The ''Coming Again'' of Yahushua in John 14

It has been traditional for this passage to be taken as a promise of Christ to come back visibly, bodily, and personally from Heaven to rapture Christians and take them back to Heaven with him. But this is not the meaning of this passage. What it means, and what Yahushua was talking about, was that after He had gone, He would send the Holy Spirit back into the world to dwell with His disciples.

Some also believe this refers to the time of death: “Hence in John 14:2f we read of being taken up into the “mansions” of the Father‘s house by the returning Son – doubtless a reference to the death of believers.” This also is not the meaning of this passage. Yahushua said He would come to “receive” His disciples (have a “friendly encounter”). It did not say He would take them to Heaven.

Let us examine this passage and its context to see if this is true. There are several reasons we might consider as to why the traditional concept is not correct:

1. The Meaning of the Father’s House:

First, there is the meaning of my Father’s house. Where and what is the Father's house? Most Christians reading this passage simply think of Heaven and let it go. Many believe in terms of mansions inside a city of gold, etc. They have not conducted any further studies into the matter. But it does not say here that the Father’s house is Heaven.

If we believe that Yahuwah is omnipresent, then we think He is everywhere. There is no place in the universe where Yahuwah is not. David asked, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there” (Psalm 139:7-8). In Isaiah 66:1, Yahuwah said, “Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me?”

The Temple had been the place built by Solomon, and Yahuwah wanted His people to know that those things had been; but he planned to dwell directly with His people apart from any Temple. The Temple was symbolic, and sometimes the manifested presence of Yahuwah was evidenced there. But the Temple was not to be looked at as “The” dwelling place of Yahuwah.

And now, since Yahushua died, was buried, was raised from the dead, ascended to Heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit to His disciples, we Christians take the place of the Temple as dwelling places of Yahuwah. “In whom ye also are built together for a habitation of Yahuwah through the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22). The Holy Spirit has abode in believers ever since He was given to the disciples. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of Yahuwah, and that the Spirit of Yahuwah dwelleth in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16). “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of Yahuwah, and ye are not your own?” (1 Cor. 6:19). And the writer of the book of Hebrews said, “But Christ as a son over his own house; WHOSE HOUSE ARE WE….” (Heb. 3:6) We are the Father’s house today, with Yahushua the Son residing there. There is one house and many mansions. (See 1 Tim. 3:15; Eph. 2:19-21; 1 Cor. 3:9-11, 16-17.)

2. Yahushua is Talking About the Holy Spirit in John 14:

From verse 16 (of John 14), Yahushua refers explicitly to the Holy Spirit by name. Yahushua said, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever” (John 14:16). The word abide here is from the Greek word meno, which means “to stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy) – abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry (for)…” It is from this word that the word “mansions” (mone) is derived. In verse 17, Yahushua says, “For he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” He was speaking of the soon indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who would come and take the place of Christ dwelling with the disciples. But the language says it is Yahushua Who will come and dwell with them. “I will not leave you comfortless; I WILL COME TO YOU” (vs.. 18). This is the same thing He said to them in verse 3. Since the Holy Spirit came, Yahushua has lived within us. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of Yahuwah well in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you…” (Rom. 8:9-10).

And not only would it be Yahushua who would come and dwell with the disciples, but it would be the Father as well. “…my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (vs. 23).

3. The Word “Mansions” Is the Same as the “Abode.”

When Yahushua said that His Father and He would come to the disciples and dwell with them, He used the word abode, the same word as the word mansions in verse 2 (mone). Christians would become the mansions or dwelling places of the Father and Yahushua through the presence of the Holy Spirit. The word for mansions/mone means “a staying, i.e., residence (the act or the place); -- abode, mansion.” The word itself is derived from the Greek verb meno, as mentioned before, which means “to stay (in a given place, state, relation, or expectancy.) – abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry (for). Webster’s Dictionary defines the English word mansion is a stay or sojourn. This is obsolete, meaning that this used to be the word's meaning. We must always consider the past meanings rather than just what words mean today. John 14:2 is the only place in the New Testament where this word is translated as mansions. In John 14:23 it is translated abode. It is the same word. Yahushua said He would make His abode with us. We become the mansions of which He spoke in verse 2. He is saying that Christians will become the dwelling places of Christ in the Father’s house. This does not mean, of course, that there is no other coming of Christ than this. Most of the New Testament was written after the Holy Spirit had come, but it continued to predict that Christ was yet to come. There is more than one “coming” of Christ in the New Testament. Most of our writings have centered around that “second appearance” of Christ, which took place in A.D. 70. It was called “second” to His “first” personal appearance.

4. Disciples Not To Be Troubled Because the Holy Spirit Would Come:

In verse 27, Yahushua said, “Let not your heart be troubled.” This is the same instruction He had given to them in verse 2, showing that He is still talking about the same thing. So what we have here is this: Yahushua here in John 14 is saying that in the Father‘s house (Which is the whole universe), there were many places to abide or dwell. But the disciples would become His house, and He would live in them as mansions. He would come to them, in the person of the Holy Spirit, to accomplish this. His going away to prepare a place for us involved His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. All of this was necessary for us to become mansions in the Father's house.

The modern concept of this passage is that the “mansions” mentioned are some grand, beautiful, luxurious palaces in Heaven. This is not the meaning here at all. The word itself does not have that meaning. Yahushua said he was going to prepare a place for them. He did. He died, rose again, ascended, and sent the Holy Spirit to indwell them. He said he would come and “receive” them. This is the only time in the New Testament that this exact word is used (paralambano). It means “to receive near, i.e., associate with one’s self (in any familiar or intimate act or relation.” The meaning is that He would send the Holy Spirit in His stead to receive Christians into an intimate relationship because the Holy Spirit would then dwell within them. He did not say He would receive them in Heaven. This meaningful relationship He is talking about would take place on earth. He is not here speaking of a second coming of Himself personally, but only in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

He continued in verse 16 by saying that the Father would give them another Comforter (See also John 14:26; 15:26, and 16:7). The word “Comforter” means “an intercessor, counselor: -- advocate, comforter.” In other words, He is the one who helps us to express our needs to the Father, as mentioned in Romans 8:26: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Incidentally, this is not talking about Christians speaking in “tongues” as some think. The Spirit‟s intercession “cannot be uttered.”)

Yahushua said this Comforter would “abide with you forever” (vs. 16). In verse 23, Yahushua says, “We will COME to him.” Not just Yahushua, but also the Father, “and make our abode with him” (vs. 23). As said before, the word abode is the same word in Greek as for mansions in verse 2, and it refers to making the residence of the Father and the Son with the Christians. It is essential to see that when Yahushua spoke of mansions (dwelling places) in verse 2, He was speaking of the same thing He did in verse 23 when He said His Father and He would come and make their residence with the disciples. The word is the same.

In verse 26, He said the Father would send the Holy Spirit in His name. This is the way Christ came to the disciples – in the person of the Holy Spirit… Then, in verse 27, continuing the same discussion, He says again (as He did in verse 1), “Let not your heart be troubled.” Their hearts were not to be troubled because they would be provided the Comforter to dwell with them. This is why He said the same thing in verse 1: “Let not your heart be troubled.” Then Yahushua says that they had heard how He said, “I go away, and come again unto you (vs. 28). He says this here in connection with His discussion of the Holy Spirit coming to them. What He says here in verse 28, about the Holy Spirit, would have the same meaning in verse 3 where He said, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself… .)

So this beautiful passage in John 14:1-3, which so many of us preachers have used at funeral services to comfort troubled hearts on the basis that Christ is going to come and take His children to “mansions in the sky” does not mean that at all. It means, instead, that Christ promised to come in the person of the Holy Spirit and to indwell His Christians forever. The Father’s house is everywhere. When Yahuwah said, “The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool…” (Isaiah 66:1), He told us that He dwells everywhere. “Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee…”(1 Kings 8:27). Whether there are universes beyond ours, we do not know. But if so, Yahuwah is there, too. One writer said that if one grain of sand on the beach would represent our universe, then all the grains of sand in the world would mean all the other universes beyond ours. It staggers our minds to even think of this. And Yahuwah is everywhere – omnipresent. But the fantastic thing is that Yahuwah has chosen to make His abode in the hearts and lives of His people. “But will Yahuwah in very deed dwell with men on the earth?” (II Chronicles 8:18). We are His abiding places, abodes, and mansions. In the person of the Holy Spirit, He comes to receive us to Himself and to associate Himself in a personal relationship. And incidentally, do you know where the throne of Yahuwah is now? It is in the midst of His people, right now in this life, in the holy city, the New Jerusalem, the church, in the new heavens and new earth: “…the throne of Yahuwah and the Lamb shall be in it (the holy city, Yahuwah‟s people)…” (Rev. 22:3).

This is a non-WLC article by John L. Bray.

We have taken out from the original article all pagan names and titles of the Father and Son, and have replaced them with the original given names. Furthermore, we have restored in the Scriptures quoted the names of the Father and Son, as they were originally written by the inspired authors of the Bible. -WLC Team