I AM!

Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life" (John 14:6). The "I" (εγω) is emphatic - "I, myself, am." The verb is a present tense verb indicating continuous action or a state of existence. The two words together (εγω ειμι) form an affirmation of eternal existence pointing back to the great "I Am" of the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14).

Jesus makes 3 claims connected by the conjunction και. Each one has the definite article. Jesus claims to be "the way" (η οδος), "the truth" (η αληθεια) and "the life" (η ζωη). An article is commonly attached to an abstract noun in order to point back to what has already been mentioned.  This is called an "anaphoric" use of the article. The article in "the way" fits the anaphoric use because Jesus  is answering the question by Thomas in the previous verse. The article points back to that question.  However, the other two articles cannot be anaphoric since there is nothing in the context about "truth" and "life." What do these articles tell us about Jesus in this classic assertion of Christianity?

The verb ειμι is an equative verb. The 3 assertions are predicate nominatives. An article is used with a predicate nominative to assert that the subject and the predicate nominative are identical. The verb equates the subject with the predicate nominative. The article specifies that the subject and predicate nominative are "convertible" (Robertson, Grammar, p. 768).

I = way and way = I

I = truth and truth = I

I = life and life = I

Jesus makes 3 radical claims.  He, personally, is the only way to the Father as the next clause makes clear. Jesus also claims that he, personally,is the essence of truth and the embodiment of life. "I am the only way to the Father because truth and life are wrapped up in me personally! To know me is to know truth and experience life on the way to the Father!"  What man can make that claim without being considered cuckoo?

HE'S COMING BACK!

Jesus made an important promise to us on His last night before the crucifixion. He said, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself" (John 14:3).  This wonderful promise has comforted believers through many trials throughout history. What exactly did Jesus mean by His promise?

Christians have understood this promise in a number of ways. (1) Jesus promises a spiritual coming at every trial ... but when did He ever leave them spiritually?  (2) Jesus promises to come to them in the resurrection ... but how does He receive them to Himself at the resurrection?  (3) Jesus promises to come to them in the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost .. but how is this a coming "again" and how does He receive them to Himself at that time? (4) Jesus promises to come to believers - including us - when we die ... but that is usually presented in the Bible as our going to Him (Phil. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:8).  None of these views satisfactorily explains what Jesus promises.

Jesus promises us (believers down through history) that He will come again to earth from heaven.  This is the hope of every Christian and the correct understanding of His promise for the following reasons. (1) The use of "again" (παλιν) points back to a first coming. The first coming was bodily not spiritually and on earth not in heaven, so the second coming must be the same.  (2) The coming and receiving are grammatically parallel to the going and preparing. If "I go" then "I will come again"! He is leaving them bodily not spiritually, so the coming must be bodily not spiritually.  "If I prepare a place for you" then "I will receive you to myself."  The prepared place is heaven so the reception must be in heaven.  (3) Jesus speaks elsewhere of coming again with reference to His bodily return (John 14:28; 21:22).

Jesus uses a present tense form of the verb to describe His return (ερχομαι) to make the promise more vivid and exciting.  It is a futurist present (Blass/Debrunner, Grammar, p. 168) because the receiving is in the future tense (παραλημψομαι). "I am coming again and I will receive you to myself." Jesus promises to come to us on earth to receive us in heaven - His prepared place.  His coming again is to escort us back to heaven with Him. We call this event the "Rapture" and we are to comfort each other with His promise (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

HEAVENLY CONDOS!

Where will we live in heaven?  Jesus is preparing a place for us, but what will that place be like?  He tells us, "In My Father's house are many mansions" (John 14:2).  Do we have mansions awaiting us in heaven? What can we expect to enjoy in our heavenly homes?

Origen, one of the early Church Fathers, taught that when a person died he or she first lived in a place called "Paradise" to be instructed properly before entering heaven. Then the saint, once instructed, ascended through a series of mansions or stations ("halting places") on his or her way to God. The mansions were stages that saints passed through on their way to glory according to Origen (Bernard, St. John, II:532). Death was the beginning of a journey to heaven that passed through many tarrying places.

Origen's interpretation flies in the face of what we know about the meaning of this word and other Scripture that promises us immediate entry into heaven (2 Corinthians 5:8). The Greek word is μοναι which means abiding places, abodes, rooms or a dwelling places not stages of life (BAGD, p. 527). The Latin word "mansio" and the old English word "mansion" meant a dwelling place not a palatial residence as we use the word today.  The Jews believed that heaven had many compartments where people lived (Brown, New International Dictionary of NT Theology, 3:229).  These compartments corresponded to the degrees of reward earned through life on earth. The early Church Father, Ireneaeus, citing the "Elders," used John 14:2 to suggest that the dwelling places in heaven corresponded to the thirty, sixty and hundredfold harvests in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:23). Clement of Alexandria taught that the dwelling places in heaven were given to saints according to their service on earth (Bernard, St. John, II:532).

The best way to understand the word is to see heaven as a condominium complex with many rooms, suites or apartments.  These are permanent residences not temporary motels we pass through on our journey. Jesus is telling us that heaven is one house (οικια) with many apartments (μοναι). The only other place in the New Testament where this word is used is a few verses later in John 14:23.  Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our abode (μομην) with him." This is clearly a permanent residence - a home - not a temporary tarrying place nor a stage in a journey.

Heaven is one giant condominium complex with many suites or apartments where we shall rest after our long journey on earth. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us in the Grand Condominiums of Heaven!  These heavenly "condos" are not open wards but individual suites designed for each of us as our permanent abiding places in heaven. God loves us individually not just collectively!