In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.
JOHN 14:2-3 (CSB)

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Jesus said, “Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so now I tell you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’” (13:33).

Peter did not like being left in the dark, or behind, and asked, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later,” (13:36). 

Peter and the others were troubled when Jesus said he was going away and they could not accompany him at that time. Jesus speaks to those concerns with this promise. He was going to prepare a place for them. Then he made a promise which is truly as good as it gets.

“If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also,” (14:3). 

Jesus prepares a place for each of us in our Father’s house. There is room enough for each of us. Notice the shift from place to person. Jesus prepares a place for us but takes us to be with him. 

Jesus does not drop us off at a college dormitory bewildered by our new reality. 

Jesus does not leave us at a hospital cut off from family and friends by COVID protocols. 

Jesus does not send us to a retirement village complete with shuffleboard and early dinners.  

The New Living Translation puts it this way: 

The Message says, 

The Apostle Paul would later add his Spirit-inspired thoughts in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 which include the promise, “and so we will always be with the Lord.”

Heaven is living at home with our Father in the place prepared and the pathway opened by Jesus. 

Think on these things.

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I will take Jesus’ path all the way to the home he has prepared for me.

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Our Father, you provide everything we need now and forever. What you give is better than what we want. Where you lead is better than anything we desire. Thank you for taking us as your own and welcoming us into your home. Amen.