Living In A Mansion?

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. John 14:2

When ever a big lottery win is announced, whether people buy a ticket or not, everyone always imagines how they would spend the money if they won. Most people would quit their job. Some people would plan on how much they would give away and to whom. Most plan to buy the house of their dreams, and travel, and live a life of ease in luxury; and why not; it doesn't cost to dream. But notice that the dream of winning the lottery is so that we can spend it on tangible things, because we are a tangible thing gathering society! This is not a judgement, just an observation. I would buy things too! (An airplane!)

Consider what a native in an uncivilized village would do with a big lottery jackpot winnings. I think it would not hold much value to them because their existence is not based on an accumulation of materialistic things. Since we are a modern civilized consumer society, money holds great value for an exchange of goods and services, and success is often measured by an accumulation of materialistic items. That is just the way it is.

One of the drawbacks to that; and the main point now; is that, for the Christian, all of this focus on  materialism comes with a conflict in priorities and values, and it "colors" the way we interpret Scripture, and the way we live our lives.

One day a couple of weeks ago the Spirit of the Lord placed a thought in my mind I had never considered before. "What kind of furniture would be in the bedroom of the mansion that most Christians believe they would receive in heaven?" Wow! For that matter, what kind of kitchen would we need unless we still had to eat? What about the living room? Do we need a sofa, and lazyboy, a coffee table, and TV? How many bathrooms should there be?

I got to thinking of how often Christians sing "I've got a mansion just over the hill top in that bright land where we'll never grow old.... walk on streets of purest gold". Everyone is all excited about winning the spiritual lottery, and living in a mansion in heaven, and walking on streets of gold, not realizing that such a description is a metaphor for a spiritual life.

I have read books, and heard stories of many people who would tell of how they died and went to heaven, that would describe the mansion that they were going to have, and the opulent lifestyle they would live in heaven. It seems to attract the selfish materialistic desires of church people who are more interested in bringing earth to heaven rather than bringing heaven to earth!

The fact is that God is Spirit! Heaven is a Spiritual realm! These descriptions are symbolic. Gold is a symbol of Divinity, and streets of gold is talking about your divine walk, or lifestyle. A mansion (better translated "dwelling place") is not a brick and mortar building but a spiritual dwelling place in God.

Think about it for a second, do you believe for one minute that God is confined to and lives in a physical house in heaven?  Well, read the verse. "In my Father's house.." In my Father's what? House! Well, if the verse is not talking about a literal house for God, why would the "mansion" be literal?

"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!" (1 Kings 8:27)

Consider what God said in Isaiah: Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool; what is the house which you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things are mine, says the LORD....." (Isaiah 66:1)

"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16)

If you think that the bible needs to be taken literally, then are we to assume that some will be made into a pillar with graffiti on it?

"He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name." (Revelation 3:12)

I guess one might say that all of this talk about mansions over the hilltop is pretty harmless, but it really is not harmless to the Christian who wants to mature in the things of the Lord! No different than someone older than a small child should believe in Santa or the Easter bunny! All of this focus on material riches and wealth, and prosperity leads to greed and selfishness, and spiritual impotence!

Look what Paul says: "And having food and raiment let us be therewith content."  I Tim. 6:8. Food and clothing should be enough to make you content; not riches, or mansions, or even a house to live in or a bed to sleep on!

Does all this mean that it is somehow wrong to win a lottery or to have lots of money and have a big house and fancy car? Absolutely not, as long as these things don't possess you! And here is the test. I will call it the Job Test!  Can you lose everything you own, and start from scratch and not curse God?

Perhaps that is the defining factor for a deep spiritual life here on earth? To fully know what Jesus meant when He said: "And he said unto them, Take heed , and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth" Luke 12:15.  Can we say that?

I like this quote from Kipling's poem "IF" If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss;...Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that the heavenly realm of existence is not beautiful, on the contrary, consider what Paul says in I Cor. 2:9 "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." However, don't stop reading there, or you will miss what he says in the next verse! "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."

You see, I think we set our sights way to low if we take that which is gloriously spectacular in the spiritual sense, and reduce it to the tangible earthly interpretation of confining our existence in heaven to the natural carnal understanding equal to the lottery winning ability of  Living In A Mansion.

This Is The Day!

"This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."  Psalm 118:24

I know of a great many Christians that know this verse by heart, but I do no know of any (except my wife now) who knows what this verse is in reference to; and the reason I say that, is because it is always quoted to indicate their thoughts about that particular present day; and it is not.

Now, am I objecting to anyone who would quote this verse in a sort of spontaneous reflection to God on any particular day they are happy about? Why certainly not! I think that any reason, or no reason at all is always a good time to turn your thoughts toward God! It is only that there is a higher meaning with what the verse is saying, that if was known would cause one all the more to lift their voice in praise, "rejoice and be glad in it!"

There is a Jewish tradition called the Hallel, or is sometimes referred to as the Great Hallel, which is: "A chant of praise consisting of Psalms 113 through 118, used during Passover and on certain other holidays." These Psalms are read together as one, and there is much that can be said about it, which would put this post "into the weeds" and detract from my main objective.

Notice this verse from Matt. 26:30 "And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives."  This verse comes at the point when Jesus and the disciples have finished the "last supper", or Passover meal, and were on their way to the garden of Gethsemane! They were singing hymns! What were they singing?  Why the Great Hallel of course! Psalms 113-118. And where do we find the verse that this post is about? In Psalm 118, which is part of the Hallel.

Jesus would be singing "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."  all the while knowing that He was going to be betrayed, and face torture, and death on the cross.

At first glance it would seem contrary to sing a song with a verse in it like that knowing full well that His death was soon to follow, but it is my conviction that there was no greater time to sing this! I am convinced that this occasion was what this verse was written for!

This is the day the Lord hath made! What day? Not the 24 hour day, but rather the Day of Salvation! The fact that the Lord Jesus was about to die on the cross, was what was purposed from before the beginning! It is Plan A in action!

Right from Genesis and all throughout the Old Testament there are subtle and overt verses that indicate God's plan to restore His relationship with man. Not just some men, but all of mankind, and more than that, all of creation! And creation will be restored when the sons of God are revealed as per Romans 8:19  in the NIV says: "For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed" .

In Gen. 6:3 it says: "And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man,..." I believe is a promise of restoration. The strife will end, and the relationship shall be restored!

To me, the whole of  Psalm 90 speaks of restoration. Look at verse 3 "Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men." In verse 13 the Psalmist asks "Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants."  (the word repent here does not mean for God to be sorry and change His mind) Verse 12 the concern is to make good use of the time now. "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."  A whole post could be written showing how each verse of this Psalm speaks of God promised restoring of creation back to Himself.

Oh, when your eyes are open to look for it, you can see many more examples in the Old Testament of verses that speak not only of the restoration of creation, but pointing to the coming of Jesus, and His death bringing Salvation of the sin of the world. That of course would be a day to look forward to taking place, and a reason to rejoice and be glad in it!

So, perhaps the next time you say the words to Psalm 118:24 "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."  not only can you feel free to rejoice because it is a beautiful day indeed, but you will have a higher purpose for rejoicing, knowing that the day of Salvation is the day meant when saying This Is The Day!