Heaven – Part 2 of 2

“ ‘My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am’ ” (John 14:2-3, NIV).

These are some of the words Jesus used to describe Heaven. Referring to his “Father’s house”, one with “many rooms”, Heaven is the place Jesus himself went ahead of us to prepare.

Likely, as Jesus spoke about Heaven, he was thinking about the Jewish practice of marriage. According to custom, the newly married husband and wife would move into the family home. This required the addition of a room to accommodate the couple. Depending upon the size of the family, several rooms would be added to the house over the years. Jesus, elsewhere, used the metaphor of marriage as he described himself as a groom and the Church as his bride. So, it’s no surprise that Jesus would extend this matrimonial symbolism to his description of Heaven.

I once had a student reason that God’s creative work on Earth was completed in six days, and that God has spent all the days since creating Heaven. While I’m not completely certain about the accuracy of this theological statement, I love this thought. Just imagine, the one who created all the intricate wonders of Earth – rainbows and butterflies, stars and planets, sunsets and waterfalls – intimately and purposefully preparing a room in Paradise for you and for me. I can hardly wait to see what Jesus, the carpenter and Savior, has in store for us!