Charles Ellicott Commentary John 14:3

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also." — John 14:3 (ASV)

And if I go and prepare . . .—For the form of the expression, compare Notes on John 12:32, and 1 John 2:28. It does not imply uncertainty, but expresses that the fact is in the region of the future, which is clear to Him and will unfold itself to them.

I will come again, and receive you unto myself.—This clause has been variously explained in relation to the resurrection; the death of individual disciples; the spiritual presence of our Lord in the Church; or the coming again of the Lord in the Parousia of the last day, when all who believe in Him shall be received to Himself. The difficulty has arisen from taking the words I will come again, as necessarily referring to the same time as those which follow—I will receive you unto Myself, whereas they are in the present tense, and should be literally rendered, I am coming again. They refer rather, as the same words do when used in John 14:18, to His constant spiritual presence among them; whereas the reception of them to Himself is to be understood as the complete union that will accompany that spiritual presence—a union that will be commenced in this life, advanced by the death of individuals, and completed in the final coming again. (Compare John 17:24.)