"In my Father's house are many mansions: if not I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you. I will come again and receive you unto Myself that where I Am, ye may be also."
"Thomas saith unto Him, Lord (where are you going?). Jesus saith unto him, I Am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by Me. If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father..." Jn 14.1-7
It has been preached and believed, literally, since these words were penned and given into the hands of believers that the Lord was going to heaven to "build" mansions. The disciples may have had a primitive understanding that He was going to die because of the Jews hatred of the Lord's claims that He was the Messiah but missed verse 6 when the Lord said, "no man cometh unto the Father but by Me."
The statement "no man cometh unto the Father but by Me" begs the question How will He go to the Father? Obviously, through death does an earthly believer go to the heavenly "place."
Broken down in this way, it is clear to this believer that the only "place" the Lord had not yet been at the time of these words was the Cross.
If He is a Sovereign, eternal, with no beginning and no end, and He is, then how could He have literally been referring to "building" mansions after He went back "to the Father. Further, He even states in Chapter 14 and verse 16 that "...the Father (would) give (them) another Comforter..." Thus stating a time when He would not be with them.
The writer of this blog is a firm believer that "the place" the Lord was referring to is the Cross. Read in this context, the Words take on an entirely different meaning. However, since the disciples were clearly still in the dark about His death, He changes the subject, just a little and explains that when He is gone, they could "ask anything in His Name" (v14) and He would not "leave (them) comfortless" (v18) when He was gone from their sight.
Conclusion, "Where was He going?" The Cross.
Humbly submitted in His Name