" THE WAY, THE TRUTH, THE LIFE. [JOHN 14: 1-7].

LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED: YE BELIEVE IN GOD, BELIEVE ALSO IN ME .
[ v.27].
 IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE ARE MANY MANSIONS  (ROOMS). IF IT WERE NOT SO, I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU, I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU. AND IF I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU, I WILL COME AGAIN, AND RECEIVE YOU UNTO  MYSELF;
THAT WHERE I AM, , THERE YOU MAYBE ALSO. [ ACTS 1 :11] AND WITHER I GO YE KNOW, (UNDERSTAND) AND THE WAY YE KNOW.
 THOMAS SAITH UNTO HIM, LORD, WE KNOW NOT WHITHER THOU GOEST;  AND HOW CAN WE KNOW THE WAY? JESUS SAITH UNTO HIM, "I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE:"  (11:16). NO ONE COMETH UNTO THE FATHER, BUT BY ME. IF YE HAD KNOWN ME, YE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN MY FATHER ALSO: AND FROM HENCE FORTH YE KNOW HIM, AND HAVE SEEN HIM. ( JOHN 14: 1-7). [KJV].
THE FIRST FEW VERSES OF JOHN 14 ARE AMONG THE MOST POPULAR IN THE BIBLE. THEY SPEAK ABOUT HEAVEN, BUT THE REASON FOR THEIR POPULARITY IS NOT THAT THEY REVEAL DETAILS ABOUT HEAVEN OR EVEN ABOUT LIFE BEYOND THE GRAVE. THEY DO NOT. NOR IS IT THAT OTHER, MORE EXTENSIVE PASSAGES ON THE SUBJECT OF HEAVEN. ARE LACKING. THE "BOOK" OF REVELATION DESCRIBES HEAVEN AS A GLORIOUS CITY, A COUNTRY, GOD'S KINGDOM, PARADISE, IT ABOUNDS IN WALLS, THRONES, PRECIOUS JEWELS, CHOIRS, ANGELS. WHY IS JOHN 14 SO POPULAR? THE ANSWER IS PROBABLY BECAUSE OF THE WARM IMAGE THAT IS FOUND THERE: HEAVEN IS A HOME. WE NEED A HOME, WE LONG FOR A HOME. JESUS CALMLY TOLD HIS TROUBLED DISCIPLES THAT WE HAVE ONE.  " LET NOT YOUR HEARTS BE TROUBLED; BELIEVE IN GOD, BELIEVE ALSO IN ME. OUR NEED FOR A HOME ARISES FROM THE FACT THAT WE HAVE LOST ONE. WE HAD A HOME ONCE, IN EDEN. BUT SIN CAUSED THE LOSS OF THAT HOME AND, EVER SINCE THE HISTORY OF THE HUMAN RACE HAS BEEN ONE OF WANDERING. WE THINK OF CAIN, WHO KILLED HIS BROTHER AND WAS CONDEMNED TO A LIFE OF DRIFTING. HE HAD NO HOME. IN GENESIS 11 WE FIND MEN TRYING TO CREATE A CITY IN WHICH HOLMES WOULD BE ESTABLISHED, BUT THE MEN OF BABEL WERE IN OPPOSITION TO GOD, ( CAIN AND HIS FRIENDS WERE GOING TO GIVE GOD A PIECE OF THEIR MIND FOR DESTROYING THE EARTH, THEIR FRIENDS,  AND AS THE TOWER WAS GETTING CLOSER TO GOD IN HEAVEN, HE CONFUSED THEIR LANGUAGE, AND THE BUILDING STOPPED.  THEY WERE MADE HOMELESS. WE FIND WITH THE COMING OF ABRAHAM, WE FIND A NEW HEARTENING ELEMENT. TO BE SURE GOD'S FIRST DEALINGS WITH ABRAHAM WERE
 TO TAKE HIM FROM HIS HOME- IT WAS A SINFUL PLACE  FILLED WITH IDOLS  AND IDOLS WORSHIPPERS. BUT IN THE PLACE OF THE HOME HE LOST, GOD PROMISED ABRAHAM A NEW PLACE.: " THE LAND I WILL SHOW YOU (GEN 12:1), WHAT IS MORE GOD GAVE THE BOUNDARIES AND INDICATED THE SPECIFIC TERRITORY. IT WAS "FROM THE RIVER OF EGYPT TO THE GREAT RIVER, THE RIVER EUPHRATES, THE LAND OF THE KENITES, THE KENIZZITES, THE KADMONITES, THE HITTITES, PERIZZITES, BUT EVEN THOUGH ABRAHAM WAS BROUGHT INTO THE LAND AND EVEN THOUGH HIS DESCENDANTS WERE LATER SETTLED THERE IN LARGE NUMBERS, EVEN AS GREAT A LAND AS THE PROMISED LAND WAS ULTIMATELY
 INADEQUATE. ABRAHAM IS PRAISED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, NOT BECAUSE HE  FIXED HIS HOPE ON SOME EARTHLY HOME ( IMPORTANT AS THAT MAY BE),   HE LOOKED FOR A HEAVENLY HOME. " HE LOOKED FORWARD TO THE CITY WHICH HAS FOUNDATIONS, WHOSE BUILDER AND MAKER IS GOD" ( HEB. 11: 1O).
ALTHOUGH OUR EARTHLY HOMES ARE NECESSARY AND SIGNIFICANT, THEY ARE NOT PERMANENT. OUR BASIC NEED FOR A HOME IS FULLY MET ONLY  WHEN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST PREPARES A HOME FOR US IN HEAVEN. NOW  WE ARE IN A STRANGE LAND EVEN IN ENEMY  COUNTRY. IN THAT DAY WE SHALL BE IN THE FATHER'S HOUSE AND SHALL BE HOME. THAT IS A CHRISTIAN'S DESTINY.
 WE DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HEAVEN EXCEPT THAT IT IS WHERE WE SHALL BE AND WHERE WE SHALL BE WITH JESUS. ONE DAY I WAS IN THE POOL WITH MY TWELVE- YEAR OLD MIDDLE GRANDSON, AND I LOOKING UP TOWARD THE SKY FILLED WITH CLOUDS, I SAID WHERE DO YOU THINK GOD IS? HE SAID: WITH THE STARS?  CONVERSATION DRIFTED AROUND TO HEAVEN AND WHERE GOD IS? AND WHERE HEAVEN FIT IN. AND WHERE JESUS HAS GONE TO PREPARE THAT PLACE WHICH HE HAS PROMISED US. THIS IS THE FOCAL POINT OF REVELATIONS 5. IT SPEAKS OF THE THE FOUR AND TWENTY ELDERS, THE ANGELS AND A VAST HOST OF OTHER CREATURES FROM EVERYWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE. THESE BEINGS WERE MENTIONED, NOT FOR DESCRIPTIVE PURPOSES, BUT BECAUSE EACH BORE TESTIMONY TO CHRIST, AND THUS SERVED TO SHOW HOW HE IS PROMINENT. THE FOUR AND TWENTY ELDERS PRAISED HIM WITH THIS SONG: " WORTHY ART THOU TO TAKE THE SCROLL AND TO OPEN ITS SEALS, FOR THOU WAS SLAIN AND BY THY BLOOD DIDST RANSOM MEN FOR GOD FROM EVERY TRIBE AND TONGUE AND PEOPLE AND NATION, AND HAS MADE THEM A KINGDOM AND PRIESTS TO OUR GOD, AND THEY SHALL REIGN ON EARTH (vv 9-10). THEN THE ANGELS GAVE THEIR TESTIMONY:  " WORTHY IS THE LAMB WHO WAS SLAIN, TO RECEIVE POWER AND WEALTH AND WISDOM AND MIGHT  AND HONOR AND GLORY AND BLESSING (v12). AT LAST THE REMAINING CREATURES JOINED IN: " TO HIM WHO SITS UPON THE THRONE AND TO THE LAMB BE BLESSING AND HONOR AND GLORY AND MIGHT FOR EVER AND EVER! (v13). HEAVEN IS WHERE GOD IS. IT IS HIS PRESENCE! (AND NOT SOME HIGH CONCENTRATION OF GOLDEN STREETS OR JEWELS) THAT MAKES IT HEAVEN.  THESE WORDS WERE A GREAT COMFORT TO THE DISCIPLES AND ARE PRECIOUS TO US. THE DISCIPLES WERE GOING TO LOSE THE PHYSICAL PRESENCE OF JESUS FOR A TIME, BUT HE TOLD THEM THAT ONE DAY THEY WOULD BE REUNITED WITH HIM IN HIS FATHER'S HOME. HEAVEN WOULD BE A HOME FOR THEM BECAUSE THEY WOULD BE WITH JESUS.
  STILL THEY ARE CONFUSED ABOUT WHAT IS TO HAPPEN, IN THE LIFE TO COME. DO YOU THINK WE WILL KNOW MY FAMILY WHO WENT BEFORE, WILL I KNOW MY BILL,?" MY BROTHER.?
IF WE COULD NOT RECOGNIZE OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY, THEN HEAVEN INEVITABLY WOULD LOSE MUCH OF ITS ATTRACTIVENESS. WE WILL KNOW FAMILY, FRIENDS,PARENTS, CHILDREN AND THOSE WHO HAVE DIED IN THE LORD BEFORE US.
 CHRIST STORY ABOUT THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS MAKES A SIMILAR POINT. THE LORD TOLD HOW THE RICH MAN WENT TO HELL AND, BEING IN TORMENT, LIFTED UP HIS EYES AND "SAW ABRAHAM FAR OFF AND LAZARUS IN HIS BOSOM (LK. 16:23) HERE IS A CASE THAT INVOLVES RECOGNITION OF THE DEPARTED, NOT ONLY AS THEY APPEAR IN THIS LIFE, BUT AS THEY APPEAR IN THE LIFE TO COME.
FINALLY, THERE ARE THE WORDS OF JESUS IN WHICH HE SPEAKS OF THE GENTILES JOINING WITH BELIEVING JEWS IN A GREAT REUNION IN HEAVEN." I TELL YOU, MANY WILL COME FROM EAST AND WEST AND SIT AT THE TABLE WITH ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (MT. 8:11). MANY HAVE LOST LOVED ONES. IF WE LIVE LONG ENOUGH, WE WILL ALL LOSE LOVED ONES. YET WE HAVE NOT LOST THEM ULTIMATELY. THEY ARE WITH JESUS, AND WE WILL BE UNITED WITH THEM. IN THAT DAY WE MAY BE SURPRISED AT WHO IS IN HEAVEN, FOR MANY WILL BE THERE WHOM WE DO NOT EXPECT TO BE THERE. AND WE WILL PROBABLY BE SURPRISED TO FIND THAT MANY WHOM WE THOUGHT WOULD BE  THERE ARE NOT PRESENT.