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We will begin by reading a number of passages from the Bible that are all very important. I hope everyone would pay attention in reading them. John 1:1-4 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not one thing came into being which has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Verse 14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality,” and verse 18 continues, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” Then 2:19-21 says, “Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then the Jews said, This temple was built in forty-six years, and You will raise it up in three days? But He spoke of the temple of His body.”
John 1 says that the Lord Jesus’ becoming flesh was His erecting a tabernacle among men. In chapter 2 the Lord revealed that His body was a temple. In the Old Testament among the Israelites, first, there was a tabernacle, and later, there was a temple. The tabernacle and the temple were really the same thing in two different time periods. These two passages show that the Lord Jesus became a man as the tabernacle and the temple.
John 2:22 says, “When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.” Here we see that the body of the Lord Jesus is a temple not only due to His incarnation but also to His resurrection. On the one hand, His flesh was a tabernacle; on the other hand, it was a temple. When the Jews sought to kill Him, the Lord indicated that they were seeking to destroy the temple. However, the Lord also said that in three days He would raise up the temple which the Jews would destroy. This meant that the Jews would kill Him, and He would be raised in three days (vv. 18-22).
Verse 3 of chapter 14 says, “Where I am you also may be,” and verse 10 says, “I am in the Father.” Therefore, we need to note that the word where repeatedly mentioned in John 14 is a matter not of a place but of a person. Here it is concerned not with where the Lord Jesus is but in whom He is. Where is the Lord Jesus? He is in the Father.
Verse 11 says, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” Then verse 19 says, “Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live.” These verses show that after the Lord Jesus resurrected, He regenerated us, enabling us to live just as He lives. “Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me.” The “little while” here is only three days. Three days after His crucifixion the Lord Jesus resurrected and entered into the disciples as the Spirit. Because of this, the world beheld the Lord no longer, but the disciples beheld Him.
Verse 20 says, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” The phrase that day refers to the day mentioned in verse 19, in which the world would no longer behold the Lord, but the disciples would behold Him, and in which the disciples would live because He would live.
Verse 4 of chapter 15 says, “Abide in Me and I in you.” In the Greek language there are at least two words with the general sense of “to reside.” One of them means “to make home,” as in Ephesians 3:17, which says, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” The word here is a very emphatic word and is best translated as “make home.” The other word, like the one in John 15, means “to stay and not depart.” Verse 5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him.”
Then 17:20 says, “I do not ask concerning these only, but concerning those also who believe into Me through their word.” In verse 20 these refers to the disciples who were with the Lord Jesus on the night of His betrayal. However, those refers to those who believe into the Lord through their word. It is much more inclusive, including all who would believe in the Lord over the next two thousand years through the gospel preached by the apostles. Therefore, here the Lord is praying for all those who belong to Him.
Verse 21 says, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me.” How were the disciples one? They were one as the Triune God is one. This oneness causes the world to believe that God has sent the Lord. The most powerful way to preach the gospel so that people may believe that Jesus is the Christ of God is the testimony lived out from this oneness. When we who are saved are one in the Triune God, it is easy for the world to believe that the Lord Jesus is the Christ sent by God.
Verses 22 and 23 say, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.” Glory is too great a subject. We cannot explain it in a few sentences. The Lord says that He is able to make us one because He has given to us the glory which the Father has given Him. Here the Lord also mentions love. This love is not the love we commonly speak of. Many suppose that the Lord’s giving us peace, food to eat, and clothes to wear, and His caring for all our needs is His love for us. Here, however, the emphasis is not on these matters and not even on the love shown by the Lord’s dying and shedding His blood for us. Here the focus is on God the Father giving glory to all those who belong to His Son so that they may be absolutely one in the Triune God.
Verse 24 says, “Father, concerning that which You have given Me, I desire that they also may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” I would like to ask you, brothers and sisters, what does where refer to? Bible expositors mostly agree that where refers to heaven. They say that the Lord meant, “I am in heaven, and concerning that which You have given Me, I desire that they also may be with Me in heaven.” This is incorrect. We have already discussed that the word where in this chapter is not a matter of a place but of a person. The Lord Himself clearly said that He is in the Father and that we are also in the Father. Therefore, the phrase where I am means “in the Father.” The Lord desired that those given to Him by the Father would be with Him in the Father, and once the disciples were in the Father, they could see the glory the Father has given to the Lord. They did not have to wait to go up to heaven one day to see the glory. From the day of the Lord’s resurrection, Peter saw the glory that God had given to the Lord because Peter was in the Father with the Lord. He could say, “The Lord in whom I believe is in God the Father; in the same way I am together with Him in God, that is, in the Father. I have known the glory which the Father has given Him.”
The Lord’s prayer concludes with verse 26: “I have made Your name known to them and will yet make it known, that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Four chapters in the Gospel of John — chapters 14 through 17 — are connected. The first three chapters are the last message spoken by the Lord on the earth, and chapter 17 is a concluding prayer offered by the Lord after He had given the message. If you ask me what the central subject of the Lord’s message and concluding prayer is, I would tell you that the central subject is “in.” These four chapters talk about “in.” Here the Lord is telling the disciples, “I am in the Father, but you who believe Me are not yet in the Father, because you are not in Me and I have not yet come into you. Therefore, I am going to do something; I am going to open a way for you, prepare a place for you, that I may bring you into the Father, just as I am in the Father. In that day where I am you also may be. I am in the Father, and you also will be in the Father. In that day you will be regenerated, and My resurrection life will be in you so that you may live. Therefore, in that day, as I live, you also shall live. Also in that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. This is like a vine and its branches abiding mutually — you abiding in Me and I in you.”
After the Lord finished this message, He offered a concluding prayer. The center of this prayer was His asking God that those who belong to Him may be one in the Triune God just as the Triune God is mutually one. This is the central meaning of these four chapters in the Gospel of John.
First John 4:13 says, “In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, that He has given to us of His Spirit.” Verses 11 and 12 of chapter 5 say, “This is the testimony, that God gave to us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” Verse 20 says, “We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we might know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” In the whole universe everything is false; there is only One who is true. Besides Him, everything else is empty and false. At this time John could say, “We are in Him.” In John 14 when the Lord Jesus spoke, none of the disciples could say that he was in Him who is true, because at that time they were outside of God; they had not entered into God. However, when John wrote his first Epistle, the Lord had already resurrected and ascended, and the Holy Spirit had descended at Pentecost, so John could say, “We are in Him who is true,...the true God.” This fulfills the word of the Lord when He seemed to say, “Where I am you also may be. I am in the Father, and I will also bring you into the Father so that you and I may be in Him together.” That is why John could say, “We are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”
There is a dispute in Bible translation concerning the word this in verse 20. Some are in favor of translating it as “this,” whereas others are in favor of translating it as “He”: “He is the true God and eternal life.” It would be very simple to translate it as “He,” referring simply to God’s Son Jesus Christ in the previous sentence. However, if we translate it as “this,” then the scope becomes much broader. It then refers not only to the Lord but also includes all the things mentioned in the preceding passage as well. What are these things? They are that we might know Him who is true and that we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This knowing, this being in the Lord, is the true God and eternal life.
Each of these two translations has its merit, for the truths in the Bible are not at all simple. Here the Bible is not merely saying that the Lord Jesus is the true God and eternal life. Even more, it is saying that all the things mentioned previously are included in the Lord Jesus, and this is the true God; this is eternal life. Of course, this is a mysterious word, which we will come to understand only gradually.
We have read John’s Gospel and also John’s Epistles. We all know that John did not write only these two categories of books; he also wrote a book of prophecy, which is Revelation. John wrote three categories of writings: a Gospel, three Epistles, and a prophecy. We have read from two categories; now let us read from the third category.
Revelation 21:2-3 says, “I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them, and they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.” Here the tabernacle is mentioned again. Tabernacle has the same root as the word tabernacled in John 1:14. Here it is a noun, whereas in John 1:14 it is a verb. The city of New Jerusalem is the tabernacle of God with men. Revelation 21:3 also says that God will tabernacle with men. In other words, in Greek the word tabernacle is mentioned twice in this verse. It is used as a noun the first time, referring to the tabernacle as an entity, and it is used as a verb the second time, referring to the setting up of the tabernacle.
Verse 22 says, “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” Why is there no temple in the city? It is because the city is the tabernacle. We all know that the tabernacle and the temple are one thing. The tabernacle is the precursor of the temple. Now since this city is the tabernacle, and in this sense, it is also the temple, it cannot have another temple within it. There was a temple in the city of the old Jerusalem, but the New Jerusalem is itself a temple. If we say that there is a temple, then the temple is God Himself. Verse 22 is a marvelous utterance.
Verses 1 and 2 of chapter 22 say, “He showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street. And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life.”
In this conference we will focus on the building of God every evening. In the meetings in the mornings we will give additional words concerning the building of God by reading some portions of the Scriptures.
We have read some portions from John’s Gospel, John’s Epistles, and John’s prophecy. In these few days we hope to see the building of God in the universe through John’s writings. Why are we seeing it from John’s writings? It is first because the ultimate manifestation of God’s building is revealed to us in the book of Revelation written by John. The manifestation of the New Jerusalem is the completion of God’s building in the universe throughout the ages. This is shown to us by John. Hence, if we want to know God’s building, we have to read John’s writings.
Second, we have said repeatedly that God’s work of building in the universe is to have a dwelling place in which He Himself and also all who belong to God may dwell. Therefore, God’s work of building is to gain a dwelling place. In the books written by the other apostles, we rarely see statements saying that God abides in man and man abides in God. In John’s writings, however, we can easily find this kind of expression. John clearly and repeatedly speaks of God abiding in man and man abiding in God. This abiding has a very close relationship with God’s building. If we would know God’s building in the universe, we need to understand the matter of the mutual abiding of God and man. We must understand how God dwells in man and how man dwells in God. For this reason we need to look at John’s writings.
Third, from Genesis to Revelation we see that after creation the second step of God’s work is His building. The center of the matter of building lies in life. In the garden of Eden, God had created everything, but there was no building. Therefore, God shows that after He created man, He placed him in the center of the garden of Eden, in front of the tree of life. Anyone can realize that God’s intention was to have the man He created eat of the fruit of the tree of life so that the life of this fruit would enter into man and be mingled with man as one. This mingling is God’s building. At the end of Revelation, when the building of God is consummated, there will still be the tree of life in the New Jerusalem. This indicates that there is a definite relationship between the building of God and life. God’s building in the universe is altogether completed by His coming into man as life. As food He wants to be received into man, be digested in man, and be mingled with man as one. This mingling is the building. God wants to build Himself into man and also to build man into Himself.
This is like a house built with reinforced concrete, which is built by mingling steel bars with a mixture of cement and gravel. It is the same with God’s building in the universe. God wants to be mingled and beaten together with man. How does God mingle Himself with man? He does this by coming to be man’s life in the way of food. He wants to come into man as man’s food and to be dissolved and digested in man to become man’s life.
The illustration of food that the Bible uses to refer to the mingling of God and man is very fitting, since nothing mingles with man as thoroughly as food. After food is eaten and digested by man, it becomes his blood, his bone, and his flesh, completely mingled with him as one. Please do not be offended when I say that we human beings are the result of the mingling of chicken, duck, fish, pork, and beef. Do not assume that you are only human. Consider how much fish, chicken, pork, and beef has been digested in you for you to be built up. When a person is born, his height is at most a little more than a foot, and he weighs seven or eight pounds. However, he later grows to be five or six feet tall and weighs well over a hundred pounds. Why does he grow taller and bigger? It is because of his inward mingling with a good amount of chicken, duck, fish, pork, beef, wheat, and rice.
This is a very good illustration to help us to understand how God comes into us and mingles Himself with us to complete His building. As food, God comes into us to be our bread and our life. In this way God continuously mingles Himself with man to the point that a building comes forth. This building is the New Jerusalem.
Therefore, it is hard to say what exactly the city of New Jerusalem is. There is a great dispute about this among Bible expositors today. Some say that the New Jerusalem is a physical place, whereas others say that it is just a symbol. However, we need to see this one thing: God is in this city, and the redeemed people are also in this city. In this city, God and the Lamb are the temple, and the redeemed ones throughout the ages are the foundations and the gates. Therefore, this city is the issue of the mingling and building of God with the redeemed ones. This is God’s mysterious building in the universe, and it is accomplished by God becoming man’s life and mingling Himself with man. Consequently, in this city there will still be the tree of life.
Please remember, the writings of John specifically cover this line. For example, the Gospel of John focuses on God’s entering into man to become man’s life. Therefore, when the Gospel of John talks about the Lord Jesus who comes to be man’s life, it says that He is the bread of life and that He is the vine. If you connect John 6 — where the Lord says that He is the bread of life — with what He says in John 15 — that He is the vine tree, you can easily see that He is the tree of life coming to be man’s life as food, as portrayed in Genesis 2. The tree of life is a tree, and its fruit is man’s food. This is exactly what John says — that this God who comes to be man’s life is the bread of life and also a vine tree. For this reason, in order to understand the building of God, we need to read the books written by John.
I will repeat again. First, John particularly shows that the ultimate manifestation of God’s building is the New Jerusalem. Second, God’s work of building is to obtain a dwelling place in which both God and man may dwell. In the entire Bible no one speaks more clearly than John concerning God abiding in man and man abiding in God. Third, God’s building is completed by God coming into man to be man’s life and by mingling Himself with man, which is precisely John’s ministry. These are the three reasons that we must read John’s writings.
Due to the limited time, in these messages we cannot read John’s writings chapter by chapter and verse by verse. Besides, reading in such a way may not make you clear. If instead we bring out and touch all the main points, you may have a better understanding. Therefore, I beg all the brothers and sisters to read through the Gospel of John and 1 John beforehand. I do not think this is a difficult task.
As we read the Gospel of John, I would like for us to pay attention to several characteristics. This will help us to recognize the main points.
First, in John, time begins with “in the beginning.” All those who read the Bible know that the word beginning refers to eternity. Since there is no time in eternity, there is no element of time in John. Please make certain to not read time into the Gospel of John. John shows how the God in eternity came into us to be eternal life. As the Word in eternity past, He was without beginning or end, without the element of time. Even though He came into time and was restricted by time, He imparted to man the eternal life, a life that is beyond time. In this eternal life there is no element of time.
I would like to insert a word about reading the Bible. Many brothers and sisters assume that since Genesis is the first book in the Bible, narrating from the very beginning, its account is the earliest. However, I would like to tell you that the account in the Gospel of John is even earlier. Why? It is because John begins from eternity past, from an eternity without beginning. The beginning in Genesis has a starting point, which is the time of God’s creation. In other words, Genesis starts at the beginning of time, whereas John starts before time began, in eternity past.
In addition, Genesis begins with God’s creation, but John begins with God. Genesis says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (1:1). John says, “In the beginning was the Word,...the Word was God” (1:1). It is after he speaks of the God who was in the beginning that he goes on to speak of all things coming into being through Him. Therefore, Genesis begins at John 1:3, with the clause All things came into being through Him. The first two verses in John 1 are earlier than Genesis; they precede Genesis. These matters are crucial points in Bible reading. We all have to pay special attention to them.
Second, in the Gospel of John there is not the matter of space. John’s Gospel is beyond time and space. John’s time is eternity past, and John’s space is God. In 3:13 there is a sentence spoken by the Lord Himself which proves that there is no element of space in John’s Gospel: “No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.” We do not understand this word because we are full of spatial concepts. However, to the Lord there is no element of space. We often say that the Lord Jesus left heaven and came down to earth. Here though, the Lord Jesus said that He left heaven yet is still in heaven. We also often say that the Lord Jesus left the earth and ascended to the heavens, but I believe the Lord Jesus would say, “No, I left the earth, yet I am still on the earth.”
I would like to ask you brothers and sisters, where in the Gospel of John does it say that the Lord Jesus descended out of heaven? You may ask, “Did not the Lord Himself say that He descended out of heaven?” True, but the Lord went on to say that He is still in heaven. Likewise, you cannot find the record of the ascension of the Lord Jesus in the Gospel of John. Mark contains a record of the Lord Jesus’ ascension, and so does Luke, but neither John nor Matthew contains such a record. Perhaps you will say that out of the four Gospels there are at least two that mention the Lord Jesus’ ascension. You may ask, “Do Mark and Luke not talk about the ascension of the Lord Jesus?” However, if you can pick out two books, I can also pick out two books. Can you tell me where Matthew and John mention the Lord’s ascension? You can pick out two books that mention the Lord’s ascension; I can also pick out two books that do not mention the Lord’s ascension. The two books you pick are neither the beginning nor the end. The two books I pick are at the beginning and at the end. Moreover, of the two books you pick, one portrays Him as a Slave, whereas the other portrays Him as a man. Both are relatively light in weight. Of the two books that do not mention His ascension, one speaks of Him as King, whereas the other speaks of Him as God. The one that says that He is King not only does not mention His ascension, but it says that He will be with us until the consummation of the age (Matt. 28:20). The beginning of the Gospel of Matthew says that the Lord is Emmanuel, which is translated “God with us” (1:23). Matthew also says that where there are two or three gathered into the name of the Lord, there He is in their midst (18:20). At the end it says that the Lord will be with us until the consummation of the age. Matthew says that the Lord is Emmanuel and that He comes to rule within us as our spiritual King; therefore, He does not leave us but will be with us until the end of this age.
The Gospel of John says that the Lord is the One from the beginning, from eternity past, who came into our midst. He did not come from heaven to earth but from God to man. This is not a matter of place but a matter of persons. He never left the heavens, and He never left the earth. He says, “Abide in Me” (15:4). This is a fact that we can have today. To abide in the Lord we do not need to go to heaven. We do not need to climb a ladder that goes up to heaven to abide in the Lord for a while and after a few days come down. We do not need this because there is no element of space. The Lord says, “Abide in Me and I in you.” Today the Lord Jesus lives in us without having to descend from heaven; likewise, we live in the Lord without having to climb a ladder up to heaven.
This kind of speaking may seem to be a joke, but I am using an illustration to show you that the Gospel of John does not have the element of space. The Lord descended, but He was still in the heavens. After He resurrected, He ascended, but He was still on the earth. After the Lord’s resurrection the disciples were inside the house with its doors and windows shut, and the Lord suddenly came into their midst. This was truly wonderful. Through what did He enter? We do not know. He was not merely a Spirit; He also had a body with bone and flesh. Still, the doors and windows were shut, so we do not know how He entered the house. Then after He spoke to the disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit, He disappeared again. We do not know where He went. If we say that He went away, we do not see Him opening the door. He reappeared when Peter and the other disciples went fishing in the sea, and we do not know where He went afterward. When we read the Gospel of John, we cannot find verses saying where He went.
Why is it that the Gospel of John does not say where the Lord went? It is because in the Gospel of John there is no element of space. Today He is everywhere. Even as we meet here this morning, He is here. If there are one thousand people sitting here this morning, strictly speaking there are not only one thousand but one thousand and one, because the Lord Jesus is here as well. He is One who is beyond time, and He is also One who is beyond space. You need to pay attention to these two points when reading the Gospel of John.
Please remember that in His incarnation He came not from heaven to earth but from God to man. In His death and resurrection He went not from earth to heaven but from man to God. The places John mentions are persons, not actual places.
Third, the entire Gospel of John covers the matter of life being in the Lord. The first verse of this book says, “In the beginning was the Word.” This is speaking of the beginning, of God Himself. Then verse 3 speaks of creation, and verse 4 says that in Him was life. The whole universe is a story of life, and this life is in Him. When you read Genesis, you first see creation; then you see life. The life signified by the tree of life in Genesis 2 is in Him. Please pay attention to the sequence in John. John begins by saying that in the beginning was God; then it speaks about God’s creation, and then it reveals how God came to be man’s life because life was in Him. From this point on, the whole Gospel of John talks about the matter of life being in Him. This is what we need to pay attention to.
Fourth, the Gospel of John is divided into two major sections. One section is on coming, and the other is on going. Chapter 1 through chapter 13 is on the Lord’s incarnation, His coming. Chapter 14 is a turning point. Chapter 14 through the end of the book is on the Lord’s death and resurrection, His going. However, the Lord’s coming and going here do not have the element of time or space. The Lord’s incarnation is God coming among men, God coming into man. The purpose of the Lord’s death and resurrection is to bring man into God. There is no element of space or place here.
Therefore, chapter 14 is a great turning point. Chapter 1 through chapter 13 talks about His incarnation, about His bringing God among man and into man, and about His enabling man to see God, touch God, and receive God. These are things related to incarnation, which is God coming among man. However, man had not yet entered into God, so beginning from chapter 14, this Gospel speaks about His bringing man into God. Before chapter 14 there was no such word as “Abide in Me”; He could not say such a word. In chapter 14 He said, “In that day you will know that...you [are] in Me” (v. 20). Without the arrival of “that day,” the disciples could not know, because it was not possible to have such an experience. The story after chapter 14 is a story of “that day.”
Therefore, when we read the Gospel of John, we need to pay attention to these points. Chapters 1 through 13 talk about the situation and the story of the Lord’s incarnation, which brought God among men and into man. Then starting from chapter 14 we see the way He took to bring man into God. I hope that you brothers and sisters can follow these principles in order to properly read the Gospel of John. In the next few days we will specifically focus on studying the writings of John. I believe it will cause us to have a better understanding of the building of God. After studying in this way, we will then understand what exactly God’s building in the universe is.
