Dwelling Places in “My Father’s House”

“‘In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.’” (John 14:2-4)

A very famous passage in the Gospel of John. Traditionally these verses have been interpreted as referring to heaven and that Jesus will soon be departing there. However, a closer examination of the passage reveals otherwise. The phrase “my Father’s house” usually refers to the Temple in Jerusalem. In John 2:16, when Jesus cleanses the Temple, he says, “’Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.’” Here in John the phrase “my Father’s House” specifically refers to the Temple of God. But in 14:2, Jesus says that there are many “dwelling places” (monā) in this house and that Jesus is going to prepare a place for his disciples. Given that the Temple in Jerusalem could not hold all of Jesus’ disciples (beyond the 12) and that it seems odd that Jesus would prepare a place for them there (which he did not), it seems that a less than literal interpretation of the Temple is warranted. Such a symbolic and metaphorical understanding is in keeping with John’s method in his Gospel (e.g., 6:35; 8:12; 10:7; 15:1). So what then is this Temple, this Father’s House to which Jesus is referring? The answer becomes clearer when we look at how Jesus metaphorically uses the Temple, his Father’s House earlier in John 2:20-22.

“The Jews then said to Him, ‘What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?’ But He was speaking of the temple of His body. So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.”

Here John is stating that Jesus was referring to his own body as a temple that would be crucified and resurrected. This is not an isolated metaphor. In John’s other book, Revelation, he again uses the imagery of the Temple in reference to Jesus and to God. “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (21:22). The Lamb, of course, is Jesus. John often associates Jesus with a Lamb in reference to his crucifixion (Revelation 5:6, 12; 7:14; 12:11). In the Gospel, Jesus is the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world (1:29, 36).

So in John 2, “My Father’s House” is the Temple which is a metaphor for the body of Jesus, with reference to the crucifixion. And preceding the reference to the My Father’s House/Temple in 14:2, we get the following exchange in 13:36-38:

“Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, where are You going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.’ Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.’ Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.’”

This dialogue takes place at the Last Supper, just prior to Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. Jesus is about to go to the cross and is telling the disciples that where he is going they cannot follow. Peter, not understanding that Jesus is referring to the cross, proclaims that he would be willing to die for Jesus. Jesus replies that Peter will not lay down his life to face death for the cause of Christ at this time, but he and the other disciples will at some point (v. 36).

So when in 14:2-3, when Jesus says he is going to prepare a place for his followers, he is referring to his work on the cross. His work on the cross, his crucifixion and subsequent resurrection enable him to prepare a place for his followers in him. Here we get into some deep theology about the corporate nature of Christ, in which the Messiah, the Christ, is representative of all of God’s people, so that one can even state that what one does to a follower is equated to Christ himself (see Matthew 25:34-40 for one example). Thus we have the voluminous references to people being “in Christ” throughout the New Testament (Romans 8:2, 39; 12:5; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 30; 15:18, 22; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 2:4; 3:28; 6:15; Ephesians 1:3, 10, 12, 20). Indeed, the followers of Jesus, the Church itself, is frequently called the “body of Christ” (Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 12:12-27; Ephesians 3:6; 5:23; Colossians 1:18, 24). Not only that, Christian believers as a group are referred to as a Temple (1 Corinthians 3:16, 17; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:21). To put this altogether: believers are in Christ, they are the body of Christ, they are a Temple, Jesus is a Temple, and believers are a part of that Temple body.

Therefore, Jesus’ work on the cross prepares a place in the Father’s House with many dwelling-places (monā) for believers in him (see also Revelation 3:12). But notice 14:23: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode (monā) with him.” So not only do we have a dwelling place with Jesus, but Jesus and God have a dwelling place with us. Notice it is both God and Jesus. This fits within one of the arguments John is making: Jesus is in God the Father, and God the Father is within Jesus (14:7, 9-11). They are one (10:30). We already noted that in Revelation 21:22 that both God and Jesus are the Temple. John has Jesus wrap up this entire idea in John 14:20: “I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”

So when Jesus indicates that his crucifixion is preparing a place in the Father’s House with many dwelling-places (monā), he is stating that his work on the cross bring about a new relationship between God the Father, himself, and his followers. This is not a relationship that will exist at some future date in heaven, but a relationship that a person can have now if he has a relationship with Jesus and God. In chapter 15, Jesus says, “Abide (menō) in Me, and I in you” (v. 4), “he who abides (menō) in Me and I in him” (v. 5), and “If you abide (menō) in Me, and My words abide (menō) in you” (v. 7). The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus has accomplished this.