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A Place Prepared For You
In John
14:1-4 Jesus said, “Do not let your heart be troubled;
believe in God, believe also in Me. 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.”
I am not sure the importance of these
words is understood today. Many believe this statement means
Jesus’ is getting heaven ready for us.
Jesus was not speaking as a housekeeper
who is preparing the sheets and linens for guests. Jesus did not
mean He was going to get to heaven ahead of us to make sure
dwelling was presentable.
Rather, Jesus was speaking of His
death. He was letting the disciples know that whatever happened
that night they did not have to be troubled. They could rest in
faith that everything would work out. Jesus was simply working the
Father’s plan.
By working the Father’s plan, He was
preparing a place in God’s house for His followers. Remember Psalm
15? Who may dwell with God? Those who have only walked in
integrity, worked righteousness and spoken the truth in their
heart. But we have a problem there, don’t we? We have already
fallen short of this standard. How will we ever be able to dwell
in God’s house?
Jesus prepared a place for us through
His death. According to John
1:29 Jesus is God’s sacrificial lamb who would take away
the sins of the world. Through His blood we are reconciled to God.
As Colossians
1:21-22 says, “Although you were formerly alienated and
hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled
you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you
before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”
Jesus’ sacrifice prepared a place for
us in God’s house by preparing us to be able to dwell in God’s
house.
Take note of the truly glorious aspect
of what Jesus said in John
14. Since He was going through all this trouble to prepare
a place for us, we can be assured that He will return and take us
to that dwelling place.
In this life, it is easy to get
burdened with troubles and sorrows. It is easy to believe God has
forgotten us. He has not. We must take heart, since Jesus died for
us, He will return for us. No matter what is happening here, he
has prepared a place for us and it is reserved for us who are kept
by the power of God through faith (I
Peter 1:4-5). We must ever look forward to that home with
God.
Whatever we face, we must not let our hearts be troubled.
Jesus has prepared us and has prepared a place for us. Praise be
to our Savior.
Edwin L. Crozier
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