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"Let not
your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's
house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to
prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be
also." (John 14:1-3 RSV) One often hears
this passage misused at funerals, to reassure grieving family and friends
that the deceased is not really dead but has gone on to a better life
somewhere "up there", where they are now supposed to be domiciled
in one of the glorious mansions in God's "heavenly house". (Where
they will be joined, sooner or later, by their friends.) However that
"comforting" use of the passage, plainly contradicts the real
comfort offered by the Scriptures. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul offers comfort to grieving
Christians, by reminding them of the Resurrection of the Body, as THE hope of
those who have fallen asleep. (i.e. dead and without conscious existence) Paul says that
they can indeed expect to be re-united, not in Heaven when their own death
occurs, but after the resurrection which will take place at the return of
Jesus from Heaven. These words of
Jesus must not be used to contradict other plain Bible Teaching that the real
Christian Hope of life beyond the grave, is not as intangible "immortal
souls now", but in immortal bodies in the "Age To Come" THE CONTEXT OF
THE PASSAGE These words
were spoken by Jesus during His Upper Room Discourse on the night before His
crucifixion. He had just
been speaking of His coming crucifixion in which God would be glorified by
His obedience on the cross. He pointed to His own sacrificial love as the
standard by which the world would be invited to measure true disciples. He
told Peter in particular, that he was going where Peter could not presently follow
but would eventually be able to do so. (John 13:31-37) Jesus was
speaking of His crucifixion which was to take place the very next day. Peter
was not ready for that yet. But the day was to come many years later when
Peter would be ready to lay down His own life in obedience to His risen Lord. THE MESSAGE It was at this
point, when Jesus was trying to prepare the disciples for His death that He
offered words of comfort for the grief that they would feel, in just a few hours’
time. Yes ..... He
was going away (His crucifixion the next day) but if he did, He would also
return (His resurrection on the third day). Notice that the
purpose of going and returning was to receive them to Himself, that "where I
am, you may be also." (John
14:3) He was going to the cross, and returning to life again,
to prepare the way for their own entry into the family of God. When it was all
done, they also would be able to become dwelling places for God, just as he
already was. LIVING IN GOD'S
HOUSE In God's house,
it is God who lives in the rooms! We are not the tenants. We are the rooms in
the temple of God, where God lives. Jesus was not
promising to prepare rooms in Heaven for disciples to
live in. He was promising that disciples can become rooms in which God lives on
earth. In God's house
there are many rooms in which God lives. In God's temple there are many
people who make up the living temple. This is the language which Jesus uses
later in this same chapter. "If a man loves me, he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him, and we will come and make our home with
him." (John 14:23
RSV) The same
thought is expressed by Paul. "For we are the temple of the living God;
as God said, "I will live in them and move among them, and I will be
their God, and they shall be my people."
(2 Corinthians 6:16
RSV) When we commit
ourselves to love Jesus and obey Jesus, He and His Father together, make
their dwelling place in the temple of our bodies, by giving us the Holy
Spirit.(John 14:15 & 1 Corinthians 3:16) CONCLUSION We are promised
the earth as our eternal abode ..... not heaven! "Blessed
are the meek for they shall inherit the earth."
(Matthew 5:5 RSV) We are promised
that when we die we shall be awakened from our sleep by the voice of the
archangel and the sound of the trumpet of God. (1 Thessalonians 4:16) Only after that
shall we be "always with the Lord".
(1 Thessalonians 4:17) If we
understand these things clearly then the true meaning of Jesus' words becomes
apparent. Jesus has
already "gone away" to fulfil His mission on the cross, and then
returned from the grave. By this He has
reconciled us to God. By this He has
prepared a place for us to become rooms in the Temple of God, in which God
can dwell for all eternity. By this He has
received us unto Himself. |