A story is told of a little girl who was about to walk through a cemetery. She was asked by a stranger if she was afraid. “No,” she replied. “My home is on the other side.” Home. For most of us, home is a nice-sounding word. It’s the place where we feel at ease, comfortable, and secure.
A Christian’s eternal home will be in heaven. But what kind of home will that be? Is it a mansion? The King James Version of the Bible, first printed in 1611, reads, “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” (John 14:2).
I scanned the Internet and found the top ten mega-mansions in the United States. One was built for $50 million but sold for only $11.5 million in 2011. Three others were currently on the market. That’s what happens with earthly homes. The residents eventually move out, sometimes by death. The mansions ranged from 36,000 to 100,000 square feet. Most of us don’t need and couldn’t use that much personal space. Do we each need a personal bowling alley and an Olympic-size swimming pool?
In the English of the time the KJV was written, the original meaning of the word mansion meant simply “dwelling,” not a large, luxurious house. Unfortunately, the idea of mansions in heaven has become an enduring tradition in some Christian circles. It can be found in popular hymns and songs such as the Southern Gospel favorite, “I’ve Got a Mansion Just Over the Hilltop.”
As a result, many have pictured heaven as consisting of huge estates or even castles where we will live. But modern translations render John 14:2, “My Father’s house has many rooms,” “many dwelling places” (HCSB), or “many places to live in” (NJB). Don’t think of “rooms” as small apartments, hotel rooms, or dormitory rooms! The many rooms or living quarters in the Father’s house are suggestive of the spacious provisions for each person and the incredible number of people who will use them.
The original word for rooms was sometimes used outside the Bible for a place of rest after a long journey. The word implied a place where someone would stay or remain—a more permanent stopping place. Our earthly journey will end in a wonderful rest in God’s house in heaven, and there we will stay forever.
Jesus told the disciples that he was going to his Father’s house in heaven “to prepare a place for you.” Jesus described our home in the Father’s house as a “place.” A “place” is something physical, not an idea or a state of mind. And when Jesus said, “that where I am” (v. 3), he was referring to a place, a location, not a transcendent nothingness. Heaven will have physical characteristics, just as his resurrected body has physical characteristics.
In ancient Jewish culture, after a wedding it was customary for the groom to take his new bride to an extension that he had built onto his father’s house during their engagement. American culture might consider this unacceptable, but it was economically wise to them. The New Testament often uses the image of Jesus as our bridegroom and his people as his bride. The words in John 14:2, “many rooms,” say nothing about the size of the rooms—or, better, the living quarters. But what bridegroom, in building a home or living quarters for his bride, would not do all he could to make it both attractive and comfortable? Will Jesus, the bridegroom, do less than that?
The Father’s house is heaven, where God resides. Our home is wherever he lives. The final living quarters for us will be in the new Jerusalem (see question #22) on the new earth (see question #21). God will come to live with us there.
FOR FURTHER STUDY
John 12:26; 13:33–36; 14:1–6; 17:24; 2 Corinthians 5:1; Hebrews 11:9–16; 13:14; Revelation 3:12–13