Answer: The night before Jesus was crucified, He told His disciples that He would be leaving them and that they could not go with Him (John 13:33). Peter asked where He was going and why they couldn’t go with Him, and Jesus assured them that they would follow Him eventually (John 13:36-37). Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also" (John 14:2-3).

This saying of Jesus has confused many because of the King James Version’s rendering of the words “house” and “mansions.” The Greek word translated “house” means “an abode,” literally or figuratively, and, by implication, “a family.” The word translated “mansions” or “rooms” means literally “the act of staying or residing.” So, putting the Greek together, Jesus is saying that in God’s home (heaven) there will be many people in the family of God all abiding together. Within God's heavenly house, Christians will live in the presence of the Lord. This is quite different from the idea of rows of mansions on streets of gold, which is the image many people have of what Jesus was saying.

Jesus Christ prepares a place in heaven for His own, those who have come to Him in faith, and the Holy Spirit prepares the redeemed on earth for their place in heaven. Revelation 7:9 tells us that there will be a "great multitude in heaven that no one could number" all standing before the throne. Here, again, the imagery is of multitudes together, not living separately in different mansions.