Preparing a Place

He’s Preparing a Place for Who?

Jn.14:1-3 - Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 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.
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.

You? You, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? You will prepare a place for…me? There have been many times I wish I wasn’t in the same place as myself, but now You, who know me best, will prepare a place for me? I am completely sure that I cannot fathom the depth of the reason, but only that it includes a love far beyond anything I have ever even imagined.

Even after my brothers and sisters in Adam have murdered You, You still will prepare a place for me? Do You not know that I would have been shouting “Crucify Him!” as loudly as all the others? I would have pounded in the nails. I would have lifted the planks. And still You go to prepare a place for the likes of me? I can hardly bear it.

You say there are many dwelling places in Your Father’s house. Are there not more important people to which You may reserve such places? Are there not more sincere, more holy, more pious, and more noble people than I? There are many who have fed more poor people, and who have resisted much greater temptations, and who have embraced more orphans than have I. Are they not more worthy of such a place than am I?

But You insist that You are preparing a place for the likes of me. And since there are obviously more worthy prospects for a place in Your Father’s house, then I must conclude that being reserved a place has nothing to do with me. And if it has nothing to do with me, then it has everything to do with You. The place and the reservation are both Yours to give. They are in Your hand and You are offering them both to all who, in Your own words, believe.

How can this be? Rebels and moral felons can receive this reward straight from Your hands and by Your eternal decree simply by faith? What kind of sacrificial love offers such a reward? What grace can eclipse the justice we should satisfy? Why can the guilty dwell in Your Father’s house without a personal payment for our sins but because of faith in You?

…that where I am, there ye may be also.

How gracious would it have been if You had prepared a place that was free from sin and basking in eternal glory? It would have been unexplainable if You had prepared a wonderful place of bliss and eternal life. What glory we all would have if all the saints would be gathered together, forever. That would have beyond all we could have asked or thought. But Your plans soared way beyond those wonderful and exotic scenarios.

You said the place You were preparing would be where You Yourself dwelled. Oh my, how can I even dare to imagine such a thought, such a place? This breaks the common mold of grace and love and gives birth to a mystery which holds a glory unknown to the human mind. Who can describe the Son of the Living God with all the fullness He deserves? Who can put into words His sufferings, the brutality His love endured, or the majestic glory of that empty tomb? Who can understand the birth of God in the likeness of sinful flesh? Who can comprehend the knowledge of Your eternal sacrifice that can wash sinners from the filth they so energetically embraced?

And here You reign with a glory that baffles angels. The nail prints still shout that the blood You shed will always be alive with eternal power. You are august and with an inherent holiness reserved for the Godhead. You were betrayed, You were mocked, You were abused, You were rejected, and You were crucified by those You came to rescue. And after You endured all this from the hands of vicious sinners, You still prepare a place for all those sinners who believe? And this place is where You will be?

If you are still unmoved than perhaps you have never met this Savior, this Lord, this Redeemer. This is no fairy tale I have humbly recited, this is the truth of all the ages. This truth and this unfolding narrative will one day be left standing alone with all human history and all the so called accomplishments of man being swept aside and lost forever. This Christ and His plan will have been eternally fulfilled. And sinners like us will be ushered into His very presence, far more real than visible, and there we will be forever. And what acts of kindness, what acts of mercy, or what acts of love did we do to earn such a divine place with Him?

Believe. Only believe.