In my Father's house are many mansions, WHERE?

Dear in Christ,

If you are an ordinary Christian like me, you would have dreamed of spending your afterlife in a placed called “heaven”, somewhere in the remote parts of the universe, or even beyond the universe, where we will live in mansions made of precious jewels and go out on evening walks on streets paved with gold and singing Hallelujah and praises to the Almighty God, day in and day out.

One of the scriptural basis for this kind of thoughts or dreams is:

Joh 14:2 In my Father's house[G3614] are many mansions[G3438]: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Joh 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

① Does the passage mention heaven?

Please read the passage a few more times, counting the number of times it mentions “heaven”. How many occurrences of the word “heaven” could you count? I got ZERO. (In fact, the word “heaven” doesn't occur in 13^th to 16^th chapters of the gospel of John)

Is the expression “my Father's house” used anywhere else in the scriptures to mean a place called “heaven”? John himself has used exactly the same expression in another context:

Joh 2:16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house[G3624] an house[G3624] of merchandise.

We know the proceedings here. We also know that this event took place in the temple at Jerusalem, and not in heaven. The Greek word used in Joh 14:2 is a derivative of the word used here and hence it is impossible to prove that the talk there is about a place called heaven.

② Does the passage say that anyone would be teleported to heaven?

Please read the passage once again. all that it says is: “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also”.

Jesus would come to the faithful and receive them and they will be with him, wherever he is. Does the passage talk about taking anyone, anywhere?

Same chapter, the very same Greek word, a different meaning!

The Greek word translated as “mansions” in Joh 14:2 occurs just once more in the New Testament.

Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode[G3438] with him.

Yes, I am aware of the fact that the grammatical cases of the noun used in these two verses are different. Nonetheless, in both the passages, Jesus comes to the faithful. In this passage, the heavenly Father also comes, and both of them dwell with the faithful. There is no mention of their taking the faithful to a place called heaven.

“thou shalt follow me afterwards”

One of the passages that I used to believe as offering a trip to heaven is Joh 13:33-36. In fact, I have come across many who believe so.

Joh 13:33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.

This is what Jesus said to the Jews:

Joh 7:33 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me.
Joh 7:34 Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come.
Joh 8:21 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.

Neither the disciples nor the Jews could go where Jesus was going, obviously, he was going to the father (“I go unto him that sent me”). We need to understand John 13:33-36 keeping this fact in our minds.

In John 13, while Jesus was addressing his disciples, Peter interrupted him with a question. We need to notice his question and Jesus' reply.

Joh 13:36 Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.

Leave alone the Jews, was Peter permitted to go where the rest of the disciples were not? OR, was Jesus signifying the kind of end that Peter would have to encounter? (Joh 21:18, 19) Does it make sense to think that Peter alone was permitted to follow Jesus to heaven, whereas, the rest of the disciples were told that they can't make it there? There are many scholars who recognize that Jesus was predicting Peter's martyrdom, almost similar to that of Jesus himself.

Eternity is indescribable!

The teaching that heaven is a place full of palatial mansions, all studded with gems and jewels and streets paved with gold, is the result of people grossly misunderstanding and misinterpreting Revelation 21's description of the New Jerusalem as that of a place called heaven.

There is eternal life; there is immortality; but we are not explicitly told about the nature of immortal life and where we would be spending eternity. Probably, that should be one of the reasons why Paul didn't want to go beyond telling us:

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

(1Co 2:9)

In Christ,

Tomsan Kattackal