THE FATHER'S HOUSE AND MANY MANSIONS

The Father's House and Many Mansions

John 14:2-6

This parabolic illustration our Lord employed while still in conversation with His own, in those final and intimate hours before He passed to His Cross. Immediately after the parabolic action of the washing of the disciples' feet Judas was excluded. He then referred to His going once more, and told them quite plainly, "Whither I go, ye cannot come." That statement of our Lord—led to discussion. Only four men spoke, and our Lord answered them; Peter, Thomas, Philip, and Jude. In the course of His replies occurs this symbolic illustration.

This is a very familiar passage. I have said these words are para­bolic, and they were intended to illustrate; "In My Father's house are many mansions." Following our custom in these studies we consider first the subject He was illustrating, which is of importance; then we look particularly at the figure He employed, in order that we may deduce the teaching from the utterance itself.

The background here is so necessary. We saw that when dealing with the washing of the disciples' feet. Again it is important here. We must bear in mind that strangely perplexing hour for the disciples. Evidence of it comes out in the things they said to Him when He told them He was going. They could not understand "Whither I go, ye cannot come." We are familiar with what happened. Peter said, Where art Thou going? Thomas said, We do not know where Thou art going, how can we know the way? Philip said, "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." Jude said, "What is come to pass that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?" Their perplexity is self-evident.

But observe that all these questions or words spoken by these four representative men, were concerned with spiritual matters and that concerning the Kingdom yet to be established. Peter knew that Jesus was going to death. He had been told that again and again for six months. Now they knew perfectly well His enemies were waiting for Him, and that He was going to death. When Peter said, Where are You going? "Whither goest Thou?" he was peering out into the unknown mysterious spaces. If the Kingdom is not here, then where is it? Jesus answered him, and in the course of that answer He employed the words we are looking at.

Go on to Thomas. If Peter was trying to visualize a destination, Thomas, not knowing the destination was perplexed about the way. How can we know the way, if we do not know where You are going? If it is not here, then how do we get to where it will be? Jesus replied to him.

Then Philip, that quiet, unobtrusive soul, who thought great and profound things, and did not talk much about them, blurted out the whole of the agony of humanity, "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." From all You have taught us about the Father, then just show Him to us?

Then Jude, facing the practical present, asked his question. He looked round about the world again, and faced the practical issue of it all. Let us recognize that their immediate earthly trouble was earthly. They were losing Him. After three and a half years in His close company, travelling here and there; watching Him, listening to Him; now He is going; they are going to be left. If this is a literal Kingdom, then where in the world is it? That was their trouble.

Yet it was quite evident from everything that He had been saying to them, He was going forward with majesty. There was no cringing. He told them He was going to suffer. He told them He was going to die. He told them He was going to resurrection. They never seem to have grasped the fact of the resurrection and the Second Coming taught in the OT passages and prophecies.

So we look at them, perplexed and fearful. The earth was so real, it was there; their feet were planted on it. They were living in it. They were breathing its surrounding atmosphere, and seeing its hills and its valleys, its lakes and its rivers. Rome had utter control of their world, no Kingdom although the King was present but He was about to leave. While He was there teaching them concerning the Kingdom many did not like what they heard and after all was said and done, the beyond was unknown and un­certain and their hopes were fading fast. I do not think any of them were Sadducees but Pharisees, prior to their capture by Jesus, and they believed in the Spirit, and the spirit world, and the life beyond. They were not satisfied with a merely moral and ethical code; but they were not clear about the beyond; what did lie beyond, "Whither goest Thou?" Where in this universe is our hope? How are men going to get there? We do not know the destination. We do not know the route. What is the way? said Thomas, and there seems to have been in the mind of Philip, perhaps in the sense of all of them, whatever the destination, whatever the route that led to this Kingdom, the ultimate was God. He said "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” Then Jude, a little more practical for the moment than the rest, asked how the Kingdom with Christ ruling they had seen should be manifested to the world.

It was in the midst of His reply to these words of Peter, He said, "Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now, but thou shalt follow afterwards." (John 13:36) Peter then replied, "Lord, why cannot I follow Thee even now? I will lay down my life for Thee." He never said a finer thing, and he meant it. Our Lord replied, "Wilt thou lay down thy life for Me? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied Me thrice. Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions." That is where He was going. "If it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto Myself."

So we come to the figure itself. He was illuminating that whole thinking of theirs. They were in the presence of ineffable sorrow at His departure. They would be here in the world wondering. They would not be able to talk to Him, and to watch His deeds. He will be gone, where is the Kingdom You taught us was near? It was in answer to that wonder that He used this illustration.

The men knew from that great Davidic Psalm that the Lord was their Shepherd and that I shall not want and also Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah forever. And says He was going back to the Father’s house, where He will reside again. What was the figure He employed? "In My Father's house are many mansions." "House," the simple word for a dwelling-place, a place of abode. Do not dismiss it by the use of the word simple. It is far more than simple. It was the word oikos, house. They all lived in houses. The dwelling-place is the simple meaning of it. He said in the house of My Father there are many mansions. "Mansions." The word has unfortunate connotations. Some people think the house is a villa residence. Some people have sung about the mansions over yonder. What is this word "mansions"? It is the word mone, which means sim­ply an abode. The verb meno is a common word in the New Testa­ment; but the word mone is not, only occurring here and in one other place, in verse 23; both times from the lips of Jesus. "In My Father's house are many mansions"; "We will come . . . and make Our abode with him." I am going back to His house but we will come back so that you may make your abode with Us. So we have a double idea here, and we see at once that the term "house" is inclusive. I prefer to use for that the word "dwelling-place," and for the word "mansions," "abiding-places." That may not help us very much. Yet I would read it in that way. "In My Father's dwelling place there are many abiding places." The dwelling place is greater than the abiding places. All the abiding places are in the dwelling-place. The great word there is "My Father's house," and the secondary, the subsidiary, is the "abiding place."

What was He talking about? What was He intending to teach when He used this figure of speech? Let us begin on the level of the evident and commonplace. Twice in the course of the ministry of our Lord He made use of that phrase, "My Father's house." The first is in the second chapter of this Gospel. When He was cleansing the Temple, He said "My Father's house." There He was referring to the temple. He said it here, "In My Father's house are many mansions."

Let us endeavor to ascertain the scriptural meaning of "Father's house." The word "house," with Father, or God, or Lord, attached, in some places denotes the tabernacle; in other places the temple; and still in others the Church, because God is specially present, and these in a special manner belong unto Him. So Jerusalem, owing to its Theocratic relationship, containing the throne of David, being the capital of the Messianic King, being the place where God will dwell again, etc., is called "the house of the Lord," Ps. 122, Zech. 8, etc., just as Nebuchadnezzar designated the city Babylon (Dan. 4:30) "the house of the Kingdom." It is His "habitation" or "dwelling-place," because specially covenanted to Him, Ps. 132:13, 14 "For the Lord hath, chosen Zion; he hath, desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever; here will I dwell for I have desired it," etc. Here it is that God will again through His Son—who is also the promised seed of David to occupy (according to oath) David's throne—manifest his rulership. In the prophetic delineations, this idea of "a house," "a dwelling place," etc., is inseparably connected with that of the Kingdom; that is, it is the house of the Kingdom in which the regal representations are exhibited, and to which all must look for the central place of dominion. It must not be separated from the Kingdom; it being the head of the King­dom and designed for its establishment and perpetuation. So closely are the two united, that the Kingdom itself — flowing out of this "house" — is called "the house" that was found and left desolate by Jesus (Matt. 23:38 etc.) "the tabernacle of David fallen" and in ruins, or the royal house of David (called "house" and "mine house" i.e. adopted as God's in 2 Sam. 7:1 seq. and 1 Chron. 17:11-27) in an abject condition. Or, to express ourselves more accur­ately, "the house" of David becoming God's "house" in virtue of His Son being incorporated to constitute the Theocratic King contemplated, it and the Kingdom are associated (comp. even Gen. 41:40) ideas, with which Jerusalem as the place of special royal manifestation and residence is annexed; the one virtually and necessarily recalling the other. This, therefore, explains why in the prophecies they are interchangeably used; the one suggesting and being contained in the other. The word "house" linked with God, naturally suggests a particular relationship; that He in some manner is identified with it; and this is fully sustained in the position that Jerusalem will occupy (as e.g. Zech. 8:3) in the restored Theocratic arrangement. 

      The first figure is that of the temple itself. He referred to the temple as "the house of God" on other occasions. He called it the house in God in Matthew 13:4. He spoke of it as His own house, assuming the place of God. At the terrible end He referred to the temple not as My Father's house, or My house, but "your house is left unto you desolate." That being Jerusalem as a whole and in 70 a.d. that happened to the city of the King. The King's residing place was where His Father resided and specifically according to OT truth was where the law was brought forth. Many descriptions to tell us that the Father resides in Jerusalem and He was going to prepare the NEW JERUSALEM and bring back with Him.

Let us be content to spend time with the simplicities of this. Go back and look at the temple. He was familiar with it, and often went into it. We have accounts of His having been in three parts of the temple. At the feast of tabernacles He was in the treasury. At the Feast of Dedication He was in Solomon's porch. In the case of the widow, He was over against the treasury, sitting there.

What was the temple like? It has often been described as it existed then. It was in process of building. It was not finished until ten years after the crucifixion of Jesus. There it was a wonderful building. A quotation from "Jerusalem" by George Adam Smith may help us to see it.

"Herod's temple consisted of a house divided like its predecessor into the Holy of Holies, and the Holy Place; a porch; an immediate forecourt with an altar of burnt offering; a Court of Israel; in front of this a Court of Women; and round the whole of the preceding a Court of the Gentiles." Again, "Chambers for officials, and a meeting-place for the Sanhedrim. Against the walls were built side-chambers, about 38 in all." The temple was a house. There were many abiding places in it. I believe that that temple, as a figure of speech and symbol was in the mind of our Lord when He said, "In My Father's house there are many abiding places."

Two of the disciples wanted positions of power in the Kingdom of God. The house of God (Jerusalem) is where the priests and the Kings do their work as well as reside. The promise was made that they would rule and reign with Him in this Kingdom. Even Luke as a Gentile, would be recognized as belonging to the elect nation, may inherit and become a king as well as a priest. His mansion would be located in Jerusalem along side many others. This promise is amplified by Peter (1 Peter 2:5, 9) and will be our privilege throughout eternity (Rev. 1:6). Israel was called by God to be a peculiarly holy nation, as a witness to all other nations that either had already departed from acknowledging the true God of creation, or were in the process. In the sense of mediating between other nations and God, all the Israelites were to serve as a royal priesthood, (Exod. 19:6) even though within their own nation the tribe of Levi would be designated as their priests. This wonderful offer was given to Israel even before they received the Ten Commandments. Even though they failed miserably, the promise is still there, probably to be accomplished in the millennial age (Isa. 61:6; Rev. 5:10).

Jesus saw the temple in its true sig­nificance, and understood its symbolism. Go back to the first words about the construction of that temple, in Exodus. "And let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them." He saw it as the house of God. Later, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews, referring to the tabernacle, which was the true pattern after all, said, "All things were made according to the pattern that was skewed thee in the mount." Again, all those things were "copies of the things in the heavens." Once more, "made with hands, like in pattern to the true."

So that temple was patterned after things in the heavens. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." When read next do not think merely of that wonderful stretch of sky some night when the moon is at the full, and the stars are out, a more wonderful sight than in the day; but all the ultimate beauty is seen in the havens. That temple that tabernacle, and all the account of it is there, is according to the copy of things in the heavens; and it was called the house of God. It had many parts, many sections, many places, all having their value, all having their place. I am not so much concerned with the temple as with the tabernacle of old. It was a copy. "In my Father's house are many mansions." In Jerusalem where the rulership shall reside and do their works shall be the mansion, revealing their royalty where they reside. There are many abiding places in the house, the city of God.

The King was going back to the Father’s house to prepare for His wedding.  And that only after a price was agreed upon to purchase the bride. That price was paid at Calvary. After the payment was made He would depart . He would make a little speech to his bride, saying, "I go to prepare a place for you," and he would return to his father's house. Back at his father's house, he would build her a bridal "house", containing many mansions, in which they would have their future honeymoon. Also called the New Jerusalem.

We should appreciate that this was a complex under­taking for the bridegroom. The bridal chamber had to be beautiful - one doesn't honeymoon just anywhere; and it had to be stocked with provisions since the bride and groom were going to remain inside for seven days.  This construc­tion project would take the better part of a year, ordinarily, and the father of the groom would be the judge of when it was finished. (We can see the logic there - obviously, if it were up to the young man, he would throw up some kind of modest structure and go get the girl!) But the father of the groom, who had been through this previously and was less excited, would be the final judge on when the chamber was ready and when the young man would go to claim his bride.

Meanwhile, the bridegroom would be building and decorating with all that he had.  His father would inspect the "house" from time to time to see if it were ready.  If we came along the road at this point and saw the young man working on his bridal "house", we might well ask, "When's the big day?" But the bridegroom would answer, "Only my father knows that." (Matt. 24:36) How smart is the Trinity. Smarter than men, smarter than angels, Jesus even knows what He doesn't know.

What a wonderful expression that is, "To prepare a place for you." He goes to the house of God, He is going there to get a place fully furnished for you. How does He do it? By being there. As though He said to them, You will come soon. The Comforter that My Father and I will send will cleanse you with My words being brought to your remembrance having a cleansing effect. And when the hour comes for your arrival I will come to you to wash your feet at the entrance of your new home. He that is bathed only needs a cleansing which you have practiced with each other in My absence. (John 13:15) Now they know (John 13:7).He was going to prepare a place for them, and He would come again and receive them.

Thomas said, we do not know where it is. How do we know the way? He said, "I am the way," as your Teacher and Lord leaving you the commandment He just told Me and giving you the example for your teaching to I return, "I am the truth" concerning it. All secrets have their final solution in Me. I am more, I am the life of the Father's house. I think Philip bad got nearer when he said, "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." Then mark the marvel of it, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." I have loved you with a perfect love until the end as well as My Father Who sent Me. And the Comforter that We will send will help you prepare for My return to perform the final washing (John 13:8, 10).