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.
