Scripture Reading: John 16:16-24
In this chapter we will consider further the sign of the newborn child in John 16.
In John 2:19 the Lord Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” This word was actually a prophecy concerning the Lord’s death and resurrection. In this prophecy the Lord indicated that He would rebuild God’s house in resurrection. This rebuilding of the house of God in resurrection was to be an enlargement of God’s house. This is proved by the fact that not only was Christ Himself resurrected, but the entire new creation was resurrected with Him.
This resurrection was both a rebuilding and a birth. With respect to the house of God, it was a rebuilding in resurrection. With respect to the new man, it was a birth in resurrection. By this we see that, in one sense, the resurrection of Christ was a rebuilding and, in another sense, it was a birth.
In John 14:2 the Lord Jesus 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.” This word is a fulfillment of the prophecy given by the Lord in 2:19. In chapter 2 the Lord prophesied that He would build the house of God in resurrection and that He would build it in an enlarged way. If we did not have chapter 14, we would not see where the prophecy given in chapter 2 is fulfilled. If we say that John 14:2 refers to a heavenly mansion, then the Lord’s prophecy in 2:19 has no fulfillment. But in 14:2 is the fulfillment of 2:19. The concept of a heavenly mansion is far off the line of the divine thought in John’s Gospel.
John’s writings are concerned altogether with divine things. Basically, in his Gospel John does not write of physical things. With divine things there is no physical element. Likewise, with divine things there is no element of space or time. The words what, when, and where are related to physical matters. The word what refers to the physical element; when, to the time element; and where, to the space element. But with divine things, especially with the divine life, there is no what, when, or where. These three matters do not have any position in the divine life.
As an example of what we mean in saying that there is no what, when, or where with divine things, let us consider the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. When was the Lord crucified? Concerning this question, we should pay attention to the fact that Revelation 13:8 speaks of the “Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world.” When was Christ actually crucified — nineteen centuries ago or from the foundation of the world? The proper way to answer this question is to say that from the human viewpoint He was crucified nineteen hundred years ago, but from the divine viewpoint He was slain much earlier, even from the foundation of the world. To say that Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world means that from the time creation came into existence Christ was slain.
The reason Revelation 13:8 can speak of Christ as the One slain from the foundation of the world is that there is no time element with God. In His foreknowledge God saw that His creation would become fallen. From His point of view, the Lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the world.
In the foregoing chapter we strongly emphasized the fact that the new man was born in the resurrection of Christ. However, according to the book of Acts, the church came into existence, or was born, on the day of Pentecost. This is the record according to history. All Christians can easily see that the church had its birth on the day of Pentecost. But many believers do not see that actually, in the divine view, the church as part of the new man was born in Christ’s resurrection. How, then, should we answer the question regarding when the church was born? The best answer is to say that from the human point of view, that is, from the historical point of view, the church was born on the day of Pentecost. This historical event is recorded in Acts 2. But according to the divine point of view, the church as part of the new man was born in Christ’s resurrection.
Recently, a sister testified that before hearing the message on the sign of the newborn child in John 16, she thought that all regenerated people were born again one by one. She did not realize that we were all regenerated in Christ’s resurrection.
We know that the entire church is one new man, Christ the Head and we the Body. Could this man have many births? Could part of the new man have been born at one time and other parts born at different times? The answer to these questions is no. Just as an entire human being is born at one time, so the entire new man was born at the same time. It was not the case that the Head of the new man was born at one time and that the members of the Body were born at a later time. The new man had one birth, and every part of the new man was born at the same time.
We have seen that the new man was born in resurrection. As a divine matter, resurrection does not have the elements of time or space. Hence, we cannot say where the new man was born; that is, we cannot point out the place where the new man was born. Resurrection is not a place. Rather, resurrection is a divine matter, and in this divine matter there are not the elements of space or time. Because the new man was born in resurrection and resurrection is a divine matter, the birth of the new man was not a matter of time or place.
It is correct to say that the church was born on the day of Pentecost. But it would not be correct to say that the new man was born on the day of Pentecost. It would be a serious mistake to say this. In the human point of view the church as the Body of the new man came into existence on the day of Pentecost. However, the new man was not born on the day of Pentecost but was born in resurrection fifty days earlier.
The day of the Lord’s resurrection was the day of firstfruits. Pentecost was celebrated fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits. According to the record of history, the Lord Jesus was resurrected fifty days before Pentecost. From the human point of view, we may say that the Head of the new man came into existence in resurrection and that the Body of the new man came into being as the church fifty days later, on the day of Pentecost. However, we need to realize that in God’s economy and from the divine viewpoint, the entire new man came into being through a single birth at the same time. Therefore, in the sight of God the entire new man was born in resurrection.
As human beings, our view always has the limitation of time. From our perspective, the delivery of the new man in resurrection involves a long span of time. At first only the Head was born, and then gradually other parts of the new man come into being. Therefore, from our limited point of view, the birth of the new man takes place gradually throughout the centuries following Christ’s resurrection.
God’s viewpoint, however, is different. In His sight a thousand years are as one day (2 Pet. 3:8). As we consider the birth of the new man, it appears to us that some parts have already been born and other parts will be born in the future. But according to God’s view, everything regarding the birth of the new man has already been accomplished. In the sight of God the whole new man was born through Christ’s resurrection.
My purpose in giving this further word concerning the sign of the newborn child in John 16 is to prepare you to face those who may oppose this biblical truth. You may meet a Bible teacher who will say to you, “How can you claim that the church as the new man was born with Christ in resurrection? Let us study chapter 2 of Acts. According to this chapter, the church had not come into existence before the day of Pentecost. Why, then, do you say that the church was born with Christ?”
If you meet such a person, you may want to say, “I believe what is recorded in the book of Acts. However, the record of Acts emphasizes the human side, the physical side, which is easily seen. Anyone reading the New Testament can see that on the day of Pentecost the church came into existence. But another side, the divine, spiritual side, is revealed in the Gospel of John.”
It is possible to read this Gospel many times without seeing the significance of the birth of the new man in John 16. The reason for this difficulty is that the new man is a divine entity. The history of the church, on the contrary, is something human, physical, and outward.
Concerning the church we need to see both the human side and the divine side, both the physical side and the spiritual side. Yes, in Acts we see the physical side. Nevertheless, there is still the spiritual side revealed in the Gospel of John.
Many readers of the Bible see only the physical side of the church; they do not see the divine side. As we have pointed out, John’s writings emphasize the divine side, the spiritual side. We may take the Lord’s incarnation as an example. In Matthew and Luke we are given a historical account of Christ’s incarnation. In this account we are told how the Lord was conceived, how He was born, and where He was born. But in the Gospel of John we are not told anything about the conception and birth of the Lord Jesus. Rather, this Gospel says, “In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was God...and the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (1:1, 14). John says nothing concerning when, where, or how. In other words, John does not give us an account that is merely historical.
History is concerned with the physical side. Regarding the incarnation of Christ, John gives us the divine facts. Incarnation is a divine fact, not merely a story of something that happened in history. In Matthew and Luke we have the historical record of the physical side, but in John we have a revelation of the divine facts. The reason for this is that John shows us the side of the divine life. With the divine life there are not the elements of time and space.
It is very important for us to see this matter. In order to get into the depths of the truths in John’s writings, we must get beyond the elements of space and time and see things from the divine point of view. Although the church did come into existence on the day of Pentecost, according to the divine point of view, the church as the new man, including Christ as the Head and the members as the Body, was born in resurrection. Praise the Lord that we are now in the new man that has come into being through the death and resurrection of Christ!
