John 14:2, “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.” This verse is quoted or referred to frequently by Christian ministers, who believe that Jesus was telling His followers that He was going to be going to heaven shortly and that He was going to be preparing a big and beautiful home, or mansion for them. It is taught that at the end of life one’s spirit would immediately go to heaven and would reside in one of these mansions.
Is this what Jesus was teaching here in John 14? Is that the context of this passage? Is the Father’s house heaven? What was Jesus teaching His disciples in this passage of Scripture?
Let us first look at the context of Jesus’ statement. After having washed the apostles feet Jesus sat down and began to speak to them. Then after Judas left Jesus began in greater detail to instruct them. In verses 33 and 36 of chapter 13 He told them that where He was going they could not come, that they could not follow Him. Then in chapter 14 Jesus begins instructing them about the Holy Spirit and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This instruction continues on through chapters 14, 15, 16 and 17.
So, how does verse 2 of chapter 14 fit into this teaching? I believe we need to answer a few simple and basic questions in order to understand. When Jesus speaks of “the Father’s house” is He speaking of heaven? That is the common assumption and teaching. The expression “father’s house” is used throughout the Old Testament in referring to the family, the household, a family of descendants. In the New Testament the expression is only used four times and two time it is used exactly as it was used in the Old Testament. But, we do find Jesus using this expression two times, both in the book of John. One time is here in John 14:2. The other is found in John 2:16 “And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.” He was here referring to the temple.
I believe it should be mentioned that although the temple was referred to by Jesus as “His Father’s house” and was called in the Old Testament the House of God and the House of the Lord, it was acknowledged that God did not reside in a building made with hands. 1 Kings 8:27, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?” Acts 7:47-49, Stephen’s message, “But Solomon built him a house. Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?” Acts 17:24, “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;”
Although the temple was called the House of the Lord or the House of God throughout the Old Testament that was a shortened statement of a house that was built for the name of the Lord God of Israel. (See 1 Kings 8:17,20) Notice what David said in reference to the temple, 1 Chron. 28:2, “Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people” As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building:”
Let us return to John 2. Immediately following His statement we read in verse 16, Jesus made an interesting statement to the Jews who were seeking a sign from Him. Verse 19, “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” They, of course, thought He was speaking of the temple that He had just cast the money changers out of, BUT notice what He was speaking of! Verse 21, “But He spake of the temple of His body.”
Maybe when we read John 14:2 in context we will begin to see what Jesus was speaking about when He said “In my Father’s house.” The physical building of the temple was not where the Father was dwelling. Where was He dwelling? Jesus proceeded to tell His apostles and us where the Father was dwelling. All of the verses, 3 on down are important, but let us draw our attention to verses 10 and 11, “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: He doeth the works.”
Let us go back to verse two. “In my Father’s house,” is NOT speaking of heaven. Jesus is telling His apostles and us that He was the Father’s house, where the Father was dwelling. He was the only one on earth at that time that the Father was dwelling in. That was to change and that is what Jesus is proceeding to tell them and us. Let us continue reading, “In my Father’s house are many mansions...” Okay, what is He saying? Not that “mansions” is a wrong translation but it is an old English word that meant something different in 1611 than it does now. And, it is a word that in the Greek is only used two times in the entire New Testament (we will look at the other instance momentarily) and is translated differently and clearer in the second occurrence.
Look at what Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words has to say, (Strong’s number G3438) mone “Primarily ‘a staying, abiding (akin to meno, ‘to abide’), denotes an ‘abode’” Thayers’s concordance defines mone “1.) A staying, abiding, dwelling, abode 2.) To make a (ones) abode 3.) Metaphorically of the God the Holy Spirit indwelling believers .
Let us read verse two with understanding, “In my Father’s house are many abiding places, many places of abode, many dwelling places.” Are we beginning to see what Jesus is saying? Earlier He had told them that He would build His church. Paul in his writings really clarifies the fact that we abide in Jesus’s body, the church. In His body, the church, there is plenty of room for all of us to dwell.
Notice the last part of verse two, “I go to prepare a place for you.” He isn’t speaking of building them and us fancy homes in heaven. He was preparing for us to dwell in Him, in His body, the church. Only after His death and resurrection could we enter into His body and dwell there. As we continue to read Jesus’ teaching in chapter 14 He speaks of sending the Holy Spirit to indwell us. Verse 20 clearly tells us that we are to be in Him, Jesus, “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.”
Let us look at verse 23 and perhaps we will see something that we may never have seen before. “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we (Jesus and the Father) will come unto him, and make our mansion with him.” Wait a minute! It says “our abode” with him. If you will check the concordance the word translated ‘abode’ here is the same word, and the second place it is used, that is rendered ‘mansions’ in verse two.
Jesus was NOT teaching that He was going to heaven to prepare some big, fancy houses for us, but was teaching that after His death and resurrection the Holy Spirit was to come into His apostles and all born again believers. And, through that Spirit He and the Father would make their abode, their home, with us. Paul speaks of the mystery, which is Christ in us. And, not only Christ, but He says here that the Father will dwell and make His abode with us as well. No longer would Jesus be the only one that the Father was dwelling in, the only one that was “the Father’s house’ BUT we now are the Father’s house, the house of God. Notice a couple of Scriptures. 1 Tim 3:15, “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” 1 Pet. 4:17, “For the time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”
When we let the Bible interpret itself, rather than accept what religion tells us, we can understand some powerful truths. The truth that we, the church, are now the house, the dwelling place of God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit is awsome!
Garry D. Pifer
June 17, 2018
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