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In this message we come to the very heart, the center, of the Gospel of John. John 14 is the first part of the message that the Lord gave to His disciples before His death. In order to understand this message, we must remember that this Gospel reveals two main points: one, that the Lord comes to be our life; two, that the Lord will build us together in oneness with Himself and with God. As we have already mentioned, the two most important words in this Gospel are life and building. The word building is clearly referred to in chapter two, for there we are told that the Lord will build up the temple, the house of God, in three days (John 2:19). Then in chapter seventeen the Lord prayed that those who take the Lord as life may be one in the Triune God (John 17:21-23). This oneness in the Triune God is the spiritual building. When we take the Lord as life, the Lord as the Spirit will build us together as one in the Triune God. Life and building, the central thought of this Gospel, are two items which must definitely be remembered. As we have pointed out, this Gospel is divided into two main parts. The first part shows the Lord’s coming, and the second part shows the Lord’s going. The Lord’s coming brings God into us by incarnation, and the Lord’s going brings us into God through His death and resurrection. By the Lord’s coming we take Him as life, and by His going He builds us into God. Unless this matter is clear to us, the real meaning and central thought of this Gospel can never be realized.
The first section of the Gospel of John, composed of chapters one through thirteen, shows how Christ as the eternal Word came through incarnation to bring God into man to be the life and the life supply to man. Chapter fourteen begins the second major section of this book. We need to be clear that as far as the Lord’s coming to be our life to produce the church is concerned, everything has been completed at the end of chapter thirteen. If you study this Gospel carefully, you will see that the revelation regarding Christ as life for the producing of the church is fully completed in these thirteen chapters. Do not think that chapters fourteen through twenty-one contain a further revelation. No, this portion is a repetition, a development, of what is revealed in the previous thirteen chapters. In the first thirteen chapters we see that the Lord, as the Word of God and the Son of God, came to be life to His disciples that they all might have eternal life and become parts of the church. Although this matter is clear, we are not told the way in which the Lord imparts Himself into us as life. During the three and a half years that the Lord spent with His disciples, He told them that His coming to mankind was for the purpose of being life to people that they might be regenerated with the divine life and become the house of God. Nevertheless, by the end of chapter thirteen this was still simply a revelation. How could this be carried out? How could the Lord come into His disciples and be their life? Although He spoke about being in them as life, as yet He was only with and among them; He was not yet able to get into them. If we had been there, we probably would have asked Him, “Lord, please tell us how You can be our life. How can we have the divine life? Since the divine life is in God, how can God’s life get into us? Lord, You say that You are the life and that You have come that we might have life and might have it abundantly. But how can we have it? Lord, You have said that we all shall be Your increase, but how can we become Your increase? It seems that You are You and we are we. You are among us, no longer just in the heavens, but still You are You and we are we. How could we be a part of You, and You be one with us?” If you are a thoughtful person, you will undoubtedly raise such a question. The answer to this question is found in the second section of this Gospel, for the second section is a full development of the revelation found in the first section. Do not think of it as another revelation.
Let us now consider the content of this second section. This section, composed of chapters fourteen through twenty-one, shows us Jesus crucified and Christ resurrected going to prepare the way to bring man into God, and as the Spirit coming to abide and live in the believers as their life for the building of God’s habitation. Here we shall see Christ’s going and coming. In His crucifixion and resurrection He went to prepare the way that man might be brought into God. Then as the Spirit He comes to abide and live in the believers as their life for the building of God’s habitation. We need to spend a great deal of time to get into this matter thoroughly.
Chapters fourteen through sixteen reveal life’s indwelling for the building of God’s habitation. Regardless of how much time you have spent reading or studying these chapters, I doubt that you have ever seen what is revealed here. Have you ever seen in these chapters the matter of the building of God’s habitation? In a very detailed way, these three chapters unfold that Christ, as the indwelling life, is for the building of God’s habitation.
Now we come to chapter fourteen. This chapter covers a very significant matter: the dispensing of the Triune God for the producing of His abode. Here we see two points: the dispensation of the Triune God and the producing of His abode. Tell me honestly, before reading this message did you ever realize that John 14 speaks of the dispensing of the Triune God for the producing of His abode? All three of the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, are clearly mentioned in this chapter. Although many Christians talk about the Triune God, not many realize that the full revelation of the Triune God is here in this chapter. Chapter fourteen is not only a revelation of the Triune God but a revelation of the dispensing of the Triune God into the believers for the building of His abode. In this message we shall cover only the first few verses of this chapter.
In 14:1-6 we see Jesus going through death and Christ coming in resurrection to bring us, the believers, into the Father. This matter is crucial. Please notice that it is not Christ going and Jesus coming, but Jesus going and Christ coming. This does not refer to Jesus’ going to heaven and coming back at the time of the second advent. No, it refers to Jesus’ going through death and Christ coming in resurrection to bring the believers into the Father. This crucial matter is covered in the first six verses of this chapter.
In both 13:3 and 14:2-3 we are told of the Lord’s going. At that time the Lord told His disciples that He was going. According to the natural concept, the Lord’s going meant that He was leaving the disciples in order to go some place else. The disciples did not understand what the Lord meant. In fact, for almost two thousand years the saints have misunderstood this chapter. Even today it is not easy to understand what the Lord meant when He said that He was going. Now, by the help of the Holy Spirit, we have found the correct meaning: the Lord was going by death and resurrection. When He said that He was going, He meant that He was going to die and be resurrected.
Where was the Lord Jesus going? The disciples were not clear about this. If you read chapters twelve through sixteen, you will find that, seemingly, the Lord did not tell the disciples clearly and definitely where He was going. I have spent much time to find out in this portion of the Word where the Lord Jesus was going. I can still remember sitting under a great Brethren teacher more than forty years ago. One night he gave an entire message on the matter of where the Lord Jesus was going. He talked a great deal, but he never told us where the Lord was going. Seemingly, the Lord did not say where He was going; actually, He made it very clear. Why then, is it not clear to us? Because it is clear in the Lord’s own word, but not according to our natural concept.
The Lord Jesus told His disciples that He was going to the Father (vv. 12, 28). No one understood what He was talking about. According to the human concept, His going to the Father meant that He was going back to heaven. But the Lord Jesus never said that He was going to heaven. In verse 4 He said something very mysterious: “And you know where I go, and you know the way.” Immediately after the Lord said this, Thomas replied, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” (v. 5). It seems that there was an argument, with the Lord saying that His disciples knew the way and with Thomas saying that they did not know it. Then the Lord said to Thomas, “I am the way” (v. 6). If I had been Thomas, I would have said, “Lord, what are You talking about? What does it mean that You are the way?” The Lord not only said that He was the way. He said, “I am the way, and the reality, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” If I had been Thomas, I would have said, “Lord Jesus, the more You talk, the more You bring us into the forest. We are not clear about the way and now You are talking about the reality and the life. What is reality? What is life? What do You mean when You say that You are the way, the reality, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through You? Are You going to the Father or to the heavens?” The Lord did not say, “No one comes to heaven except through Me.” If He had said that, everyone would have been clear. The disciples would have said, “Now we know what He is talking about. He is going to heaven.” But the Lord did not say that He was going to heaven but that He was going to the Father. If I had been there, I would have said, “Lord Jesus, where is the Father?” In verse 10 the Lord said, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?” The Father was in Him. The Lord said that He was going to the Father, yet He was in the Father already and the Father was in Him. How perplexing this is! No one can understand it.
In answer to the question “Where is the Father?” the Christian theologians have given a good answer. They say that the Father is in the heavens and that when the Lord said that He was going to the Father, it meant that He was going to the heavens. If the matter were as simple as this, it would never have bothered anyone. But it is not that simple. That was the reason why none of the disciples at the time knew where the Lord was going, and it is also the reason why so many of us have been unable to understand this whenever we read it.
What, then, was the aim or goal of the Lord’s going? As we have seen, most Christians think that the aim of His going was heaven. However, after a careful reading of this chapter, you will discover that the object of the Lord’s going was not heaven. The Lord had no intention of bringing His believers from one place to another. It is not a matter of a place; it is a matter of a living person, the Father Himself. The Lord was going to the Father, and His intention was to bring His disciples into the divine person of the Father. Chapter thirteen tells us that the Lord came from the Father (v. 3). Here, in chapter fourteen, we see that He was going to the Father. The Lord came from the Father by incarnation to bring God into man. Now the Lord was going to the Father in order to bring man into God. The thought of this chapter is not that the Lord was going to heaven, but that He was going to the Father in order to bring all those who believe, those who receive Him as life, into God. The way of His going was by death and resurrection, and the purpose of His going was to bring man into God. In verse 3 the Lord said, “I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, that where I am you also may be.” Where is He? He tells us the answer to this question clearly in verse 20: “I am in My Father.” Therefore, by His going we shall also be in the Father because He brings us into the Father. So where He is, there we also shall be. The purpose of His going to the Father was to bring us into the Father, just like the purpose of His coming was to bring God into man.
In verse 1 the Lord said to His disciples, “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.” This verse reveals two very important points. The first is that the Lord is the same as God. If one believes in God, he must also believe in the Lord, for the Lord is the same as God Himself. In fact, the Lord is God Himself. Even up to that time, the disciples did not adequately realize that the Lord was God Himself.
God is omnipresent: He is not limited by time and space. On the one hand, the Lord was in the flesh, and with the flesh there are the elements of time and space. On the other hand, the Lord was not the flesh but the very God, and with God there are not the elements of time and space. In this book we are told both that He was limited in time and in space and that He was not so limited. In 7:6 He said, “My time has not yet come,” indicating that although He was the eternal, infinite, unlimited God, He lived on earth as a man, limited in the matter of time. In 3:13 He said, “No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven.” This verse indicates that while the Lord was on earth, He was still in heaven. This means that He, as the very God, was omnipresent. With Him there was not the limitation of time and space.
Why did the Lord mention to His disciples that He was the same as God? Because He told the disciples that He was going, and they had the human thought that His going meant that He was leaving them. Since the disciples knew that God is omnipresent, the Lord told them that He was the same as God. Just as God is omnipresent, so He likewise was omnipresent. Just as God is without the elements of time and space, so He also was without these elements. Whether He went or stayed it was the same, for He, as God, was omnipresent. Since His going was actually His coming, their hearts did not need to be troubled by His going. He was the same as the God in whom they believed. If they believed in God, they also had to believe in Him because He was the same as the God who is always present. The Lord seemed to be telling His disciples, “Do not be troubled by My going. Do not let your hearts be perplexed. If you believe in God, you must also believe in Me. God is omnipresent. With Him there is no time or space limitation. It is the same with Me. I shall go, but I shall still remain with you. And while I remain with you, I shall go. I am omnipresent. If you believe in God, you must also believe in Me, for I am the same as God.”
The second important point in verse 1 is that believing God is different from believing into God. You may say that you believe God, but do you believe into God? In Greek the preposition in means “into,” that is, to believe into God. In other words, this is not an objective believing; it is a subjective believing. The basic thought of this chapter is that the Lord intends to help or instruct the disciples to be in God. We must remember that to believe God is objective but to believe into God is subjective. It is this kind of subjective believing that brings us into God. In effect, the Lord was saying, “If you believe into God, you must also believe into Me.” The preposition into is very important. It is regrettable that many have the wrong concept, thinking that to believe in God means to believe God. We must not miss the preposition. It is not a matter of believing the fact objectively; it is a matter of the subjective believing that brings us into God. The central thought of this chapter is that we must believe into God.
According to the natural concept, most Christians think that the Father’s house mentioned in verse 2 must refer to the third heaven where God the Father dwells. But we must not interpret the Bible according to our natural concepts. Rather, we must interpret the Scripture with the Scripture. We must understand the Bible according to and with the Bible. The phrase My Father’s house is used twice in the Gospel of John. It is used the first time in 2:16, where it clearly refers to the temple, the dwelling place of God on earth. The temple is a type, a figure, of the body of Jesus (2:21), which, as we have seen, has in resurrection been enlarged into the Body of Christ. We must pay our full attention to this point. In 2:16 My Father’s house is the temple on earth. It does not denote a place in the heavens, but God’s temple on earth. Since the temple is the type of the body of Jesus, the body of Jesus is the tabernacle (1:14), the temple, for God’s dwelling place on earth. This interpretation of the phrase My Father’s house is clearly shown in chapter two. We must apply this definition to 14:2, where we have the same phrase. We should not take this phrase in 14:2 to have a different meaning from the same phrase found in 2:16, for that would be illogical. The second time that this phrase is used in the same Gospel it must have the same definition as the first time it is used. Thus, the Father’s house in chapter fourteen must also mean God’s dwelling place on earth. It cannot mean the third heaven. In chapter two the Father’s house is eventually the Body of Christ, and in chapter fourteen it must also be the Body of Christ. No one can deny this. Now we have the proper interpretation of the phrase My Father’s house: it is the Body of Christ, that is, the church. We need to adjust ourselves from the wrong teaching which says that the Father’s house here is heaven.
In the Epistles the revelation that the Body of Christ is the church and that the church is the house of God is fully developed. First Timothy 3:15 discloses that the church is the house of the living God. Hence, the Father’s house must mean the house of the living God on earth and not in heaven. First Corinthians 3:16 tells us that the believers, as a whole entity, are the temple of God. First Peter 2:5 says that we, as living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house. This spiritual house certainly must be the Father’s house, the house of God. Furthermore, Hebrews 3:6 says that we are the house of God, and Ephesians 2:21-22 says that the believers are being built together as God’s habitation, not in the heavens but in the spirit. Thus, the whole New Testament supports the interpretation, as found in the Gospel of John itself, that the Father’s house is eventually the Body of Christ. The Father’s house in the Gospel of John and in the whole New Testament is not heaven but the Body of Christ, which is the church as the habitation of God on earth.
Do you believe that in this universe God has two buildings — a mansion in heaven and a church on earth? God has just one building. It is illogical to say that He has two. Although you may love heaven, God is not satisfied with it. If you read Isaiah 66, you will find that God desires to have a dwelling place in man. He does not love heaven so much as He loves man to be His habitation. God wants to dwell in man. While so many Christians desire to go to heaven, God desires to come down from heaven and dwell with man on the earth. Many Christian teachers have told us that when the Lord said that He was going to prepare a place for us, He meant that He was going to prepare a heavenly mansion. But they all agree that the heaven about which they speak will be the city with foundations prepared by God as mentioned in Hebrews 11:10, the city which will be the New Jerusalem spoken of in Revelation 21. But the New Jerusalem is not going to remain in heaven; it is going to come down out of heaven (Rev. 21:2). You may desire to go up to heaven, but God desires to come down out of heaven.
God has only one building in the entire universe. In Old Testament times God’s building was with the children of Israel and was typified by the tabernacle and the temple. Both the tabernacle and the temple were symbols of God’s people being His dwelling place on the earth. In the New Testament times the church is built. In a spiritual sense the church is the continuation of the tabernacle and the temple. In the Old Testament we have the tabernacle and the temple, and in the New Testament we have the church as God’s temple. Today, we are God’s temple. Eventually, the building with the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints will ultimately consummate in the New Jerusalem which will be the eternal tabernacle, God’s habitation among men for eternity. This is God’s building. If you read Revelation 21 and 22 carefully, you will discover that the New Jerusalem is not a physical city. It is a living city composed of living persons. We know this because the names of the twelve tribes of Israel and the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb will be there (Rev. 21:12, 14). We also shall be there as the jasper stone that is built into the wall (Rev. 21:11, 18). The New Jerusalem is a living composition of living persons built up together to be God’s habitation forever.
Do you believe that now, in the church age, God does not have a habitation among men on the earth? He certainly has! This habitation is the church. Where is the church? It is on earth. God’s habitation today is a living composition of living believers on the earth. Wherever we, the living believers, are built together, God has a habitation on earth. This is God’s building on the earth today. By being redeemed, washed in the blood, and regenerated by the divine life, we have been made a living part of this living building which is the place that the Lord was going to prepare for us as He said in John 14:2.
