Mansions

When the Savior taught His apostles the night before His crucifixion, He told them this: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2).  This is the only place in the Bible that speaks of “mansions” that await the righteous in heaven, but the scriptures of the Restoration use the term frequently.  Enos wrote this at the end of his life: “And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen” (Enos 1:27).  Moroni also mentioned mansions three times in his powerful writings about faith and charity: “And I also remember that thou hast said that thou hast prepared a house for man, yea, even among the mansions of thy Father…. Wherefore, except men shall have charity they cannot inherit that place which thou hast prepared in the mansions of thy Father.”  He then received the promise of the Lord that he would sit down “in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father” (Ether 12:32, 34, 37). 

               In the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord spoke of mansions six times.  For example, He promised, “For those that live shall inherit the earth, and those that die shall rest from all their labors, and their works shall follow them; and they shall receive a crown in the mansions of my Father, which I have prepared for them” (D&C 59:2).  He also told the Saints, “Let not your hearts be troubled; for in my Father’s house are many mansions, and I have prepared a place for you; and where my Father and I am, there ye shall be also” (D&C 98:18).  So what does the Lord mean by mansions?  Obviously, the word mansion as we would use it connotes a really large home, but it would seem odd to me if the Lord were telling us we all get a fancy big home if we go to heaven.  The material things that we value on earth are likely not going to be of any relevance in heaven. Perhaps one reason for the word is to imply that the place where the Father lives is plenty big.  There is room for as many people as who choose to go there.  A related meaning would be that there is plenty of room for all of those whom we love.  We won’t be in heaven alone but there will be room enough for all of our family and many more.  Surely one of the great rewards of the faithful is to be with people we love.  The Lord made this interesting promise to Joseph about heaven: “I will bless him and multiply him and give unto him an hundred-fold in this world, of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, houses and lands, wives and children, and crowns of eternal lives in the eternal worlds” (D&C 132:55).  I’m not sure I fully understand what the Lord is trying to say here, but it does appear that being with family and people will be one of the great blessings for us in the mansions of the Father.  The word mansion helps us remember that the Lord has plenty of space for all of us to dwell with Him.