I will come again

 

Jesus answers Simon Peter    v1-4 (from chapter 13v36-38)

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.  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.  And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.”

The answer is short and sweet.  He is going to the Father’s house-the place.  He is going to prepare a place in that house for them-the purpose.  He will come again-the promise.   

He is going to heaven, the Father’s dwelling place.  He is returning to the Father.  He came alone but He will return to make a place for all believers in His Father’s house as their permanent dwelling place.  The Father’s house is variously described in scripture:

Luke 19v12 it is called a far country presided over by a nobleman.  This pictures its grandeur:  Hebrews 11v10-16 it is called a city, which pictures its diversity; 2^nd Peter 1v11 it is seen as a kingdom, which proclaims its orderly administration; Revelation 2v7 it is a garden paradise, which reveals its delights.

Revelation 21v10-27 describes the city in many ways, all of them fabulous, and supreme, the utopia of all existence.  We read of its glory; its beauty; its variety; its security; its eternity; its sanctity; its vibrancy; its exclusivity.  It is cubic dimensionally-prefigured in the tabernacle, as the place where God dwells, the inner sanctum-the Holy of Holies where we are going to dwell.  This will be our permanent residence!

Like the groom who leaves his betrothed lover to go to the Father’s house to prepare a home for his bride, so Christ prepares a place for us, His beloved people.  He speaks of many mansions-literally many rooms, or abodes; the thought is of dwelling places, residences, homesteads, places where love is the atmosphere which pervades all of life.   This glorious place has fabulous dwellings for all God’s people, and the greatest feature of all is that He is ever present.  If I go, I will come again-could be rendered, I go, I come again; the one follows the other as of absolute certainty.  Later N/T scriptures expand on this prospect in a comprehensive way.  He is coming to take us to His Father’s house.  This is the first direct reference to the secret “harpazo”-the removal of the Church from earth to be His everlasting bride, although it was hinted at to Martha in chapter 11v25-26.

To Peter, the answer is clear; failure and weakness characterise this life but don’t let it trouble you.  There is a place of eternal tranquillity, where neither of those things exist, it is the house of my Father, where all is calm.  Do not fret about the transient problems of this world.  I will come again, I will receive you unto myself.  Have faith in me, allow the perfect future to smooth the imperfect present.