John 14:1-4 - My Father's House

John 14:1-4

Intro

One of the most asked questions by everyone in their life is: what happens to me when I die? Is there life after death, or is this all that there is? And if there is life after death, what will it be like? Every world and life view, or what Charles Taylor calls, social imaginary, has sought to provide answers to those kinds of questions and so has the Christian faith. But as clear as scripture is that there will be life after death; that this life is not all that there is, Christians have not always come to the same conclusions regarding our future state, and especially since it seems like there is a time between our future state, which theologians call the intermediate state. About that state, scripture is perfectly oblique.

Eschatology, which is the study of last things, or better, the study of what life will be after death, is done not for speculation, but for ethics. We want to understand the goal of life so that we can chart the proper course. Because, if you do not know where you are going, how will you know how to get there? So Scripture tells us where we are going, so that we can live every day in light of that. The preacher in Ecclesiastes says, God "has put eternity into man's heart" (Eccl. 3:11). But another reason Scripture tells us of the future state of man is to provide us with hope. Hope that will enable us to endure suffering with patience while we wait.

That is what Jesus provides His disciples in our text this morning. After giving them the devastating news that he is about to leave them, and where he is going, they cannot follow (Jn. 13:33). He then comforts them by hinting at His purpose for going there, and giving them the promise that he will come again. As we unpack this text, we see it provides a predictable pattern, what we might call an apocalyptic pattern of preparation in heaven, for unveiling on earth, which will be repeated throughout the New Testament. But, however simple Jesus' statements may appear, they are easily misunderstood. Many Christians have read their assumptions into Jesus' statements in vv. 2-3. And so we will need to do a bit of biblical-theology tracing this idea out to understand the nature of the hope Jesus provides.

Since Jesus prepared a place for you in His Father's house, you must not lose hope, for He will come again to take you to Himself.

A call to hope:

Jesus understands that by telling them he was leaving and they can't follow him, it has caused them trouble. What for them has become the norm, following Jesus wherever he goes, will now suddenly disappear. Put yourself in their shoes. What would you be thinking? A million different questions would be swirling around in their heads. Why must he go? What are we to do when he is gone? Will he come back? So, before providing them with some answers, he takes them back to the basics--faith in God.

Jesus says, "I know what I told you caused you trouble, but don't let it, trust me." We have seen belief many times in John's gospel, as Jesus has taught the people about who he was and what he had come to do, all backed by signs (and wonders). And because the terms for faith, such as belief, are so familiar to us, they can often be emptied of any meaning. Faith is akin to trust. Jesus, knowing that His leaving will trouble His disciples, calls them to trust in Him. Trust is a confidence in who He is, and what he has said.

Here Jesus gives the remedy to heart trouble---faith. Even faith as small as a mustard seed gives you an interest in the saving benefits of Christ, yet, to weather the stormy trials of this life, your faith must grow. Jesus says, "believe in God, believe also in me." Since he began with an imperative, it is best to take these two calls for believing to be commands as well. For if you trust in God, then you must also trust in the Son whom he has sent to be the savior of the world. And if His Son tells you not to be troubled in His absence, then driven by your trust in God, you must trust that there must be a purpose to His absence, which in the end will be good for you.

In some ways, the disciples would have had a much harder time of making sense of faith. Not only are they having to come to terms with the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, despite the dominate cultural pressure to believe otherwise. But they also need to be ready to continue to follow Jesus when they can no longer see him. Up till now, Jesus' call to faith has been a call to follow Him as the Christ, the Son of God. But when he goes, they must continue to follow Him, but not by sight, but by faith alone. For us, faith in Christ has always ever been the absence of sight. For we have never had access to Christ as they did when he walked the earth.

As I mentioned, the disciples faced a lot of cultural pressure to reject Jesus as the Christ, largely because he did not fit within their paradigm of who the Christ would be, and what he came to do. This would be put to its most severe test, when in few short hours, Jesus is betrayed by Judas, and led to His execution. Then during those dark days when Jesus continued under the power of death, going as he would to that place that His disciples were told they would not be able to come. Then they would need most to recall this most foundational of comforts---trust in Jesus.

Placing your trust in Jesus is the same for you as it was for them, the sure and certain belief, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who has come to save His people from sin by dying in their place as an atoning sacrifice for their sins. Only after His resurrection would belief in Jesus fully make sense, for only then would it become clear that Jesus accomplished what he came for. Which was not only the redemption of sinners, but the restoration of all things, a new heavens and a new earth.

As Jesus calls His disciples to trust in Him, he furnishes them with hope by telling them His going has a purpose---to a prepare a place for you.

Jesus prepared a place for you

Notice v. 2. "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?" (14:2). Here Jesus' message of hope concerns His plan to prepare a place for His disciples connecting back to His comment to Peter in 13:36, "Where I am going you cannot follow me now, abut you will follow afterward." So it is not the case that the disciples will never come to where Jesus is, but that they would have to wait. A couple of questions come at this statement. First, what is this place? Second, how is he preparing it for them?

Jesus has already made it clear that he is going back to His father from where he came. And where is God, but in heaven? Certainly it is a place, but not in the ways we may often think of place. Meaning you can't point to heaven on a map. In the Hebrew and most ancient cosmologies, there are three heavens. The first heaven is the expanse of sky from earth to the moon. The second, is the expanse of the universe. The third being the place where God dwells. "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven---whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows." (2 Co 12:2). He goes on to say that he was caught up to paradise and saw things he can't begin to describe. We know it is a "real" location, because Jesus, who is fully man, has gone there to sit at God's right hand. "For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf." (Heb 9:24). Also, the angels are there. ""But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." (Mk 13:32).

So heaven is the place of God's abode. It's where he lives, it's His house. But even when we speak this way, we must qualify this. For God is a Spirit, and he is everywhere present. There is no part of His creation where He is not. "Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD." (Je 23:24). "for 'In him we live and move and have our being'" (Ac 17:28). But as Solomon prayed, as he dedicated the temple: ""But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!" (1 Ki 8:27). Therefore, heaven is the place where God makes his presence more fully known. Scripture uses language that we can understand describing a place where God is more fully known.

The encouragement Jesus gives His disciples is that His father's house has plenty of room for them too. The KJV mistranslated rooms as mansions, giving us the wrong impression. Not to say that where God dwells is not a paradise, with glory, joy, and complete communion with Him, it certainly is. But interestingly, the word Jesus uses translated many rooms describes temporary dwelling places where you rest for a while before moving on. This is important because heaven was never to be the final destination of believers.

Some might find this upsetting, but to understand this, we have to go back to the beginning, and then consider how the story ends, to make complete sense of Jesus' statement here in John 14. In the original paradise of Eden, there was a kind of heaven on earth. There in the garden Adam and Eve walked with God having perfect fellowship with Him. Sin ruined that, bringing death as separation from God. Heaven was now concealed from Adam and Eve with no way to access God except through a mediator. Fast forward to the very end of time and what do we see. Not us escaping to heaven, but heaven coming to earth.

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."" (Re 21:1--5).

At the end, God makes his dwelling place on earth---which can only mean that the manifestation of God's presence will be on earth as it is in heaven. Then it is explained to John that the Holy city that he saw come out of heaven was the church, the Holy city of Jerusalem, endued with the glory of God. She came from heaven to live with God on a new earth, which had been renewed. This connects to Jesus' use of the word rooms to speak of man's temporary dwelling in heaven, while they await the consummation when Christ returns. Theologians often call this the intermediate state. The confession describes it this way:>

"The bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and see corruption: but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them: the souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God, in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies. And the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day." (WCF. 32.1).

Not much is known about this intermediate state, except that it there we will be with Christ in glory albeit as disembodied souls. If you have been joining us in our Sunday school series through Revelation, we saw recently in ch. 6, that however joyful this state is, it is also a place of lamentation as the souls of the martyrs cry out to the Lord to be vindicated (Rev 6:10). Further, Paul seems to suggest that in that state there is a longing for resurrection life in the body.

Jesus assures His disciples that he is going to heaven, and there is room enough for them there in the presence of God. But before we move to consider his promise to return and bring them to Himself. We need to consider how Jesus is preparing this place.

It might seem strange to you that in one breath Jesus says that there is a place which he calls my Father's house that has many rooms, while in the next breathe he says he is going there to prepare a place for them. Which is it? Does the place exist, or does he need to go and prepare a place? How are we to take Jesus' statements? Is Jesus busy in heaven making more and more rooms for those who keep coming to join him there? How does he prepare this place?

No, Jesus is not a heavenly carpenter fashioning rooms for you to dwell in. Rather, Jesus prepares a place for you, by His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to heaven, but specifically His death. J. C. Ryle Sums this up succinctly. >

Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people: a place which we shall find Christ Himself has made ready for true Christians. He has prepared it by procuring a right for every sinner who believes to enter in. None can stop us, and say we have no business there.---He has prepared it by going before us as our Head and Representative, and taking possession of it for all the members of His mystical body. As our Forerunner He has marched in, leading captivity captive, and has planted His banner in the land of glory.---He has prepared it by carrying our names with Him as our High Priest into the holy of holies, and making angels ready to receive us. They that enter heaven will find they are neither unknown nor unexpected. ( J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on John, vol. 3 (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1880), 52.)

Jesus, the prefect man, enters heaven by his blood through His resurrection from the dead, and is the first man to do so. He makes a way to glory by dying for your sin, granting you access to God through the imputation of His righteousness. So as much as it was a struggle for the Disciples to understand why Jesus had to go, it would soon become abundantly clear that unless he did, they would continue in the hopeless condition, separated from God under the curse of sin. Jesus had to go so he could prepare the place for them, not in the sense of making it, but in securing it. Armed with that encouragement, coupled with their trust in Him, they could persevere until the promise of v. 3 should come to pass.

Jesus will come again to take you there

Jesus continues his encouragement with this promise: "And if 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." (Jn 14:3). As if to say, don't worry, even though I have to die to secure a place for you in my father's house, I will come again to take you to where I am. He has on multiple occasions told them he had come from God, and was going back to Him (cf. 13:3), but here he says, but I will come back.

No matter your view of the end times, every orthodox Christian confesses that in the end, Jesus will return bodily. As the creed teaches, "and he shall come again in glory to judge both the living and the dead" (Nicene Creed). "so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him." (Heb 9:28).

Along with encouragement that His leaving them was not in vain, they are now given great hope he will come again. It did not take long in the church's history for men to speculate about when this might be, and what it would be like when he came. The only evidence Jesus gave us during His earthly ministry was that he would return in the same way he left, i.e. with the clouds. Further, he only specified events that would take place before he came, and these are sufficiently vague as to render any speculation of if these conditions have been met irrelevant. The point Jesus routinely impresses on His disciples throughout, especially the synoptic gospel, is that His people should expect Him to return at any moment. So we are safe saying Jesus is coming back at anytime.

If your postmil. theology prohibits you from confessing this, as Doug Wilson does, then you have denied the clear teachings of Jesus in scripture. We should not shoehorn our view of eschatology to scripture, just so we can be optimistic about the outcome of history. That Jesus could come at any moment does not mean we have nothing to do until then. Nor are those who suggest otherwise automatically pessimistic about the outcome of history, plunging their heads in the sand while they wait despairingly for the end. Jesus may come again tomorrow, so get to work. Don't be that guy he comes and finds drunk on the job. There are battles to fight, families and nations to build, and peoples that desperately need to hear the gospel.

Notice that when Jesus returns, he promises to take you to Himself, so that where he is, you will be also. Here, we import the notion that when we die, we will spend eternity in heaven with Jesus. But that is not what he said. Rather, when he comes again, he promises His disciples would be gathered to Him. It is clear from Revelation this is not to dwell for eternity in heaven, but for heaven (i.e. God) to dwell on earth with us. The distinction is important so that we don't get an unbiblical view of eternity. Our stay in heaven is only ever temporary, and since in that state we are disembodied, it is much less than the full glory of a new heaven and a new earth where resurrected man with his glorified body will dwell with God together in a restored creation for all eternity.

The goal of the Christian life is not to gain an entrance into heaven, at least as most conceive of that. But rather to gain Christ, and through Him access to God---the true meaning of heaven. For as good as it will be to walk on streets of gold, and see the beauty of the city of God, with all the treasures the kings of the nations bring into it, all that is nothing without restored fellowship and close communion with God that Jesus secures by preparing a place for you in His Father's house.

Swift on the heals of His sad pronouncement that he would soon leave His disciples alone, he encourages them with the comfort of knowing His purpose for going and His promise to return again. To conclude, I want to consider some implications for us today. We too have troubled hearts in the absence of Christ, and we need to hear afresh the comfort of Christ's call to hope.

Application

First, Jesus calls you to faith, not fear. Jesus commands, don't let your heart be troubled and offers faith as the alternative. If everything is in the hands of God, and all is going according to plan, what are you troubled by? Faith alone can enable you to persevere in a world that can at times seem like it has run amok. Faith is the confident assurance that Jesus, the object of your faith, has gone to prepare a place for you with God, and has promised to return again. If he who promised is trustworthy, and the promise itself is worth waiting for, then what is the point of allowing things to trouble us? Now that is incredibly easy to say, very hard to live consistently. So it must form a standard warning system, like a check engine light on a car. When your heart grows troubled, that means your check engine light is on and faith may be sputtering out. At that moment, you need to renew faith by meditating on the promises of God. So you take yourself back to these encouraging words of Jesus, and many more like them, and you draw fresh strength so that you don't lose hope. As you do, you see the check-engine light go out, and you can begin to drive forward as usual. Jesus calls you to faith, not fear.

Second, God is not stingy with meting out grace. His house has many rooms. God will not run out of space. Too often, especially in protestantism, and fundamentalism in particular, we look suspect on "other" denominations who clearly don't have the truth like we do, and we conceive of heaven in rather small terms. Luther once said the greatest surprises in heaven will be those there whom you didn't think would make it, those who you thought for sure would be there but aren't, and most surprising of all, that you are there. You should strive with all the strength that God supplies to win heaven, but you should also be less concerned about whether or not so and so will be there, too. Your brother or sister will get there the same way you will, only through Jesus Christ and his work on their behalf. He has secured the redemption of all those who belong to them, some of them you might have passed over, but he didn't and won't. So remember with the same judgement you judge others you will be judged by, so remember to take the log out of your own eye before looking for splinters in your neighbors.

Remember, Jesus secured a place for you in His Father's house by dying in your place. The proper response is gratitude and obedience. In John's first epistle, he teaches that perfect love casts out fear. You have been loved in staggeringly sacrificial ways by Jesus. Leaving no place for fear and calling for deepening of faith. You undergo trials and adversity so that your faith is strengthened as you prove the promises of God.

Second, and closely related to this, JESUS WILL RETURN. It is your trust in this promise that provides the hope which will sustain you while you wait. Because of these things, "what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting and hastening the coming of the day of God"---the return of Christ? Are you living now in light of eternity? Or have you grown accustomed to the idea that tomorrow will be just like today? Eschatology, including Jesus' promise to come and take us to be with Him, is for ethics. It's for how you live your life every day. We need to live into the tension of Christ's imminent return, and the call to be about the business of Christ. Ready yourself for His coming by building and fighting. And not with the tactics that the war will only last a day, but as if we could be battering down the gates of hell for the next 60,000 years. Don't pit those against each other.

Christ has promised that although he would be absent from His people for a time, it was for the purpose of preparing them for something great. In the meantime, he arms them with the promise that he will come again. While we wait for His coming, we must not grow weary of doing good, or lose hope, but continue steadfastly until he returns, or calls us home. >

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again." (Php 1:21--26).

Lord's Supper Meditation

While we wait, Jesus has not left us all alone. We have each other, fellow members of Christ's body, and even greater, we have the Holy Spirit. As the rest of Jesus' farewell discourse unfolds in Ch. 14, Jesus will explain much concerning the sending of His Spirit, and all the benefits His disciples will have while he is gone. He even at one point said it's actually better for them that he go away so that they can have the Spirit (Jn. 16:7). Jesus says that with obvious double meaning, knowing that His going will be for the purpose of securing their salvation. Still, it's hard to understand how Him being absent from us could be a good thing. Knowing that this would continue to be a challenge, Jesus gave His disciples a visible word to remind them of His promise, that he has prepared a place for them with God by dying in their place. It was a reminder to them he is still present by His Spirit and would continue to sustain them while they continued to wait for His return. For all those who are troubled in heart, those weary waiting for His return, Jesus gives you His broken body and His shed blood in these common elements of bread and wine to encourage, comfort, and sustain you while He is away. This simple feast foreshadows that great feast, when in glory we sit down with Christ, and feast together in the kingdom of heaven, with room enough for all whose life Jesus saved by gaining an interest in His Father's house through His precious blood. So come and welcome to Jesus Christ.

Charge

Since Jesus prepared a place for you in His Father's house, you must not lose hope, for He will come again to take you to Himself.