Friday, September 24, 2021

FEAST OF TABERNACLES--- MANSIONS IN HEAVEN?

 Mansions in Heaven?


Jesus said He went to prepare us a mansion. Will you go to heaven to obtain it? 



The evangelist in the tent camp meeting shouts, "Brother and

sister, rejoice - let not your heart be troubled, Jesus has gone

to prepare for you your mansion in heaven and He's promised to

return and take you back to it with Him, to your mansion."


This teaching is absolute "gospel" as they say, to many.  And

they point to JOHN 14:1-3 for proof of its truth.  But does this

section of scripture really say we are one day going to heaven to

inherit a mansion?


Let's not assume anything but carefully search the word of God

and put scripture with scripture to arrive at the real truth of

the matter.


"In my Father's house are many mansions..."  The, LAMSA

translation from the Aramaic reads,  "In my Father's house are

many ROOMS..."   The GREEK INTERLINEAR by Berry says, 

"In the house of my Father there are many ABODES..."  

The MODERN LANGUAGE reads, "In my Father's house are 

many dwelling places..."



                     THE FATHER'S HOUSE

                                    

                                    

What is meant by the "Father's house"?  Jesus is speaking to His

disciples.  We see in John 17 that if we are Christ's we have a

very special relationship with God the Father.  If we have the

Spirit of God in us we are His SONS (Rom.8:14; 1John 3:1-2). 

We are His CHILDREN (Rom.8:16).

We can all understand what it means to say of our children, they

are part of our house - we mean, they are part of our FAMILY. It

is no different with God the Father;  to be a disciple of Christ,

to have the Spirit of God is to be part of God's FAMILY, to be

part of God's HOUSEHOLD - a member of His HOUSE (For a full

understanding of what it means to be a Son or Daughter of God,

read my article called "THE CHRISTIAN'S DESTINY").

                                    

The Father has lots of available space in His family or HOUSE. 

He has lots of ROOMS or ABODES for as many as want to come in. 

Jesus was also drawing an analogy from the TEMPLE which He called

"my Father's house" (JN 2:13-16).  The Temple or tabernacle in

Jerusalem was patterned after the tabernacle that God had

Moses construct, which in turn was patterned after the heavenly

Temple ( Heb. 9). In the Temple at Jerusalem there were many

ROOMS for the officiating priests to dwell in while serving and

performing their duties. There are many abodes in God's

Temple, many offices to fill.  Christians are the TEMPLE OF GOD -

we are His HOUSE, HIS FAMILY (2 COR. 6:16-18).   All that belongs

Christ also belongs to the Father.  All that belongs to the

Father also belongs to Christ (JN 17:10).  Now notice Heb. 3:6, 

"But Christ as a son over HIS OWN HOUSE; whose HOUSE ARE WE..."

Christ's house is the Father's house. The Father's house is

composed of those who belong to Jesus. Those who are His sons

and daughters belong to His FAMILY.  In that HOUSEHOLD of God

there are lots of positions to fill, as David said,  "....I  had

rather be a door keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in

the tents of wickedness" (Ps.84:10).



                     PREPARING A PLACE

                                    

                                    

Jesus said He was going back to the Father to prepare a place for

each of His disciples.   Part of that preparing is His continual

daily work of INTERCESSION on behalf of the Father's children -

true Christians (Heb. 4:14-16).


Why do we need this PREPARING on Jesus' part?


Very few understand its importance.  Without it we could never be

in God's household - we could never inherit eternal life!


You have probably thought or been taught that Jesus' DEATH on the

cross COMPLETED Salvation, that it was FINISHED at Calvary. 

After all, didn't Jesus say "it is finished" (JN 19:30). But WHAT was

finished on the cross?  Let Paul answer: "For all have sinned

(broken God's Law 1 JN 3:4) and come short of the glory of God:

Being JUSTIFIED (declared righteous) freely by His grace through

the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God had set forth

to be a propitiation (an atoning sacrifice) through faith in His

blood (death on the cross) to declare His righteousness for the

remission (forgiveness) of sins THAT ARE PAST..." (ROM. 3:23-25

Amplification mine). The sinner upon REPENTANCE, accepting Jesus

as his personal saviour can have ALL HIS PAST SINS - sins up to

that very moment in his life - FORGIVEN, washed away by the blood

and death of Christ on the CROSS.   Jesus' DEATH secured our

justification from the sins we HAVE ALREADY committed. 

His DEATH took away the penalty of death that hung over our heads 

because of our sins (Rom.6:23).  What Jesus finished on the cross was 

the sacrifice for our past sins to justification and reconciliation

with the Father.

                                    

Listen, friends, this may shock some of you, but the truth is

that it takes BOTH the DEATH and LIFE of Christ to SAVE you.  

If Jesus had only died and had never been raised to life, you could

never be SAVED, you would never inherit  eternal life - you would

be dead in your sins.  Read these verses in your own Bible, mark

them, and never forget them.


"And if Christ be not RISEN, then is our preaching vain, and your

FAITH IS ALSO VAIN....... And if Christ be not RAISED, your FAITH

IS VAIN,  you are yet IN YOUR SINS! Then they also which are

fallen asleep (dead) in Christ,  ARE PERISHED" (1 COR. 15:14,17,18).


If Jesus is not alive - if He was not RESURRECTED we are yet in

our sins!  We are yet sinners - doomed to perish.


The Death of Jesus is absolutely necessary for salvation but SO

IS HIS LIFE! It takes not only His death but His LIFE also to

save you.  Now, how much of that part of the Gospel have you

heard?  You hear a lot about the death of Jesus - His blood

shed to cleanse your guilty past - but how much do you hear about

His LIFE to cleanse your present and future sins?


Let's understand this wonderful truth.  Upon your repentance 

and accepting Christ as your Savior, you are forgiven of all your

sins through His death UP TO that very second. But what about

the sins you'll commit AFTER, in the next hour, day, week or

month? You say, "Oh, I'll not sin again." This is a great attitude - 

we should indeed not want to ever sin again. But the painful truth 

is WE DO! Christians do sin.  If we say we don't, we are deceiving 

ourselves. That's what John was inspired to write, "......if we (justified 

Christians) say that we have NO SIN, we DECEIVE ourselves and 

the truth is not in us" (1 JOHN 1:8).


How are all our present sins forgiven?  John answers, "If we

CONFESS (which includes REPENTANCE - Prov. 28:13) our sins, 

He is faithful and just to FORGIVE us our sins, and to cleanse us 

from all unrighteousness.......And if any man sin, we have an advocate

(an intercessor) with the Father - Jesus Christ the righteous

(raised-alive from the dead, interceding in heaven for us).  And

He (the risen Christ) is the propitiation (atoning sacrifice) for our 

sins......."  (1 JOHN 1:9; 2:1-2, Amplification mine).


Christ was raised to life and He ascended to heaven as our HIGH

PRIEST to work in the heavenly sanctuary for us, to daily

INTERCEDE for us so our PRESENT sins can be forgiven.  

He is pleading to the Father on our behalf that His sacrifice be

continually applied to us.  Notice it in Heb. 4:14-16:  "Seeing

then that we have a great HIGH PRIEST that is passed into the

heavens, Jesus the Son of God...... For we have not an high

priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our

infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we ARE, yet

without sin.  Let US (converted Christians - we who have already

had our guilty past justified by Christ's blood) therefore COME

(today and tomorrow) boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may

OBTAIN MERCY (now, today) and find grace to help in time 

of need" (Amplification mine).


We are not only JUSTIFIED - declared righteous, forgiven of our

past sins by the BLOOD of Jesus, by His DEATH (Rom. 4:23-26). 

But Jesus was raised again for our JUSTIFICATION, (ROM. 4:25). 

He was raised to life so He could intercede for us, so our present 

and our future sins could be forgiven and we could be declared 

righteous. And so it truly is that, "..... 

when we were enemies, we were RECONCILED to God BY THE 

DEATH OF HIS SON, much more, being (already as converted Christians) 

reconciled, we SHALL BE SAVED (inherit life eternal) BY HIS LIFE" (ROM. 5:10).


Jesus said He was going to PREPARE a place for us in the Father's

household.  He is doing just that.  He's working to make sure we

can be there.


Christ also is preparing our REWARDS - what we shall be given,

determined by what we have done with what we had to work with

(see the parables of the POUNDS and TALENTS in LK 19:11-27 

and MAT. 25:14-30).   Jesus brings those REWARDS with Him 

on His return (REV. 22:12).


We know from Christ's own words that the 12 apostles will have

the reward of each ruling over one of the tribes or nations of

Israel during the 1,000 years (REV. 20:4; 5:10; MAT 19:27,28).



          "I WILL COME AGAIN AND RECEIVE YOU..."

                                    

                                    

Although much of Christianity today does not preach or believe

that Jesus Christ will LITERALLY and bodily RETURN to this earth,

Jesus SAID HE WOULD!


Will you BELIEVE what is written in ACTS 1:9-11?  "....... while

they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of

their sight.  And while they looked....two men stood by them in

white apparel, which also said, you men of Galilee.......this

SAME Jesus..... SHALL SO COME IN LIKE MANNER as you 

have seen Him go into heaven."


Will you believe REV. 1:7,  "Behold, He COMES WITH CLOUDS; 

AND EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM..."


Though MANY do not, will You believe what Jesus Himself said in

MAT 24:30?  "...... then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,

and they shall SEE the SON of man COMING in the clouds of heaven

with power and great glory."

                                    

                                    

Over and over again the writers of the NT wrote about, spoke

about, the literal return of Christ Jesus. In JOHN 14 Jesus

said, "I WILL COME AGAIN."  Plain and so simple that a little

child can easily believe and understand.  If you stand in front

of a child and you say, "I am going away for a short time, but I

will come back" what does that child expect?  He expects you to

literally COME BACK to HIM!  He is not expecting that he will 

go to YOU, but that YOU will COME TO HIM!


Jesus said, "I will come back."  He would depart from where He

was going (to the Father JN 17:13) and return to where He

departed FROM.  This is precisely what the angels said to the

disciples as they watched Christ ascend into heaven (ACT 1:11).


On His return Jesus said He would, "receive you unto myself."

This is also what He said in MAT. 24: 30-31. At His coming in

CLOUDS (please remember - clouds are relatively very close to the

earth) the angels would be sent out to gather the elect together

AT THE SOUND OF A TRUMPET! Now turn I COR. 15 (known 

by many as the RESURRECTION chapter) and notice verses 51-52,  

"Behold, I show you a mystery - we shall not all SLEEP" (be dead - 

death is a sleep), "but we shall all be CHANGED. In a moment, in the

twinkling of an eye, AT THE LAST TRUMP:  for the trumpet shall

sound, and the dead shall be raised INCORRUPTIBLE, and we (which

are alive) shall be CHANGED. For this corruptible must PUT ON

incorruption" (we are not born with it, we do not have any

natural immortality by the way of an immortal soul), "and this

MORTAL must put on immortality." Why?  because, "...flesh and

blood (mortal man) CANNOT INHERIT the Kingdom of God 

(verse 50).


For Christ to receive us unto Himself at His return we must be

GLORIFIED just as He was glorified at His resurrection. No man

(mortal flesh and blood) can look upon God in His glorified form

and live (EX 33:20). And Jesus is God (Heb. 1:2-8). 


Does the word of God tell us WHERE we shall be when Jesus shall

receive us unto Himself? Yes indeed! Turn to I THES. 4:13-17.


"But I would not have you to be ignorant brethren, concerning

them which are asleep.. For if we believe that Jesus died and

rose again, even so these also which sleep in Jesus will God

bring with Him." Will God (Jesus Christ) bring them with Him 

(to where He'll bring them we'll answer later) because they are NOW

in heaven?  NO - look at the next verse - Paul goes on to explain

HOW God will be able to bring them with Him. "FOR..." This is

the connecting word, "For this we say unto you by the word of

the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of

the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which are asleep

(dead). For..."  Paul is still connecting the thought and

explanation,  "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven...."   

Here's Christ's literal, visible, bodily return, as we've already 

seen in other scriptures - not some invisible "secret rapture" that 

nobody knows about. Read my indepth study called "Christ's 

Coming and the Secret Rapture."  


Let's continue, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven

WITH A SHOUT, with the voice of the archangel, and with THE 

TRUMP OF GOD: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we 

which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them..."

Yes, the angels are sent to gather the elect (MAT. 24:31). 

".....in the CLOUDS, to meet the Lord....." So He can receive

us unto Himself. "...in the AIR..." Notice it! Where shall we

be when we meet the Lord, when He receives us? IN THE AIR - IN

THE CLOUDS of this earth, just above the surface of this planet,

NOT in heaven where the Father is. Christ will leave the Father's 

right hand. He is coming again and as He gets to the atmosphere of 

this earth, as He gets to the CLOUDS, the RESURRECTION of all 

dead saints takes place. Those saints who are still living are 

CHANGED. All are now immortal and glorified. The angels are 

sent out to gather them together and bring them to Jesus so He can 

receive them. And so, the last part of verse 17:   "..... shall WE 

EVER BE WITH THE LORD."  And as Christ said in John 14,  

".....that WHERE I AM, there you may be also."  

Where will He be when He receives us - in the CLOUDS, 

the air of this earth?


Now, do we stay in the clouds for all eternity?  Do we go to some

planet? Do we go back to be with the Father in heaven?  What Paul

did not say in I THES 4:17 was WHERE we go to AFTER Christ has

received us in the air.  All he stated was that we would remain with 

the Lord.  Other scriptures must tell us WHERE the Lord goes after 

this event described by Paul.



                      ON TO JERUSALEM

                                    

                                    

The prophet ZECHARIAH speaking about the DAY OF THE LORD 

and all nations gathered against Jerusalem to battle (this is the proverbial 

BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON - REV.  16:12-16. Read my study

literature on this topic) says, "Then shall the Lord go forth (Jesus' return) 

and fight against those nations... And HIS FEET SHALL STAND IN 

THAT DAY UPON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, which is before

Jerusalem..." (ZECH 14:1-4).


Which day is this? "...and the Lord my God SHALL COME, and ALL

THE SAINTS WITH YOU..." (verse 5). It is the DAY of Christ's

COMING - the day of His return - the day the saints are

resurrected and gathered to Him - the day He continues from

the clouds with them down to the MOUNT OF OLIVES by Jerusalem 

to FIGHT the armies of the warring nations.   It is the day  - one

day - that is only known to the Father (compare verse 7 with MAT.

24:3, 36) - the day that "the Lord shall be KING OVER ALL THE

EARTH..." (verse 9).


After we have met the Lord in the AIR we do not go to Mars, Venus

or back to the third heaven for 7, 100, or 1,000 years, but we

continue down to this earth, to the city of Jerusalem and to the

very mount which Jesus ascended from when He went into heaven.


Truly Christ will then have fulfilled His promise,  "I WILL COME

AGAIN."


We shall reign ON THIS EARTH with Jesus our Lord for 1,000 years 

(REV. 20:1-4; 5:10) after which Christ will hand over the Kingdom

to the Father (I COR. 15:24-26), when DEATH will be destroyed,

the new earth  will be a reality, and the heavenly Jerusalem

together with  the FATHER  Himself shall come to the new earth

(REV. 21, 22).


"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold the

tabernacle of God is WITH MEN, and HE SHALL DWELL WITH

THEM.....and GOD HIMSELF SHALL BE WITH THEM....."



The humbling but wonderful truth friends is that we are not going

to heaven, but God and heaven are coming to us!


Keith Hunt



         ..........................................


Written 1983


All articles and studies by Keith Hunt may be copied, published,

e-mailed, and distributed as led by the Spirit. Mr. Hunt trusts

nothing will be changed without his consent.


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