MANSIONS IN HEAVEN?

Question: Do believers have physical mansions in heaven as per the scripture below?

Joh 14:2 KJV 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.

I will share my thoughts but be aware that I am open to the idea that my explanation is not the only plausible one.

The reason is, many times in scripture, we find more than one explanation or expression of a truth. For example, when God promised his people rest i.e. a promised land, Joshua took the people into one manifestation i.e. physical Canaan but Canaan was not the only or ultimate expression of the promise given to Abraham. Joshua took them into a physical expression of the promise and not the spiritual expression hence the statement:

Heb 4:8-9 NKJV For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. (9) There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.

DEFINITIONS

Heaven is not a physical place. It is more real than the physical. It is spirit[ual]. God himself is spirit—not physical. So when we speak of mansions, houses, let us understand we are speaking of spiritual realities. Now for the scripture under scrutiny and my explanation.

Joh 14:2 AMPC In My Father’s HOUSE there are many DWELLING PLACES (HOMES). If it were not so, I would have told you; for I am going away to prepare a PLACE for you.

Before I give my explanation, I’d like to define three things namely Father’s HOUSE, MANSION or DWELLING PLACES, and lastly PLACE being prepared.

HOUSE

The Greek word for house is oikia and it can be defined properly as residence or where one resides. It can also be defined as an abode and by implication a family or home, house (-hold). So the scripture could have been translated, “where my father resides are many mansions”.

MANSION/DWELLING PLACES

The Greek word for mansions is transliterated monē and is used only twice in scripture in this same chapter in verse 2 and 23. It is defined as a staying, that is, residence (the act or the place): – abode, mansion. It is used metaphorically of God the Holy Spirit in-[dwel]-ling believers. So the verse could have been translated, “Where my Father resides, there are many other places for others to reside—howbeit unprepared for your habitation so I go to prepare a place, spot for you”. Remember he was making this statement before the cross, before submitting his blood as a propitiation for us. At this time, no human qualified to reside where God resides.

PLACE

I go to prepare a place for you. What is the Greek word for place? It is topos. I presume it is from this we get topography. Topos means “any portion or space marked off, as it were from surrounding space”. It also means “an inhabited place, as a city, village, district” or “a place (passage) in a book”. It also means, “the condition or station held by one in any company or assembly”. Finally it means “opportunity, power, occasion for acting”.

So what was Jesus saying, he could have been saying, “Where my Father resides, there are many other places for others to reside—howbeit unprepared for your habitation so I go to mark out space for you, I go to create opportunity for you, I go to create a condition or station for you in my father’s company, Kingdom, residence.”

It is important to know that this entire treatise is about the Father’s house within which are many abodes.

Put differently, the mansions/dwelling places are a subset of the Father’s house.

EXPLANATION

Joh 14:2 AMPC In My Father’s HOUSE there are many DWELLING PLACES (HOMES). If it were not so, I would have told you; for I am going away to prepare a PLACE for you.

In my view, this scripture can be understood by linking it with another scripture in the same chapter but in verse 23. Put differently, the Greek word Apostle John used for mansion [dwelling place] is used in only one other place in scripture and that is in:

Joh 14:23 AMPC Jesus answered, If a person [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make OUR HOME (ABODE, SPECIAL DWELLING PLACE) with him.

This is the key to the puzzle. Verse two was talking about what would transpire with those who love him after he had paid the price to reconcile us back to God. When that happens, the Father will love those who love Christ & both Jesus and His Dad would come and tabernacle or reside in man. But that is not all. Man would also be given the opportunity to reside in the Father and the Son.

Joh 14:20 NKJV “At that day you will know that I AM IN MY FATHER, AND YOU IN ME, AND I IN YOU.

Joh 17:23-24 NKJV

(23) “I IN THEM, AND YOU IN ME; …

(24) “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me MAY BE WITH ME WHERE I AM, ….

But why reside inside man? What is inside man? God i.e. His residence or his Kingdom [dominion and domain] is now inside man.

Luk 17:21 AMPC …For behold, the kingdom of God is within you
[in your hearts] and among you.

Before this prayer of Jesus, God never made his abode in man and man never abode in God. The kingdom was always outside, not within man.

But Jesus changed all of that.

SO WHAT ARE THE DWELLING PLACES WITHIN WHERE GOD RESIDES?

They are marked out places, seating, opportunities, stations in God’s Kingdom [domain, dominion]. He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] IN Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One). We are seated in heavenly PLACES (Eph 2:6). Seating shows position and station.

These places had to be prepared because at the time the statement was made, we did not even qualify to live much less have a SEAT at God’s table where the Father resides. Now, He resides in us.