There seems to be this idea that everyone who is a Christian will receive their very own mansion when they get to heaven. Oh how lovely. How wonderful. We each get our very own oversized dwelling that just smacks of materialism and overindulgence. Really? Does this really sound like something that the One Who said “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” would place any importance to?
Where does this funny idea come from anyway? That’s what I’m going to look at in this post; what the Bible really says about our final dwelling in the presence of God.
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.”
John 14:1-4, NLT
This quote illustrates one of the reasons why I like the New Living Translation. It’s not trying to be literal; it tries to encapsulate the meaning of the text. Here, when we read the NLT, we see that Jesus was talking about His Father’s house. Conversely, the King James Version (not a bad version, BTW) says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions”. This wording is unfortunate, because it doesn’t really capture the essence of what Jesus was saying (in my humble opinion). Going back to the NLT seems to be a better take on what He was saying.
In a larger sense, we should consider that a “mansion” in the first century was not what we think of as a “mansion” today. Besides, the original word He used in the Greek is transliterated as “monai”, which could just as easily be used for “rooms” or “dwelling places”.
Perhaps people have been taking this KJV translation (which was the predominant version for many generations) and comparing it to what Paul said to the Corinthians, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 5:1, KJV)
I can see where some folks may have gotten confused about this and then reached (or were taught) a wrong conclusion. Let’s look at the NLT version of the above quote: “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.” (2 Cor 5:1, NLT)
Well now, that’s a very different message for us, isn’t it? Paul is pretty clearly saying (in this version) that we will lose these mortal bodies of flesh and blood, which are perishable and have an expiration date, and will receive a new body that will never perish or grow old. This is the body I talk about in my post, Humanity 2.0, God’s Own Super Humans. And this thought is in perfect harmony with Paul’s other teachings on our afterlife bodies.
“Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.”
1 Corinthians 15:42-44, NLT
If you look again at John 14:2 (quoted above), you’ll notice that Jesus didn’t use the word for “heaven”. He said, “my Father’s house”. What do you think, does it make more sense to say in my Father’s house are many rooms, or many mansions?
Also, when we take a big-picture look at this, we should realize that by the time He receives all of us Jesus has already returned to earth and has set up His kingdom on this very planet. 1,000 years later, He will destroy this planet and make a new one, where He will put a brand new city on it that is absolutely HUGE. (See my post on the New Jerusalem.)
I’m not going to bore you with this any further, so I’ll just say that “I rest my case” on this for now.
Bottom line: WE are the “mansions” (as compared to our current “tent” of a body), and the mansions of John 14 should be called “rooms” or “dwelling places”. Let’s not make the Bible seem as if it’s promising some sort of gaudy, over-the-top, materialistic dwelling place that is a private residence for each of us. We will all be living together in a very social, family-like manner. Will it be big? Very. Will it be beautiful? Unimaginably so. It’s definitely something to look forward to. At least, I’m looking forward to it anyway.
Be at peace,
Gary
