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Scripture Reading: John 1:42, 51; 2:19-21; 3:29-30; 10:16; 12:24; 15:1, 5; 17:21-23
In this chapter we must come to the Gospel of John. The Gospel of Matthew is at the beginning of the Gospels, and the Gospel of John is at the end. Apparently, they are quite different from one another. Matthew says that Jesus is the King, and John says that Jesus is the Son of God and even God Himself. It seems that these two Gospels are very different, but they are nearly the same in two points. Both of them tell us that Jesus eventually will be with us. “‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel’ (which is translated, God with us)” (Matt. 1:23). Here Matthew tells us that Jesus is God with us. Then John says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (1:14). To be among us equals to be with us. The first chapter of Matthew tells us that this One is going to be with us, and the first chapter of John tells us that this One is going to be among us. In this point these two books are the same.
This is not all. Matthew 1 tells us that Jesus is the very God. His name is not only called Jesus but Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” And John 1 tells us that Jesus as God became flesh. So we can see that these two books are alike. Both tell us something of the incarnation of this wonderful person.
Many Christians believe that the incarnation of Jesus was mainly that He might be our Redeemer. Jesus indeed was incarnated as a man in order to be our Redeemer. But not many Christians pay much attention to the fact that Jesus was incarnated to be with us. His incarnation was not only for Him to redeem us but also that He might be with us. A savior who redeems us and then leaves us is not Jesus. Jesus came with the purpose of being with us. Emmanuel means “God with us.”
Then in John 14 Jesus told us that the Spirit of reality not only dwells with us but shall be in us: “Even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you” (v. 17).
I may be with you while I am giving this message, but I could never be in you. The only way for me to be in you is for you to eat me. Praise the Lord, Jesus came to be with us, and even the more, to be in us. But the way for Him to be in us is by being killed, “cooked,” and then eaten. Jesus was killed, was “cooked,” and now He is the processed Jesus, good for eating. When we eat Him, He gets into us.
Before this process He was with Peter, John, and so many of the disciples. But He could not get into them until He was put to death and resurrected. Then He breathed Himself into them. At that time He became the Spirit of reality. Now He was no more simply God in the flesh but the Spirit of reality.
In order for Jesus to get into us, He has taken two steps. The first was to become flesh, and the second was to become the life-giving Spirit. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1:1). This is a wonderful verse, but there is nothing in it for us. But praise the Lord for verse 14! “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” The Word became flesh to tabernacle among us. This was Jesus with the blood and flesh. If He had no blood, there would be no redemption. Our Jesus as the Word became flesh with blood. This is why in the same chapter there is another verse: “The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (v. 29). This flesh is the Lamb of God with the blood for our redemption.
After three and a half years with the disciples as the Word become flesh, He told them that He was going to leave them. That really troubled them. They wanted Him to stay with them. But He told them that if He did not go and die, He would not be so profitable to them. In order to make Himself more profitable to them, He had to go and die.
But, praise the Lord, He said that His going was not His leaving. Instead, His going was His coming. Now He was with them, but He could not be in them. Therefore, He had to take a further step that He could be in them. That step was death and resurrection. Through death and resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). The first step was for Him to become flesh, and the second was for Him to become the life-giving Spirit. As God He became flesh. Then as flesh, through death and resurrection, He became the life-giving Spirit.
Most Christians today have not seen that Jesus took the second step to become the life-giving Spirit. A good number of Christians even today are still opposing us because we say that the Bible teaches this matter. They say that Jesus is the Son of God, that He is not the Spirit. But whatever they may say, 1 Corinthians 15:45 tells us that the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.
In several places, after I shared that Jesus today is the life-giving Spirit, some dear ones asked me if I believed in the Triune God. I told them that I believed in the Triune God more than they did, but they need to know that Jesus today is the life-giving Spirit. It is so clearly revealed that Jesus through His death and resurrection has become the Spirit of reality. The Lord took two steps in order to dispense Himself into man. As God He became flesh. Then, through death and resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. Now as the Spirit of reality He is not only with us but also in us. The Spirit of reality dwells in us!
Matthew, in the last verse of his Gospel, tells us that the Lord Jesus will be with us forever: “Behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age” (28:20). Now we see how the two Gospels of John and Matthew are the same. They both tell us that this wonderful person is with us and within us.
There is also another similarity in these two Gospels. Neither John nor Matthew mention the Lord’s public ascension. Almost all Christians have common knowledge that the Lord Jesus went to the Father after His resurrection. There is no record whatever in Matthew of Jesus going to the Father. This Gospel ends by the Lord telling us that He will be with us unto the consummation of the age. Suppose you were to go to Mongolia to preach the gospel with only one book of the Bible, and that book was Matthew. After the Mongolians read this book, they would be certain that the Lord Jesus was with them forever. Not one Mongolian would know that Jesus went to the heavens unless you brought them this doctrine. There is not such a thing as Jesus going to the heavens in Matthew. It is mentioned, of course, in other Gospels but not in Matthew. Why? Because in this book Jesus came to be Emmanuel. He came to be God with us, and He promised that He would be with us unto the consummation of the age. Jesus is still here, and He is with us all the days. This means He is with us every day until this age is completed.
Is the ascension mentioned in the Gospel of John? In Matthew it is certain that there is no record of Jesus’ ascension, but in John we must be careful. There is no public ascension, but there is a secret ascension, which lasted less than a day. It is found in John 20. In this chapter Mary saw Him early in the morning after His resurrection. She attempted to touch Him, but He forbade her, saying that He had not yet ascended to the Father (vv. 16-17). He must present the freshness of His resurrection to the Father for the Father’s satisfaction. The Father must be the first to enjoy the firstfruits of resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20). So early in the morning of the day of resurrection, Jesus went to the heavens. This was not the public ascension, which was forty days later. This was a secret ascension. Jesus went to the Father on that day in a secret way. On the evening of the same day He came back and showed Himself to His disciples. After this it was permissible to touch Him (John 20:27). Before His secret ascension He told Mary not to touch Him, but afterward it was allowed. This was because between the time He appeared to Mary and the time He came back to the disciples, He ascended to the heavens to present the freshness of His resurrection to the Father for His enjoyment. After He presented Himself to the Father, He returned to the disciples and never left them. He went up secretly, and He came back secretly. Therefore, in the Gospel of John there is no public ascension. Why? Because the Gospel of John tells us that Jesus will be in us as the Spirit of reality. In the Gospel of John He asked us to abide in Him and He will abide in us. How could He go away if He is in us in such a way? This is why His going away was only for a short time. It was not more than seventy-two hours altogether. This going away was to take a further step for His coming. He had to become the Spirit through death and resurrection in order to come into us.
The Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of John both tell us that this wonderful person, Jesus, is with us, and neither one of them mention the public ascension of Christ. The reason they do not mention this is because they both tell us that He is going to be with us and in us all the time. Praise the Lord!
What is the reason that Jesus is with us and in us? What is the purpose? We must all see that Jesus is with us and in us for the preparation of the bride. The Lord has come into us in order to build up the bride. Some say that Jesus is in us to sanctify us, to be our life, to comfort us, to strengthen us, and to lead us. All these things are true, but they are all for the producing of the bride, which is the building up of the temple of God.
We must all see that His goal is not simply to be our life, our comfort, our strength, and so many other things. All these things are procedures that we may reach the goal. The goal is the producing of the proper church, which is the building of God’s temple and the preparation of the Lord’s bride. Praise the Lord that He is doing it!
It is wonderful to be saved, and it is really wonderful to be sanctified, to be spiritual, and to have abundance of life. But they are not the goal. We should not be for any one of these things in a separate way. We must be for the church life, the preparation of the bride, and the building up of God’s temple. God’s temple, the bride, the church—this is the goal!
In the first chapter of John, the Lord Jesus was introduced to the people by John the Baptist. After this, two of John’s disciples followed the Lord Jesus. One of these was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. Then Andrew brought his brother to meet the Lord. “He led him to Jesus. Looking at him, Jesus said, You are Simon, the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which is interpreted, Peter)” (v. 42). It is remarkable that when Jesus looked at Simon, He gave him a new name. This meant that He was going to change him and rearrange him to make him something else. The Lord was going to make him a stone for God’s building.
What a difference there is between the clear words of Jesus and the concept of today’s Christians. We are not saved for some minor things. We are saved to be stones for God’s building. We are stones, and we need to be built up into God’s building. It is certain that Simon Peter did not forget this word. This is why he tells us in his Epistle that we are living stones to be built up as a spiritual house: “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5).
There is also another matter related to God’s building in the first chapter of John. Nathanael was brought to the Lord by Philip, and the Lord told him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51). Jacob in Genesis 28:12-19 had a dream, and in that dream Jacob saw a ladder on the earth rising into the heavens. And the angels were ascending and descending on the ladder. This meant that the ladder was the connection between the heavens and the earth. Jacob called the name of that place Bethel, which means “the house of God.” Jesus told Nathanael that he would see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. This means that Jesus Himself is the ladder that connects the earth to the heavens, and He is going to make all of us stones for the building up of Bethel, God’s house on the earth.
In John 2 the Lord told the Jews, “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” (vv. 19-21). Jesus meant that the Jewish people would kill Him, but He would raise Himself in resurrection. They killed one Jesus, but in resurrection millions were resurrected with Him. One was killed on the cross, but millions were raised up in resurrection. When Jesus was resurrected, we were all resurrected in Him and with Him (Eph. 2:6), and it is by this resurrection that Jesus will build up a spiritual house for God. It is in resurrection life that we are built together as Bethel, the house of God.
John 3 is a most familiar chapter. Everyone knows that it speaks of the matter of regeneration, but very few Christians realize that this chapter reveals that regeneration is for the producing of the bride. After Jesus was recommended by John the Baptist, people began to follow Him. Yet John the Baptist still practiced his ministry of baptizing. Because of this there were two groups: one following Jesus, and the other following John the Baptist. This caused some trouble. There was no problem as far as John was concerned, for he fully understood what he was doing, but his disciples did not understand. Therefore, they came to John and complained that Jesus was getting a bigger following than he. They were jealous for John (vv. 22-27). Then John said, “You yourselves testify of me that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice. This joy of mine therefore is made full. He must increase, but I must decrease” (vv. 28-30). John was clear that all the people should go to Jesus. He was the Bridegroom. He was the One who came for the bride. Everyone must go to Him. In this way we see that regeneration in John 3 is for the producing of the bride. I am afraid that many people today are not clear why they are saved, why they are regenerated. The reason we are saved and regenerated is for the purpose of being built into His bride. The Lord is preparing us for the bride. He is the Bridegroom, and we are the bride under preparation.
The Lord’s preparation of His bride is not outward. It has nothing to do with outward teaching, instruction, adjusting, or improving—this is not the way of the Lord’s preparation. The Lord prepares us by being in us! He is unsearchably rich within us, and this rich One is doing a transforming work. He is not changing us outwardly but inwardly. It is a kind of metabolic change. Something of His element is wrought into our being to replace all our oldness. Then we will be renewed and transformed for the building of His bride. This bride that the Lord has prepared will be so glorious. It will not be prepared by teaching or adjusting but by an inward metabolic change.
Now we must go on to John 10:16. Here Jesus told us about the one flock: “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must lead them also, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one Shepherd.” The flock is a corporate matter. We are not individual sheep; we are a flock! So we must be flocked together. The real togetherness is the church. The church is the togetherness of the flock. As individual sheep we will be killed. We must be in the one flock, and this flock is the proper church life. Praise the Lord for one flock and one Shepherd!
In John 12:24 the Lord told us something more of the corporate bride: “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” The Lord was the one grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying so that He might produce many grains. But these many grains are not individual. They are to be ground into fine flour to make one loaf. This one loaf is the church (1 Cor. 10:17). The church is one Body, one loaf, coming out of the mass production of the one grain. Jesus fell into the earth and died, but in His resurrection we were all raised up as grains to be made into one loaf. Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as an individualistic standing. We must be in the one flock and the one loaf.
Then in John 15 we see the one vine tree with all the branches. “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing” (v. 5). This is still the church, the corporate bride. There are many branches, but there is only one tree. Do not think that you can be a separated branch. If so, you are withered, because you have been cut off from the vine tree. Praise Him that we are the many branches in the one vine tree! This is the proper church life.
We all must realize that everything is for the Body. The church is not simply a group of individual believers; it is the built up Body of Christ. This is why the Lord prayed in John 17 that we all may be one: “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me. And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me” (vv. 21-23). The Lord Jesus prayed in this prayer for the oneness, and this oneness is the church life. All Christians should be one! This is why we are against any kind of division. We should not be divided by any kind of doctrines or ordinances. If you speak in tongues and I do not, we still should be one. If you are immersed and someone else is not, you must all still be one. Regardless of what we like, we must be one!
To have the oneness and to be built up into one Body is far from the concept and practice of today’s Christianity. Everyone forms their own group according to their taste. But as long as we all believe in the Lord Jesus and have been regenerated, we are one! Believe me, the Lord today is gathering all the seeking Christians to be one. So many seeking Christians are coming together to be built up into this oneness. This is happening not only in the U.S.A. but on the entire earth. Many seekers of Christ are for this oneness today. I do not mean a kind of unification. That is of the devil. We are one already; we do not need to be unified. We are one in Him. We all have His life in us.
The Lord also prayed concerning our oneness in the glory. What is the glory? It is just the expression of Christ. Jesus as the Son of God has the glory to express God. Now this glory to express God has been given by Jesus to us. Now in this glory, in this expression of God, we are one! We are not for the expression of immersion, sprinkling, tongue-speaking, or anything else. All these things divide the saints. We are for the expression of Christ. To this very day the Lord’s prayer in John 17 has not yet been fully fulfilled. Satan has used all his divisive schemes and elements to divide the saints. Many people have come into our meetings and said that they do not like this or that. But who are they? They may not like it, but the Lord does! As long as there are no idols, no fornication, and no division, and as long as we all recognize the divine person of Jesus and His redeeming work, we are one. We should not oppose anything from others, neither should we impose anything on others. As long as we all express the Lord Jesus, that is sufficient.
In the Gospel of John we see that Jesus is everything to us for the purpose of producing the bride. This bride is the temple of God, the building. It is also the vine tree, the one flock, and the one loaf. This bride is the proper church life with the oneness of all the believers. Praise the Lord! This is the Lord’s recovery. It is not by teaching but by taking Christ as our life and as our everything.
