I Go to Prepare a Place For You
By Deborah Wittmier
Here we are, preparing once again to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord! What an awesome and wonderful thing to ponder the day that Heaven's gates were opened unto you and unto me. Have you thought about the fact that you have already signed the lease on your eternal mansion? Sure enough, YOUR name is written in the Lord's personal address book -- the Lamb's Book of Life.
Remember the words of Jesus, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:1-3. *I want to focus for a moment on that phrase, "I go to prepare a place for you." Because He has just mentioned the mansions in heaven, I have always had this cozy little mental picture of Christ having gone to work on all of our personal mansions. It was a quaint, warm fuzzy notion, but I think not at all what he meant. For one thing, the Bible clearly states in Gen. 2:1 , "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished." There is nothing about Heaven that is incomplete, or still needs work.
What did He mean, then? This conversation was taking place at the Last Supper. Jesus was foretelling his betrayal. He was trying to get the disciples ready for the soul-crushing devastation of his crucifixion, death and burial. He had just prophesied that Peter would deny him three times. But he wants to strengthen them, so he again speaks to them of the bigger picture: the eternal picture. He's teaching them to focus on the eternal to keep their hearts from doubting when the upcoming circumstances would seem to nail their faith to a cross and bury it deep in despair.
When Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you," I believe he was referring to going to the cross to prepare the way for us. Heaven needs no further preparation. That word prepare, in the original Greek, refers to internal fitness, as opposed to the other word commonly translated elsewhere for "construct" or "create". Remember that he was originally speaking of his upcoming passion and trying to help them understand his suffering and death as having a very personal purpose for them. So, look at what Jesus is saying as though He is telling them that He goes [to the cross] to prepare [bring about internal fitness for them] for the mansions that await them.
Take a second look at this passage through my own paraphrase: "Don't panic; attach the same trust in who I am as you do in who God is. This is about heaven -- if it wasn't ultimately about heaven, I would have told you. I go [to the cross] to open a way for you. And if I go [to death] to prepare the way for you, I will return to get you, in order that you can be with me in Heaven." Jesus is not up in heaven working feverishly to get everybody's "place" prepared in time for the rapture! Instead, He went to the cross so that He could prepare us (make us internally fit) for the place that has been prepared for us from the foundation of the world! (Matt. 25:34.) Jesus' sacrifice secured our righteousness, which in turn secured our place with Him for all eternity. (Oh, Lord, how can we possibly celebrate You enough?!) But it doesn't end there; Notice Jesus said, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." He said "if I go ...I will come again and receive you unto myself." The historical, indisputable fact is that He went. Therefore, it is equally indisputable that He is coming back to get us!
Not only is our joy full at the realization of what He has already done for us, but our hope is secure in what still awaits us. "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 in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words." 1 Thes. 4:16-18.
So, as we prepare to celebrate the Resurrection, realize that you stand in a position to look to both the past and the future through the eyes of faith and a heart filled with hope and expectancy. Jesus said, "I go. . .I will come again and receive you unto myself." Celebrate; celebrate! Indeed, He has promised and He is not a man that He could lie. What He has promised, He will do. HE IS COMING TO RECEIVE US UNTO HIMSELF!
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