Isn’t Jesus building a place for us?
“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. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3).
Jesus is preparing a place for us. Does this mean that Jesus the Carpenter is physically building something for us? No, this means that Jesus is preparing a renewed world for us. Jesus is ruling over the world, using the church to renew the world so that it will be fit for him to live on forever.
“For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10).
God is the builder and maker. He is the designer. We are the workers.
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Pastor Eric, thanks so much for sharing your heavenly thinkings. I had never really thought about such things. I just believed Christ is the one doing the building, but looking back, I realize God has always used common people to accomplish His will and to complete His ways.
In this day and age when we hear the word "mansion" we think of a huge house. The original meaning is "a place", not a big big house, with lots and lots of toys... Sorry Newsboys.
I honestly don't see your interpretation as a possibility based on the text.
You are reading something into the text here in my opinion.
The book of Revelations points out that there will be a new heaven and a new earth (renewal). Meaning that the renewal will take place at a later point in time. Your interpretations is hard for me to accept on a rational level.
If your interpretation is correct, then Revelations would be wrong.
The text can only refer to the New Jerusalem, the New City of God
Folken Family, you are correct that this short post does not do justice to the text. You'll have to read my other longer posts on this subject to see the connections. In these, I basically argue that the New Jerusalem is the church.
Ok...well thanks for your explanation. I will have to stand by my original assessment though because you seem to deny that the New Jerusalem is a city...it seems like in another post you mention that we are moving from a garden state to a city state though so are you being consistent?
ZDENNY, the short answer is that Hebrews 12:22-23 uses these terms as synonyms: "the heavenly Jerusalem", "the city of the living God," and "the church."
I clearly don't understand your response because it is subjective. I could make up something too, but look at things in their context.
I believe the issue you are dealing with is that your philosophy training has put you in the wrong camp. You believe in theological evolution rather than Biblical truth. You deny the truth even of the most clear propositions.
ZDENNY, if you don't understand my response, then stop making up baseless accusations. You're embarrassing yourself.
I suspect that you believe that the golden streets are also not physical?
If Jesus isn't building something that has a physical dimension to it then all the descriptions of heaven in Revelations do not correspond to the real heaven at all.
I suspect you believe that every description of heaven is spiritualized away somehow. Am I correct to make that assessment of your view?
The next question that I have is a profound one. If you spiritualize all concrete reality away in heaven, do you also teach that Christ's resurrection was spiritual only or do you think believe in the physical resurrection of Christ
I don't think you realize that your spiritualizing the text actually leads once again to a denial of the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I know these are things you have not thought about. I have studied apologetics for a long time and the goal of every method that Satan uses is to deny the resurrection in some way.
I have now found two ways that you have denied the resurrection. You can deny it by arguing that sacrifices actually were able to forgive sins invalidating the need for Christ. Second, you can deny that heaven includes the physical body of Jesus Christ meaning there was no physical resurrection since heaven does not contain anything concrete/material.
As a pastor, are you starting to see a pattern of denying that which is most true about Christianity in order to hold a false theological perspective? Why not just believe the Scripture!!
You are trading the heart of Christianity for an optimistic theology but have you gained or lost the gospel in the process? I believe you have lost the gospel!!
Even if you don't like the dispensationlist, you can never accuse them of denying the physical resurrection of Jesus because we believe that the truth is in the proposition. Once you go to spiritualizing the text, you end up logically denying the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ!!
Yes, heaven is a material place and has to be if you believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you deny the physical resurrection, you faith is in vain as Paul stated.
Something to think about!
ZDENNY, as usual, your suspicions about my inner thoughts are wrong, and thus, all of your conclusions are wrong.
But, please, keep leaving comments. It's fascinating to see how Dispensationalists think.
This passage in John 14 has nothing to do with Jesus Second Coming or His building a place for us to live in the future. "In My Father's house ("OIKIA") are many dwelling places ("MONE"). WE are the Father's House. We Are "the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being chief corner-[stone], in whom all the building fitly framed together doth increase to an holy sanctuary in the Lord, in whom also ye are builded together, for a habitation ("kat-OIKA-tērion") of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19b-22
Each of us is a Living Stone in the Temple, the Church, the Body of Christ. That is what Jesus is building. He is preparing each of us to be a habitation for God. Jesus "came again" at Pentecost, when He gave His Spirit. "...If any one may love Me, My word he will keep, and My Father will love him, and unto him we will come, and abode ("MONE") with him we will make;
WE are those "dwelling places." Each time a person believes, Jesus comes are "receives them unto Himself." They become part of His Body, the Temple, where God makes His home. He does not leave us as "orphans."
This is just one more text that Dispensationalist grab onto and wrest out of context to try to prove their theory.
New here. My question is, do you believe the disastrous events of Revelation occur and will leave the earth filled with surviving believers?
Are the people in heaven who John saw believers who have died, and no rapture occurs?
Does belief in a literal rapture require one to be a dispensationalist?
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