MY NEW HOME

by Dr. Hank Lindstrom

     Is there a home in heaven?  Where do the dead go?  Have you ever wondered where you would live after you die?  Do you have a new home waiting for you?  In one of the most familiar passages in the Bible, Jesus Christ answers these questions.  He says, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 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. 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 (John 14:1-3)."

     For the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, God has prepared for us a home in heaven.  For the unbeliever, God has said, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41)."  There is a home in heaven for the believer and a home in hell for the unbeliever -which home is waiting for you is determined by your choice.  "He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten son of God (John 3:18)."

     Let's follow a few passages through the Bible.  Job 26:7, written around 3,500 years ago, gives us two amazing scientific facts about our earth and universe before men ever discovered these facts.  "He stretcheth out the North over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing."  We learn that the earth is suspended in space upon nothing.  That's an amazingly accurate statement.  Scientists can't do better.  Second, we learn that there is an empty place in the North in our universe.  With the 200-inch telescope in Mount Palamar in California, scientists have discovered billions of stars in every direction, except for a void in the North.

     Could it be that the home for the Christians is in the North in the universe?  Consider Psalms 48:1-2, "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the North the city of the Great King."  Here it is implied that the great city of God is in the North.  This is the place Satan tried to ascend to when He tried to overthrow God.  Isaiah 14:13 says, "I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the North."

     There is no doubt that the Scriptures teach that God has a city in heaven, a city which God has prepared for all the believers of all the ages to live.  Hebrews 12:22 says, "But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem."  This city is called the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city, the city of the living God, the holy city, the holy Jerusalem, and many other names.  (See Revelation 20:2,10; Hebrews 12:22, Psalms 48:1-2.)

     It is apparent that heaven, or where God resides is North in our universe.  (See Leviticus 1:11; Psalms 26:7; 48:1-2; Isaiah 14:12-14; Psalms 75:5; Job 26:7; and others.)

     When Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many mansions (John 14:2)," He was referring to this heavenly city where God resides which Jesus called "my Father's house."  The word "mansion" means dwelling place.  So we learn that there are many mansions or dwelling places in this city.  Who are these mansions or dwelling places for?  Jesus tells us plainly in John 14 that they are being prepared for the believers.  We believers are one day going to live in the "city of the living God."  Isn't that fantastic! Jesus said that if it were not so, He would have told us (John 14:2).  That statement ought to settle it once and for all.

     In Philippians 3:20, the Bible tells us that as believers, we are citizens of heaven right now.  "For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself."  We are also told that we are fellow citizens with all the other believers in God's house.  Read Ephesians 2:6,19, which says, "And hath raised us up together, and make us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God."

     The physical dimensions of the city are given in the book of Revelation 21:16.  It is 1500 miles on a side and 1500 miles high, and is cube shaped.  It therefore contains 3,375,000,000 cubic miles of space.  Someone once computed that of all believers of all ages (billions upon billions of believers), that each believer would have around two cubic acres to himself.

     Read the physical description for yourself in Revelation 21:9-27, and 22:1-7.  Also, read how this city is going to be brought across the universe and land on the new earth according to Revelation 21:1,2,10.  Can you imagine what lengths God is taking for the provision of His believers?

     Then, and greatest of all, God Himself will live with us forever in this City! "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle (dwelling) of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away."  I hope and pray that your new home is in heaven.  Trust Christ today.