The Narrow Path Ministries

NASB wrote:John 14:1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

Steve takes the position (and I agree) that 14:1-2 would refer to the church as God's house to be indwelled by the Spirit.

John is pretty oblique about what time frame the various "comings" relate to. However, after listening to his LoC lecture, I believe Steve would say that verse 3 relates instead to the second coming. I'm not sure I agree with him there, and think one could make a pretty good case that even these following verses are about the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ. This is an area I'd like to pursue further.

It appears to me that Jesus doesn’t say “where I will be… you will be” – he says “where I am… you will be.”

Where he was at that point in time was “in the Father.” He was going to the cross to make it possible to abide with us in our spirit/heart/whatever so that we also could be “in Him.” He had just told them not to worry and wanted them to know as He went to the cross that He would be with them again shortly (though in a different and better way through his abiding presence).

I see the “coming again” referred to here as not the second coming, but His coming to us following his death in His spirit so that we can be “in Him.” This seems consistent with the rest of the passage dealing with His being the Way…etc…to the Father. There is definitely a sense in Scripture of the "now present and not yet" but I don't think this is necessarily a reference to the "not yet."

Any thoughts?

That's a pretty good argument!

It appears to me that Jesus doesn’t say “where I will be… you will be” – he says “where I am… you will be.”








This is a good point but Paul does say that God speaks of things that are not yet as though they are, like when he called Abraham a father of nations even though he was not yet a father of nations.
As i mentioned in another post IMO it's possible that Jesus is saying that when we die he will come (or his angels) and bring our souls to heaven to be in his Father's House. I understand Steve pointed out that heaven was never called his "Father's House" before but nether were our human spirits to my knowledge.

Makes sense to me.