Scripture Reading: John 14:2-3; 2:16
In the previous chapter we covered three illustrations related to the Father’s house: Bethel, the tabernacle, and the temple. In John 1:51 the Lord Jesus referred to Bethel: “Truly, truly, I say to you, You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” This verse indicates that Christ as the Son of Man, with His humanity, is the ladder set up on the earth and reaching to heaven, joining earth to heaven for the house of God, Bethel (Gen. 28:11-12). It was at Bethel that Jacob poured oil upon the stone so that it might be the house of God. In chapter 1 of the Gospel of John we have not only the ladder in verse 51 but also the stone in verse 42: “Looking at him, Jesus said, You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which translated means a stone)” (lit.). Furthermore, in John 1 there is a strong emphasis on the Spirit, signified by the dove (v. 32), and also on the Lamb (vv. 29, 36). The Lamb produces the stone, and the Spirit is the oil poured upon the stone. The result is Bethel. Therefore, in John 1 we can see Bethel, the house of God. Furthermore, in John 1:14 we have the tabernacle, and in 2:14-16, the temple. Therefore, Bethel, the tabernacle, and the temple in the Old Testament are all fulfilled in the Gospel of John.
In this chapter we will consider three other illustrations of the Father’s house, all of which are found in the New Testament: the incarnated Word as the tabernacle (1:14), the resurrected temple (2:19-21), and the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2-3).
In John 1:14 we see that the incarnated Word, God in the flesh, is the real tabernacle: “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” This tabernacle is God’s dwelling place and expression. A particular dwelling place is always the expression of the person who dwells there. For example, the home of a German person will have a German expression. Just as our home is our expression, so God’s dwelling place is His expression.
The real tabernacle, God incarnate, is God’s dwelling place and also our dwelling place. In John 1 God incarnate, the incarnated Word as God’s dwelling place on earth and His expression, had purposed for His chosen people to enter into Him. In chapter 1 the real tabernacle was present, expressing God and containing God.
Jesus was God incarnate, God in the flesh. He was the real tabernacle, God’s dwelling place and expression. As such a tabernacle, He was eager for the disciples to enter into Him. But the disciples were not ready, and there was no way for them to enter into the Lord as the tabernacle. According to the picture in the Old Testament, the way to enter into the tabernacle was through the offerings. Unless someone offered something to God on the altar for his sins, an Israelite could not have an entrance into God’s tabernacle. Likewise, our sin and sins are great obstacles standing between us and the door of the tabernacle. Because of these obstacles, we do not have a way to enter into the tabernacle. Therefore, we need Christ as our unique offering. It was necessary for Him to die on the cross for us and for our sins in order to cut the way and to make an entrance for us to come into the tabernacle.
The tabernacle is God incarnate. For us to enter the tabernacle is for us to enter into God. Yes, in John 1 the tabernacle was present, indicating that God had come and was abiding among the disciples. However, these disciples were not yet in God. Although God was among them, they were still outside of Him. Before the incarnation God was far away from them, dwelling in unapproachable light. But through incarnation He came to dwell among the disciples. In this way God became approachable. Nevertheless, there was still no way for the disciples to enter into Him. When He went to the cross as the Lamb of God to die, He removed the obstacles — sin, sins, the world, and Satan — and He paved the way and opened the entrance for us sinners to have a free entry into God.
Now we can see what the Father’s house is. The Father’s house in the New Testament was first the tabernacle, God in the flesh. Eventually, this tabernacle was destroyed when Christ was crucified. But in resurrection the Son of God, who Himself is resurrection, not only raised up Himself but also raised up all those who would believe in Him. In resurrection He became the firstborn Son of God, and all His believers became God’s many sons. This means that through and in Christ’s resurrection the many sons of God have been produced. Christ is the firstborn Son of God, and we, the many sons of God, are stones for the building up of the Father’s house. This house is the church. Therefore, today’s church is the Father’s house, the house of the living God. Where are we today? We are not in the tabernacle portrayed in John 1:14. Rather, we are in the church, which is the house of God.
The church in the New Testament is the second stage of the Father’s house. The first stage of this house was God incarnate, God manifested in the flesh. The second stage is Christ resurrected with all His believers, the many sons built up together to be the church. Eventually, this church, the second stage of the Father’s house, will consummate in the coming New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem will be the ultimate consummation, the last stage, of the Father’s house in the New Testament. Today we are neither in the first stage nor in the third but in the second. As those who are in the second stage, we are on our way to the third stage.
It is of vital importance that we see what the Father’s house is. The Father’s house is a matter of the Triune God — through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection — working Himself into His believers in order to be fully mingled with them that He may build them up as an organism for His dwelling place and expression. This is also for their dwelling place. Therefore, the sign of the Father’s house points to the mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed people to produce a mutual dwelling place, a dwelling place for both God and His chosen and redeemed people.
We have seen that the incarnated Word as the tabernacle is God’s expression (John 1:1-2, 14, 18). This tabernacle is the Father’s dwelling place. The tabernacle, the Father’s dwelling place, is full of grace and reality. Grace is God in the Son as our enjoyment; reality is God realized by us in the Son.
John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” The incarnated Word, the tabernacle, as God’s expression is for the declaration of the invisible God. The only begotten Son of God declares God with the glory of the Father. Therefore, with Christ as the tabernacle we have grace and reality with glory. On the Mount of Transfiguration, in particular, three of the Lord’s disciples saw His glory.
The Father’s house is also the resurrected temple. This temple is Christ enlarged in resurrection as the house of God, the church. John 2:19-21 speaks of this: “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.”
The resurrected temple in John 2:19-21 is Christ raised up with His members, who are the many abodes in the Father’s house. These many abodes are also the many sons of God. All the sons of God together are the many abodes in the Father’s house. According to Ephesians 2:6 and 1 Peter 1:3, we, the members of Christ, have been raised up with Him.
The resurrected temple is built up as a spiritual house with Christ as the foundation. Concerning the spiritual house, 1 Peter 2:5 says, “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house.” Concerning Christ as the foundation, 1 Corinthians 3:11 says, “Another foundation no one is able to lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
The resurrected temple is the house of the living God, and this house is the pillar and base of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). First Corinthians 3:16 and 17 also indicate clearly that the believers are the temple of God: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, and such are you.”
Ephesians 2:21 and 22 reveal that the resurrected temple is the dwelling place of God in our spirit: “In whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” The fact that God’s dwelling place is in our spirit indicates that the church is in our spirit. Whenever we are out of the spirit and in our natural mind, we are outside of the church. Because the church life is in our spirit, we all need to learn the lesson of turning to our spirit and staying there. Many of us can testify that after coming into the church life, we have learned to turn to our spirit. However, sometimes we may leave the spirit and dwell in our natural mind. As a result, we may have questions concerning the church and problems with the church and with the saints. The longer we stay away from our spirit, the more questions and problems we will have. But if we come back to our spirit and stay in the spirit, to us the church life will be wonderful. Today the Father’s house is in our regenerated spirit.
In the resurrected temple the believers dwell with Christ. In John 14:3 the Lord Jesus 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 is in the Father (vv. 10-11). Through His death and resurrection He has brought His disciples into Himself. Because He is in the Father, therefore, they also are in the Father by being in Him. Hence, where He is, the disciples are also. Now in Christ we dwell with Him in the Father.
We have seen that the sign of the Father’s house signifies the mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed people to be a dwelling place for both God and them. The ultimate consummation of the Father’s house will be the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem will be the tabernacle of God with man in eternity (Rev. 21:2-3).
The New Jerusalem, as the consummation of the mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed people, will be adorned for her husband as a bride. Concerning this, Revelation 21:2 says, “I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
According to Revelation 21:11 and 18 through 21, the New Jerusalem will be built with gold, pearls, and precious stones. Gold signifies the nature of God the Father. Pearls signify God the Son’s overcoming death and life-imparting resurrection for regenerating God’s redeemed people. The precious stones signify God the Spirit’s work in transforming God’s regenerated people into materials for the building of God’s eternal habitation.
The New Jerusalem will be watered and nourished by the divine life (22:1-2, 14, 17). The water will come from the river of life, and nourishment from the tree of life. The river is for drinking, and the tree is for nourishment. Both the river and the tree are of the divine life, and this life is actually the Triune God Himself.
According to the picture in Revelation 22, we have God the Father as the source of the water, God the Spirit as the flow of the water, and God the Son as the tree of life growing in the water. This is the Triune God as eternal life flowing to water His redeemed people and nourish them so that they may be absolutely one with Him and so that they may dwell in Him and He in them for eternity.
The New Jerusalem will express God fully for eternity. This expression will be God’s glory. Revelation 21:11 says that the New Jerusalem has the glory of God. The glory of God is the expression of God, God expressed. For eternity we will bear the glory of God for His expression in the New Jerusalem.
In order to understand what the Father’s house is, we need all the books of the Bible from Genesis 28 through Revelation 22. As we consider the revelation of the Father’s house in the Scriptures, we see that this house certainly is not a heavenly mansion. The concept that the Father’s house in John 14 is a heavenly mansion is far off, and this concept needs to be discarded. Our Father’s house is a living organism composed of the Triune God mingled with all of His regenerated, transformed, and glorified believers. How wonderful!
This heavenly-mansion concept that has been injected into the believers distracts their attention away from certain vital matters. First, this concept turns the believers’ attention away from the dispensing of the Triune God into us. A heavenly mansion does not require the dispensing of the Triune God into the believers. Those who believe in a heavenly mansion do not sense the need for the dispensing of the Triune God into them.
The thought of a heavenly mansion also distracts believers from the genuine building up in the church life. The building up of the church requires the Father’s nature, signified by gold; the Son’s overcoming death and life-imparting resurrection, signified by pearls; and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, signified by precious stones. But the building of a heavenly mansion does not require any of these things. If we are to have the building up of the genuine church life, we need gold, pearls, and precious stones; that is, we need the Father’s nature, the Son’s death and resurrection, and the Spirit’s transforming work.
Very few Christians today pay attention to the dispensing of the Triune God and to the experience of the nature of the Father, the Son’s overcoming death and life-imparting resurrection, and the Spirit’s transforming work for the building up of the church. On the contrary, many Christians today are waiting to go to a heavenly mansion in the distant future. In the meantime, they may be living on earth in the flesh and enjoying the world yet still expecting one day to go to a heavenly mansion. This is the damage caused by the leaven of the thought of a heavenly mansion. How much damage this concept has caused to Christians! We must thoroughly purge this leaven out of our being.
We need to return to the Body of Christ, the church. The Father’s house is today’s church life. The church life requires the dispensing of the Triune God into our being in a living, practical way so that we may be constituted of the Father’s nature, thoroughly realize the death and resurrection of Christ, and be fully transformed by the work of the Spirit. We need to treasure the church life much more than anyone could treasure the concept of a heavenly mansion. Such a concept is superstitious. Today in the Lord’s recovery we have something real and practical — the local church life. The church life is real, and we are in it!
