GONE TO PREPARE A PLACE.
By Elder G. B. Thompson
To cheer the disciples, who were sad and desponding because Jesus was going to a place to which they could not go, the Saviour said: “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. . . . 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. How consoling are these words! How many weary pilgrims have been cheered by them on the field of battle! Now God’s children are strangers and pilgrims. This is not their home. There was no place for the Master when He was here, and there is no place for His children. Unknown by the world, they have wandered here below, forsaken and lonely. In deserts, in mountains, in dens, and in the caves of the earth they have been hidden because there was no place for them in this land of sin. They have been mocked, tempted, scourged, imprisoned, stoned, and sawn asunder, have wandered in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and tormented, counted as the filth and offscouring of all things. But in the midst of all these persecutions they have been encouraged to endure unto the end because of the precious promise that the Saviour was preparing a place for them, and in a little while would return to take them home. It will be a grand and glorious place. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath the human heart conceived the glories and matchless splendor of that eternal dwelling place. It will be a renewed and beautified earth, on which will be situated the capital city, the New Jerusalem. Here will be the abode of the Father and the Son. On the very spot where stood the cross, and where the life-blood of the Lamb of God ran down upon the earth, will stand forever the throne of the Eternal. Oh, what a God is our God! His domain is eternal and unlimited. All space is filled with shining suns and worlds, filled with happy, unfallen beings. One writer tells us that to the center of the milky way it is thirty-four million times as distant as from the earth to the sun. Yet could we transport ourselves there, and then gaze on beyond, we could behold other worlds as remote as our own. All these the Lord created to be inhabited, otherwise it would have been a vain creation. Isa. 45: 18. Each mansion is the place prepared for its inhabitants. So with this earth. Sin has marred it, and unfitted it for a dwelling place. But the Lord will prepare it for His people, and give it to them for their eternal home, and no sin will ever again intrude itself to spoil the happiness of the redeemed. “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.” Rev. 21: 4. But how different with the wicked! Now they spread themselves like a green bay tree, but in the eternal ages there will be no place for them. “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.” Ps. 37: 10. Why is there no place?—Because “the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” Verse 11. The Jewish translation reads: “For yet but for a little while, and the wicked shall be no more: yea, thou shalt look carefully at his place, and he shall not be there.” Ps. 37: 10. This earth is his place now, but beyond the purging, cleansing fires of the last day, you can scan the utmost corners of the purified earth, but no sinner will be found; “he shall not be there.” An additional thought is suggested by Spurrel’s translation: “Surely yet a little while, and the wicked one shall not be.” And thou shalt diligently search for his abode, but he is not. Satan, that “wicked one,” shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, and destroyed. He is the root of sin, and with all the wicked and fallen angels will cease to exist. Mal. 4: 1, 3. The entire universe will be cleansed from evil; and iniquity shall not rise up a second time. How precious the thought! And shall we not live in such a way that we may inherit the place the Redeemer has gone to prepare?