Let's rethink John 14:1-3

John 14:1-3(KJV): Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 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 unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

So, we have often been taught in Sunday School/Children's Church growing up, and even after we had grown, we have found our theology to have this portion of Scriptures as the basis for teaching about the kind of rewards we will receive in Heaven after this life's work is done. Mansions in heaven, streets made of gold, etc. All of these have been used to paint a desirable picture of Heaven. Now this is not to disparage the beauty of heaven as a location - we have testimonies of people who have been there, no less the accounts in Scriptures in the OT and NT - but there is a concern with the application of this portion of Scripture to our reward in heaven.

It would therefore be important - as we are unlearning doctrinal learnings we may have imbibed as a result of poor interpretation of Scriptures - to properly look at the context of this Scripture and interpret it as intended, because as Rev. Onayinka oft says, "every time a Scripture is wrongly interpreted, we lose an important information it is supposed to pass to us".

So, back to John 14. 

We have to first appreciate the context in which Jesus made it. The conversation started in John 13 (remember, the Bible was not written originally in chapters and verses) and it would run through from John 13 to John 17 when Jesus would pray what is generally regarded now as His 'High Priest' prayer.

What was the subject of the conversation? The Kingdom of God that He had been teaching them (and the crowds about for 3 and a half years) and was about to establish with His passions and thereafter, His resurrection.

He would start by washing feet and talking about leadership and community, the Holy Spirit, the relationship between God and citizens of His Kingdom, and the impact the Kingdom would have. But, one thing that should be seen, upon careful observation of Jesus' conversations in John 13-17, is that He is describing the operations of God's Kingdom on earth, amongst men.

If we miss that, we would not see the truth in John 14. Jesus is talking to His disciples about how the Kingdom would (and should) function on the earth. This is why later in chapter 14, He would talk about the Holy Spirit, which He would imply again in John 15, and elaborate on again in John 16. The operations of the Spirit that Jesus would describe to them is not what He (the Holy Spirit) would be doing at the resurrection of the saints (what we call the rapture/second coming); rather, it is what He is doing in/through the Church NOW.

If Jesus is describing the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, He clearly is not talking about rewards in Heaven in the opening of chapter 14. So what then? Let's take it verse by verse, starting from verse 2. In my Father's *house*, there are many *mansions*. To buttress the doctrinal position that this is describing rewards in heaven, most people have described the 'house' to mean Heaven, and then the 'mansions' to mean the reward. This is the only plausible option; because how else will a 'many mansions' be in a 'house'? Except that this position will not be correct. So, what is the house? Let's do the etymology:

Word: oikia

Pronounce: oy-kee'-ah

Strongs Number: G3614

Orig: from 3624; properly, residence (abstractly), but usually (concretely) an abode (literally or figuratively); by implication, a family (especially domestics):--home, house(-hold). G3624

House = oikia, which is an abode, a family, a home.

Word: monh

Pronounce: mon-ay'

Strongs Number: G3438

Orig: from 3306; a staying, i.e. residence (the act or the place):--abode, mansion. G3306

Use: TDNT-4:579,581 Noun Feminine

Heb Strong:

1) a staying, abiding, dwelling, abode

2) to make an (one's) abode

3) metaph. of the God the Holy Spirit indwelling believers.

Mansion: mone

A place a person goes to stay to operate out of. See that last part? "metaph. of the God the Holy Spirit indwelling believers".

Jesus was saying that on the earth - upon His resurrection - the Father would have a 'family', made up of people who have been indwelt by the Spirit, people who have become 'carriers' of God's Spirit, effectively making them operational outposts of God on the earth....GLORY!!!!!

How would this be possible? See verse 3

"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 unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

I go to prepare a place. 

The question would then be: where did He go, and what place did He go to prepare?

Recall the context in which He was speaking? The Last Supper. 

What came after the Last Supper? His crucifixion

That's where He went. To the cross. So that in His death and His resurrection, He would prepare a place for Him to operate out of, through the Holy Ghost. 

What place did He prepare? The born again man/woman!

He went to the cross to make you and me fit and proper operational bases for Him to return to.

"So that where I am, there you may be also"

This is why He starts John 15 with 'Abide in Me, and I in you".

The fundamental truth of the resurrection is His indwelling the believer, making the believer a functional member of the family.

This is what Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 6:15-17 KJV "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit".

And Peter reiterates this in 1 Peter. 2:5KJV "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."

We are members of God's family, carriers of His Presence through His Holy Spirit, a present-hour proof of the Resurrection of Jesus!

Chosen, elected, appointed! It is not something that will happen later when we get to Heaven....nope, it has already happened. 

Mark 16:20 KJV: And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen

 Shalom!

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