Life-Study of Johnpor Witness Lee
ISBN: 0-7363-0957-8
Copia impresa: Living Stream Ministry disponible en línea
ISBN: 0-7363-0957-8
Copia impresa: Living Stream Ministry disponible en línea
Font Size
The intention of the Holy Spirit in writing the Gospel of John was to show us that we have been made the sons of God by the resurrection of Christ. This is wonderful and glorious. We human beings were worthless, sinful, low, mean, and dirty. But by the Lord’s death and resurrection, we have been made the sons of God. We have the life of God, the nature of God, and the fullness of God. Thus, we are the sons of God, just like the only begotten Son of God. How wonderful! The Lord has given us the glory which the Father gave Him from eternity past. What is this glory? It is the life and nature of God which we have received and which make us the sons of God for the expression of God.
Being the sons of God simply means to be the expression and the manifestation of God. In other words, Christ is the Son of God who has the life and nature of God and who is the very manifestation of God. This is the glory which God the Father has given to the Son, and it is the glory which the Lord has given us by His death and resurrection. By His death and resurrection, the Lord released Himself and imparted Himself into us so as to make us exactly the same as He is. He is the Son of God, and He has made us to be the sons of God. He has the life and the nature of God, and He has made us to have the life and the nature of God. He is the very expression and manifestation of God, and He has made us to be the expression and manifestation of God. Therefore, we have the same life, nature, and position that He has. This is the glory which the Lord has given us. It is truly wonderful!
As we have seen, the Lord sends us just as the Father sent Him (20:21). The Father sent Him by being in Him and by being one with Him. Likewise, Christ sends us by being in us and by being one with us. Now we are the expression and the manifestation of God because the Son of God has been imparted into us and is now within us. Since He is now the Spirit, He is within us and is one with us. Hence, we have what He has, we are where He is, and we are exactly the same as He is. Consequently, He could send us and give us the divine and heavenly commission. This is the purpose of God which was designed in eternity past. God’s eternal purpose is simply to work Himself into us, mingling Himself with us so that we may become His expression and manifestation.
The Lord has accomplished all this by His death and resurrection. He was the one grain of wheat which was multiplied into many grains by death and resurrection (12:24). He was the only begotten Son who has been duplicated and multiplied into many sons (Heb. 2:10). By His resurrection He multiplied Himself, and after His resurrection He revealed to Mary that the disciples were now His brothers (20:17). He was the only begotten Son, but now He has become the firstborn Son of many sons. Before His death, He was the only Son of God without any brothers. But after His resurrection, the only begotten Son became “the Firstborn among many brothers” (Rom. 8:29). Consider the illustration of a grain of wheat. After it falls into the ground and dies, it is resurrected and multiplied into many grains. Where is the original grain of wheat ? It is now in the many grains. In fact, it even is the many grains. In chapter twelve Christ was the one grain, but in chapter twenty He became the many grains. This was made possible only by death and resurrection. Before chapter eighteen, He was the only begotten Son of God, the only manifestation of God. Throughout the whole universe and among the entire human race, there was only one Person who was the very image and manifestation of God. But after chapters eighteen and nineteen, we have many sons of God and many manifestations of God. Through the death and resurrection of the only begotten Son of God, the many sons have been produced. The one grain has now been multiplied into the many grains. Thus, all the Lord’s disciples have become His brothers. These brothers can now be the very manifestation of God and can now represent the Triune God. They have been committed with the divine, heavenly mission to do something on this earth whereby they can express and manifest God. This is the meaning of the Gospel of John.
At the end of chapter twenty, everything is wonderful and complete. It seems that we have touched upon something divine, spiritual, heavenly, eternal, and beyond our conception, and that there is no need for chapter twenty-one. What is the meaning and purpose of this additional chapter? By the end of chapter twenty, the Lord has come back as the Spirit to be with the disciples and to be everything to them. Therefore, this Gospel is closed there (20:30-31). Thus far, this Gospel presents something divine, but we are human. It reveals something heavenly, but we are still on earth. It unfolds something eternal, but we are still in time. In other words, although we have been born again as the sons of God, we are still in this physical body. We are the sons of God, yet we are still the sons of man. We have been committed with the heavenly commission, but we still must provide food for our eating and our living. How can the disciples make a living? What should they do to carry out the Lord’s commission? How should they follow Him after His resurrection? What will be their future? An additional chapter is needed to deal with these problems. Thus, chapter twenty-one covers some very practical matters. We cannot always just sit here, praising the Lord and shouting, “Hallelujah, everything is wonderful, heavenly, divine, and eternal! Oh, now we are the sons of God! We have the life and the nature of God, we have the glory of God, and we are the representatives and manifestation of God!” But what about tomorrow? What shall we eat? Where shall we obtain money to buy food? We cannot fast all the time. Because of these additional problems, we have chapter twenty-one to help us take care of our living, our family, and the many other things on this earth.
If we compare the levels of chapters twenty and twenty-one, we shall see that the level of chapter twenty is very high, but that the level of chapter twenty-one seems quite low. The reason for this is that the last chapter deals with such practical matters as our living and eating. How we earn a living is very practical. We need to understand the reason for having chapter twenty-one after chapter twenty, for having an additional chapter after the conclusion. This chapter simply shows that after we have been wonderfully and divinely regenerated as the sons of God, we are still in this world, we are still on this earth, we are still in time, we still have some practical needs, and we still have some practical problems which must be solved. Because of this, the Holy Spirit continues to write another chapter.
Nota: Esperamos que muchos se beneficien de estas riquezas espirituales. Sin embargo, para evitar cualquier tipo de confusión, les pedimos que ninguno de estos materiales sean descargados o copiados y publicados en otro lugar, sea por medio electrónico o por cualquier otro medio. Living Stream Ministry mantiene todos los derechos de autor en estos materiales, y esperamos que ustedes los que nos visiten respeten esto.