Our Mansions, Dwellings, Abode
The Pre-Tribulation teachers mistakenly take John 14:3 out of context to claim that we will be in heaven with Jesus on our honeymoon for seven years while the rest of the world goes through the tribulation.
Here are some quotes from a Pre-Tribulation Website http://www.bibleprophesy.org/wedding14.htm
The bridal week in the wedding chamber
http://www.bibleprophesy.org/wedding14.htm
“Again, these mansions in heaven, the prepared place, is the bridal chamber.”
“John 14:2 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.”
“John 14:3 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.”
“ From this we can see that the believers (bride) in the Messiah (bridegroom) will be with the Messiah in Heaven for His wedding while the earth will be experiencing the seven-year tribulation period.”
“(Bridal week) = (Tribulation week) Regardless of when the feast is in these verses (not at the end), the time of intimacy (the bride being with the bridegroom sealed away in the bridal chamber) begins at the start of the bridal week, and this is what we look forward to in the pre tribulation rapture.”
Look at what Jesus says about the False Prophets for behold he told us in advance! Check out what the False Prophets were saying "Behold, He is in the inner rooms,' do not believe them." and compare that to where the Pre-Tribulation teachers claim we will be "sealed away in the Bridal Chamber".
Matthew 24:23-28
24"For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 25"Behold, I have told you in advance. 26"So if they say to you, 'Behold, He is in the wilderness,' do not go out, or, 'Behold, He is in the inner rooms,' do not believe them. 27"For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Now let’s look at John 14 in full context and find out what the scriptures teach as to the Dwellings\Mansions\Abodes that Jesus promises. The Greek word translated into Dwelling, Mansions, Abode is Mone.
G3438 – monē - mo-nā'
1) a staying, abiding, dwelling, abode
2) to make an (one's) abode
3) metaph. of the God the Holy Spirit indwelling believers
In John 14 Jesus starts off comforting the disciples.
John 14:1-6
1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way where I am going.” 5 Thomas *said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” 6 Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
He continues in verses 7-15 by clarifying his divinity and oneness with the Father. Then from verses 16 on he continues with the promise of the Holy Spirit.
John 14:16-24
16 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. 20 In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) *said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to 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 abode with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.
Note in verse 23 Jesus promises that “if anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him and WE will come and make Our abode with him. The word translated as abode here is the same word “Mone” translated as Dwelling or Mansion in verse 2.
In review of John 14 in context this is not a teaching of Jesus taking us in some “Pre-Tribulation Rapture” to an inner "Wedding Chamber", and in fact the promise of the Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit making their abode in us is further clarified by Paul in II Corinthians 5. Paul explains here II Corinthians and we will be given a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
II Corinthians 5:1-5
1For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 3inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 4For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. 5Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.
Paul makes a clear reference to Jesus’ promise that he had prepared us for this purpose and gave the spirit as a pledge, exactly as Jesus promised in John 14!
Paul explains this transformation with additional clarity in I Corinthians 15 with a Mystery.
1 Corinthians 15:51-58
51Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. 55"O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
The truth is by studying the scriptures in context and properly connecting the scriptures to one another we can clearly see that the Mansion, Dwelling, Abode that Jesus promised us in John 14 is our New Glorified Body that we will be changed into at his coming. This is our Blessed Hope!!
The early church father Tertullian provides the following discussion on this same subject.
Tertullian of Carthage [A.D. 155-225]
Chapter XLI.--The Dissolution of Our Tabernacle Consistent with the Resurrection of Our Bodies.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf03.v.viii.xli.html
It is still the same sentiment which he follows up in the passage in which he puts the recompense above the sufferings: "for we know;" he says, "that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens;" [7552] in other words, owing to the fact that our flesh is undergoing dissolution through its sufferings, we shall be provided with a home in heaven. He remembered the award (which the Lord assigns) in the Gospel: "Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." [7553] Yet, when he thus contrasted the recompense of the reward, he did not deny the flesh's restoration; since the recompense is due to the same substance to which the dissolution is attributed,--that is, of course, the flesh. Because, however, he had called the flesh a house, he wished elegantly to use the same term in his comparison of the ultimate reward; promising to the very house, which undergoes dissolution through suffering, a better house through the resurrection. Just as the Lord also promises us many mansions as of a house in His Father's home; [7554] although this may possibly be understood of the domicile of this world, on the dissolution of whose fabric an eternal abode is promised in heaven, inasmuch as the following context, having a manifest reference to the flesh, seems to show that these preceding words have no such reference. For the apostle makes a distinction, when he goes on to say, "For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked;" [7555] which means, before we put off the garment of the flesh, we wish to be clothed with the celestial glory of immortality. Now the privilege of this favour awaits those who shall at the coming of the Lord be found in the flesh, and who shall, owing to the oppressions of the time of Antichrist, deserve by an instantaneous death, which is accomplished by a sudden change, to become qualified to join the rising saints; as he writes to the Thessalonians: "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we too shall ourselves be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." [7557]
[7552] 2 Cor. v. 1.[7553] Matt. v. 10.
[7554] John xiv. 2.
[7555] 2 Cor. v. 2, 3.
Note: This transformation promised is for those that remain alive "Now the privilege of this favour awaits those who shall at the coming of the Lord be found in the flesh, and who shall, owing to the oppressions of the time of Antichrist, deserve by an instantaneous death, which is accomplished by a sudden change, to become qualified to join the rising saints; "