John 14:1-3, “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.”
The
Bible gives us the sweet and blessed PROMISE that the Lord is preparing a
literal place for each believer in Heaven, that where He is, there we may be
also. Amen to that! 2nd Corinthians 5:8 teaches “We are confident, I
say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the
Lord.” Today could be the glorious day!
Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) encourages believers concerning departed loved ones in his sermon titled, “What Will Happen When Christ Comes For His Own?,” in which he states...
My beloved predecessor Dr. John R. Rice went to be with the Lord December 29, 1980. And his dear wife and our friend Mrs. John R. Rice went to be with the Lord November 10, 1989. When Jesus Christ returns, He will bring Dr. and Mrs. Rice back with Him. “ . . . even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.”
My dear younger brother Jimmy lost the only two children he had in an automobile accident. They were beautiful children, greatly talented. It was a few days before Christmas, 1981. Rick was a teenager, and Kaloni was a pre-teenager. They had run an errand for their mother, going to the store. But on the way a car crossed the center line and ran head-on into Rick and Kaloni and killed them both. Our hearts were deeply grieved. They were the only children Jimmy and Freddie had. I preached the funeral and did my best to comfort my dear brother and sister-in-law, as well as other relatives. And we buried Rick and Kaloni in a cemetery in Georgia.
Someday the Lord is coming again. That is the clear, plain promise of the Bible. And when He comes the Bible promises: “ . . . them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” When Christ comes He is going to bring back Rick and Kaloni with Him. Both had trusted Christ as Saviour. They are in Christ, and they will be among “them also which sleep in Jesus.” ...
No wonder this appearing of our Lord is called in Titus 2:13 “that blessed hope . . . . ” It is a blessed hope that we will see all of our dear friends and relatives who have gone on to be with Christ.
The
Bible says in Revelation 14:13, “And I heard a voice from heaven saying
unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth:
Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works
do follow them.” The Bible speaks of resting from our LABORS. Are you
laboring for Christ? The Apostle Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 5:9 that he
labored for the Lord that he might be ACCEPTED OF HIM on
judgment Day. 2nd Corinthians 5:11 mentions the TERROR OF THE LORD for those
believers who are disobedient and waste their life, talents, gifts, and
resources; never doing anything to serve Christ here on earth.
The world is going to Hell. Think about the Lord's PROMISE to prepare a place for us in eternity. In John 14:2 Jesus mentions... MY FATHER'S HOUSE. Isn't that wonderful? We are going to live in God's house with Him when we enter into eternity. What a day that will be. Let me ask you a question friend. Would you go to the places you go if you knew Jesus was preparing a place for you in Heaven? Would you say the things that you say? Would you do the things that you do? What changes would you make in your life if you knew beyond-any-shadow-of-a-doubt that the Son of God is PREPARING a place for you in eternity to live with Him and be happy?
Jesus PROMISED that when He returns, no man will ever take your joy away again (John 16:22). Jesus disciples were heartbroken that He had to leave. Jesus comforted them by assuring them that He would return to them in Spirit (John 14:18), and one day again bodily (1st Thessalonians 4:17). Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Jesus didn't say that He has a place for us; no, rather, He said, “I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU.” As we serve God here on earth, the Lord prepares our place in Heaven. Will you have a mansion? Jesus said there are many mansions, but they are not all mansions. Many believers will have outhouses. Although even the best of Christians deserve to be homeless in Hell for all eternity, the Lord has promised to PREPARE a place for each and every believer. You may not receive a mansion in Heaven, but you can if you want it badly enough. Jesus told us in Matthew 6:20 to “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...”
Jesus told His disciples that He was going to the Father in Heaven, to be seated at the Father's right-hand (Colossians 3:1). One of the things that the Lord is doing in Heaven is PREPARING a place for His children, especially for those who love Him and serve Him faithfully. Daniel 12:3, “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” This promise obviously does not apply to every believer in Daniel 12:3, because most believers never turn anyone to righteousness (that is, to the righteousness of Jesus Christ, salvation). Jesus said in Luke 8:15 that only those believers with “an honest and good heart” keep the Scriptures and share the Gospel with the lost. Romans 10:15 calls the feet of the soul-winner “beautiful.”
Psalms 126:5-6, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” The “precious seed” is the Word of God by which men are born-again (1st Peter 1:23). Only by the Word of God can anyone be saved, for it is in the Bible that we learn of Jesus Christ (John 5:39).
What a wonderful thought to know that Jesus is preparing A PLACE for us in Heaven. I believe that the Lord, Who looks upon our heart and knows our innermost desires, prepares our home in Heaven accordingly. Psalm 37:4, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” We read also in Romans 8:32, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Amen!
Let me ask you friend. Are you saved? Nothing I have shared with you applies to you if you have not received Jesus Christ. If you die in your sins and go to Hell (John 8:24), that will not be a home. It will be your abode for all eternity, but that will not be a home at all. Oh, how I wish I could convince more people of the truth! Eternity is more than a long time my friend, and the Bible warns that all Christ-rejecters will suffer the eternal wrath and vengeance of an angry God in the flames of Hell (2nd Thessalonians 1:8-9).
Are you willing to take the risk that the Bible may have been true after all? The people in this world, like John Lennon of The Beatles who said, “I've sold my soul to the DEVIL” (Ray Coleman, Lennon, p.256); they don't really believe that a literal Hell exists where Christ-rejecting sinners go to be tormented day-and-night, without rest, forever. Revelation 14:11, “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” The choice is yours alone to make. You can either go to Heaven to live in a place personally prepared by the loving Savior; or you can be cast into the Lake of Fire with the Devil and the Antichrist to be tormented in fire day-and-night by God the Father for ever and ever.
