Mansions In The Sky

John 14:2 (In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you) has puzzled me ever since I became a Christian in 2002. I asked my favorite Sunday School teacher the meaning of this scripture, and he said it had to do with permanence. But that still doesn’t explain Jesus’ reference to “many rooms” (or “mansions” in some translations). What are the other rooms…or am I being too literal?

Q. John 14:2 (In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you) has puzzled me ever since I became a Christian in 2002. At first, it sounded to me as if Jesus meant there was more than one way to God, the other rooms being for those who came to God through other paths. I asked my favorite Sunday School teacher the meaning of this scripture, and he said it had to do with permanence. But that still doesn’t explain Jesus’ reference to “many rooms” (or “mansions” in some translations). What are the other rooms…or am I being too literal?

A. What the passage literally means is that there are many dwelling places in God’s Kingdom. The Greek word John used there doesn’t appear any place else in the Bible. It was originally translated as “mansions” because it’s meant to imply that each of us will have a richly appointed and spacious dwelling in “Heaven” such as a very wealthy person would have on Earth.