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? John 14:2
A young Jewish man preparing for marriage in Biblical times had some work to do. After the engagement had been agreed upon, and with the father’s blessing, the future groom would return home in order to add another room on to the family dwelling.
Families, particularly in the Galilee region, lived with extended relatives in what is called an insula. There would be a place for cooking and gathering in a central open area surrounded by a wall with rooms built into the wall. As the family grew, new rooms were added on, increasing the size of the dwelling space. It was a multi-generational home with each son contributing a new space for his family. The son would work hard, this is for his new bride, but the father had to approve that it was complete before the marriage could take place.
There is an ancient parable about a young groom working away at his new room when some friends come to visit and begin some playful teasing about when he’d be done and the upcoming wedding. Since only his dad can give the ok, the eager groom responds passionately that he doesn’t know, nor do even the angels know. Only the father knows the day and the hour it will be complete. (Sound familiar?)
When Jesus tells his disciples that he is leaving to prepare a place for them, that is the imagery that he is drawing on. He loves us. He has entered into a new covenant with us and now goes to prepare a place so we can join Him. He is eager to return to collect His bride.
Some translations have talked about the many mansions in God’s house and our western culture has us all pictured on our own grassy hill in a McMansion. That would have been foreign to that society. The word actually just refers to a dwelling. Based on culture, if Jesus is giving us a literal picture of what eternity is like then we’re all living together in one attached house. It’s a picture of being brought into the family.
These last chapters of John convey some of the final words of Jesus to His disciples. He is leaving them, but only for a season. He is reassuring them of His return – as a groom eagerly returns for his bride.
We have that same reassurance. In giving a new covenant, Jesus used the most intimate language available. God loves us and is creating a place in the family for us to live forever. I don’t know what eternity will look like, if we even need rooms or houses. But I can prepare in joyous expectation of being with the One who loves me.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14:3
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