The Great Mystery

Growing up with my black zippered King James Bible which was complete with colored pictures of great Biblical moments, I learned that Jesus was promising mansions in heaven.  (John 14:2, KJV).  As the years passed and I got older, heaven must have gotten crowded with all of us Baby Boomers heading that way and the promise of a mansion was downsized to a room.  The downsizing started happening about the time I put my King James Version on the shelf and it was replaced with the Revised Standard Version which read, "In my Father's house there are many rooms..."    

Actually, the important thing is not the size of the place being prepared.  Be it a mansion, or a room, or a shack, it will be heaven.  To be honest speaking of heaven with such descriptive words that are confining no matter the size is a poor way of speak of something as infinite as eternity.  Still another thing to ponder is, "Who cares?"  If Jesus is going to be present in such a way as to "see His face," (Revelation 22:4),  who is going to get out the tape measure and check out the size of some dwelling place which, of course, is another way of thinking about the mansion of the King James Version or the room of the Revised Standard Version.   The promise of Jesus is not about size, but being with Him throughout eternity which is the bottom line of heaven.  

Eternity is as difficult as is heaven to grasp.  Perhaps, such is as good a definition of heaven as we will find.  It is about a life which is impossible to comprehend as well as a life filled the mystery of being in the presence of all that is holy.  We may figure that heaven will bring an end to all the mystery we know here on earth as we consider the holy, but there is a feeling in this pilgrim that life in heaven will only keep our heads shaking in wonder at the great mystery of God's grace which enabled us to finally get home.