From a Bible Reading on John 14:1-3 (Some comments by R. A. Huebner)
Index:
- I. “I go to prepare a place”
- II. “I will come again, and receive you unto myself!”
- III. “Where I am”
- IV. The Lord’s Coming, and a Waiting Posture
- V. 1 Thessalonians: Its Bearing on the Lord’s Coming
- VI. Made Fit for the Father’s House
- Appendix: The Lord’s Coming, the Antichrist, and Sanctification
I. “I go to prepare a place”
Why was His ascension necessary in order for the place to be prepared? How does this prepare heaven for us?
The Lord accomplished the work which the whole of the Old Testament pointed forward to, and He has glorified God, and God has raised Him from the dead by His own glory (Romans 6).
He enters glory above as a consequence of the work which He accomplished. A God-glorifying work!
No man had entered there before by divine power. The Lord, as man, says, “I ascend!” (John 20:17).
II. “I will come again, and receive you unto myself!”
By personal entry into heaven, he prepares that place for us. He will also personally return to receive us!
This has not to do with the death of the believer, but His personal coming back again!
The Father and the Lord Jesus desire our companionship there above!
III. “Where I am”
The phrase occurs 7 times in this gospel, and it is a characteristic statement.
It points to Him being there in the Father’s house.
IV. The Lord’s Coming, and a Waiting Posture
The New Testament puts us in a waiting posture. For example, in the parables, the harvest time was in the same year as the seed. If the Lord delivered talents to the servants, He came back in their lifetime. All of it is given to us or expressed in a way not to make us expect a long delay, but to expect His coming in our lifetime.
V. 1 Thessalonians: Its Bearing on the Lord’s Coming
Each chapter in this epistle takes up some aspect of the Lord’s coming.
Chapter 1: Saved for various reasons, but here “saved to wait!”
“…And how ye turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to await his Son from the heavens” (1 Thess. 1:9-10). They were in a waiting posture!
Paul writes to the Lord’s people to help meet their needs. Here the Thessalonian believers needed to hear what he wrote concerning the Lord’s coming. “But we do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are fallen asleep…” (1 Thess. 4:13-18). They were worried about those that had died among them that they had missed the coming of the Lord, so Paul reassures them.
Vvs. 15-17 show how the Lord’s coming takes into account those who have “fallen asleep” and those “who remain.”
VI. Made Fit for the Father’s House
The dead will receive a resurrection body, and as to the believer (who remains) the equivalent transformation will take place (1 Corinthians 15). We are going to have a body like His own (Philippians 3:21). He will make us fit for the Father’s house. He paid the price for us by His blood, and He has cleansed us and washed us by His blood. He has “made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light!” (Colossians 1:12).