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Scripture Reading: John 1:4, 14, 18, 51; 2:16-22
I would like to highlight and briefly explain three points from the Scripture Reading above. First, John 1 opens by saying that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was God, in Him was life, and one day this Word became flesh and tabernacled among men. These are great words with deep and wide connotations. We need to have a deep understanding of the background of the Old Testament in order to understand the meaning of these words.
For example, John 1:4 says, “In Him was life.” In reading such a word, we have to know the Old Testament background. In the beginning of the Old Testament, Genesis 2 says that after God made man, He placed him before the tree of life. What exactly is the tree of life? What is the reason that God placed man before the tree of life? If you stop at Genesis 2, you will find it difficult to answer these questions. If you keep on reading, however, when you come to John 1, you see a sentence that says, “In Him was life.” This means that the life related to the tree of life in Genesis 2, the life that was mysterious to man, was in Him. In the beginning was the Word, and in the Word was life.
One day this Word became flesh, or we may say that this Word who was God came into man. John says that this was God tabernacling among men. This also has an Old Testament background. In the Old Testament times there was a tabernacle among the Israelites. Through the tabernacle God dwelt among the Israelites to supply their every need. It was from the God who dwelt in the tabernacle that the Israelites drew the supply to meet all their needs in the wilderness. The God in the tabernacle was their light; the God in the tabernacle was their revelation; the God in the tabernacle was their leading; the God in the tabernacle was their supply. The God in the tabernacle was their source of everything. All their problems were solved by the God who dwelt in the tabernacle. When they were at war, the God in the tabernacle fought for them. When they had a lack, the God in the tabernacle came to supply them. Therefore, in the wilderness the Israelites received everything from the tabernacle. The God in the tabernacle met their every need. If there had not been a tabernacle, or if the God who dwelt in the tabernacle had departed from them, the Israelites would have had no solution for any problem, and they would have had no supply to meet any need.
Now the Word has become flesh; God has come into man. John says that this event was God tabernacling among men. Just as in the Old Testament, the tabernacle among the Israelites was the center of God’s union with man, so this tabernacle of God’s becoming flesh is also the center of God’s union with man. Just as in the Old Testament, the tabernacle was the source of all supply to the Israelites, so this tabernacle of God’s becoming flesh is also the source of all supply to man. We need to have a substantial background in biblical knowledge to understand this point; otherwise, we will not have a thorough comprehension.
Second, Nathanael was amazed when he contacted the Lord because the Lord saw him under the fig tree before He met him. However, the Lord said, “You shall see greater things than these...You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (1:50-51). I believe that by now, brothers and sisters, you know what the Lord Jesus was referring to. This is Jacob’s dream becoming reality. One day Jacob was at Bethel, and in a dream he saw a ladder set up on the earth. Its top reached to heaven, and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it (Gen. 28:12). Jacob said, “This is none other than the house of God” (v. 17). When he rose up in the morning, immediately he took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it (v. 18). He said, “This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house” (v. 22). If you impress this picture into your mind and then come again to read what the Lord Jesus said, you will clearly understand its meaning. What He said means that He is the ladder that Jacob saw in the dream. The incarnated Lord was to join earth to heaven and to open heaven to earth. The result of the joining of heaven and earth is that God gains a house on the earth.
This shows that in the Gospel of John the goal and result of the incarnation of God is that God is mingled with man to produce the house of God. The Lord’s incarnation is the tabernacling of God among men. Therefore, the Lord Himself is a building of the mingling of God and man. The result of incarnation is that heaven is open to earth and earth is joined to heaven for God to be joined with man. This is Jacob’s dream becoming a reality so that God may gain a house on the earth.
Third, John 2 speaks of the Lord Jesus cleansing the temple. We know that the things in the Bible were not recorded in a casual way. The Lord Jesus did many things on the earth. Yet out of these many things, only those that have a special relationship with the truth that God wants to reveal were selected, recorded, and further depicted by the Holy Spirit. Because of this, we should believe that the Holy Spirit had a specific intention in recording the Lord Jesus’ cleansing the temple in John 2.
In verse 18, after the Lord had cleansed the temple, the Jews asked Him, “What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things?” The Lord Jesus answered and said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (v. 19). This was the only sign He would show them. Do you find this strange? Here the Lord Jesus spoke of Himself as the temple. What is this temple? It is God becoming flesh to enter into man and to be joined to man. Jesus the Nazarene was the temple. The Lord said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” We all know that this refers to the Lord’s resurrection. His incarnation was His tabernacling among men, so His body of flesh was the temple of God. The Jews would kill Him to destroy His body, but through His resurrection the Lord would rebuild His body that was destroyed by the Jews. In other words, He would rebuild the temple that was destroyed by the Jews. It is this tabernacle, this temple, that one day would cause the heaven to be opened and the angels of God to ascend and descend on Him. Therefore, John’s record of these things is altogether for showing that the Lord’s incarnation, death, and resurrection were for the gaining of a tabernacle, a temple. Moreover, this tabernacle, this temple, is the house of God.
Regrettably, people rarely pay attention to these things when they read the Gospel of John. They may realize from reading the Gospel of John that in the Lord was life and that He came that men may have life. However, this is not enough. We need to further ask, “What is the purpose of life being in Him and of His coming that man may have life? What does He want to accomplish by being life and by entering into man to be life?” Brothers and sisters, I do not know if you have ever thought of this question. We have repeatedly said that He came into man as food to be man’s life so that man may enjoy Him. Now we need to ask, “What is the purpose of His coming into man to be life and to be enjoyed by man? What result does it produce?”
Previously, we said that we were born a little more than a foot tall and weighed seven or eight pounds, but we have grown to be tall and big by being built up. How were we built up? It was by eating chicken, duck, fish, meat, rice, noodles, and vegetables. By eating and digesting day after day, slowly we grew to be as tall and heavy as we are today. Please remember, the digestion is the growth, the building. God’s coming into us as food to be digested in us to be our life is likewise for the building up of His spiritual Body.
The Bible shows that this Body is a house. In Ephesians the apostle, on the one hand, says that the church is the Body of Christ, and on the other hand, he says that the church is a spiritual house (1:22-23; 2:19-22). With us, our body is our house. Strictly speaking, we dwell in our body. In 2 Corinthians 5 the apostle Paul says that our body is a temporary dwelling and that one day we will be clothed with a resurrected body, which is an eternal dwelling (vv. 1-3). When a person is about to leave this world, we often say that he is going away; he is leaving his body. This matches what the Bible means by saying that a body is a house. The church is the Body of Christ, and it is also the house of God. Therefore, the intention of God in coming into man as food, being digested in man, and being life to man is to build up the Body of Christ, that is, to build up His house.
The body the Lord put on in His incarnation was the body of one individual man, which was limited. However, the Body He built up after His death and resurrection is not limited to one individual man but includes all those who belong to Him throughout the generations and over the whole earth. If you understand that the story in the Gospel of John is outside of time and space, then you know that today the Lord Jesus is still here “resurrecting.” I do not know if you understand this statement. This is to say that today the Lord Jesus is still here doing the work of resurrection. The temple destroyed by the Jews through Satan’s instigation was only the Lord’s body of flesh. But the temple He built up after His resurrection is an enlarged temple that includes all those who believe in Him throughout the ages and over the whole earth. Today this temple is still in the process of being built. That is why I said that the Lord is still doing the work of resurrection today.
Now we will see the purpose of the Lord’s coming to be life as shown in the Gospel of John. He came to be life so that God and man may be joined as a building, a house. This house is the temple of God, the house of God. Although this is clearly shown in John, regrettably when many read it, they do not easily see it. When people read expressions such as tabernacle, destroy, and raise up the temple in three days, and heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man, it is very difficult for them to understand their meaning. After having this pointed out, I believe we all are very clear. John shows that when God became a man and came to be man’s life, His intention was to have a tabernacle among men, and this tabernacle was God’s temple. Although this temple was destroyed, through His resurrection the Lord rebuilt the temple and enlarged it as well. This temple is joined to heaven and causes heaven to be opened. That was the scene at Bethel. Therefore, Christ’s becoming man’s life is to build up Bethel, the house of God.
Now we will take a look at the main point of each chapter in the Gospel of John. We will first look at the first half of the book, chapters 1 through 13. Chapter 1 is a general outline, saying, in summary, that the Lord was the Word in the beginning. A person’s words are his explanation; therefore, the Lord is the explanation of God, the expression of God. No one has ever seen God; only He has declared God (v. 18). In Him was life (v. 4). One day He became flesh and tabernacled among men to bring life to man (v. 14).
Chapters 2 through 13 show how He meets man’s every need and solves all of man’s problems. We need to see that in the universe God wants to build Himself into man and build man into Himself. God wants man to be His dwelling place, and He also wants man to take Him as his dwelling place. However, the man whom God wants to build up to become His dwelling has all kinds of needs and problems. I would ask you brothers and sisters to consider this: God wants to dwell in you as His dwelling place, and He also wants you to dwell in Him as your dwelling place. However, what kind of persons were you formerly? I believe we all have to say from our heart that before we were saved, our true condition was wretched. We were useless materials. Please remember that after John gives us a general outline in chapter 1, he goes on in chapters 2 through 13 to describe how the man that God wants to build up is wretched and full of needs and problems. He also speaks of how God became man’s life to meet man’s needs and solve his problems.
Chapter 2 speaks about the first sign the Lord performed, which is the changing of water into wine. Here the wedding feast signifies the pleasure of human life, and the wine signifies man’s life. Just as the pleasure of the wedding feast depends upon wine, so the pleasure of human life depends upon life. Just as the wine will run out, so man’s life will come to an end and be finished. Therefore, John 2 says that the first condition of man is that his life will run out and come to an end. If you observe all the happenings among men, you will realize that the most miserable thing is that man’s life runs out. Do you have a Ph.D.? One day your Ph.D. will still be here, but you will be gone. Maybe you are a millionaire; one day your riches will still be here, but you will be gone. Oh, there is an end to man’s life! You may have many sons and daughters and many grandchildren, but one day your life will run out and be ended. This is man’s first condition. Before we were saved, the first condition was that we were men whose life runs out.
There was a custom in my hometown that those who were wealthy would almost always have at least one top-quality coffin in their living room, prepared for the elderly ones in the family. When I was a child, coffins were the most frightening things to me, so I did not like going into others’ living rooms. I cannot imagine the thoughts of those who have prepared a coffin for themselves when they see the coffin every day. Every day the coffin waits for them to come in and lie down.
This is the condition of human life. Man eats, drinks, and enjoys on the earth, attending a “wedding feast,” but man is in death; his life will run out. Therefore, the Lord Jesus came to meet this need of man, to solve this problem. He used the sign of changing water into wine to reveal that He is the Lord of life. He is able to change the water of death into the wine of life. He is life, and He has come that man may have life (10:10). Therefore, in God’s coming to be man’s life, first He solves the problem of man’s life running out.
Chapter 3 speaks about a moral man, a gentleman, one who feared God and endeavored to do good to please God. This is also a condition of man. I believe that many brothers and sisters were more or less in this kind of condition before. You tried to be virtuous and endeavored to do good. Although you would inevitably sin, at the same time, you liked to do good to please God. However, the Lord who came to be man’s life showed that this kind of doing good is useless. The solution to man’s problem before God is not a matter of doing good but a matter of being regenerated, receiving God into himself as life.
Therefore, regardless of how good a person is, he still needs to receive the life of God so that he may be regenerated. It is not a matter of behavior but altogether a matter of life. It is not a matter of doing good or doing evil but a matter of whether or not one has received God as life to be regenerated. What man lacks is not behavior but life. Man’s problem lies not in behavior without but in life within. God coming to be man’s life is to solve man’s problem of life.
Chapter 4 is a picture portraying thirst. We see a thirsty Lord asking for a drink and a thirsty sinner drawing water for a drink. The Lord is thirsty, and the sinner is also thirsty. This is another condition revealing that the man God desires to build is a thirsty person.
Everyone would agree that the human life is a thirsty life. I believe that everyone has had this experience of being thirsty. If you were not thirsty, you would not have sought the Lord. In John 4 the Lord reveals that He is the living fountain. He is not Jacob’s well. The water from Jacob’s well cannot quench man’s thirst; whoever drinks of it will thirst again. The Lord is the fountain of living water; whoever drinks of Him shall by no means thirst forever (vv. 13-14). God comes to be man’s life so that those whom He builds will not thirst again, but the water He gives them will become in them a fountain of water springing up into eternal life (v. 14).
Now we come to chapter 5. In this chapter we see a man who had been thirty-eight years in his sickness, lying and unable to move. This was an impotent man who wanted to move but lacked the strength, being unable to achieve what he desired to do. This exposes the condition of man’s impotence. I believe we all realize that we were the same way in the past. We truly desired to do good, but we could not do good. We really wanted to move, but we could not move. We were truly people who were paralyzed, paralytics who had been in that sickness for a long time. This is another condition of man. However, God comes into man to be man’s life, causing one who is weak to become strong and one who cannot move to be able to move. Formerly, we lay on the mat and were carried by the mat; now we carry the mat and walk back home.
How do we receive the Lord as life? We receive the Lord as life through His word. The Lord said, “The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (v. 25). To receive the word of the Son of God is to receive the Son of God Himself. Whoever receives the Son of God passes out of death into life. This causes the weak ones to become strong. Since death is the greatest weakness, when life comes in, weakness goes out.
Chapter 6 speaks of a crowd longing to be fed. This picture clearly portrays the condition of man’s hunger. The Lord said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall by no means hunger” (v. 35), “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (v. 57), and “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (v. 63). These words reveal that if man receives and enjoys the Lord, he will be satisfied with food.
Chapter 7 speaks about religion. The Jews were holding the Feast of Tabernacles, and on the last day of the feast the Lord Jesus cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (v. 37). This shows that religion cannot quench man’s thirst forever. While man may have a religion, a belief, and may joyfully participate in religious feasts, still there is a last day of the feast; there is an end. On the last day of the feast, the end of the feast, man is still thirsty. Therefore, the Lord said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water” (vv. 37-38). Not only is man himself no longer thirsty, but he can even quench others’ thirst. This is another condition of man and the solution that God brings by coming to be man’s life.
Some brothers and sisters may have been religionists who celebrated religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter. You might have felt very joyful while celebrating a feast, but when it ended, you felt that religion could not quench your thirst. Only the God who comes to be man’s life can quench man’s thirst within and even cause him to become rivers of living water, overflowing living water to satisfy and supply others.
Chapter 8 gives the record of a sinful woman who committed the most immoral and defiling sin. The Jews said that according to the law of Moses, she should be stoned to death. This shows that the law condemns sinners to death. However, this God who comes to be man’s life is able to save sinners from being slaves of sin. This is also a condition of man and the Lord’s solution.
Chapter 9 shows another condition of man — blindness. Brothers and sisters, you should confess that in the past you were blind (I believe that you will not be offended by this). Each one of us used to live and flounder about blindly in this sinful world. We did not know God, and we did not know the eternal things. However, ever since the God who comes into man to be man’s life came into us, He enlightened our inner eyes.
When the Lord opened the eyes of the blind man, He did it by anointing his eyes with spittle and clay and sending him to wash in the pool of Siloam, and he washed and came away seeing. In the past when I read that passage, I did not understand the meaning; it seemed like a child’s game. As I gradually came to understand the mingling of God and man, I understood what this meant. The clay is we human beings, because human beings are made of clay; we are all a clod of clay. What proceeds out of the Lord’s mouth are His words, which are the Lord Himself. The Lord comes to mingle with us clay men. This is the mingling of God and man. This mingling causes us who are blind to be able to see.
Brothers and sisters, if within you there is no mingling with God, you will forever be blind. But when God Himself mingles with you, a clay man, through the words that proceed out from His mouth, your eyes are opened. Therefore, another condition of man is that he was born blind. There is the need for the God who comes to be man’s life to enter into man, to mingle with man, so that man’s eyes may be opened and enlightened.
Now we come to chapter 10. Chapter 10 and chapter 9 are related to the condition of man in two aspects. One aspect is his being blind; the other aspect is his being lost. Those who are blind are those who are lost; they are sheep without a shepherd. The Lord of life is the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep so that the sheep might receive His life. He came that the sheep may have life. With any sheep that receives Him as life, on the one hand, his eyes are opened, being able to see, and on the other hand, he is returned to the flock to be under His hand, His shepherding.
I love hymn #44 in the Chinese hymnal. The first stanza says that we bless the name of our Father as children taught by grace, and we rejoice that because of His life we were brought back to the flock. This is exactly what John 10 says. Once His life comes into us, it causes us to return to the flock. We were formerly lost sheep; it was by His life coming into us that we became sheep belonging to the flock and being shepherded under the hand of the good Shepherd.
Chapter 11 speaks about a man who was sick and later died, was buried in the tomb, and even smelled. Yet the Lord who came to be man’s life caused him to be raised from the dead, come out of the tomb, and be freed from all bondage. This indicates that the man God desires to build was formerly in death and in the tomb but is now enlivened by God entering into him.
Chapter 12 does not mention a particular condition of man. The main point in this chapter is a word spoken by the Lord: “Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (v. 24). The Lord in saying this showed that He had to go through death and resurrection to impart His life to man, that is, to impart Himself as life into man, in order to meet all of man’s needs as mentioned above.
Chapter 13, which is a conclusion to the first half of the Gospel of John, shows that the Lord, who comes to be man’s life to solve all his problems and meet his every need, loves those who are His own and who receive His supply, and He cares for them to the uttermost. In this way they can become materials for His building in order to be built up by Him as His Body and the dwelling place of God.
This chapter starts by saying that the Lord, having loved His own who were in the world, loved them to the uttermost (v. 1). This means that He would bear all their responsibilities. Then chapter 13 goes on to relate the account of the Lord washing the feet of the disciples. This account reveals that He cares for those whom He loved, redeemed, regenerated, gained, and is building and bears their responsibility to the uttermost. If a person is willing to wash your feet, that is an indication that there is nothing else he would not do for you. This God who comes to be man’s life cares for you and bears full responsibility for you. This is the content of chapter 13.
Now let us briefly reiterate. Chapter 2 says that man’s life runs out; chapter 3, that man needs to be born again; chapter 4, that man is thirsty; chapter 5, that man is impotent; chapter 6, that man is hungry; chapter 7, that religion cannot quench man’s thirst; chapter 8, that man lives in sin; chapter 9, that man is blind; chapter 10, that man is lost; chapter 11, that man is dead; chapter 12, that the Lord must impart His life to man; and chapter 13, that man needs the Lord’s care and that the Lord cares for man to the uttermost. These chapters reveal the conditions and needs of the man whom God desires to build up.
Since the man whom God desires for His building is in such a condition, He needs to solve these problems and meet these needs for man. Thank the Lord that His coming to be man’s life is to meet man’s every need and solve all of man’s problems. He can change the life that runs out into one that does not run out. Once He enters into man, He causes man to be regenerated. He alone is the living water that causes man to not thirst forever. He is also the bread of life that causes man to hunger nevermore. If a man lives by Him, He causes rivers of living water to flow out of his innermost being to water and satisfy others. He can make the weak strong. He releases and frees man from sin so that he is no longer a slave of sin. He gives sight to the blind and brings the lost back to His flock under His shepherding. He resurrects the dead and sets them free. He can do all these things by imparting His life to man, and He cares for man to the uttermost, bearing all of man’s responsibility.
In brief, therefore, the first half of the Gospel of John reveals that God came among men to be built together with men. The Lord’s becoming flesh was His tabernacling among men. The Lord’s body was the tabernacle. Later, the Lord Himself also said that His body was a temple, and although man would destroy the temple, He would raise it up again by His death and resurrection. Then the temple would be enlarged, not limited to Himself alone. In resurrection He comes into many people to be mingled with them; this is His building of the temple. However, since the people whom He is building are full of all kinds of problems, beginning from chapter 3 John shows how He solves all their problems and meets their every need by coming into them to be their life.
Now let us look at the second half of the Gospel of John, from chapter 14 through chapter 21. Starting with chapter 14 the Gospel of John takes a turn. The center of the first half, composed of chapters 1 through 13, is God’s becoming flesh and coming into man. The center of the second half, composed of chapters 14 through 21, concerns His “going.” When the disciples heard the Lord say that He had to go, they were troubled. At the beginning of chapter 14 therefore, the Lord said, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe into God, believe also into Me. In My Father’s house are many abodes” (vv. 1-2). From here the Lord turned to the matter of an abode.
We now need to address a very important question. What does My Father’s house mentioned here refer to? We know this is not the first time that the Father’s house is mentioned in the Gospel of John. As early as chapter 2, when the Lord cleansed the temple, He said, “Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise” (v. 16). Many brothers and sisters realize without difficulty that the Father’s house in this verse refers to the temple at that time. Yet it is strange that when people come to the Father’s house mentioned by the Lord in John 14, they think it refers to heaven. For two thousand years many expositors of the Bible have interpreted this Father’s house as heaven. Even many hymns in Christianity refer to God’s house as heaven. In the Bible, whether the Old Testament or the New Testament, God’s house and the Father’s house are mentioned numerous times. The strange thing is this: Bible expositors agree unanimously that God’s house in the Old Testament refers to the temple, whereas God’s house in the New Testament refers to the church, yet the Father’s house mentioned in John 14:2 is considered the unique exception and interpreted as heaven. This is indeed a strange thing.
Brothers and sisters, I wonder whether you still think that the Father’s house is heaven when you read John 14:2. The Lord says, “In My Father’s house are many abodes; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself” (vv. 2-3). What does the Lord mean by go? How does He prepare a place for us? Where is this place? He says that He will come again to receive us. Does this come again refer to His second coming in the future? We should find answers to all these questions.
When I was young and newly saved, I heard a preacher speaking on John 14, which to this day has left in me a deep impression. He said, “The Lord told us that He would go and prepare a place for us, and when it is prepared, He would come again. This coming again will happen one day in the future. The Lord is now in the Father’s house, and this Father’s house is the heavenly mansion. He went there to prepare a room for every one of us who are saved. This is what the Lord meant by His going to prepare a place for us. When He has prepared the place, He will come again to receive us. The Lord has been gone for more than one thousand nine hundred years but has not returned to receive us, because the place has not been fully prepared. Oh, it has taken the almighty Lord more than one thousand nine hundred years, and yet the heavenly mansion has not been fully prepared! Can you imagine how extravagant and how magnificent that place will be? Therefore, we ought to thank and praise Him. Moreover, we do not need to build a very good house on the earth, for this is not our eternal dwelling place. Now the Lord is building a better house for us in heaven, and that will be our eternal abode.” He spoke quite well, and I listened enthusiastically.
Thirty years passed by, and under the Lord’s leading I gradually came to understand the matter of the mingling of God and man. Because of this, when I read the Gospel of John again, I became very clear concerning the Lord’s going to prepare the Father’s house. I realized that preparing a place refers to the Lord’s building of the church. In Matthew 16 the Lord Jesus said, “I will build My church” (v. 18). In John 14 the Lord Jesus said that He would prepare a house. How many buildings does the Lord have in the universe? Does He have two buildings or just one building? Could it be that today the Lord is building the church on the earth and at the same time building a mansion in heaven as the house of God? Or is it that His building of the church is His building of the house of God? In other words, are the building of the church in Matthew 16 and the preparation of a place in John 14 two matters or one?
Those who agree with interpreting the Father’s house in John 14 as heaven have a seemingly clear explanation. They say that the place the Lord is preparing is the city referred to in Hebrews 11 that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob longed for, and it is also the holy city, New Jerusalem, mentioned in Hebrews 12 and Revelation 21. With this we agree. But we have to ask, “Is the holy city, the house of God, something apart from the church? Is it that today God is building the church on the earth as well as the holy city in heaven?” Dear brothers and sisters, can you believe that God has two buildings today? Five or six years ago I asked the Lord in a serious way if He has two buildings in the universe. The answer I received was clearly negative. God has only one building in the entire universe. God will never build a mansion in heaven as His house. Rather, God is building His redeemed people as His house. God is not building a place; He is building Himself with those whom He redeemed. God is building Himself into man and man into Himself so that He and man can be mingled to become a house.
John clearly says that God’s becoming flesh was His tabernacling among men, and the body of flesh that He put on was a tabernacle, which was also a temple. The Jews wanted to kill Him, to destroy this temple, but He resurrected in three days, thereby rebuilding this temple and enlarging it to become an eternal temple. In John 2 the Lord clearly said that this temple is the Father’s house. Please consider John 14, where the Lord again mentioned the Father’s house: can this Father’s house be heaven? It is very obvious that it absolutely does not refer to heaven. This Father’s house refers to a spiritual house brought about by the mingling of God and man. You should be fully clear about this after you read John 14 through 17.
The Lord said, “In My Father’s house are many abodes...for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, so that where I am you also may be” (14:2-3). Where is the Lord? We have seen that the Lord clearly said that He is in the Father. Therefore, when the Lord said, “Where I am you also may be,” He meant that He would cause us to also be in the Father. When the Lord spoke these words, the disciples, including Peter, James, and John, were not yet in the Father. Because of this, the Lord said that He would go to do something, which was to open a way, to prepare a place, to bring them into the Father. Therefore, we see that this preparing a place is to build man into God. The Lord seemed to be saying, “I am in God, but you are outside of God. Where I am today you cannot be. That is why I am going to prepare a place, and when it is prepared, I will come again to receive you to where I am so that where I am you also may be. I am going, and what I mean by going is that I am about to die. My death is to open a way for you and solve the problems between you and God. After I die, you will be able to draw near to God. Furthermore, My death enables you to come into God.” Therefore, in saying that He would come again after preparing a place, the Lord was not at all referring to His second coming in the future.
Brothers and sisters, this is altogether different from the concepts we have received in the past from traditional Christianity. Therefore, we have to ask the Lord to grant us clear light. I also hope that we will read John 14, 15, 16, and 17 more thoroughly so that we all may see the central revelation of the Gospel of John: God tabernacles with man in order to build up the temple and fulfill Jacob’s dream at Bethel so that He may have a building in the universe as the mutual dwelling place of God and man.
