“In My Father’s house are many mansions…

I go to prepare a place for you.”

John 14:2

 

I came across this verse during my Bible study this morning, and in a fun kind of way, it caught me off guard.  It tied in, of course, to what we were studying; that’s why they had sent us there as part of our study, but it also took me off on a whole ‘nother train of thought.

Jesus spoke these words to His disciples after the completion of His last Passover feast with them.  He knew that the hour of His arrest was imminent, and His words to them were filled with love and comfort, warning and prophecy.

This verse evokes such joy and peace for me.  It gives me a vision of heaven, glorious and beautiful and majestic.  While a mansion can be defined as a dwelling place that is part of a larger complex of living space, I love the image that each one of us is entitled to our own palatial manor house; each one a part of a heavenly home, whose description in Revelation almost exceeds the boundaries of our finite imaginations.

Jesus told the Disciples ~ and us ~ that He is gone from earth to prepare a place for us.  But I wonder if we are prepared.  I began to think that this is what my time on earth is about:  preparing myself to be worthy of living for eternity with Him.  And what needs to be prepared is my heart, of course. 

Now look at the rest of the passage in Isaiah and Luke.  “Make straight, in the desert, a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; The crooked places shall be made smooth; The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”

I know how far I still have to go, and this passage is filled with symbolism for me…

~ in order to make a straight pathway for Him in the desert, I must occasionally travel through a desert. 

~ my valleys of unworthiness will be heightened, and my hills and mountains of conceit must be made low.

~ the crooked places in my life, when I stray to the right or the left, must be straightened.

~ the places that are rough with my struggles with Him must be made smooth with acceptance, trust and the resulting peace.

A process, to be sure.  A long process.  But the reward will be well worth it!

~ “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed,

And all flesh shall see it together;

       For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” ~

Isaiah 40:5

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