There are many abodes in the House of my Father
Click here
for 'narrow' reading
Meeting in the air [eis apantèsin ]
Who will be on earth in the
Millennium?
John 14:1-3
According toJh 14:1-3 zei Jezus op de vooravond van zijn dood ondermeer
het volgende tot zijn leerlingen met wie hij bijeen was in de bovenzaal:
John 14:1-3 Yeshua, on the eve of his death, said the following to his
disciples with whom he was gathered in the upper room:
Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe in me too. In the House of my Father
there are many abodes. If not, I would have told you, for I am going to prepare a
place for you. And
when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will receive you
to myself, so that wherever I am you may be also.
Yeshua starts
saying - with emphasis - that in addition to faith in God, faith in him is also
necessary. There is no reason for his disciples to be alarmed. Apparently, Yeshua
had noticed that reaction after he had said that he would go away; that they would seek him, but would not find him.
Why would they not be able to find
him?Jh 13:33-34, 36-37 Because he went
to a place where - for the time being - they could not follow him (John
13:33-37). Why not?
He had to go first to prepare a
place for his followers in the House of his Father, so that - on his return -
they could take up residence there. This was therefore no
cause for concern for them. On the contrary. Just as they had relied on God and on his Word in the past and had found
consolation therein, they were now also to rely on the words of truth of their
Mashiach and find enlightenment.
In verse two Yeshua said in effect:
"If you would have had some wrong ideas - that something is true while it
is not true - then I would certainly have made you aware of it. You must know
that in the House of my Father there are many abodes (or >>
dwellings)".
For
them that was quite a new truth! In their sacred Scriptures, they had not yet met that idea. However, what did Yeshua mean by that expression: The House
of my Father? Where does the Father actually live?
Many will answer immediately: God lives in
Heaven anyway!
That is, of
course, correct in itself, but what are we to
understand by that expression, Heaven? Isaiah 66 may help us
on our way:
Thus speaks YHWH: The heavens
are my throne and the earth is my footstool; what kind of House would you want to
build for me, and which Sanctuary would be my resting place?
From this
Scripture, we may evidently deduce that the
entire universe includes God's dwelling place. En daarin, zo verzekert Jezus ons, zijn veel kamers
beschikbaarAnd in that endless space - Yeshua
assures us - many abodes are available. The Greek monè,
plural monai, simply means a
place to stay. In the NT that word appears only here and also in verse 23, where we read: Yeshua answered him: If someone loves me, he will keep my
word and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make an abode with
him.
From Is 66:1, however, we still can conclude
something else. When
God connects heaven and earth as being respectively his throne and footstool,
he is referring to a House or
In that Scripture YHWH Elohim, through his prophet, is speaking to the Jewish people of
the End times. Those of them
who then still reject Yeshua as their Mashiach, obviously will - with the
support of their own chosen Mashiach, in reality the Antichrist - erect the
Compare: Da 9:27; Is 66:1-6 and
2
Thess 2:4.
Current situation on the
Moreover, we are reminded of the scene that Jacob witnessed in
I am YHWH, the Elohim of
your father Abraham and the Elohim of Isaac. The land on which you are lying will be
given to you and to your seed. Your seed will be like the dust of the earth; you will expand to the west and the east, to the north and
the south. And in you and
in your seed [
Also in that scene, heaven and earth were
connected, undoubtedly prophetic in advance of the visionary images that John
would later receive about the Temple City New Jerusalem, which descends from
Elohim out of the heavens to earth:
And I saw a new heaven
and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and the
sea is no more. And the holy City, New
Jerusalem, I saw coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying,
"Look! The
Tent of God with men, and he will store his tent with them, and they will be
his people, and God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out
every tear from their eyes, and Death will be no more, neither will mourning
nor cry nor pain be anymore; the
first things went away” ... And I did not see a temple sanctuary in her, for
the Lord God Almighty is her temple sanctuary, and the Lamb (Rev 21:1-4, 22).
With John we here see in visions the events that will
mark the beginning of the Millennium. The old arrangement, whereby the demons behind the scenes of
invisibility ruled over the corrupt society on earth, is out of sight. Completely disappeared.
The Messianic kingdom is still the only power,
visibly represented on earth by the
people of the saints of the Supreme Being (Da 2:44-45; 7:14,
27).
The
visionary image corresponds to the former situation, as it existed in
See: New Jerusalem - The
Holy City
And that conclusion helps us considerably to discern what
Yeshua meant by the House of my Father. It
refers to a spiritual House
consisting of believers in Mashiach
Yeshua who - functioning from the Temple City New Jerusalem - will
become a blessing for the Gentile peoples; entirely according to God's promise to
Abraham in Genesis: In your seed all the Goyim of the earth will
be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice (Gen 22:18).
That conclusion is also consistent
with Yeshua's own statement in John 2. When
he cleansed the temple of unholy commerce, he said to the merchants: Do no longer make the
House of my Father to a house of merchandise.
And
that is precisely the meaning of John 14:2, however, than in antitype >> In the House of my Father - the Temple City New Jerusalem - there are many abodes.
In that text, Yeshua spoke in a form
of the Greek verb eisin
in the present tense. Even then, Jesus could speak that way: With his coming
and acting on earth, the new antitypical temple arrangement already had begun
to take shape, although the Christian Church, his Congregational Body, would
only come to existence on the day of Pentecost in 33 AD.
That fact is evident from what he said to the
Jews who called him to account for the cleansing of the temple: Break down this
temple and in three days I will raise it up ... But he
spoke about the
temple of his body (John
2:18-22).
At Yeshua’s baptism, that
antitypical temple arrangement already began to take shape. Through
his immersion in the
Compare for this biblical principle: Heb
10:5-9; Matt
3:13-17 and Luke
3:21-23).
In that way the antitypical 'altar' of God's
will came into existence (Heb
13:10).
In ancient times the copper altar stood in the middle
of the Courtyard in front of the holy Tent of meeting. And in accordance with
that type the antitypical, spiritual altar came to existence, pointing to a state in which
someone is finding himself on earth. Yeshua who had been anointed as High Priest, ‘walked around’ in
that antitypical Courtyard because he was in a state of human perfection,
completely righteous, integer and upright. Just as we read in Heb 7:26-27 >>
For such
a high priest indeed was befitting us, loyal, guileless, undefiled, separated
from the sinners, and having become higher than the heavens, who has no need
daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for the own sins,
then for those of the people. For this he did once for all, having offered up
himself.
Compare: Melchizedek
in Hebrews - A new priesthood
With
the antitypical altar and the antitypical Courtyard, the antitypical Tent
itself came into existence, in which the new High priest could perform his
public service.
Of course, his Father Elohim, the
Supreme, always had his residence in heaven. However, when He "stored
up" the true Tent, he could fit up that this exclusive dwelling took on a
different aspect, or new characteristics.
The holiness of his heavenly home was increased, in
sharp opposition to the extraordinary sinfulness of humankind.
His personal home now became the holy place where a
righteous, but also merciful God was willing to accept an appropriate, perfect
sacrifice for the benefit of unholy humankind.
Of course, the value of such a holy and perfect
sacrifice had likewise to be presented by a sinless, holy High Priest who had
personal access to God. In that way, Elohim's heavenly throne became a throne of
reconciliation. His heavenly dwelling
took on the characteristics of an antitypical Most Holy.
Compare: Melchizedek in Hebrews – A new
covenant
And
also
Hebrews 9:11-12,
24-26.
But what can be said about the Holy?
That first, front section also has antitypical
significance, again in the sense of a situation.
As we already ascertained, from the
time of his baptism Yeshua fulfilled his earthly ministry in the antitypical
Courtyard as a perfectly righteous man, overseeing the dedication of his
own soul as a perfectly sin-sacrifice. He was in the midst of his own (Jewish) people that he
tried to serve and by whom he could of course be seen, just as was the case
with the Courtyard of the Tabernacle. Although the members of the 12 non-priestly tribes did not
have access to that Courtyard, they could observe everything that was going on
there.
With the Holy,
however, it was different. That
first section of the actual Tent had a shielding, a curtain, which hid from the
eye everything that took place within it.
Only Aaron and his priestly sons were allowed to
enter into it for the daily and weekly cultic activities.
When Yeshua was anointed
at the time of his baptism, he was also begotten by God as his spiritual Son
who, from that moment on, was on his way back to heaven.In die hoedanigheid bevond hij zich in het tegenbeeldige
Heilige; In that capacity he abided in
the antitypical Holy; concerning
his relationship to God shielded.
His Jewish fellow countrymen could not perceive that
spiritual condition with their literal eyesight.
From the above we can
now draw a number of conclusions:
(1) The
larger and more perfect Tent, not made with hands, therefore has nothing to do with a physical building (Heb
9:11-12). It
is a spiritual 'building' that is built up with 'living stones', namely living
persons, either in the possession of a spiritual nature (the heavenly
Congregation) or of a human nature (the earthly Congregation). Compare One
Peter 2:4-5.
And to the first of
those "living stones," on the eve of his death, Yeshua said: In the house of my Father there are many abodes ... I am
going to prepare a place for you. Compare also Ephesians
2:20-22.
(2) So, when Yeshua poured out holy spirit upon his
waiting disciples on the Day of Pentecost of 33 AD, it provided proof that he
had entered the antitypical Most Holy and to his Father had presented the value
of his blood, thereby having gained an eternal redemption.
By that way, he had
prepared a place for his disciples in the
larger and more perfect Tent.
Consequently, on the day of Pentecost, he could transfer them to that
antitypical Tent. Justified by faith in his ransom sacrifice they resided from
then on in the situation of the antitypical earthly Courtyard. And moreover,
begotten as Elohim's spiritual sons, they found themselves too in the situation
of the antitypical Holy. In a sense, Yeshua had received them to himself, to reside with him in the House of his Father.
Everything, of course, in a kind of provisional sense. In the meantime
they are eagerly looking forward to other types becoming reality:
For we know that when our
earthly tent dwelling is dissolved, we will have a building from God, a
non-handmade, eternal dwelling in the heavens (2Cor 5:1). In other words: As begotten sons they
eagerly await Yeshua’s coming again; the fulfilment
of his own assured promise: And I will receive
you to myself, so that wherever I am you may be also. That is, of course, the experience of the rapture.
(Note: Revelation
11 discloses that after that event the heavenly part of the naos
can be measured).
After this excursion we return to John 14:2.
Based on Isaiah 66:1 we concluded that apparently the entire universe can be
considered as the House of my Father. The heaven, God's residence, has no spatial limitations.
With the use of that expression, the Bible simply indicates that it is a
dwelling place on a spiritual level. A very different level of
life, therefore, than we humans experience here on earth.
For that
reason, the Scripture 1 Thess 4:15-17 does not present
any problem.
15 For this is what
we say to you in a word from the Lord, that we, the living, who remain alive until the
presence of the Lord, will in no case precede those who have fallen asleep;
16 for the Lord himself will descend from
heaven with a commanding call, with the voice of archangel and with God's
trumpet, and those who are dead in Mashiach
will rise first.
17 After
that we, the living, who survive, will together with them be snatched away in
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And
thus we will always be with the Lord.
In the verses 16 and 17, the apostle
describes the change to heavenly life of all members of Yeshua’s
Congregational Body, all Christians who were included - by rebirth - in the
Body of Messiah from Pentecost till that time (1Cor 12:12-13).
Other persons - also the other
believers - such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all other pre-christian faithful will not share in the experience
(event) that Paul describes here, in 1 Thess 4, and
which he, later and more detailed, would elaborate in 1Cor 15: 51-52.
See also: The Last Trumpet.
Therefore, it is simply not true that all believers of all times will attain heavenly, immortal life.
For example,
it is easily demonstrable
that Abraham did not expect life in heaven. He indeed expected a better patris,
which belonged to heaven. Because he looked forward at the City that has
[true] foundations, of which City we now know that it
will be New Jerusalem that will descend from heaven, towards earth. In fact, an
arrangement by which Elohim will then reside with all the people on earth.
Because of that progress in God's purpose, it is said of those people then on
earth: And
death will be no more.
For them, permanent life on earth is therefore possible from that time on.
Compare Hebrews 11:16 >>
Abraham longed for a homeland that belongs to heaven.
And also Revelation 21:2-5 >>
And the holy City, New Jerusalem, I saw coming down
from heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard
a loud voice from the throne, saying, Behold! The Tent of God with men, and he
will store his tent with them, and they will be his people, and God himself
will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and Death
will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore; the
first things went off. And He ho is sitting on the throne said, Behold! I make
all things new.
So, instead of going to heaven, YHWH Elohim will direct his attention on our
globe the earth. Why? Because all the people outside Yeshua’s
Congregational Body will in the future reside on earth. Dat Abraham uitsluitend aan toekomstig aards leven
dacht, blijkt ook uit het feit dat hij bereid was zijn zoon Isaäk ten offer te
brengenThat Abraham was thinking exclusively of future earthly life, is also evident
from the fact that he was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac. When he tried to bring that sacrifice, he did so in the
belief that God could raise his only son if necessary.Waar In heaven?
Absolutely not! Abraham was expecting his
son back in an earthly resurrection;
for only then could the promise In Isaac your
seed will be mentioned have progress!
Meeting in the air [eis apantèsin]
But back
to 1 Thess 4.
When Yeshua’s
Congregational Body, his Bride, is snatched away, she goes to meet her Lord in
the air. Twee zaken verdienen hierbij onze aandacht:
Here, two things deserve our
attention: Meeting
the Lord in the air, and thus, we will always be with [the] Lord.
The Greek εις απαντησιν (eis apantèsin) had in the papyri the application of someone to meet,
in particular a dignity. In his
commentary on this expression, William Vine wrote:
It
occurs in a papyrusmanuscript of the 2nd
century BC, and in another of the 3rd century AD, for the reception of a newly
appointed magistrate, or other dignitary, by the residents in his district on
his arrival there. Almost invariably the word suggests that those who
go out to meet him intend to return to their starting place with the person
met…and this meaning seems equally approriate here.
That Vine himself also believed that in this sense the phrase meeting the Lord in
the air should be conceived, is apparent from what he wrote
further about the Christians being resurrected: “They will be
raised by his quickening voice, and will be caught away to meet him
in the air, and, in due course, will return with him to the earth from whence
they set out”.
That in this course of events also
the last generation of Christians will be involved - those who will remain
alive until the parousia (presence) of the Lord
Yeshua - Vine had indicated earlier. The dead are
raised, but the bodies of the believers who have remained alive until then must
be changed.
And why?
Because they can not enter their heavenly inheritance in their current, natural
(human) state.
Vine: “Concerning the living
believers it is stated that, inasmuch as in its present natural condition
the body cannot enter upon its heavenly inheritance, their bodies shall be
changed, in the twinkling of an eye and
without passing through the experience of death… Then shall, all together and
immediately, at the same time and in the same company, be caught away to
the parousia of the Lord”.
However, as said before, Yeshua’s
Body-members - after that meeting - will be forever
with [the] Lord.
And
that is quite understandable. After all,
their existence will be on the same level as that of the Mashiach, that is on a
spiritual
level. Having gone through the barrier
of their flesh, just like Yeshua himself, they pass the curtain (or: veil) and are granted access to the holy place, the heavenly throne room of the Father.
Compare Hebrews 10:19-20.
However, in what way are we to view the joint
return to the earth? Clearly not as a geographical displacement,
but rather in
the sense of focusing attention on,
as is also applicable in Rev
21:2-4 (see above).
When
the heavenly Congregation of the New Jerusalem descends from God in heaven, all
her attention will then be focused on the situation that will then exist on
earth among men.
And
those people will indeed experience that attention. They start
noticing that completely new conditions are emerging among them. Nothing
remains in the same, old conditions. As scripture is telling us: All things are being made new!
Op 21:1-5
The apostle Paul expressed that 'return' - together with all
the attention for the new earthly situation – in these terms: When the Mashiach, your life, is made manifest, you will
also be made manifest in glory together with him (Col 3:4).
In fact the same purport as Rom 8:19 >> The fervent expectation
of creation waits for the sons of God to be made manifest. And with what intention will these
Body-members of Yeshua be made manifest?
Answer: To accomplish a grand work
during the Millennium reign of Mashiach, namely giving the Goyim the opportunity to bless themselves in
Abraham's seed (Gen 22:18).
However, it always remains true that they find themselves all the time in the monai of
the Father's House, in the abodes
that their Lord had prepared for them, and also in the sense of a close relationship with both the Father and the Son, on a
spiritual level.
Immortality / Heavenly life
Look, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all
be laid to sleep, but we shall all be changed, in an indivisible moment, in a
blink of the eye, in the last trumpet.
For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality. But as soon as this corruptible puts on incorruption, and
this mortal puts on immortality, the word will become reality, that is written:
Death is swallowed up in victory (1Cor 15:51-54).
With this passage we
receive a further explanation of the rapture according to 1Thess
4:13-17. Again, this refers to the change to heavenly life of all members of Yeshua’s Congregational Body in his parousia.
All generations of died Christians, along with the last generation which had
remained alive up to that time. Only they will have the experience of being
"clothed" with immortality (athanasia). Something that is
really superb!
For think what the
apostle wrote, in 1Tim 6:16, about YHWH Elohim
Himself: The One who
alone possesses immortality, inhabiting an
inaccessible light; whom no man has seen nor can see. To him be honour and
eternal power! Amen.
Yes indeed, YHWH Elohim alone
possesses in Himself immortality. However, to others, chosen by Him, he can
grant immortality. And apart from his Beloved Son,
only his Body members receive that superb gift! In Phil 3:20-21 the apostle has
expanded further on that magnificent gift:
For our citizenship exists in the heavens, from which
we also eagerly await a Saviour, Lord Yeshua Mashiach, who will refashion the body of our lowliness to be
conformed to the body of his glory.
Paul himself could not imagine
anything greater than to take up residence with the Lord, as he had earlier
formulated in the Second Corinthian letter: We know
that when our earthly tent dwelling is dissolved, we
will have a building from God, a non-handmade,
eternal dwelling in the heavens.
For him, Paul, the resurrection
body is like a building, an eternal house in the heavens.
Consequently, in 2 Cor 5 he stated: We are therefore always
in good spirit and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent
from the Lord ... We are full of good courage and prefer to be absent from
the body and take up residence with the Lord.
The apostle is
constantly talking about us, plural. Thus, he assured
that the heavenly destination, taking up residence with the Lord,
applies to all real, chosen and called Christians (Rom
8:28-30).
By the way, on the night that
Yeshua and his disciples were for the last time gathered in the upper room in
And now,
you glorify me, Father, beside yourself with the glory which I had beside you
before the world was ... Father, what you
have given me - I want where I am, they too be with me, that they may behold my
glory which you gave me, for you loved me before the founding of the world.
See: That wonderful structure - the
Church - John 17: 1-26
Who will be on earth in the Millennium?
From
Pentecost 33 AD, with the foundation of Yeshua’s Body
of believers, completely new perspectives were created for Jews and Gentiles
alike who were called by God in connection with his purpose in Mashiach Yeshua
(Rom
8:28-30).
A new aeon (age, world period) then
had its start within Elohim's purpose, by creating the heavenly part of
the seed of Abraham. That part of the Seed has come to be
known as the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, who, as the heavenly
part of the New Jerusalem, will eventually descend from heaven to become a
blessing to the Gentile nations living in the Millennium on Earth.
This implies that all others who will be favoured with
(eternal) life by YHWH Elohim, will have their destiny
on earth. Among
them are the believing Jews (and their forefathers) from
before and after the aeon in which the Body of Christians is called.
It is
better to say: First of all the Jews, because
for them in the first instance and always, from Abraham, the promise has been
made that the Gentile nations in them, the earthly part of Abraham's
seed, will be blessed
That in the Millennium
alone that part of the seed will be on earth – of course together
with the Gentile people - is clear from what is going to happen at the
end of the 1000 years, when Satan will be released from his Millennium prison:
And as soon as the thousand years
have come to an end, Satan will be released from his dungeon, and he will go
out to deceive the Gentile peoples that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog , to gather them to
war. Their number as the sand of the
sea. And they
[a considerable portion of the Gentiles that went
through the judgment of the Millennium] advanced over the breadth of the earth and encircled
the camp of the saints and the beloved City.
However, fire came
down from heaven and devoured them (Rev 20:7-9).
At whom
will those rebellious nations aim in that for them decisive phase?
Answer: At the camp of the saints and the beloved City.
Here it
becomes clear that the beloved City, the New Jerusalem, was
represented on earth by the saints for 1000 years. No, not the
saints of the Christian congregation, but the saints or elect of the Jewish
Congregation.
See for
additional details regarding their destination: Dan
7:17-18, 27; Isa
65: 9, 15.
In this connection, something else
has to be remarked: For what purpose is Satan bound
for 1,000 years?
In verse 3 of Revelation 20
that question is answered: Lest he
deceive the Gentile people any longer until the thousand years are finished.
So, the new society on earth, from its beginning, therefore includes - in
addition to the Jewish saints - especially the nations, the Gentiles
[Goyim]. And that, of course, does not surprise us at all! Because,
from Mt 25:37, 46 we already knew in
advance that it will be the 'sheep' - the righteous among the Goyim -
who will be the first to make the crossing from the old aeon to the new aeon,
the Millennium. However,
for sure in the company of the Jewish saints!
Or to put it another
way: Together with the Jewish 'man' of the End Times, namely those of the Jews who
come out of the age-long hardening around their own, true Mashiach. The
fullness of the true called Christians - and accordingly the rapture of those
heavenly oriented saints - will, as we presumably may expect, be a powerful
boost to put at last faith in their own Mashiach (Rom
11:25).
Concerning the 'sheep' it is prophetically
clear that they - for their salvation - will distinguish that there is a
necessity to join those believing Jewish saints, who in that period will suffer
much tribulation.
From Zec
8:23, that End time development is likewise prophetically
clear: They [the
‘sheep’] will grasp the slip of a man who is a Jew, saying
to them: We want to go with you,
for we have heard that God is with you.
See also the Study: Confusion
of Tongues and the Seven Times
-.-.-.- .-.