Here is one of the verses that governs Christian thinking. The only problem is it doesn't mean what we think it means.

Let us deal first with the venerable "mansions." Everyone from Cro-Magnon man forward understands that the word mansion, as used in John 14:2, has nothing to do with stately residences. It means room or abiding place. How long will we keep talking about mansions in Heaven when no verse of the Bible speaks of mansions in Heaven? Do we just enjoy being wrong? Or is it that we all hunger for a house bigger than what we have?

I suppose wealthy Christians talk about the mansion they are going to get in Heaven with seventeen bedrooms, ten and one-half baths, and a circular driveway a quarter mile long.

There may be mansions in Heaven for all I know. I will find out quicker than I otherwise would if people keep preaching about mansions in Heaven!

First of all, it doesn't rain and it isn't cold in Paradise. Second, if you have lived as a victorious Christian you will have a body like Jesus. In this case you would find a mansion confining to say the least.

So shine the mansions. What is the verse talking about?

It is talking about the Father's house. We are so taken up with the thought of a fancy home (what a drag!) that we can't get with the fact that the issue is the Father's house. All of this is for the Father, not especially for us!

The Father's house is not Heaven. The Father's house is Christ and those who are part of Christ. Jesus is telling us He is not to be the only room in the Father's house, He is going to the cross and then to Heaven to prepare a place for us in Himself and thus in God.

Jesus is the way to the Father, not the way to Heaven! Whether we know it or not what we want is God!

The Lord Jesus is the chief Cornerstone in the Father's house. Right? We are living stones in the same house. All that is taking place in us is so the Father can find rest. How can God rest in Heaven with the angels rebelling all over the place?

The fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John is speaking of the spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Tabernacles. God is creating a tabernacle for Himself, as the martyr Stephen told the Sanhedrin. The eternal temple of God is one of the main subjects of the Scriptures.

The 23rd verse of John Fourteen tells us we are the mansion of God.

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode [mansion] with him. (John 14:23)

The word "abode" in the preceding verse is identical to the word "mansion" in verse two. Bible scholars could have saved us endless confusion and speculation if they had been consistent in the translation of the Greek term.

Now tell me, in your hope for the future, would you rather live in a large house and have all that cleaning to do, or would you prefer to have the living God Almighty and Jesus Christ His Son live in you for the ages of countless ages?

Would you rather get a house from God or be the house of God?

If you choose the latter there still is some housecleaning to do. But the Holy Spirit will help you do it if you will cooperate with Him.

Mansions in Heaven? Give me a break!