John 14 verses 1- 4
Room
There are five references to ‘room’ in my Bible and all of them are in the NT,
and the word ‘space’ does not appear at all,
but we know from Genesis 3 that there was no room in Eden for sin.
Adam and Eve had everything going for them,
they literally had ‘the whole wide world, in their hands’;
no overpopulation, global warming, no crime, no war,
no pestilence, no famine, no unemployment, no bullying,
no mortgages, no crooked politicians, no Euro crisis,
and all they had to do was obey God’s one command:
not to eat of the fruit of one particular tree;
and even though that was basically a very small rule or law
when they had the whole of creation at their disposal,
it was too much, and they disobeyed, and ‘fell’ from grace.
In Galatians 6:7 we have the clear and eternal maxim:
‘A man (every man, and every woman) reaps what he sows’,
and Adam and Eve sowed disobedience,
so they reaped rejection,
because God cannot, will not, compromise with sin.
There was no room or space in Eden for sin,
so Adam and Eve were cast out
and we, as their descendents, should learn from their mistake,
and humbly repent of our sins and trespasses,
assured by 1st John 1 verse 9
that if, when, we do,
God is ‘faithful and just and will forgive our sins,
(all of them, no matter how big or how large,)
and purify us from all unrighteousness’.
Remember, while there was no room in Eden for sin
and God cannot abide sin;
remember also that Christ did not come for ‘the good’;
if He had, He would have found and save none;
as a doctor comes to heal the sick,
so He came, and He died, for sinners.
Have you any room for Jesus?
In Genesis 6 there was no room for sinners in the Ark.
People in those days did not have ‘The Law’
in the sense of the Ten Commandments;
Moses had not been born yet,
but they had the ‘Moral Law’ written on their hearts.
In Ecclesiastes 3 verse 11 we read these words,
God ‘has also set eternity in the hearts of men’,
which Commentaries take to mean every human being has a ‘God-shaped hole’
in their lives;
a deep inner need,
which people try to fill with money, or drink, or drugs, or possessions, or status,
but nothing other than God’s grace can fill;
nothing else can satisfy.
Noah’s ‘God-shaped hole’ was filled
and so he and his family were saved,
but all the others who populated this planet at that time were lost
because they did not have a relationship with the Living God.
There was no room for them on the Ark
and so they drowned.
Have you any room for Jesus?
If you had lived then,
would you have been in the Ark,
or in the water?
In Matthew and Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus
there was no room for Mary and Joseph.
Here we have the King of kings and Lord of lords,
who was worthy to be born in a palace,
having to be born in a stable (Luke 2 verse 7)
and after the Roman census was ended and accommodation was freed up,
his human parents could move into some sort of house (Matthew 2 verses 11)
in time for the visit of the Magi from the east.
But when Jesus was born,
there was no room for Him;
and when people celebrate Christmas today,
how many have room for Him,
as opposed to Santa Claus.
Room for a team of reindeers?
No problem,
but room for Someone Who could change my life?
No thank you.
In John’s Gospel chapter 8 we have a record of the time when Jesus spoke to some Jews gathered on the Mount of Olives.
Many believed in Him
but many did not, claiming they had no need to,
because they were ‘Abraham’s children’.
To them, Jesus said ‘you have no room for my word’,
and because of that he went on to say ‘you do not belong to God’ in v.47.
Many people today have ‘no room’ for Jesus or God’s word,
preferring their own ‘pick-and-mix’ religion or philosophy.
Someone said such people were like those who ‘changed seats on the Titanic’!
It did not matter where they sat, they were about to perish;
and it’s the same, unfortunately, for those who reject God’s way,
because all other ways lead to the same destination, ‘destruction’.
All the 4 Gospels report that there was no room on earth for Jesus.
If He had contented Himself to be a healer, or prophet, or moral teacher,
Jesus would probably have gained a large following
and had a long and happy life,
but He claimed to be the Messiah, the Saviour, the Son of God,
in fact, God incarnate,
and this was too much for most people then, and now.
In Acts we see that there was no room in the Synagogues for Christians.
If only they had contented themselves by saying that Jesus of Nazareth had been another prophet, the latest in a long line;
then there would have been room in the Synagogues for them.
There was room for Essenes and Zealots, Pharisees and Sadducees,
so there could have been room for ‘The Sect of Jesus’
if they had been content to conform to the Law,
but to say things like ‘I am no longer under the Law, but grace’
as Paul did in Romans 6, verses 14 and 15,
meant that the Synagogues had no room for them,
and they still do not.
Probably most of us here have experiences of people, even relatives and friends, who have no room in their hearts or homes for Jesus,
and therefore no room for us because of our beliefs.
But now the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In John 14 verse 2 Jesus said to his disciples
‘In my Father’s house there are many ‘dwelling places’ or ‘rooms’ (NIV);
(in the Greek: ‘monai’),
now that’s a nice thought, but Jesus added,
‘and I am going there to prepare a (‘topon’) a ‘place’ for you’;
and that is not just ‘nice’, that’s ‘wonderful’.
The AV/KJV translates ‘monai’ as ‘’mansions;
and ‘monai’ can also be translated as ‘residence’ or ‘abode’.
The message is that God’s house or dwelling place,
let’s just call it ‘heaven’,
is so large, so spacious,
that there is room or space in it for every human being,
one room for every sinner who repents and comes to faith,
one room for every sinner turned into a saint through the atoning death and resurrection of Christ,
one room available for you to spend eternity in.
At the present time that place is in glory, in the supernatural,
but according to Revelation 21 verse 2
after the Day of Judgement
it will come down to this earth, this physical world.
It will be called ‘The New Jerusalem’
and according to Revelation 21 verses 16 and 17
it will look like a colossal cube,
being 1,400 miles or 2,200 kilometers long
1,400 miles wide
and 1,400 miles high,
with 12 gates or entry and exit points,
3 each on the north, south, east and west sides.
1,400 x 1,400 x 1,400 = 2,744,000,000 cubic miles!
I would be more than happy with a room about 20 feet x 20 feet,
by 10 feet high, which is 400 cubic feet.
If anyone wants to do the Maths,
there would be enough room or space in ‘The New Jerusalem’
for be hundreds of billions of such a ‘monai’ or ‘topon’
as the one that would be more than sufficient for my needs, humanly speaking.
Some take the numbers literally
and some take them metaphorically or figuratively
but the point is that there is ‘room’ or ‘space’ in heaven, in ‘The New Jerusalem’,
and most importantly of all, in God’s heart,
for every human being, no matter how good or bad, no matter how rich or poor,
providing they know the password or entry code,
which is not a secret known only to a few;
it is the ‘Name of Jesus’,
because there is no other name by which anyone can be saved,
and Jesus Himself said,
‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life’
and ‘No one comes to the Father except by Me’.
This is wonderful, this is not only good news,
it is THE Good News,
that there is ‘room’ or ‘space’ for all of us
because of what Jesus achieved by shedding His blood
to wash away the sins of all who believe in Him;
all who are instantly turned from sinner to saint,
all who are turned from subjects of God’s wrath to members of the Elect;
and it contrasts with several other references to ‘room’ in the scriptures
that I referred to earlier on.
God has room for everyone;
space is not limited,
but entry is limited,
to those who come to God on His terms
which so many people are unwilling to do.
Have you any room for Jesus in your heart?
Jesus has plenty of room in His for you.
Amen.
