February
26, 2003
IN
MY FATHER'S HOUSE
"There
are many dwelling places in my Father's house; if it were
not so I should have told you; for I am going there on purpose
to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I shall come again and receive you to myself, so
that where I am you may be also" (John 14:2, 3, NEB).
Jesus
is telling His disciples that He is returning home and that
He will be preparing dwelling places for their eventual abode.
He is also telling them that He will return to receive them;
a reference to His second coming.
When
Christ ascended to heaven following His crucifixion and resurrection,
scripture tells us, "while they watched, He was taken
up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while
they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold,
two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, 'Men
of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same
Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come
in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven' " (Acts
1:9-11). The record is clear in many references throughout
the Bible that Jesus is coming again.
"Christ
had ascended to heaven in the form of humanity. The disciples
had beheld the cloud receive Him. The same Jesus who had walked
and talked and prayed with them; who had broken bread with
them; who had been with them in their boats on the lake; and
who had that very day toiled with them up the ascent of Olivet,--
the same Jesus had now gone to share His Father's throne.
And the angels had assured them that the very One whom they
had seen go up into heaven, would come again even as He had
ascended. He will come 'with clouds; and every eye shall see
Him' (Rev. 1:7), 'The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the
trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise' (1 Thess.
4:16), 'The Son of man shall come in
His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He
sit upon the throne of His glory' (Matt. 25:31). Thus
will be fulfilled the Lord's own promise to His disciples:
'If I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where
I am, there you may be also' (John 14:3)...
The disciples
no longer had any distrust of the future. They knew that Jesus
was in heaven, and that His sympathies were with them still.
They knew that they had a friend at the throne of God, and
they were eager to present their requests to the Father in
the name of Jesus. In solemn awe they bowed in prayer, repeating
the assurance, 'Whatsoever you shall
ask the Father in My name, He will give it you' (John
15:16)."-- The Desire of Ages, pp. 832,
833.
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