"In my Father's house are many rooms"
John 14:2 (ESV)
John 14:2 (ESV)
The setting of this verse immediately follows Jesus' prophetic pronouncement of Peter's upcoming denial. It also preceded that agonizing day when Jesus would be offer up, tortured, and crucified. He urges his disciples to be calm and untroubled by what is coming, and he does so by reminding them where they are ultimately going.
The King James Version, though a beautiful and exquisite translation, misleads us with its rendering of this verse. The KJV says, "In my Father's house are many mansions". The KJV, following the Tyndale translation (which was translated from Latin), based the word off the Latin Vulgate. The Latin word mansio meant "lodging places". In Latin, mansio did not refer to an opulent dwelling, but simple a place to sleep. In antiquated English the word appeared as the manse, which referred to the minister's house (this term is still used by some denominations).
However, in English the word soon began to carry connotations of wealth and prosperity. This concept became entrenched in hymns and spiritual songs (e.g. "I've got a mansion, just over the hill top"). By doing so, we've missed Jesus point entirely. We have shifted the focus of heaven to material prosperity, instead of focusing on our presence with God.
In other words, Jesus is promising us some far more beautiful, far more rich, far opulent than our own personal mansion.
In short, he is promising that we will be ushered into the presence of the Father himself.
If you're looking for a mansion, you can have it. I prefer a simple room in the house of the one I treasure above all, the Father.
However, in English the word soon began to carry connotations of wealth and prosperity. This concept became entrenched in hymns and spiritual songs (e.g. "I've got a mansion, just over the hill top"). By doing so, we've missed Jesus point entirely. We have shifted the focus of heaven to material prosperity, instead of focusing on our presence with God.
In other words, Jesus is promising us some far more beautiful, far more rich, far opulent than our own personal mansion.
In short, he is promising that we will be ushered into the presence of the Father himself.
If you're looking for a mansion, you can have it. I prefer a simple room in the house of the one I treasure above all, the Father.
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