Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. - Psalm 23:6.

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.

For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. - 2 Corinthians 5:1.

According to the apostle Paul, while we are upon this earth we live in tents, and this human body that now contains us is only a temporary dwelling place. Some day if we know Jesus as our Savior, we will no longer live in a tent, but in a house. The house we will live in after leaving behind our "tent", will be a permanent residence that will never be "destroyed."

The NKJV and the old KJV of the Bible, speak of the place the Lord has prepared for us in Heaven as being a "mansion." More modern translations have put this as being "rooms", or "dwelling places", or "abodes." However, I believe the old KJV of "mansion" may actually be more accurate. If you had lived all your life in an undeveloped country where you had no running water in your home, or electricity, or any modern convenience; with only a thatch roof, and a dirt floor, you would be shocked to arrive in a place that had all of those things. Any home that had modern conveniences would seem like a mansion compared to one without those things. The "place" that our Lord has prepared for us in Heaven, will be multiplied times better than the difference between the living conditions in an undeveloped, and a developed country.

The apostle John attempts to describe his vision of Heaven in the book of Revelation: "and he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: they need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever (Revelation 22:1-5)."

The greatest and most important feature of our mansion in Heaven will be that God Himself will be the light of all of Heaven. We will continually be in the presence of the Lord God forever and ever. Some bright shining day we will fold up our "tent" and trade it in for a mansion. What a wonderful day that will be!