In John 14:2-3 we find this message, “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. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself: that where I am, there ye may be also.” It is interesting what some try to do to this passage. I have heard, but never have talked to a person who said that this passage refers to the church. Can that be? If so, how can that be? What is the reasoning behind such a conclusion? Can it be heaven and the future abode? What is the reasoning behind this conclusion? Let us search to see.
In the commentary on John that Gospel Advocate publishes and Guy Woods is the writer we find this interesting comment: “Strange indeed, in the light of the obvious import of this passage that the view occasionally emerges that the ‘Father’s house’ is the church, a view for which there is not the slightest support in the passage and is obviously erroneous for the following reasons: (1) The Father’s house then existed; Jesus speaks of it in the present tense; the church had not been established when these words were uttered. (2) Jesus left the earth to go to the Father’s house; one does not have to leave the earth to become a member of the church today since the church is here—not heaven—and thus available to all who obey the gospel. (3) The place the Lord went to prepare is where he went when he left the earth; he left the earth to go to his Father’s house; but he went to heaven; therefore, his Father’s house is in heaven. The church is on earth; the Father’s house is in heaven; therefore, the Father’s house is not the church.” This is good and sound reasoning.
In another commentary on John written by B.W. Johnson and is a part of the Gospel Light series we find these comments on verse 3, “The reference is not to Christ’s return from the grave, but to a return from heaven, the second coming of the Lord, which is a part of the Christian faith. There is a presence of the Lord with his people, there is a call of the a Lord to those who die in him to ‘depart and be with Christ,’ but there is also a personal coming of the Lord to summon all men to his presence and then, at the final judgment, every saint shall be ‘received to himself,’ when the Lord shall say, ‘Come ye blessed of my Father.’ Then shall they be ‘forever with the Lord’ (1 Thess. 4:17). Death is simply a going home to be with Christ (Phil. 1:23).
These comments from these men are members of the church. Really I have not found one member of the church who has done any writing that tries to get “my Father’s house” in John 14:3 to be the church.
In Adam Clarke’s commentary we find these words on verse 1 of John 14, “The disciples began to lose all hope of a secular kingdom, and were discouraged in consequence: Christ promises them a spiritual and heavenly inheritance, and thus lifts up their drooping hearts.” Sound to me like Mr. Clarke is also referring to heaven in his comments. Clarke is not a member of the church. I cannot find ANY of the commentaries that I have, whether member of the church or not, that have these verses referring to the church.
Another member of the church Robert Taylor has a commentary on John. Commenting on John 14:1-4 bro. Taylor has these comments, “There is NO support here in concluding that Jesus spoke of the church. Later, they would be in the church but here on earth. The place He described was in heaven. It is beyond this present sphere. Were these things not so about heaven and sufficient room for them unavailable, Jesus surely would have informed them. Under NO circumstance would He have instilled a vain hope in them. Jesus promised He would come again and come again He surely will!!
In 1973 the Teacher’s Annual Lesson Commentary on Bible School Lessons published by the Gospel Advocate (this is the same book that the adults study on Sunday morning in the auditorium) has this comment about John 14:1-3, “It is true, of course, that Jesus died, shed his blood, offered that blood in the most holy place (Heb. 9:11-15; 10:19), and thus provided for man a fountain (of his blood – Rev. 7:14) for the cleansing from his sins. (Study carefully Hebrews 10:1-4; 9:11-17; 10:19-22.) The thought is the passage at hand is that Jesus is going away to prepare places for his own faithful disciples in the house of the Father. He will return to receive his own unto himself (1 Thess. 4:13-17; Phil 3:20-21; Rev. 1:7).
After careful study on this passage I have to conclude that this passage John 14:1-3 refers to the heavenly home that awaits us and not to the church. As a matter of interest, I found no commentary that even hinted that John 14:1-3 refers to the church, all refer to this passage as heaven. I do not know where the idea came from that John 14:1-3 is the church. I could find only two men who said that this passage did not refer to the church and then they said it referred to heaven. Heaven it is then.
Love, Keith
