PREPARING A PLACE

Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
John 14:2-3)

I remember years ago that I wondered, ‘where is this place the Lord is going to prepare?’ The standard answer I had always heard was: heaven. This did not seem like a very clear answer to me because heaven is more of a person than a place to me. Then I recalled the days when I learned from scripture that the Lord lived within me. So, where he went was into my heart to prepare a place for him to live. This was no mystical ‘sweet-bye-and-bye’ idea. It was now and here and in me.

Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is within you…” (Luke 17:21). If the Kingdom is there …the King is there. If the King isn’t…the Kingdom isn’t. Jesus lives in us. Paul, an apostle, said, “Christ is in you…” (Romans 8:10). He also said, “Christ lives in me…” (Galatians 2:20).

On another occasion Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will follow my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with (or in) him.” (John 14:23)

Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you…” and now I spend the rest of my days preparing a place for him… That’s our work and our joy. Welcome home, Jesus.

“I go to prepare a place for you.” Jesus