdom which the Sons of God shall enter into as they grow up into Christ.