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
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In this message we come to the very heart, the center, of the Gospel of John. Chapter fourteen 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 (v. 19). Then in chapter seventeen the Lord prayed that those who take the Lord as life may be one in the Triune God (vv. 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.
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.