In My Father’s House Are Many Rooms

“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” John 14:2

The disciples are concerned, here, with the departure of Jesus. They know that He will be away from them. In the previous verse, they are called to remember their faith in Jesus so that their hearts would not be troubledj. Jesus does not discourage their desire for nearness. Instead, He says that He is going to provide a way for even greater closeness—a place for the disciples (and us) in heaven. This reality would provide for even greater comfort and calm for their hearts.

Jesus seemingly uses a metaphor here, that in His Father’s house are many rooms. The word for rooms can mean “dwelling” or “abiding place.” It is related to the verb for “to remain.”¹ Jesus wants us to know that we will dwell, abide, and remain with God—whatever the specific living arrangements of heaven will be like. We will stay with Him.

These heavenly dwelling places will have the one thing we so desperately need and want: the presence of God. We will be in the Father’s house. No more will we be on the earth whose god of the age and the prince of the power of the air is Satan. We will be out of this dominion and into a next dominion that is ruled by the Father and governed entirely by His ownership.

Though the Father having this house and us having rooms in it seems to be a metaphor, we can think of Jesus indicating that there is more than enough space for us with God—whatever the arrangements in a heavenly sense. God will not run out of room, no matter how many more people believe in Him—no matter how many converts to Christianity the disciples (and history) would see. We will dwell with God in heaven, and He is preparing that place for us. How? Jesus prepared that place for us by going to the cross. His death and resurrection are the necessary preparation for us to dwell in the Father’s house.

In this the disciples would take comfort. They would face great adversity for their faith in this earthly life. The forces of Satan would be against them. Surely, they would recall Jesus’ words that the Father’s house has many rooms and that Jesus’ sacrifice allows for safe delivery into the world to come. And, those truths would strengthen their abiding faith.

Maybe you wonder where your baby or babies have gone. That is a natural question. The biblical hope is that our babies have gone to the presence of Jesus.² Not one goes that does not have room in the Father’s house. The Father’s house is an accepting abode—a place where all who are covered with Christ go. And, we have the hope that our babies are ahead with Him—being cared for by Him and being adjusted to their new heavenly abode by Him.

Think of them waking up in the direct presence of the Lord. Would there not be many questions? Where did I come from? How did I end up here? Perhaps this is an earthly way of thinking about things eternal. But it comforts my heart as a mother to know that Jesus would care for the adjustment of my child to eternal glory—and that she would be shown her “room” of glory under the care of the Prince of Peace.

Do you wonder where you will spend eternity? Does it cross your mind? Have you placed your hope in Christ—that His forgiveness of your sins is your assurance of heaven? If so, rejoice with great joy that you will have an abiding place with Jesus in glory. There, you will be enveloped by the presence of God and welcomed to the feast, the marriage supper of the Lamb.

In glory, there will be great fellowship, great jubilee, and plenty of everything that we need in order to live our lives unto God. We will not lack in any way because God Himself will be our God—we will be cared for by Him. And, we have the great hope of seeing our babies one day, in that blessed place.

Do you not feel the breeze of eternity, as it were, as we ponder these eternal themes? Let it comfort and lift your soul today. Jesus has done this, precious Jesus. He has prepared a place for us. If it were not so, He would not have told us that we could dwell with Him. But He is a faithful and true God, and His words are trustworthy. His sacrifice has been sufficient to guarantee us eternal dwelling place in the house of the Father.

¹Borchert, Gerald L. John 12–21. Vol. 25B. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2002.

²See: https://albertmohler.com/2009/07/16/the-salvation-of-the-little-ones-do-infants-who-die-go-to-heaven and https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/why-do-you-believe-that-infants-who-die-go-to-heaven

Lianna is author of Made for a Different Land: Eternal Hope for Baby Loss (Hope Mommies, 2019). More of her writing can be found at her website.

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