There is a gap between the Old Testament and New Testament regarding Holy Spirit, we tend to view it the same at times, this is when we miss what Jesus really came to do. In the Old Testament Holy Spirit came upon someone and departed, but in the New, this looks different.
In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”
John 14:2-4
John 14 maps out many truths together of what Jesus came to do.
1.Fathers House – Many Rooms,
2.Go to prepare – come back to take you to myself
3.Where I am you may also be
4. You know the way – to where.
As Jesus said these things the disciples started asking questions, so Jesus started giving them answers.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6
So the Way they knew, was Jesus, and where He was going was to the Father. So that answers No 4.
The questions continue :
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
John 14:8-10
So the amazing part was Jesus didn’t have to go anywhere to be with the Father, because the Father was already in Him! But for them to have the Father in them, Jesus would have to go prepare the Fathers house first!
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
John 14:15-17
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home(room) with him.
John 14:23
The word “home” here in verse 23 is the same one found in verse two saying “rooms”. The Greek word is “mone”, you will only find it in John 14 in the bible. This answers No 1, the Fathers house is His body which consists of individuals who are rooms in His house.
But why would He say, He comes back and takes us to Himself so we can be where He is? Notice that John 14 is not before the ascension of Jesus, but it is before His crucifixion. Jesus rose from the grave, they saw Him again after He was dead, then this happened :
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
John 20:21-22
Too many mistake Acts 2 as the first time anyone received Holy Spirit, but this was the first time as Jesus was still with them as He promised them in John 14. So Holy Spirit is Who reveals to us all that is in Jesus and the Father, so we can do the works Jesus did(John 14:12).
Lastly as John wrote even after Jesus rose and ascended:
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.
1 John 4: 13-17
Jesus came to prepare a place that you can now have in communion with God the Father through Jesus and revealed by Holy Spirit. You are standing in the place He prepared, you are in this world as He is (not as He was), because you are with Him! He prepared it on the cross! He and the Father in you and you in them! No way should we see ourselves far from God. I don’t know about you but I want to occupy my room in the Fathers house! This place prepared is not some physical futuristic room or house, but is Holy Spirit empowering you to live from a different Spiritual place since you can now approach the Father with confidence. This answers No 2 and 3. He is not as far as He feels to you, He is in you as His Word says, and it’s all because He loves you.
Extra Notes for those who love reading :
And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
John 2:16-21
