THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
Life and Building
Message Three—Life and Building in the Gospel of John
Scripture Reading: John 1:1, 4, 12-14; 2:6-10, 16, 19, 21; 3:1 -8, 14-16; 10:10; 15:4; 14:2, 20, 23; 17:21 -23
I. The first two chapters of the sixty-six books of the Scriptures deal with God’s creation, while the third chapter to the end of the Scriptures deal with God’s building; God’s creation is for His building; today we are in the period of God’s building and under the process of God’s building—Gen. 1-2:
A. The principle of God’s building is that God builds Himself into us and builds us into Him; that is, God mingles Himself with us, divinity with humanity, as one building—John 14:2, 20, 23.
B. What God always has been doing, and what He still is doing, is working Himself into us, working us into God, and bringing all of us together as one in God and through God—Rom. 8:28-29.
II. John is not merely a Gospel of life but a Gospel of life with building and for building—John 10:10; 1:1, 14:
A. The Lord coming to be life to us is for the purpose of God’s building, the house of God; this is dealt with in the first chapter of John—vv. 1, 4, 14, 51.
1. John 1:1 and 4 say, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.…In Him was life.”
2. Moreover, verse 14 says that He was incarnated to be a man, and this very man is a tabernacle; that a tabernacle is a building shows that this very God with life in Him is for the building.
3. The Lord came in the flesh as a tabernacle, and He told us that He is the heavenly ladder, which is for Bethel, the house of God and the temple of God—v. 51.
B. The second chapter shows us that the Lord comes to be life to us, to bring life out of death, signified by the wine and the water, for the purpose of building up His mystical Body as the house of God—2:9:
1. The principle of the Lord’s coming to be life to us is to bring life out of death, as signified by making wine out of water—v. 9.
2. The purpose of the Lord’s coming to be life to us is for the building of the house of God—vv. 9, 4.
3. In verse 19 Jesus said to the Jews, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up;” in and by His resurrection the Lord raised up and built up not only His physical body but also all the saints as the members of His mystical Body to be the temple of God, the church—v. 19.
4. The way for the Lord to build up the house of God is to bring God into us and bring us into God to make us the abodes of God and to make God an abode for us, that is, to make God to dwell in us and us to dwell in Him so that God and we, we and God, become a mutual abode—14:2, 20, 23.
C. John 15:4 says, “Abide in Me and I in you;” this mutual abiding is accomplished by the work of Christ—15:4:
1. He came with God by incarnation, and He went with man by death and resurrection; His coming brought God into man, and His going brought man into God—1:14; 14:2.
2. By this coming and going He builds up the house of God by building God into man and man into God.
3. The building is accomplished first by His coming in incarnation to bring God into man and then by His going through death and resurrection to bring man into God:
a. We humans would be far away from God; but by His death and resurrection, Christ eliminated the distance and prepared the way to bring us near to God and into God.
b. He takes away the distance, that is, He takes away sin, the world, lust, the flesh, and even the enemy, Satan; He takes away even death; He takes away everything that is a barrier or hindrance between us and God to bring us near to God and into God.
4. Now after His resurrection, He can say not only that He is in God and God is in Him but that we also are in Him and He is in us; this is the building of God mingled with humanity, which Christ accomplished by His death and resurrection.
III. Life is for the building, and the building is of life; life is the Lord Himself, and the building is the issue of the experience of the Lord as life; the more we experience the Lord as life, the more we realize the divine building among us—15:5; 17:21:
A. We can never have the real building of the church without the proper, adequate experience of life. If we abide in Christ and let Christ abide in us, we will realize the building of the church—15:5; 17:21:
1. The more we experience the Lord as life, the more we realize the divine building among us.
2. A vine has many branches, yet all the branches are one vine; when the branches all abide in the Lord, all the branches are one in the vine—15:5.
B. If we say that we are abiding in the Lord, we must check whether or not we are one with the other members; in order to abide in the Lord, we must be one with all the other members, this is the reality of the building—Eph. 4:3-4:
1. When we are in the Triune God, we are one; we can never be one in ourselves; we can be one only in God, in the Lord, and in the Spirit; this is the way to have the building.
2. If everyone is in himself, and no one is in Christ, living and abiding in the Lord, there is no oneness; rather, there is separation and individuality.
3. We are built together, not by teachings or doctrine but by the death and resurrection of the Lord; in the death and resurrection of the Lord, we are built up together as one in the Lord Himself.
4. Whenever we meet with the saints as the church, we must not insist on anything; this means that we must put ourselves aside and put ourselves away; we must forget about ourselves.
C. We have been put on the cross, and now it is the Lord who lives within us; this is the only way for the Lord to build up the church—Gal. 2:20:
1. The more teachings we have, the more divisions we have, and the more discussions we have, the more opinions and the more divisions we have; the oneness of the divine building is possible only by our experience of the death and resurrection of the Lord.
2. It is the cross and the resurrected Christ that bring us into God and bring God into us; it is by this death and resurrection that the Lord builds God and us in one another; this is the building of God.
Ministry Excerpts:
In this book our burden is to see life and building in the Gospel of John. Since Christ is life and the church is the building of God, to see life and building is actually to see Christ and the church. Our burden is therefore to see something concerning Christ as life and the church as the building.
A GOSPEL OF LIFE AND BUILDING
Of all the sixty-six books of the Bible, John speaks the most concerning life. Although it is good to realize this, we must look to the Lord further so that we may see not only life but also building. Life is not the ultimate goal; it is the process, the way, to reach the goal. Life is for building. John is not merely a Gospel of life but a Gospel of life with building and for building. In the following chapters we will consider this Gospel by means of a general sketch of the entire book.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
Two of the four Gospels—Mark and Luke—are the history of the Lord’s life on the earth. The other two—Matthew and John—are not primarily books of history but books that were written according to the teaching concerning Christ. Istead of focusing on the historical order of the events in Christ’s life, they present incidents that took place in His life in a certain sequence in order to present and emphasize the teaching concerning Him. We must keep this in mind as we consider the structure of the Gospel of John.
The Gospel of John is very well arranged. Chapter 1 is an introduction, and chapter 2 is a supplement to the introduction. Together, these teo chapters form a complete unit. After this, chapters 3 through 11 present nine cases that illustrate how Christ is our life and life supply. Then chapters 12 through 17 provide definitions and explanations of what was presented in chapters 3 through 11, telling us how those who receive Christ as life and enjoy Him as the life supply can be one with Him. Chapter 15, for example, tells us that Christ is the vine and that we who receive and enjoy Him are the branches of the vine and are thus one with Him. At the end of this section, in chapter 17, Christ offers a unique prayer—a prayer for building. He prayed that all the believers, who have been given eternal life, might be one. The way that we are able to be one is by being built up in oneness. The building is oneness, and the oneness is the building. Therefore, chapter 17 speaks not only of life but also of building. Finally chapters 18 through 20 speak of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Following His resurrection, Christ came back to His disciples and breathed into them the heavenly, divine, holy breath, the Holy Spirit (20:22). By breahting into His disciples, He entered into them, where He would remain with them forever. Then in chapter 21 Christ manifested Himself to the believers in resurrection to train them to live by His invisible presence. This is a brief description of the entire Gospel of John.
THE INTRODUCTION OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
Christ’s Creating Power and Begetting Life, with the Light of Life
The introduction to the Gospel of John can be summarized by the verses listed at the beginning of this chapter. John begins, “In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. ”(vv. 1-2). According to John 1, this wonderful One, who was God in the beginning, has two kinds of powers—creating power and generating power. Verse 3 says, all things came into being through him, and apart from Him not one thing came into being which has come into being.” This is Christ’s creating power. It is only in him that anything has existence. Then verse 4 begins, “In Him was life.” This points to Christ’s begetting power, which is more subjective. Christ has not only the power to create but also the power to generate, to beget. We are different from animals, which have only been created by Him. We have not only been created but also regenerated by Him. Now we are not mere creatures; we are children of God (vv. 12-13). Our being begotten to be children of God is one of the basic thoughts in the Gospel of John.
Verse 4 goes on to say, “The life was the light of men.” Darkness comes from death. To be in death is to be in darkness. As believers we are not in darkness; we are in life, which is the light of men. Being begotten includes being enlightened. We may all be assured that since we have been begotten of God, we are under the light of life.
Being Begotten of God to Be Children of God with the Divine Life and Nature
Verses 12 and 13 say, “as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” This wonderful Christ, the word who was God in the beginning, who has both the creating power and the generating life, came not to be learned or imitated but to be received, and to as many as received Him, He gave the authority, the right, to become children of God. Because we have received Christ, God does not deny our authority to be his children. We have the right to tell God that he is our Father. In a proper country children has the right to claim their parents, even the government demands that a child’s parents care for him. Similarly, we who have been born of God have the right to be the children of God. We are born to be not members of a religion but children of God. We must emphasize the word begotten, in verse 13. We were not merely taught by God. We were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Those who were not born in the United States, do not have an American birth. Therefore, we need to be naturalized when they come from abroad. However, those who receive Christ do not need to be “naturalized,” because they already have a new birth for God. Those who are born of a king are born to be roya. Likewise those who are born of God become divine, having the divine life and divine nature (3:15; 2 Pet. 1:4). We are not simply men. Because we have been born of God, we are also divine. This is the gospel that is preached to us in the book of John.
The Word Becoming Flesh, the Lamb of God, and the Dove
The Gospel of John goes on to provide more details as to the way Christ came to be received. Verse 14 of chapter 1 says, “The word became flesh.” The way Christ came was through incarnation. God’s purpose is that we would receive him so that we may be begotten of Him, but we are sinful, not only in our deeds and actions but also in our life and nature, therefore God had to do something to take away sin. In order for us to become His children, he first needed to remove, the negative things and then impart something positive into us.
Sin is within each one of us. It is in our very blood, our nature. There is nothing we could have done to wash it away. This is why Christ came in the flesh as the Lamb of God to die on the cross for us. The Lamb of God is for redemption. When Christ came in the flesh, John the Baptist declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (v. 29). Christ came through incarnation, in order to be the redeeming Lamb. Without a physical body He could not have been the redeeming Lamb to shed His blood for the washing away of our sis. In his physical body He died on the cross as the redeeming Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world.
After speaking of Christ as the Lamb of God, John the Baptist said, “I beheld the spirit descending as the dove out of heaven, and He abode upon Him” (v. 32). Just as the land is the symbol of redemption, the dove is a symbol of life. Hence, a lamb with a dove signifies redemption with life. Christ is not only the Lamp who died on the cross but also the dove who baptizes His people with the Holy Spirit. His death on the cross is for redemption, and His baptizing with the Spirit is for life. Every day we need to enjoy the Lord in the two aspects of redemption and life. We have not only the Lamb but also the dove.
As an introduction to the entire Gospel, the first chapter of John speaks of the Word, God, life, light, Christ’s coming by incarnation, the Lamb of God and the dove. Christ is the eternal Word who was in the beginning, who was with God, and who was even God Himself. This One possessed both the creating power and the begetting life. He became flesh as the Lamb of God so that we may be redeemed, and He is also the dove to impart life to us.
Changing Death into Life to Build Up the House of God in Resurrection
The second chapter of John contains two accounts—the changing of water into wine (vv. 1-11) and the cleansing of the temple (vv. 13-21). Wine signifies life, and temple points to building. Hence, John 2 speaks of life and building, or we may say, life for building. The Lord Jesus came in order to change our water into wine, that is, our death into life. Only Jesus can swallow up our death, and change it into life. We are not only the waterpots that hold water; we are also the water itself. That is, we not only have death but also are the embodiment of death. However the Lord Jesus came to exercise His begetting power to change our death into life. Now we are no longer water; we are the wine. The Lord has changed our water into wine.
After the account of the water becoming wine, John goes on to speak of the temple. The Lord Jesus told the Jews, “Destroyed this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (v. 19). In saying this, the Lord spoke of the temple of his physical body (v. 21). The three days refer to His death followed by His resurrection. In resurrection the temple is not only Christ’s physical body but also the building of God, the church. The Lord Jesus raised up not only his own physical body but also his many believers, who are built up together as the temple, the house of God, which is “my Father’s house” (1 Pet. 1:3; John 2:16; 14:2).
John 2 begins, “The third day a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee.” Then in verse 19 the third day is mentioned a second time; Jesus said, “Destroyed this temple, and in three days, I would raise it up.” In the Bible the third day signifies resurrection (Matt. 12:40; Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34; cf. Gen. 1:9-13). Hence, for the Lord to change water into wine on the third day and for Him to also build up the house of God on the third day is very significant. Both the changing of death into life and building up of the house of God are in and of resurrection.
Already in the first two chapters of John, we have a clear presentation of life and building. The eternal One who was God Himself, became flesh as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world in order to change our death into life and to build up God’s house in resurrection. In this way the thought of life and building introduces the entire gospel of John. (CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “The Experience and Enjoyment of Life for the Building Up”, ch. 1)