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Scripture Reading: John 14:3, 10-11, 16-21, 23
In John 14:3 the Lord said, “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 Lord said that where He is, we also will be. Where is the Lord? In both verses 10 and 11 the Lord said, “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” These verses show where the Lord is. The Lord clearly said that He is in the Father.
Verses 16 through 19 say, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, even the Spirit of reality...but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you...But you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live.” We live because the Lord lives. In these verses the Lord’s living refers to His living after His resurrection. In His resurrection the Lord regenerated us; hence, we live because the Lord lives.
Verse 20 says, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” The word in is used three times in this verse. In verse 3 the Lord said, “Where I am you also may be.” Where is the Lord? Both verses 10 and 20 say that the Lord is in the Father. Furthermore, according to verse 20, the Lord wants us to be in Him. If we are in the Lord and He is in the Father, we are also in the Father.
Verse 21 says, “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.” Not only is the Lord in us; He will also manifest Himself to us. It is one thing to have the Lord in us, but it is another thing to have the Lord manifest Himself to us. We often like to use the expression brothers and sisters in the Lord. When we write letters, we often write, “Dear brother in the Lord” or “Dear sister in the Lord.” A saved one is a person in the Lord, and any person who is in the Lord also has the Lord in him. However, verse 21 says that the Lord will manifest Himself to us. The Lord does not manifest Himself to us because we are saved but because we love Him. Those who love Him keep His commandments; that is, they walk according to the Lord. These are the ones to whom the Lord manifests Himself.
In verse 23 the Lord said, “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.” Not only will the Lord manifest Himself to us, but also He will come to us and make an abode with us. One translation renders make an abode with him as “abide with him.” However, in the original language, to make an abode means much more than to abide. There is the meaning of abiding together, but these words imply more than that. The Lord and the Father “will come to him and make an abode with him.” The abode mentioned in verse 23 is one of the abodes mentioned in verse 2. From our side, this abode is the Lord, but from the Lord’s side, we are this abode. From our side, God is our abode, and from God’s side, we are His abode.
If after we are saved, we love the Lord, follow Him, and keep His commandments, the Lord will manifest Himself to us and make an abode with us. This means that He will have an abode and that we also will have an abode. This is a mutual abode of God and man. We are God’s abode because God is dwelling in us. God is our abode because we dwell in God. We are mingled with God, and this mingling is an abode, a dwelling place. As far as we are concerned, it is our abode, and we dwell in God. As far as God is concerned, it is God’s abode, and God dwells in us. The Lord and the Father “will come to him and make an abode with him.” This means that all the lovers of the Lord will have an abode, and the Son and the Father will also have an abode.
In verse 3 the Lord said, “So that where I am you also may be.” Most people who read John 14 think that this is a reference to the Lord’s bringing us to heaven because He is in heaven. However, where in this verse is not a matter of heaven or earth. In verse 10 the Lord said, “I am in the Father.” Therefore, where in verse 3 is not a matter of a place but of a person. Where the Lord is does not refer to a place but to a person. The Lord is in the Father. The Lord also said, “The Father is in Me” (v. 10). The Lord is in the Father, and the Father is in the Lord. This indicates that the Lord and the Father are joined. The Lord wants us to be joined to Him, just as He is joined to the Father. For this purpose, He needs to work in us. In this chapter we will now consider how the Lord works.
Verse 16 says, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever.” Speaking concerning the Comforter, the end of verse 17 says, “He abides with you and shall be in you.” In these verses the Lord speaks of Himself, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. In verse 3 the Lord said that where He is, there we also will be. The Lord accomplishes this through His asking the Father to send the Holy Spirit.
In verses 16 and 17 the Lord, the Father, and the Holy Spirit are mentioned. Are these three Gods? Matthew 28:19 says, “Baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” In this verse the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are plural in number, yet the word name is singular. This shows that God is triune. He is the one unique God, yet He is the Father, Son, and Spirit. This is something that the human mind cannot explain. For this reason some theologians have attempted repeatedly to use analogies to explain this three-one reality. One of the analogies that is often used is vapor, water, and ice. Apparently, these are three substances, but they are actually one. It is one substance in three forms. When vapor cools down, it becomes water, and when water cools down further, it becomes ice. Ice is water, and water is vapor. The theologians who use this analogy say that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are just like ice, water, and vapor.
However, this analogy is not only incomplete; it also has the danger of deviating from the truth. In an ordinary situation ice, water, and vapor cannot exist simultaneously. According to the revelation of the Bible, the Father continued to exist when He was incarnated in the Son, that is, when the Word became flesh. Furthermore, the Son continued to exist when He became the Spirit. The three — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — exist simultaneously. Therefore, human analogies cannot give a correct and complete explanation of the Triune God.
In the beginning God was in heaven, dwelling in unapproachable light. He was dwelling in light that man can neither comprehend nor approach (1 Tim. 6:16). He is the Father as the source. One day God was manifested. The Word which was in the beginning became flesh (John 1:1, 14). This is the first becoming of God. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, declared the God whom no one has ever seen (v. 18). Hence, the Son is the manifested God. No one has ever seen God, but the Son manifested Him. The Father is the hidden God. The God who hides Himself in a place that no one can see is the Father. The Son is the manifested God. The God who manifests Himself is the Son. Therefore, when the Bible speaks of the Father, it refers to God as the source. When the Bible speaks of the Son, it refers to God manifested. As the Son, God could only be manifested among men. He could not enter into men. Hence, God needed to go through another “becoming.” First, the Word became flesh; the hidden Father became manifested in the Son. Then the Son “became a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45b). These are the two “becomings” of the Triune God.
As the source, God is the Father, whom man cannot approach. However, He came in the Son to be among men and was seen by men. At that time, the Lord was with the disciples on the earth. One day the disciples asked the Lord to show them the Father, and the Lord answered, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Hence, knowing the Lord is equivalent to knowing the Father. The Lord came to manifest the Father. The Lord is the manifested God; hence, he who has seen the Lord has seen the Father. However, there was still one more thing that needed to be accomplished — the Lord needed to enter into His disciples. If the Lord did not enter into His disciples, the mystery in the universe would not have been accomplished; that is, God would not have been mingled with man. In order for the Lord to enter into His disciples, He had to go through another “becoming.” For this reason the Lord said that He would ask the Father to give us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit (vv. 16-17, 26). The Holy Spirit is the Son, and the Son is the Father. The Father came in the Son to be among men, and the Son became the Spirit to enter into man. Because the Son lives, we who believe in Him also live (v. 19). When we live because of the Son, we know that He is in the Father and that we are in Him, and He is in us (vv. 19-20). This is the mingling of God and man.
My desire is that we would see God’s salvation. Today not only do educated people, such as scientists, politicians, and philosophers, not know God’s salvation, but even many theologians and pastors do not have a complete understanding of God’s salvation. God’s salvation is the mingling of God and man; it is God in man and man in God. The Bible is a story of the Triune God working Himself into man and working man into Himself. This is God’s salvation. Just as our clothes, eyeglasses, and pens are not our person, matters such as forgiveness of sins, justification, sanctification, and escape from eternal perdition are not the focus of God’s salvation. Forgiveness of sins and sanctification are not the substance of God’s salvation. The substance of God’s salvation is the Triune God being mingled with man and man being mingled with the Triune God.
Are you joyful to have the Triune God dwelling in you? You might rejoice because you have a gold watch. However, now that the Triune God, who is the Lord, is in you, are you rejoicing? Do you treasure this? Nothing can be more glorious and precious than having the Lord in us. It is a pity that many people do not realize this. If we tell a child that there is water in the air or that there is vapor in the air, he may not understand or believe us. However, we know that vapor is in the air. Vapor is water, and though we may not be able to touch it or feel it, it is in the air. Similarly, it is a fact that the Spirit of the Lord lives in you. It is also a fact that the Spirit is the Lord and that the Lord is God. Hence, the Spirit being in you is God being in you. Perhaps you do not feel it, but this is the fact. The Spirit is in you, the Spirit is the Son, and the Son is the Father. This is the Triune God in you.
Although we may not necessarily feel that the Holy Spirit is in us, if there is a change in our environment or we suffer persecution, the Spirit in us will come forth, and the Lord will be manifested. This proves to the world that God is in us. The Spirit who is in us is the Triune God in us, and nothing can shake, overcome, or subdue Him. The numerous stories of martyrs prove that God was in them. When their environment was difficult, the God who was in them was manifested. Nothing can change this fact. There were believers in China who experienced this.
A brother once testified that his believing in the Lord was not the result of hearing the gospel. His salvation was the result of an event that he witnessed. During the Boxer Rebellion, he was a young apprentice in a shop in Beijing. One day the atmosphere in the street was very tense, and all the shops closed their doors. He stayed inside the shop and watched through a crack in the door. He saw the Boxers parading in the street as they sent the believers of Jesus to an execution ground. The Boxers were brandishing their swords and knives in the air. It was a frightening scene. Among those who were being paraded to execution was a young lady about twenty years old. She was a Christian and had been arrested by the Boxers because of her faith in Jesus. This woman showed no fear; she was even singing and praising God.
That scene made a deep impression on the young apprentice. He felt that there must be something special about Christians; otherwise, how could this woman sing and rejoice instead of fearing death. Because of the impression this incident left in him, when he later met a Christian in northeast China, he heard a clear word concerning the Lord’s salvation and was saved. Later, he became a preacher. This is the way God is mingled with man. When our environment becomes difficult or we are persecuted, God is manifested. When there is no persecution, we can all pray and read the Bible. However, when persecution comes, the genuine Christians are set apart from the false ones, because God is manifested.
God’s salvation is the Triune God being mingled with man. One day you were saved. Since that day the Lord has been in you, and you have been in the Lord. However, that is not the end. The Lord said, “He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21). Then He said, “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” (v. 23). We know that the Lord is in us and that we are in the Lord, but we need to ask whether we have the Lord’s manifestation. It is one thing to have the Lord in us, it is another thing to have the Lord manifest Himself to us, and it is still another thing for the Lord to come to make an abode with us. We are all saved, and the Lord is in us, but does the Lord manifest Himself to us every day? Is the Lord making His abode with us?
Our being in the Lord is different from the Lord’s manifesting Himself to us, which is also different from His making an abode with us. When we believed, we entered into the Lord, but how can we abide in the Lord? We abide in the Lord by loving Him. By believing in the Lord, we are in Him; by loving Him, we abide in Him. We love the Lord by obeying Him and keeping His commandments. Those who keep the Lord’s commandments are those who love Him, and the Lord will manifest Himself to them. Moreover, He will make an abode with them. After we receive God’s salvation, we should have the Lord’s manifestation continually. We have the Lord in us, and we are in the Lord. This is to receive God’s salvation. Afterward, we should have the Lord’s manifestation continually, and He should make an abode with us. This is the living of a Christian. Such a living is the issue of our loving the Lord, keeping His commandments, and obeying Him.
