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Scripture Reading: John 1:14, 51; 2:16, 19, 21; 14:1-6, 10-11, 16-21, 23, 14:28; 15:4-5; 16:16-23; 20:19-23; 17:21-24, 26
The principle of God’s building is God mingled with humanity. The matter of building is different from creation. In creation something is brought into existence from nothing. Building, however, involves putting together things that already exist. When the Lord Jesus was incarnated to become flesh, He was God mingled with humanity. Thus, as God in the flesh, He was a building. With Him there was the principle of the divine building.
John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” In this verse we see the principle of the building of God. The word tabernacled in Greek is the verb form of the noun tabernacle. The tabernacle was a building. Thus, the Lord’s becoming flesh was in the principle of God’s building. We can also see the principle of building in the Lord’s reference to Jacob’s dream in verse 51. In this verse the Lord reveals that He is the heavenly ladder (Gen. 28:11-22). He is the vertical way to bring forth God’s building, because by Him and through Him God is mingled with humanity, and this mingling is the divine building.
In John 2:16 the Lord said to those who were selling doves in the temple, “Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise.” The Father’s house in this verse was the temple, which was a more solid and stable form of the tabernacle. The tabernacle and the temple had the same purpose, although they existed during different times. They were symbols signifying the people of Israel as the dwelling place of God (Lev. 22:18; Num. 12:7; cf. Heb. 3:5-6). Then in John 2:19 the Lord said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” In this verse the temple refers to the Lord’s physical body, as indicated by verse 21, which says, “He spoke of the temple of His body.” The Jews at that time were trying to destroy the Lord’s body. However, the Lord said that if they destroyed His body, in three days He would raise it up, clearly implying the Lord’s resurrection from the dead (Matt. 16:21).
At this point we must realize something very important. What the Jews destroyed was the body of the one man, Jesus. However, what the Lord raised up in resurrection was not only His own body but also His mystical Body — the church, the Body of Christ. The Jews destroyed the small body of Jesus, but the Lord resurrected a greater Body in His resurrection. We were all resurrected at the time that the Lord Jesus was resurrected (Eph. 2:6). In His resurrection the Lord raised up the Body of Christ. Thus, the Father’s house in John 2:16 is the temple, and in verse 19 the temple signifies not only the Lord’s physical body but also the Body of Christ, including all the saints whom the Lord raised up through His resurrection. This temple is the mystical Body of Christ as the house of God (1 Cor. 3:16; 1 Tim. 3:15). The Father’s house is the temple, and the temple is the mystical Body of Christ, which includes Christ Himself and all His members raised up through His resurrection.
With this understanding, we come to John 14. In verse 1 the Lord said, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe into God, believe also into Me.” This verse indicates that Jesus as a man was one with God. If we want to believe into God, we must believe into Jesus, because He and God are one (10:30). We must deal with Him in the same way that we dealt with God. In 14:1 the Lord seemed to be telling His disciples, “If you knew that I and God are one, you would not be troubled in your heart. Your heart is troubled simply because you do not realize that I and God are one. You think that I am only a man, and when a man dies, he is finished. Thus, your heart is troubled. However, I wish to tell you that I and God are one. Even if I die, I am not finished. Even if I leave, I will still be here. You must realize that I, the Son of Man, Jesus, am one with God. If you believe into God, you must also believe into Me.”
God is outside of space and time. The disciples thought that when the Lord left, He would be gone. They did not realize that because He and God are one, even when He leaves, He is still here. With Him there is no difference between His coming and His going; they are the same thing. Since Jesus was one with God, there was no need for the disciples’ hearts to be bothered or troubled. They should have realized that His going was actually more profitable for them (16:7).
In 14:2 the Lord said, “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.” What is the Father’s house in John 14? We must expound the Scriptures with the Scriptures; this is the safest way to expound the Word. To know what the Father’s house is in John 14, we need to refer to chapter 2, which says that the Father’s house is the temple (v. 16). Furthermore, according to verses 19 through 21, the temple signifies the mystical Body of Christ, including all the members of Christ, as the dwelling place of God (Eph. 2:21-22). It would not be logical to say that the Father’s house in John 14 is something different from the Father’s house in John 2. In John 2 we are clearly shown that the Father’s house was the temple, which signifies the mystical Body of Christ as the dwelling place of God. Thus, the same term used in chapter 14 also implies the Body of Christ.
The King James Version and several other versions of the Bible render John 14:2, “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” However, the Greek word translated “mansions” is actually monai, which is the noun form of the verb abide. This verb is used in 15:4-5, which tells us to abide in the Lord so that the Lord may abide in us. Thus, the Greek word in 14:2 is properly translated “abodes.” If the Father’s house is the mystical Body of Christ, and within this house are many abodes, what are these abodes? Clearly, the abodes are the many members of the Body. We must realize that as members of the Body, we are all abodes because Christ is dwelling within each one of us. This is proved by 14:23, in which the Lord says that He and the Father will make an abode with those who love Him. Thus, the many abodes are the many members of the mystical Body of Christ.
The Lord continued in verse 3, saying, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again.” The Lord did not say “I will come” but “I am coming.” This means that the Lord’s going was His coming and that He was coming to the disciples by going. Some have said that this coming is the Lord’s second coming in the future. However, we must declare that this interpretation is incorrect. The Lord’s coming in this verse was His coming back in resurrection. The Lord was telling His disciples that He was going to die. Because of this, the disciples’ hearts were troubled; they thought that He was going to leave them. They did not realize that by going to die, the Lord could come in another form. At that point, the Lord had come but not to a full extent. He had come through incarnation but was able only to be among the disciples. He was not able to enter into the disciples. The Lord had completed the first step of His coming, which was His incarnation. Through His incarnation He came to be with the disciples. However, a second step was needed so that He would be able to enter into the disciples. In this second step He needed to go in order that He could come again. His going was His coming.
We may illustrate these two steps with the following story. One day some parents bought a watermelon for their children. When the watermelon was put on the table before the children, the children looked at it and appreciated it very much. Then the parents said, “Sorry, we must take the watermelon away.” This caused all the children to cry because they thought that they were going to lose the watermelon. However, the parents told them, “Don’t be worried about the watermelon. Don’t be sad. We must take the watermelon away in order to cut it into pieces. Then we will bring it back for you to eat.” The first step was the buying of the watermelon. However, after the watermelon had been bought, it could still only be among the children; it could not be in them. Thus, there was the need of a second step. The watermelon had to be “killed.” Then, after being “resurrected,” it could be put on the table in another form, a form that was easy for the children to receive. Thus, the watermelon’s going was not its leaving but its coming.
The Lord Jesus had come to His disciples through incarnation, but He was not able to enter into them. He had to go to the cross, be killed and buried, and then be resurrected. After passing through these steps, He came back to the disciples as the Spirit (20:22; 1 Cor. 15:45b). Thus, the Lord’s going was His coming.
John 14:3 says, “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.” The word Myself is a very strong word. It indicates that the Lord was going in order to receive the disciples into Himself, causing them to be in Him. He also said that they would be where He was. Where was the Lord when He spoke these words? He was in the Father (vv. 10-11, 20). Furthermore, the place where the Lord was going was actually a person — the Father (vv. 12, 28). Then in verse 4 the Lord told the disciples that they already knew the way to where He was going. Thomas asked how they could know the way. Jesus answered, “I am the way” (v. 6). The place where the Lord was going was a person, and the way by which the disciples could go there was also a person. The destination was the Father, and the way to reach the destination was the Son. This is evident from verse 6, which says, “I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Thus, we are going not to a place but into a divine person — the Father, who is God Himself. Also, the way to get into God the Father is through a person — the Lord Jesus. Thus, through the Lord as the way, we can be where He is, that is, in the Father.
Verses 10 and 11 say, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; but if not, believe because of the works themselves.” Many people teach that the Lord is in heaven, and since we are destined to be where the Lord is, we also will be in heaven. However, this interpretation is absolutely incorrect. The Lord never tells us in this chapter that He is in heaven. Instead, He tells us again and again that He is in the Father and that He is going to prepare the way that He may bring us into God. The Lord declared that on the day of resurrection we would know that He is in the Father, that we are in Him, and that He is in us (v. 20).
At one time we were separated from God; there was a great distance between God and us. This distance was due to sin, the world, the flesh, and the self. We were far off from God, separated by many hindrances and obstacles. But through His death and resurrection the Lord Jesus eliminated this distance between God and us, thus bringing us into God. The Lord’s death and resurrection paved the way for us to enter into God and gave us access to contact God. Through His death and resurrection, the Lord brought us back to God and into God.
John 14 makes it clear that the place where the Lord is and the place to which we have been brought is not a physical place but a divine person. Many Christians use John 14 to say that they will go to heaven. However, there is no such thought in the Scriptures. The central thought of the divine mind is not that we are going to heaven but that God is being wrought into us and that we are being wrought into God. God’s central thought is that He is working Himself into us and is working us into Him. The dwelling place of God is not a physical place devoid of life but a composition of living persons; likewise, our dwelling place is the living God Himself. In Psalm 90:1 Moses prayed, “O Lord, You have been our dwelling place / In all generations.” The Lord is our real habitation; we are abiding and dwelling in Him. Not only so, we are the Lord’s habitation and dwelling place.
John 14:16-17 says, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.” These verses show us that the Spirit of reality, the Holy Spirit, abides in us. We are His abode.
Verse 18 says, “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.” This verse shows us again that the Lord’s going was His coming. The disciples were afraid that He was going, but the Lord told them that He would not leave them as orphans. Rather, He was coming to them, not in the form of the flesh but in the form of the Spirit, in the form of another Comforter. On the one hand, the Comforter is the Spirit of reality, the “He” mentioned in verse 16. On the other hand, the Comforter is the Lord Himself, the “I” in verse 18. The “He” in verse 16 is the “I” in verse 18. If the “He” comes, that means that the “I” comes. One is the transfiguration of the other. They are the same person but in different forms. Before His death the Lord was in the form of the flesh. After His resurrection He is in the form of the Spirit. The forms are different, but the person is the same.
Then in verse 19 the Lord said, “Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live.” The Lord indicated in this verse that He would be resurrected after “a little while,” that is, after not more than seventy-two hours. He seemed to be saying, “Now I am going to die, but after a little while I will live; I will be resurrected. Furthermore, I will live in you so that you will live through Me. I will live, and you also will live.”
In verse 20 He said, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” “That day” is the day of resurrection. The Lord was telling the disciples that in the day of resurrection He would come back as the Spirit, and they would realize that He was in the Father, that they were in Him, and that He was in them. Thus, they too would be in the Father, because they would be in the Son, and wherever the Son was, there they would be also. Through His death and resurrection the Son would bring the disciples into Himself, and because the Son is in the Father, the disciples also would be in the Father. Furthermore, the Lord would be in the disciples. This is the building. The Lord is building God into us and building us into God through His death and resurrection.
In verse 21 He said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him.” Again, we must realize that this chapter mentions nothing about a physical, heavenly mansion. Rather, this chapter is a matter of the Lord as a person manifesting Himself to those who love Him.
In verse 23 the Lord went on to say, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.” What is this abode? This abode is not a heavenly mansion. We are the abodes, the many abodes in the Father’s house. The Father’s house is the mystical Body of Christ as the temple of God, and the many abodes in this house are the many members of Christ. The Lord is in the Father, we are in the Lord, and the Lord is in us. This indicates that the Father is the Lord’s abode, that the Lord is our abode, and that we are the Lord’s abode. Thus, the Lord and we are a mutual abode because we are in Him and He is in us. This is why 15:4 says, “Abide in Me and I in you.” This is not a matter of a heavenly mansion; this is the mutual abiding.
In 20:21 the Lord told the disciples, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” When the Father sent the Son, the Father sent Him in the way of being in Him. In the same way, the Son sent the disciples in the way of being in them. This is shown in verses 22 and 23: “And when He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you retain, they are retained.” The Spirit, who was the Lord Himself, was in the disciples; as a result, they had the authority, knowledge, and understanding to forgive people’s sins or to retain them. They had this authority not through themselves but through the indwelling Spirit.
In 14:28 the Lord said, “You have heard that I said to you, I am going away and I am coming to you.” We must realize that the Lord’s death and resurrection were not His leaving but His coming through another step so that He might enter into us and bring us into God. Through His resurrection we are able to realize that the Lord is in the Father, that we are in the Lord, and that the Lord is in us. This is the Lord’s building work. Through His death and resurrection He built God into us and us into God, mingling God and us together as one. This is the divine building, the Father’s house. This is the mutual habitation of God and the redeemed ones. We are abiding in God, and God is abiding in us. Thus, God and we mutually abide in one another (15:5).
