Keep It In Context (Original Content)

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John 14:1-6

New International Version

{Paraphrased}

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

1 {And Jesus said}

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. {Believe} in God;

believe also in me.

2 My Father’s house has many rooms;

if that were not so,

would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus the Way to the Father

5 Thomas said to him,

“Lord, we don’t know where you are going,

so how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus answered,

“I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

What Is Jesus Talking About in Verse 3?

Verse 3 is in context with the whole chapter. You can tell what a word means by looking at the words around it. You can tell what a verse means by looking at the verses around it. There are 31 verses in John 14. From verse 1 to verse 31 Jesus is talking about going to heaven; back to His Father's house, after His crucifixion. John chapters 13 - 17 is what Jesus said before He went to go die for our sins.

So, when Jesus says in v. 3 that He's going to prepare a place for us in His Father's house, He's talking about after His crucifixion and ascension. This means that when Jesus went back to heaven after He rose from the dead, that He's been building the New Jerusalem in heaven for us until He returns.

People take this verse out of context with the subject of Jesus in this chapter, which again, is Jesus going to heaven after His crucifixion. They say that v. 3 is talking about Jesus going back to heaven again after coming back to get His bride. But Jesus is talking about going to heaven after His crucifixion, not later in time. Jesus was talking about going to heaven after they were done talking, not after the rapture.

People believe that because Jesus meets us in the air in the rapture and doesn't return to earth until after the rapture, that this is when His marriage supper happens (1 Thes. 4:17). They place a time sequence between the rapture and the return. That, v. 3 is saying that Jesus will come and take His Bride, the church, to heaven, and return to heaven with them for seven years during the Tribulation. That they will have the marriage supper and prepare to return with Jesus to fight and kill this world during those 7-years. Then return to heaven after the marriage supper and rapture. Jesus doesn't return to heaven when He returns. He sets up the millennial reign with the church on earth.

But v. 3 isn't talking about Jesus going back to heaven after the rapture, but about His ascension after His crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus is not saying that He will take His bride to heaven in the rapture before the Tribulation then return with them 7-years after that to fight this world. He's saying that He's going back to heaven after His crucifixion, about 44-days after He said v. 3.

Going to heaven after His resurrection to prepare a place for us was immediate after His resurrection. Coming back for them still hasn't happened yet but happens in the rapture on the day that Je returns.

Jesus isn't talking about the rapture when He said in v. 2 that He's going to prepare a place for you. He's talking about going to heaven after His crucifixion and resurrection. The return He's talking about in v. 3 is talking about the rapture hundreds of years after His ascension.

Keep it in context because John 14: vv. 2, 3 aren't talking about Jesus returning to heaven after the rapture, but about returning to heaven about 44-days after Jesus spoke John 14. Jesus came from heaven to earth and became flesh to be God's sacrificial lamb for our sins.

People say that when Jesus said in Jn. 14:2 that He will return to heaven, that He's talking about after the rapture. Jesus is talking about the rapture in Jn. 14:3 saying that He will return after His ascension to take the church to heaven.

The rapture is v. 3, not v. 2. V. 2 is talking about His ascension 40-days after His resurrection, not about returning to get His bride in the rapture. VV. 2, 3 are talking about His ascension, not the rapture. The rapture is in v. 3-B.

People use Jn14: 2, 3 to say that the return of Jesus happens 7-years after the rapture because Jesus says that He is going back to heaven. That He comes down in the rapture then goes back to heaven with the church for 7-years.

Jesus is talking about returning to heaven in the ascension because He came from heaven to die for our sins, not about returning to heaven after the rapture. Again, the context here is Jesus ascending to heaven after His crucifixion. Not going back to heaven after the rapture.

Jesus does not return to heaven after the rapture. Jesus does the rapture while in the sky in His return. First, He descends from heaven to return to earth then raptures the church in the twinkling of an eye while still in the sky, then returns with the church to destroy this world and complete the marriage supper (Rev. 19).

The church morphs into God's soldiers in the rapture. The marriage of the Lamb happens after Jesus returns, not before it. The rapture and marriage supper of Jesus happens on the day that Jesus returns and goes throughout the millennium (Rev. 20-22).

These people who say that Jesus returns to heaven after the rapture, say that He stays in the sky after the rapture for 7-years with the church while the tribulation occurs on earth, then returns to heaven after the rapture to do the marriage supper, instead of returns to earth in His second Advent.

But Jesus says in Mt. 24:30, 31 that He begins His return, and everyone on earth sees Him coming in the clouds; the second Advent, by appearing in the sky to return. Then He does the rapture after He begins His descent. How can He return to heaven from the sky after He does the rapture in v. 31, if He already began His return in v. 30?

The rapture happens after Jesus returns, but immediately, not in 7-years. To correctly say it, and help me say it with your word, Holy Spirit ...

"Jesus does the rapture in His descent ... I do the rapture when I return" ...

Those who know the voice of God, know that was God who just spoke. Amen.

If Jesus is in the sky doing the rapture after He begins His second Advent, why will He return to heaven? To return after the Tribulation? He's not going to return to heaven immediately after He begins His descent.

Jesus returns to earth a twinkle of the eye after He does the rapture in the twinkling of an eye on the same day, not 7 years later. Jesus begins His return after the Tribulation begins but during the Tribulation to end it. Mid-Tribulation.

So, the rapture doesn't happen before Jesus returns. Jesus doesn't return after the rapture. Jesus begins His return and does the rapture in the twinkling of an eye in His descent to do the marriage supper. All on the same day.

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"People Get Ready, Jesus Is Comin'" (Crystal Lewis - 1996)

"My Redeemer Lives" (Crystal Lewis - 1993)

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World without end. Amen.