In my Father's house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you for I go to prepare you a place;
Jesus is about to leave, and His followers had hoped for thrones and crowns on earth. Instead He speaks of His Father's house, and of a place there for them.
The Father's House
The stress falls on whose house it is.
"In My Father's house are many mansions … I go to prepare a place for you." Notice this: it was in His Father's house — the place He had as Son, where He was at home. There He was going to prepare my place. That is unspeakable blessing! It was a comfort, a joy, to have Christ with them in the world, but that was passing. Think what the home of such a heart as His must be! There all His divine affections would flow out. He is the divine Son, and yet a Man. And this is the place where He is going to take us.
What "Mansions" Means
The verse here reads "many rooms." Older translations say "mansions," and that word has drifted.
In modern English, the word "mansions" suggests size and ornate display. But in the English of 1611 the word meant only what the original language conveys: "resting-places," "abodes" or "dwellings." The word appears only once more in the New Testament, in verse 23 of this same chapter, and there it is translated "abode." "Many" does not point to a variety of conditions. It points to plenty of room. There would be room not only for the Lord, but room for all of them too. That house will never be overcrowded, as the inn at Bethlehem was at His first coming.
Room Enough, and Permanent
The word "abodes" carries two things: a home no one ever leaves, and room enough.
Let us note that the word "mansions" is really "abodes" — a home which, once reached, will never again be left. There we shall stay. On earth we have "no lasting city." We are pilgrims and strangers here. Our lasting home is in the Father's house. What is more, in the Father's house there are "many" abodes. On earth there was no room for Christ, and little room for those who are Christ's. But in the Father's house there is room for all who are Christ's — the great and the small.
"If It Were Not So, I Would Have Told You"
This is the plainest sentence in the verse, and it is a pledge of honesty. He had asked them to leave everything and follow Him; He will not let them build on an illusion.
These men had trusted that He would redeem Israel... The Father's house had never entered their earth-bound minds, but this is what He talks to them about, not thrones and crowns... To remove all question from their minds He says, "if it were not so I would have told you." Suppose I had nothing better for you than the earth can give, nothing better than your highest expectations. Then I would have told you. I would not have asked you to follow Me and then deceived and disappointed you.
The same honesty, one writer argues, runs in the other direction too:
"In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you," He said; and it is equally true that if there had been no hell to dread and avoid, He would have told us. He has told us in definite terms about both heaven and hell, and everyone who takes His words seriously is wise.
How He Prepares the Place
The preparing is not work done on the disciples. It is work done on the place.
A Man entered heaven, as a result of redemption, and so the place was prepared for them. It was not a question of preparing them for the place (that is the subject of chapter 13), but of preparing the place for them. The presence of their Forerunner, where He was going, accomplished it... The entrance of Christ left nothing to be done for them to enter; only those who will share the inheritance with Him still have to be gathered.
That entrance created something that had never existed:
Before He went there, the place had no existence. It was a new thing for man to be in heaven. Angels might have been there as servants, but men were to be there as sons... And that place is now prepared. It is not being prepared. The entrance of Christ, as man before the Father's face, has prepared it. He is there for us; not for Himself.
The Person Makes the Place
The place matters because of who is there.
"I go to prepare a place for you" — He Himself is the home-link, so close and precious, between our hearts and the place... So Scripture never speaks of our going to heaven, but of our going to Christ. The person makes the place, even in natural things; how much more in divine things!
Summary
- House — the promise names a home: the Father's house, where Christ is at home as Son.
- Rooms — "mansions" means resting-places. "Many" means room enough for all, not ranks or grades.
- Reassurance — He will never leave His followers hoping for something that does not exist. He would have told them.
- Preparation — Christ prepared the place by entering heaven as Man after redemption. Chapter 13 shows Him preparing us; here He prepares the place.
- Person — a Person makes the place. So Scripture speaks of going to Christ, not of going to heaven.