Yesterday at the funeral of a neighbor we heard the preacher describe how the deceased was now enjoying a mansion in Heaven, and he described a literal building surrounded by lovely flowers and trees. He quoted, of course, “in my father’s house are many mansions” John 14:2.
What did Jesus mean by “my father’s house”? Did he mean Heaven? Certainly not the other time he used the phrase. John 2:16, and parallel passages.
In Isaiah 57:15 God says of himself that He inhabits eternity and also—the Temple? No, the “humble and contrite spirit.” Peter says the believers are all “living stones” (1 Peter 2:5) individual dwelling places of God, John 14:23; 1 Cor. 3:16 and 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21. When they have all been ground and polished and fitted into the places Christ has been preparing for them they will be the “many mansions” in the true Temple of God, the “houses” of God. John 14:23.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One