Why would God put a longing in our hearts for our future home if it were a lie?
You removed the scripture from my quote.
Why would God put a longing in our hearts for our future home if it were a lie? 1 Pe 2:11, Jn 14:2, Re 12:11
Unless it's just something entirely imaginary that some people have convinced themselves to be true. :think:
I think Jesus knows a thing or two more than you--you know, since he rose from the dead. He's the only man who existed who can rightly tell us about who we are, why we're here and where we're going. I'm going with what he has to say. Best of luck to you in your plans.
opcorn:
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].
Let’s establish, first of all, what the Father’s house is; the Father’s house is this vast universe that you and I live in today. We are living on one of the very minor, smallest planets. We’re just a speck in space. We live in the Father’s house.
Sir James Jeans called it the expanding universe. First, men thought of the earth with the stars up there like electric light bulbs screwed in the top of the universe. Then men began to explore and found that we are in a solar system, that we are actually a minor planet going around the sun, and that there are quite a few other planets “tripping the light fantastic” around the sun with us. We, together with other solar systems, are in a galactic system, and when you look up at the Milky Way, you see the other side of our galactic system. Now friend, ours is only one galactic system. If we could move out far enough, we would find other galactic systems that make ours look like it is just a peanut in space. We are told that our nearest neighbor, Andromeda, is something like 2,000,000 light years away from us. Friend, we won’t go to our nearest neighbor of the galactic system to borrow a cup of sugar in the morning, because we won’t get back in time for lunch! Even these galactic systems are not the end of space at all. Beyond them, they find what they call quasars. The reason the astronomers call them quasars is because that is a German word meaning they don’t know what they are. They have found them through the radio telescopes like they have on the Mojave Desert. They have an even bigger telescope over in England, and they have found that beyond these quasars are other—well, they don’t know what they are—so the British have come up with the very fine scientific term, “blops,” and so they call them blops! We simply do not know how vast this universe is. It may be an infinite universe. If there is an infinite universe, there must be an infinite God. Maybe God is letting us paint ourselves into a corner so that we will have to acknowledge that He is up there after all!
Our Lord said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” I think there was a wry smile on His face when He said that. He is the One who made them, and He knew how many there were out there. We don’t know and may never know. I do not think that God has a vacancy sign hanging out anyplace in this vast universe. I don’t mean that human beings are living on other planets. One is enough of little mankind—we are the ones who are in rebellion against God. However, I think this vast universe is filled with created intelligences who are looking at this little earth. This is where they see something unique in the universe. They knew something about God’s wisdom and His person and His power, but they knew nothing about His love until the second Person of the Trinity came down to this earth and died on the Cross. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son! There is a display of God’s love on this earth.
You and I think we are pretty valuable. I don’t want to offend anybody, friend, but do you know the human race isn’t worth saving? God could very easily brush us off this little earth and start over again. He could speak the earth and us out of existence and very little would be missing. But then He wouldn’t be demonstrating His love. He would be demonstrating justice and righteousness but not love. God loves us. That is the amazing thing and the most wonderful thing in the world. God loves us! He loves you and me, not because we are worth loving, but He loves us in spite of the fact that we are absolutely, totally depraved. We belong to that kind of human race. If you deny that, look around you. Unless there is something radically wrong with the human family, how could a civilization that reached such heights tumble as far as we have gone in two or three decades?
“In my Father’s house are many mansions.” For many years I was an ordained Presbyterian preacher, and I lived in what that church calls a “manse,” which is a shortened form of mansion. I lived in my first manse before I was married. It was a big place with fourteen rooms, and on a clear day you could see the ceiling in the living room. It was cold, and I lived in one corner of a room near the fire. When anybody talks to me about a mansion in the sky, I shudder. The Greek word is mone meaning “abiding places.” Jesus is saying that this vast universe is filled with abiding places or places to live.
“If it were not so, I would have told you.” The Lord Jesus puts His entire reputation on the line here, and you either believe Him or you don’t believe Him, my friend. “I go to prepare a place for you.” This is quite wonderful. This vast universe is filled with so many places; yet He has gone to prepare a place for those who are His own. I said I think the universe is filled with intelligent creatures. John got a look at some of them in the Book of Revelation, and he was overwhelmed. He said there are a thousand times ten thousand; then he saw more and added thousands of thousands. We are dealing with a tremendous and wonderful God. One can look upon the millions in this world today and wonder whether we will get lost in the shuffle somewhere. But Jesus is up there preparing a place for all of us who belong to Him. No one can occupy it but us.
Years ago a neighbor of mine was one of the men working on the mirror for the 200–inch telescope at Palomar. In grinding the mirror, they missed it the first time by, I think, a millionth of an inch. When they finally got it finished, I kept asking him what they were seeing. Finally, he got tired of my constant questioning and wanted to know why I was so interested. “Well,” I said, “you’ve got that big eye poked in the front window of my Father’s house, and I’d like to know what you’re seeing, because Jesus is preparing a place for me up there.” McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Gospels (John 11-21) (electronic ed., Vol. 39, pp. 74–76). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.