Scripture Reading: John 14:2, 23; 15:4a, 5a
In the three foregoing chapters we covered the signs of the Divine Trinity and of another Comforter. Concerning the Divine Trinity, we covered forty-seven points related to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father is the source, the Son is the expression, and the Spirit is the consummation. We may also say that the Father is the Originator, the Son is the Accomplisher, and the Spirit is the Applier. In addition, we have the full realization of the Triune God. Therefore, we have seven important terms: source, expression, consummation, Originator, Accomplisher, Applier, and realization.
Before we go on to consider the fifth sign, the sign of the abode, I would like to say a word concerning the twofoldness of the divine truth. With all biblical truths there is the matter of twofoldness; that is, with each truth there are two aspects. Even with God we can see twofoldness. On the one hand, God is one; on the other hand, He is three. Hence, God is triune, three-one.
God is divine, spiritual, and mysterious. Nevertheless, with God there is a physical aspect. Even though He is spiritual, yet there is a physical aspect with Him. The Gospel of John emphasizes the spiritual and divine aspects of God. But in the book of Acts we can see the physical aspect of the Trinity. As far as the spiritual aspect is concerned, Christ today dwells within us. He lives in us in a mysterious way. Although the indwelling of Christ is a mystery, it is nonetheless a reality. We all can testify that we have the Son of God living in us. However, according to the book of Acts, Christ has ascended to the heavens in a physical way (1:9). His ascension was a physical event, and this event was seen by His disciples in a physical way. They saw the Lord Jesus literally ascending to the heavens. What they beheld was not a phantom but a man with a solid, physical body. This is clearly portrayed in chapter 1 of Acts. Furthermore, according to Acts 3:21, Christ must remain in the heavens until the millennium, the time of restoration: “Whom heaven must indeed receive until the times of the restoration of all things, of which God spoke through the mouth of His holy prophets from of old.” Therefore, physically speaking, Christ is no longer on earth but in the heavens. Nevertheless, spiritually speaking, Christ dwells within us. Here we have two aspects — the spiritual aspect and the physical aspect.
When you speak to others about the Triune God dwelling in you, they may respond by pointing out that according to Acts 1 the Lord Jesus has ascended to the heavens and that according to Acts 3 He must remain there until the times of the restoration of all things. Then they may warn you not to listen to anyone who teaches you that the Triune God abides in you. If you encounter such a situation, you may say, “I certainly believe what is written concerning the Lord in Acts 1 and 3. However, I would remind you that the Gospel of John comes before the book of Acts. Let us study chapters 14 through 17 of John’s Gospel and see what these chapters reveal concerning the Triune God. In particular, I would like to point out how in these chapters we have the source, the expression, the consummation, the Originator, the Accomplisher, the Applier, and the realization.” This is the way to fight for the truth. In fighting for the truth, we do not trust fleshly weapons. Instead, our trust is in the pure Word of God.
When we face opposition to a particular biblical truth, we need to remember the twofoldness of the divine truth. Even our constitution as human beings is an illustration of the twofoldness of the truth, for we have a physical part and also a psychological and spiritual part. Medical doctors may study our physical body, but they may not know much about our psychological part and virtually nothing about our spirit. This illustration indicates that it is not sufficient to know any truth in only one aspect. Even the paper on which this chapter is printed has two sides.
Nothing can exist with only one side. For example, we have both day and night. If we had day without night, I doubt that any living thing could exist. In order for life to exist on earth, there is the need for both day and night. This simple illustration points to the fact that there are always two aspects of the truth. For instance, God is one and three, three-one. The Spirit of God is one and also seven (Rev. 1:4). Therefore, let us learn to study the twofoldness of the divine truth.
Let us now go on to consider the fifth sign in chapters 14 through 17 of the Gospel of John — the sign of the abode. In John 14:23 the Lord Jesus 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.” A crucial word in this verse is abode. In 15:4a the Lord went on to say, “Abide in Me and I in you.” In verse 5 He once again used the word abide. In these verses the crucial word is abide. In Greek the words for abode and abide have the same root. The difference between them, of course, is that one is a noun and the other is a verb. Since the word abode is a sign, we need to see the significance of the sign of the abode.
In 14:23 the Lord said that if we love Him, we will keep His word. Then the Father will love us, and the Father and the Son will make an abode with us. Why does this verse first speak of our loving the Lord and then of the Father, not the Son, loving us? The reason is that the Father and the Son are one. When we love the Son, the Father responds because the Son comes with the Father and in the name of the Father. Because the Son comes with the Father and in the Father’s name, when we love the Son, we love the Father. For this reason, the Father responds by returning love to us. We love the Son, the Father loves us, and the result is that both the Father and the Son come to us and make an abode with us.
The word abode in verse 23 may be so familiar to us that we take it for granted and do not pay attention to it. I would suggest that you circle this word in your Bible. The abode in 14:23 is a very important sign, a sign rich in significance.
What does the abode signify? First, the abode signifies that it is possible for human beings to become an abode of God. What a great matter this is! We human beings can become God’s dwelling place!
Many times when we read the Bible, our natural, human thoughts are veils that keep us from seeing the truth in the Word. Because of these veils, someone may read chapter 14 of the Gospel of John ten times and still not pay attention to the crucial word abode in verse 23. This word is a key that opens the entire chapter.
This chapter reveals that we human beings can be and should be God’s dwelling place. This thought corresponds to the fact that God created man to be a vessel to contain Himself. A vessel is different from an instrument, for a vessel is designed to contain something. As a vessel made by God, man was created to contain God. Such a container is also a dwelling place. All those who dwell in a house, for example, are contained in that house. Hence, a house is a vessel, and a vessel is a house, a dwelling place. Because we were created vessels to contain God, He regards us all as His abodes.
Due to the fall, man went away from God. But through Jesus Christ we have been brought back to God. Now the Lord seeks to stir up our love for Him. God is happy when we love the Lord Jesus. Then both the Father and the Son come to the one who loves the Son, settle Themselves within him, and make Their abode with him.
We have seen that man was created by God as a vessel to contain God. Because man fell away from God, the Lord Jesus came to save us, redeem us, and bring us back to God. He stirs up our love, and in response we may say, “Lord Jesus, I love You.” The Father responds to our love for the Son, and then the Father and the Son come to us to make an abode in our spirit. Actually, the Father and the Son come to take us over, to possess us. It is in this way that the Father and the Son settle within us to make an abode with us. This is a great matter!
It is not the goal of God’s redemption simply to save us from hell to heaven. Neither is it God’s goal in His redemption merely to make us better. The goal of God’s redemption is to make us His dwelling place. His goal in saving us is to make us an abode for Him so that He may fully settle Himself in our being. By this we see that God desires to dwell in us. Therefore, the first matter signified by the abode in chapter 14 is that we human beings may become God’s dwelling place. Oh, God desires, longs, to enter into us, possess us, and make us His dwelling place!
The abode in 14:23 also signifies that we and God become one. When you fully settle down in your house, the house becomes one with you, and you become one with the house. This oneness of the house and those dwelling in the house is indicated by the fact that the Greek word for house, oikos, denotes both a house and a household. Actually, a house and a household should be one. The house is a building, and the household is a family. Therefore, the family and the building should be one. According to the biblical thought, the house should be the household, and the household should be the house.
If a household, a family, does not have a house, they will find it difficult to live as a family. What kind of family has no house to live in? Such a family may have a life like gypsies. On the other hand, what kind of house has no one dwelling in it? Such a house would be empty. Therefore, a family needs a house, and a house needs a family. The Bible regards a household and a house as one.
According to the New Testament, we are God’s house, and the family, the household, is composed of the Triune God with His children. Therefore, the family is the Triune God and we, the believers. However, this raises a question: how can we be the family as well as the house? To God, the family is the house. Hence, we are the family and the family is the house; therefore, we are the house. Nevertheless, a question still remains: Does not the family include God? If so, must God then also be the house? Yes, it is correct to say that God is also the house. Eventually, we and God are both the family and the house.
The reason we and God can be both the family and the house is that we are mingled with the Triune God. The mingling of divinity with humanity is the abode in 14:23. By this we see that the abode here is not a simple matter. The abode is a sign signifying the mingling of divinity with humanity, a mingling that is both the house and the household.
We should not understand the Bible, especially a chapter like John 14, in a superficial way. Rather, we need to delve into the depths of the Word. The depths of the truth of the abode in John 14 are related to the fact that the abode is a matter of the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — mingling Himself with His redeemed people to make Himself one with them. This oneness is the house and the household. This is the abode.
The abode we have just described is the proper and real church, the corporate Body of Christ. This Body is the abode, and this abode is the oneness of the Triune God and His redeemed people. We may also say that this mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed people is the corporate Christ (1 Cor. 12:12).
In His recovery the Lord is not recovering anything religious. On the contrary, He is recovering the living divine person in a corporate sense. This involves the mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed people to make them the abode, the house of God, the church, the Body of Christ, which will consummate in the coming New Jerusalem.
This abode is not a lifeless organization; it is a living, pneumatic organism, an organism full of pneuma, full of the Spirit, the divine breath. The church in your locality should be such an organism. If we see this, we will realize that the genuine church is different from organized Christianity with its forms, rituals, and regulations. We do not want a religion; we want a living, pneumatic abode full of the Triune God.
For the producing of this abode, Christ has redeemed us. Then the Spirit stirs up within us a love for our Redeemer. The Father, happy with our love for the Son, responds to our love by loving us. We can testify that when we love the Lord Jesus, we have the sense deep within us that our Father is happy and pleased with us. Spontaneously, we also have the sense that two wonderful divine Visitors, two divine Guests — the Father and the Son — have come to stay with us.
You may wonder why there is no mention of the Spirit in John 14:23. This verse says only that the Father and the Son come to us to make an abode with us. But do you think that the pronoun We here includes only the Father and the Son but not the Spirit? To be sure, the Spirit must be included. We may say that the Father and the Son are the Guests and that the Spirit is the Guide, the Usher. Apart from the Spirit, the Father and the Son would not have a way to enter into us and be settled in us. The Spirit ushers the Son and the Father into Their dwelling place within us. Therefore, eventually we have two marvelous Guests with one dear Guide making Their home in us; that is, we have the Father and the Son with the Spirit indwelling us.
As we pointed out in the foregoing chapter, the Spirit is the Paraclete. He is our Patron and Attorney and even our Interpreter. As the Interpreter, He makes it easier for us to “converse” with the Father and the Son. The Son was the first Paraclete, and now the Spirit is another Paraclete. Through this One, another Paraclete, everything concerning the Father and the Son is made understandable. Hallelujah, we have the Father and the Son with the Spirit as the wonderful Guide! This means that we have the Triune God dwelling in us, mingling Himself with us, and making Himself one with us, and this oneness is the abode.
