“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 14:2 – 3)
Jesus had been with the Disciples
For about three to three and a half years
The Disciples had given up everything
To follow Jesus and shared everything
With Him…
Where they went…
Where they stayed…
What they ate…
Everything, involved in normal
Day-to-day living.
In many ways they were a “family”
And here Jesus talks to them
About His Father’s house
And later, in verse 8, Philip asks
Jesus to show them the Father
This sense of “normal” did not help
The Disciples to perceive the TRUTH
That Jesus was sharing with them
Both He and they were facing the
Same situations. Yet He saw things
From a heavenly perspective
And they from an earthly one
We need to always try and put ourselves
In the Disciples position, so that we can
Better understand what they faced
And also why they didn’t seem to
Get the obvious – God WITH them
The picture of heaven that Jesus presents
To His Disciples is of a place that is bigger
Indeed huge, compared with where they
Are now – “many mansions”
“if it were not so, I would have told you.”
This sounds like Jesus trying to convince
Them that what He is saying is the truth
A bit like the way we do…
It really, really, really is the truth – honest!
Then having assured them of the validity
Of what He is saying, He says this:
“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.”
They have BEEN together
But He is going away – leaving them
No longer with them physically
But as we know He remains with them
In and through the Holy Spirit
But His purpose for leaving is to
Prepare a place for them – in heaven
And NOT just for those Disciples
But ALL Disciples – you and me too
I can say that because of what He says next
For He is still talking about relationship
“I will come again and receive you to Myself; “
Close, personal, intimate relationship with Him
“that where I am, there you may be also.”
Just as we have been for these past
Three to three and a half years
(Talking to the Disciples)
And this is our hope today too
Since as Christians we are in relationship
With Him, Jesus, Father and Holy Spirit
He will receive us to be with Him too
In many mansions