. That Ruthless Invader of All
Happiness by John McDuff Do not let your hearts be troubled.
In my Father's house are many mansions. I am going there to
prepare a place for you. I will come back and take you
to be with me, that you also may be where I am." John 14,
1-3. The verse speaks of permanency. They are mansions. The word in
the original is not a tent or temporary shelter, but a durable
residence, never to be altered or demolished. The tents of the
East, says Professor Hackett, seldom remain long in the same
place. The traveler erects his temporary
abode for the night, takes it down in the morning, and journeys
onward. The shepherds of the country
are also always moving from one place to another. The brook dries
up on which they relied for water, or the grass required for the
support of their flocks is consumed, and they wander on to a new station. How strikingly illustrative is
this of the Bible figure! 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. 2 Corinthians
5 This mortal body, like the nomadic tent, is upreared for
a time, but, after serving its temporary purpose, it is pin
by pin demolished, and the place that once knew it, knows it no
more. not so the ever-enduring mansions
of our Father's house, a priceless inheritance, an inheritance that
is reserved in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the
reach of change and decay." 1 Peter 1.4. No failing of brooks there,
no joys there will be withered and smitten like the grass of
the wilderness. The Lamb in the midst of the
throne shall feed them, and lead them to living fountains of waters. Ah, it is the saddest, the most
humiliating feature of the joys of earth, that however pure,
noble, elevating they may be at the moment, there is no calculating
on their permanency. The mind will, in spite of itself,
be haunted with a dark possibility of that ruthless invader of all
happiness, coming and dashing the full cup in a thousand fragments
on the ground. But in heaven, no shadow of vicissitude
or change can ever enter to dim an ever-brightening future. Once
within that heavenly fold, we are in the fold forever, on the
lintels of the eternal mansion are inscribed the words, You
shall never leave it. Our happiness and joy will be
as immutable and stable as God's everlasting love and power and
faithfulness can make them.