John xiv. 2, 3. In my Fathers house are many mansions : if it tvere not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself ; that where I am, there ye may be also.
A HOPE of future happiness affords strong con- solation under present trials. The children of God, if destitute of this, would be " of all men most miser- able;" but this renders them incomparably more happy, even under the most afflictive dispensations, than the greatest fulness of earthly things could make them. Our Lord opened these springs of com- fort to his disconsolate Disciples. Being about to leave them, he not only told them whither, and for what purpose, he was going, but that he would assuredly return to recompense all which they might endure for his sake — " In my Father's house," &c.
We shall consider, I. Our Lord's description of heaven —
We are taught to conceive of heaven as a place of unspeakable felicity. The description given of it by St. John is intended to elevate our thoughts, and enlarge our conceptions to the uttermost3; but a spiritual mind, which is dead to earthly things, may perhaps see no less beauty in our Lord's description.
Our Lord thus describes it ; " My Father's house with many mansions" —
[Here seems to be an allusion to the temple at Jerusalem : God dwelt there in a more especial manner b ; around it were chambers for the priests and Levites. Thus in heaven God dwells, and displays his glory"; there also are mansions where his redeemed people " see him as he is."]
This description may be depended upon — [The Disciples had left all in expectation of a future recompence: our Lord had taught them to look for it, not on
a Rev. xxi. 19, 21. M Kings viii. 10, 11. c Isai. Ivii. 15.