“House” = Jesus tells us that heaven is like a house and not like a tent or tabernacle. What is the significance of this? See (2 Cor 5:1).

2 Corinthians 5:1  Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

This house belongs to a Father. It is the Father of Jesus, Who is our older brother, thus making the owner of the house our Father also. The place we are going to live in for all eternity is not just a dwelling; it is a home.

“rooms” (NIV) = “mansions” (KJV) = mone = a staying, abiding, dwelling, abode. This word only occurs twice in the NT, here and v (14:23) where it is translated as “home” (NIV) and “abode” (KJV). The translation “mansions” is a transliteration of the Latin “mansiones” which means “lodging places” and is found in the Vulgate Bible.

John 14:23  Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

There are many rooms, or abiding places in heaven (Luke 14:22). It will never become overcrowded; there will be abundant room for God’s people (Gen 26:22). Note also that they are distinct dwelling places, or rooms; we each get a separate place to stay, much like the elders each get a different throne on which to sit (Rev 4:4). We do not lose our individuality when we go to heaven. The disciples had left their homes to follow Jesus, but they are going to be rewarded with rooms in heaven. What a deal! (Mark 10:29-30)

Luke 14:22  “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’

Genesis 26:22  He moved on from there and dug another well, and no-one quarrelled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, “Now the LORD has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”

Revelation 4:4  Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.

Mark 10:29-30  “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no-one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel  will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.

“prepare” = hetoimazo = to make the necessary preparations, get everything ready.  It was customary to send someone ahead to make preparation before the arrival of the main group (Num 10:33). Jesus had sent Peter and John to “make preparations” (which is hetoimazo, the same verb used here) for the passover meal (Mark 14:12; Luke 22:8). Jesus is our Forerunner who went before us into heaven (Heb 6:20). He is preparing a place for us by taking possession on our behalf as our attorney and by making provision for us so that heaven will be ready for us when we get there. He is going to set the table for us (Luke 22:29-30). T.D. Bernard says, “We understand how men are prepared for the place; but not how the place is prepared for men. Jesus is engaged on some activity for us that passes our comprehension.” It has been said (Keith Green and others) that if heaven, earth and everything in them was created in 6 days, just imagine how awesome heaven must be since Jesus has been working on it for 2,000 years!

Numbers 10:33  So they set out from the mountain of the LORD and travelled for three days. The ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them during those three days to find them a place to rest.

Mark 14:12  On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

Luke 22:8  Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”

Hebrews 6:20  where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest for ever, in the order of Melchizedek.

Luke 22:29-30  And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me,  so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

There was a common Jewish idea that heaven consisted of different abodes, the quality of which corresponded to the rank of the individual. The disciples must have thought that when they went to heaven they would never see Jesus again, for His abode must be so much higher than theirs. Jesus dispelled this idea.

Andrew seems to be always bringing people to Jesus. (John 6:8-9, 12:20-22)  How about you?

John 6:8-9  Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up,  “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

John 12:20-22 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast.  They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.”  Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

Jesus renamed Simon.  The name of a person stood for the whole person.  It summed up the whole person, speaking of his personality and other attributes.  Thus when Jesus said to the Father, “I have manifested Thy name” (John 17:6 KJV), it indicated that He had revealed the whole divine nature of God. (NIV even translates it that way.) Also, when a person changes another’s name, it indicates that authority rests in the personage of the changer. (2Kings 23:34, 24:17) When God changes someone’s name, it indicates a change in character or nature of the changee. (Gen 32:28, 17:5)

John 17:6   “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.

2 Kings 23:34  Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, and there he died.

2 Kings 24:17  He made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.

Gen 32:28  Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”

Gen 17:5  No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.

When Jesus saw Simon, He immediately changed his name.  This is an indication of the authority possessed by Jesus.  Simon is from henceforth Jesus’ man.  This name change also indicated a change in the character of Simon; he was now Peter, or “rock.” But, as Morris points out, “Peter appears in all the Gospels as anything but a rock.  He is impulsive, volatile, unreliable. But that was not God’s last word for Peter.  Jesus’ words point to the change that would be wrought in him by the power of God.” (p. 161)

This shows us how Jesus looks at men. He doesn’t just see us as we are; He sees us as what we can become. Jesus looked at Peter and saw not just a headstrong Galilean fisherman, but the one who had it in him to be the rock on which Jesus would build His church.

The question becomes: what does Jesus see in you? What vast potential has He spotted? Has He changed your name? Have you ever asked Him?  If you know, are you living up to it?