Mansions in Glory

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.
John 14:2

The older translations of John 14:2 tell us that heaven is filled with many mansions; but many of the newer translations say “rooms” or “chambers” or “dwelling places.” It’s true the concept of “rooms” fits with the idea of the Father’s “house”; and the English word mansion originally meant “a dwelling place.” But on the other hand, even the smallest hut in heaven will be a thousand times better and greater than any house that’s ever been built on earth.

Everyone occasionally imagines living in a mansion. Maybe you’ve toured castles or palaces or regal estates. Haven’t you wondered what it’d be like to throw open the door and holler, “Honey, I’m home!” Perhaps you’ve take a tour of exclusive communities or looked at magazine photographs of celebrities’ homes.

No earthly palace comes close to the homesteads Jesus is preparing for us in heaven. We won’t be disappointed. Take Jesus at His word when He said, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.”¹

A tent or a cottage, why should I care? They’re building a palace for me over there; / Though exiled from home, yet still may I sing: All glory to God, I’m a child of the King.

Harriet Buell, in her hymn “A Child of the King”