Pastor's Message Archive
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"In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so I would have told you" (John 14:2), Jesus tells us. And if it were not so, he wouldn't have told us so, and lied to us and gotten our hopes up for nothing, only to dash them and leave us crestfallen and down in the dumps, when we thought we had a roof over our heads, when we didn't, like the devil does, who is a liar and the father of lies, bent on bringing us down and keeping us down, and like our expectations do, which are inspired by the devil and our own sinful flesh and the crestfallen world.
But it is true. In His Father's house there are many rooms. We can't see it, but it's true. It's true because Jesus says so. It's true because Jesus is the Truth and tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God! It's true even though we cannot see the rooms, to say nothing of the house and Jesus' Father whose house and rooms they are.
We can and do see Jesus, however. We see Him in His Word. And He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. Consequently, we see the Father in the Son and the Son in the Father. And not once removed, either, because the Father and the Son are one. Like Father, like Son, as we noted in last month's column.
What's more, the Son is in us by means of His Word through the faith He gives us by this means. Therefore, we're in Him by the same means. And since He's in the Father and the Father's in Him, we too are in the Father and the Father is in us. He's our Father and we're His children because of Jesus, because Jesus is our Brother, because Jesus is in us, not just with us, and we're in Him, and not just along for the ride. Like Father, like sons, indeed!
Since they're one, we're one with them--both of them--as they are with us, because they are. And since Jesus is the Builder of everything, He's the Builder of God's house with its many rooms. Since He's our Maker and Redeemer, Remodeler and Renovator, the Author and Finisher of our home improvement, "we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast" (Hebrews 3:6b).
If it were not so, He wouldn't have told us it was. He's no liar; He's the Truth Teller. He's the Truth and the Truth Serum all in one. Therefore, it is so. Therefore, He tells us so. Unlike the father of lies who lies to us to get our hopes up and then dashes them, leaving us high and dry, crestfallen, down in the dumps, when we thought we had a roof over our heads and now that roof has fallen in.
What's more, Jesus is our Comforter. Since He is our Builder, He's our Up-builder too, especially when we're down in the dumps, when the devil, our sinful flesh and the crestfallen world bring us down and keep us down. What could be more comforting and up-building than this, "I go to prepare a place for you"?
If Jesus has gone back to heaven, back to His Father's house to prepare a place for us; and if He's been gone, lo, these many years, then He's done it. He's prepared that place. His renovations aren't like our renovations--falling down around our ears before we're done, or outmoded before we begin. His home improvement is a far cry from ours, standing finished from all eternity when we've barely gotten started and never will see the end.
Think of it! A room with our name on the door--not just another number. Not just another room, either, as though any old room will do in a pinch, but our room, a room of our very own. A roof over our heads that won't cave in, like the devil's lies, when we're feeling pinched. A home of our own that won't fall down around our ears when we are pinched, like so many of our renovation projects, and will stand as finished from all eternity to all eternity, not forever unfinished as all our home improvement dreams and schemes and our humdrum lives.
How comforting, how up-building is that! And this: "and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:3). He's where it's at! He won't just leave the light on for you and the welcome mat out like they do at Motel 6. He Himself will be there to welcome you. What's more, He'll take you there! Amen.
- Pastor Erickson