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Scripture Reading: John 1:1-4
The Lord has shown us the matter of life again and again over the years. In recent years the Lord has been showing us that He will build His church with His life. The Lord is leading us to know life and building. In these chapters we will look at the matter of life and building in the Gospel of John.
The matter of life is presented to man from the beginning to the end of the Bible. In Genesis 2:8-9 God placed man in front of the tree of life in the garden of Eden so that man would obtain, enjoy, and experience life. In Revelation 22:1-2 the tree of life is at the center of the New Jerusalem. From the beginning to the end of the Bible God’s focus is on life.
Following God’s speaking concerning the tree of life in Genesis 2:9, verse 12 speaks of building materials, including gold, bdellium, and onyx stone. Chapter 2 speaks of life and of building materials. If we had only this chapter, we would not understand the relationship between the tree of life and the building materials of gold, bdellium, and onyx stone. However, in the Gospel of John the Lord Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life” (10:10), and He also spoke of building the church, saying, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (2:19). At the end of the Bible, Revelation shows a holy city that has been built with gold, pearls, and precious stones and that has the tree of life at its center. This is a clear picture showing that God’s central work in the universe involves His coming to be life to His redeemed in order to build them into His eternal dwelling place. The issue of life is a city, a universal building. This universal city is built with life.
There were many ministers of the word in the Bible. In the Old Testament Moses and David were important ministers of the word. In the New Testament the apostles who wrote the Epistles also were important ministers of the word. Of these ministers of the word, the apostle John had a specific burden related to life and building. The Gospel of John begins by speaking of the Lord Jesus as the Word who became flesh so that we might have life (1:14; 3:15-16, 36). The Epistles of John speak of the fellowship of life enabling the believers, who have received the Lord as life, to enter deeper into God (1 John 1:2-10). Finally, Revelation shows how the believers are built in God’s life to be His eternal tabernacle, the dwelling place of God with man (21:3), which is a city built with gold, pearls, and precious stones. John’s ministry speaks of life and building.
Other apostles also speak of life and building. Peter, for example, says that God the Father “has regenerated us...through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” so that we might become partakers of His life and nature (1 Pet. 1:3; 2 Pet. 1:4). We have God’s life and nature, and we are living stones being built up as a spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:5). The apostle Paul also speaks of life and building. He speaks of Christ being our life and of our being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit (Col. 3:4; Eph. 2:22). Although Peter and Paul both speak on life and building, their ministries do not focus solely on life and building. John’s ministry, however, is focused fully on life and building. John thoroughly presents the Lord Jesus as life to us, and he reveals the building of the New Jerusalem in detail.
John says that the Lord Jesus came so that men might have life (John 3:15-16; 10:10). He also referred to the Lord Jesus raising up the temple of God (2:19). Words such as life and tabernacled are mentioned in chapter 1. Verse 4 says, “In Him was life,” and verse 14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” In the New Jerusalem there is a river of water of life and the tree of life (Rev. 22:1-2); furthermore, the city is the tabernacle of God (21:3). The Greek word for tabernacle in Revelation 21:3 contains the same root as the word tabernacled in John 1:14. Thus, John’s ministry specifically shows how life is for building and how building comes from life.
Although life and building are specific to the ministry of John, they also are the central message of the Bible. From beginning to end the Bible is a story of life and building. At the beginning of the Bible we see the tree of life, which is available for man to receive, and the river of water of life, which contains materials for building — gold, bdellium, and onyx stone (Gen. 2:9-12). The matter of building is present throughout the Old Testament. In Exodus God gained a group of people on the earth and erected His tabernacle (ch. 40). In 2 Samuel David established God’s kingdom for God to reign (chs. 6 — 7). In 1 Kings, Solomon built the holy temple and the holy city. When the building of the temple was finished, God’s glory was manifested in the temple (8:11). Furthermore, God’s authority was in place, and God’s will was carried out. Even the work of the enemy was focused on damaging the building, destroying the walls around Jerusalem, burning the temple, and carrying God’s people into exile at Babylon (2 Kings 25:8-21). After seventy years of captivity some of the children of Israel returned from Babylon to Jerusalem to rebuild the holy temple and the holy city (Jer. 25:11; Ezra 1:1-6; 6:13-15; Neh. 6:15-16). When Nehemiah was rebuilding the holy city, the enemies around the city rallied their strength to destroy the building (2:19; 4:1-8; 6:1-9). This shows that God’s building is the center of His work in the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, when the Lord Jesus was on the earth, men thought that God wanted to build a physical temple. However, the Lord Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). The Lord Jesus was speaking of the temple of His body (v. 21), meaning that the Lord would build up God’s dwelling place, God’s temple, in resurrection. The temple of God that He spoke of is a spiritual temple; it is the Lord Himself and all those who have received God’s life and who have been made alive in His resurrection. As such ones, we are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit (Eph. 2:22). This is the central point that God reveals in the Bible, and it is the central work that God is doing in the universe. God wants to enter into us to be our life and to build us up as His eternal dwelling place.
John’s ministry is focused on life and building. We have seen the matter of life and building over the years, but the more I read the writings of John in his Gospel, Epistles, and Revelation, the more light, anointing, and confirmation I have, and the more I feel that God wants to release messages on life and building among His children in this age. I once did a concise study of the Gospel of John with the brothers and sisters in Manila, but now I am quite burdened to give messages specifically related to life and building on crucial topics in the first few chapters of the Gospel of John.
The Gospel of John is an exceedingly rich book; it would take at least three hundred messages to cover all its topics. Chapter 1, for example, contains many crucial terms and phrases, such as in the beginning was the Word; in Him was life; the life was the light of men; as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God; who were begotten...of God; the Word became flesh and tabernacled; full of grace and reality; for of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace; the law was given through Moses; and grace and reality came through Jesus Christ (vv. 1, 4, 12-14, 16-17). There are many crucial topics within just the first eighteen verses of chapter 1.
The most difficult phrase in this chapter is in the beginning was the Word, which refers to a beginning before there was a beginning in time. This topic cannot be exhausted in just one message, but I can speak only according to what I know and understand.
The beginning spoken of in verse 1 precedes the beginning spoken of in Genesis 1:1, which says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The beginning in Genesis is the beginning of time, but the beginning in John 1:1 refers to a beginning before the beginning of time. The beginning in Genesis 1:1 is the beginning of time, but the beginning in John 1:1 refers to eternity, which has no beginning in time. The Gospel of John shows that the matter of the Lord Jesus’ coming to be our life was not from the time of John’s writing or from the beginning of God’s creation of all things but from the beginning of eternity, which has no beginning. This indicates that the Lord Jesus’ coming to be our life should be viewed from the standpoint of eternity. The clothes that we wear or the house that we build are matters related to time; they are not eternal. In contrast, the Lord’s entering into us is a matter related to eternity, even though it occurs in time. The beginning of this matter was in eternity, and it was decided in eternity. From our perspective and experience, the Lord’s coming as life occurred in time, but from the Lord’s perspective, it is eternal in nature.
Whenever we talk about spiritual matters related to God’s life, we must realize that there is no limitation related to time. The Gospel of John is not limited to time. The only time that matters in the Gospel of John is eternity. Furthermore, the Gospel of John shows that the life we have received is an eternal life. In the Gospel of John there is no limitation of time; everything is eternal.
In the same principle, there is no issue of space in the Gospel of John. If we want to speak of space, we must speak in terms of God Himself. In the Gospel of John the only time that matters is eternity, and the only space that matters is God Himself. The space that we are in is God Himself. This is the reason that there are so many references to being in God in the Gospel of John (10:38; 14:10, 17; 15:4-5). The Lord even said, “I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (14:20). God is our space. We need to remember that God’s coming to be our life is a matter that was in the beginning, in eternity.
How can God be man’s life? This is a crucial matter. God is too wonderful and too mysterious. As the Spirit, He is too abstract for us to fathom or even describe. Nevertheless, John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word.” In a very simple yet profound way, this shows that God comes to us as the Word. This Word is not an ordinary or light Word but a great and serious Word.
The Word as it relates to the universe may be hard to understand, but humanly speaking, we know that a word is a declaration, manifestation, and expression. With every utterance of a word, what goes forth is a declaration, a manifestation, and an expression. When we come to a meeting and listen to a message, some may laugh and others may cry in response to the words, and even when we dismiss the meeting with words, there is the response of standing up and leaving. Words move many things.
The universe originated from God’s speaking. Psalm 33:9 says, “He spoke, and it was.” God created all things through speaking; as soon as He spoke, it was. Therefore, Hebrews 11:3 says, “By faith we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God.” When God created all things, He did not use any material or method; He just spoke. His speaking was His method, and His word was His material. Even today God is “upholding and bearing all things by the word of His power” (1:3). The Word in the Gospel of John is the Lord Jesus, who came to be our life (1:1, 4, 14).
John 1:1-2 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” In these verses John speaks of the Word and God. If he had only said, “The Word was with God,” we might think that the Word and God are two separate entities, because with implies that there are two things. However, John also says, “The Word was God,” indicating that the two are one. God’s speaking cannot be separated from God Himself. However, when a man speaks, his word is one thing, and he himself is another thing; the two are not one. For example, we can read a letter written by a person in our family, but we cannot touch the person when we read his letter. His words and his person are separate. The Lord Jesus, as the Word of God, cannot be separated from God; He and God are eternally one. This is the reason that John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” As the Word, the Lord is not only with God; He is God Himself. God cannot be found apart from this Word. The Word is not only with God; the Word is God Himself. This is a mysterious, incomprehensible matter. John used simple words, but they referred to things full of mystery.
If God did not want to be manifested, understood, or known by man, He would be an unfathomable God. But since He desires to be manifested, understood, and known, He moves as the Word. The Word is His going forth. Rather than hiding through inaction, He goes forth through His utterance as the Word. His word is not separate from Him. As soon as a man speaks, his word is separated from him, but since God is the Word, His word is Himself. He is God even when He does not move, but when He moves, He is the Word. God’s word is not separate from Him when He speaks, because God is the Word.
The Lord’s coming to be our life is God’s coming forth in His move and in His expression. Without being the Word, God would have no way to be our life. God is inseparable from the Word because He is the Word. God goes wherever His word goes.
God being the Word is an eternal matter; in the beginning He was the Word. This means that God in eternity was not stationary, unexpressive, or silent. God has been speaking and manifesting Himself throughout all eternity: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” This means that God has always been going forth, moving, and speaking.
God’s activity and utterance brought in the creation of all things: “All things came into being through Him” (v. 3). Once He moved, all things came forth; once He spoke, all things were created. “He spoke, and it was; / He commanded, and it stood” (Psa. 33:9). This is an incredible matter. As soon as God moved in the universe, all things were created. The creation of all things can be considered as God’s going forth, God’s being expressed.
Hence, Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, / And the expanse proclaims the work of His hands.” When God came forth, God was expressed, and His move brought forth all things. The myriads of things in the universe speak of God’s move, which is like an expanding ripple on the surface of water. When a stone is cast into a pool of water, there is an expanding ripple on the surface. This ripple expands from the center to the circumference. Radio waves and an electrical current also spread out like ripples on the water. These examples illustrate the effect of God’s speaking; His speaking produces “ripples” that bring forth everything. All things are the issue of God’s going forth.
It is difficult for a person to look at a mountain range, sail across the ocean, or gaze at the night sky without having some sense of God’s existence. Those who are saved feel God’s presence, but even atheists feel something of God’s presence. A sense of God’s presence may not be as strong in the midst of a bustling city, in a movie theater, or in a dance club because of their stupefying effects. But when we are in some remote mountains or on the vast ocean, a feeling that there is a sovereign Lord, a Creator in the universe, spontaneously rises up in us. This is because God’s going forth is manifested in the things made by God (Rom. 1:20). This does not mean that all things are God but rather that all things that were made by God’s speaking manifest and express Him. When God moved in eternity to express Himself through His speaking, all things issued forth. This is a mysterious matter.
John says, “In Him was life” (John 1:4). God’s speaking not only resulted in the creation of all things, but His speaking enables man to have God’s life. God spoke in Genesis 1, and all things were created. God’s speaking in the Gospel of John brings His life into created man. Verse 25 of chapter 5 says, “The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” God’s speaking enables created man to receive His life. A person who hears God’s inward speaking is a person in whom God is moving and living. The extent to which God can work and live in us depends on the extent to which we let Him speak in us. The more He speaks in us, the more He works and lives in us. If we want to be filled with Him, we must be filled with His word.
Not letting God speak in us is like shutting Him outside a door. When we give Him a little opportunity to speak, He will do a little work of “creation” in us. When we let Him speak more in us, He will impart more life into us. The more we let Him speak, the more He will work in us, and the richer His life element will be in us. God reaches us as the Word.
