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GOD'S HOUSE OF MANY MANSIONS
(John14: 2, 3)
IN the Authorized
Version the heading of John chapter fourteen begins thus: "Christ
comforteth his disciples with the hope of heaven." This is a
sufficient illustration of the way in which the passage is wrested. It should
say, "with the hope of his coming again"". A modern version (
The
FATHER'S HOUSE is for the Father to dwell in ''Thus saith
the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the
house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of
my rest? For all these things hath mine hand made, and all those things have
been, saith the Lord :but
to this man will I look, even to him that is pc and of a contrite spirit,
and trembleth at my word" (Isa.
(66:1, 2). Here is the idea of God dwelling in a good
man, and of a good man dwelling in God; in whom, in a sense, we all "live,
and move and have our being" (Acts 17 : 27,
28).Adam had no house, and Jesus had no house; yet this was true of both Adam and
Jesus, and of Jesus in a higher sense than of Adam. A literal temple without
righteous worship was a mere "den of thieves" (Jer.
7: 11; Matt.21 : 13), and not a true "house of
God" at all. And even so
When Jesus spoke of the Father's house he adopted the word of God by Isaiah: "He shall before a glorious throne his father's house" (Isa. 22: 22, 23). This was spoken Eliakim, but he typified the Lord Jesus, as did David; and is the throne and kingdom of David that is in question.
In Rev. 3: 7,Jesus, taking up the express terms of this prophecy describes himself to the church at Philadelphia as "he that hath the key of David", and adds, “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from my God: even my new name" (v. 12).Thus it will be seen that this "temple of God is to be composed of a multitude of faithful servants of Christ who shall be made immortal like him. He was "faithful as a Son over God's house", and greater than Moses, who was but "a servant" (Heb. 3: 1-6).
And, the apostle
adds, "God's house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing
of the hope firm unto the end."' So again Peter says: "Ye also,
as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house" (I Pet. 2: 5), upon the
foundation of Christ, the "chief corner-stone, elect, precious", though
rejected by the "builders" of
"MANSIONS”: The word mansion has
come to signify chiefly a large and stately residence; for instance, The
Mansion House, in
Contrast the
temporal estate of sinners: "The servant (of sin) abideth
not in the house for ever; but the Son abideth
ever" (John 8: 35). He "abidet
a priest' continually" (Heb. 7: 3). The apostles were
"pillars" (Gal.2: 9); but even they did not "abide," but
few went out"' in death. But Christ, being raised from the dead, goes, no
more out" (Rev. 3: 12); and he promises that the faithful shall be like
him, immortal in the kingdom of God upon earth, for "the kingdom shall not
be left to other people ...it shall stand for ever" (Dan. 2: 44). This was
Daniel's inspired reference to the
In view of
these things, and of the kindness of God in calling the disciples to his kingdom
and glory, Christ exhorts them, saying, "'Abide in me, and. I in you. .. . If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in
my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love 1.5 : 4, 10). In all these places the word for
"abide" "abideth" etc., is the
same as in John14, and the passages illustrate the meaning of the term
"mansions," more correctly rendered "abiding places" in the
Revised Version. The promise of Christ amounts to a promise of everlasting
immortal "abiding places “in the
"PREPARE
Not in heaven, God’s dwelling place; this is not unprepared, and there is no "place" for men there. Christ indeed ascended up to heaven, but he said to his disciples, “Whither I go ye cannot come" (John 13:33): and this a moment before the promise of abiding places in the Father's house. Christ "prepares a place” for his disciples, and them for their place by his high priestly mediation in "the house of God" (Heb. 3). Under God, he "builds the house"(vv 3,4), preparing the stones for their places, and there places for them. Right hand and left hand places of honour in his kingdom depend upon ability to suffer with him, God being Judge of the worthiness. Hence Jesus said to the mother of Zebedee's children: "To sit on my right hand, and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father," (Matt. 20: 23).
Peter was in danger of losing his place by denying his Lord; but Jesus said, " I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren" (Luke 22 : 32). To strengthen the brethren is to prepare a place for them and them for a place in the Father's house, for the apostle's were co-workers with God and Christ (I Cor. 3: 9-10; 1 Pet. 2: 1-11) The work is according to the beautiful typical analogy of the building of Solomon's temple for which David said, "I have prepared with all my might" (1 Chron.29: 2). Gold, silver, gems, marbles, precious woods, etc., were "prepared" "in abundance" beforehand; and at last, in Solomon's days, when the place was prepared, they were silently brought together in Jerusalem, "so that here was neither hammer, nor ax nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building (I Kings 6: 7).
"I WILL
COME AGAIN, AND RECEIVE YOU UNTO MYSELF." This is the pith and marrow of
Christ's promise. He will, as a "greater than Solomon", come again to