Scripture Reading: John 14:1-6, 12, 20; 1 Thes. 1:1; 1 John 3:1
Ⅰ
The central thought of John 14 is that we must believe into God and thereby enter into God—v. 1:
A
It is by believing into the Lord that we enter into Him to be one with Him, to partake of Him, and to participate in all that He has done for us—3:15.
B
By believing into Christ we are identified with Him in all that He is and in all that He has passed through, accomplished, attained, and obtained—v. 16.
C
Through believing into Christ we have an organic union with Christ—15:4-5.
D
To believe into Christ is to have our being merged into His so that we two may be one organically—Phil. 1:29; 1 Cor. 6:17.
Ⅱ
In John 14:1-6 we see Jesus going through death and Christ coming in resurrection to bring us, the believers, into the Father:
A
The Lord Jesus was going not to a place but to a living person, the Father Him- self—vv. 12, 28.
B
The Lord was going to the Father, and His intention was to bring His disciples into the divine person of the Father—vv. 5-6, 12, 20:
１
The Lord came from the Father by incarnation to bring God into man, and He went to the Father in order to bring man into God—1:14; 14:20.
２
The way of His going was by death and resurrection, and the purpose of His going was to bring man into the Father—v. 6.
C
The words I go in verse 2 mean that the Lord was going to go through death and resurrection to bring man into God for the building up of God's dwelling place.
Ⅲ
“My Father's house” in John 14:2 is the Body of Christ, the church as the house of God:
A
In 2:16 My Father's house refers to the dwelling place of God on earth, the temple; the temple is a type, or figure, of the body of Jesus, which in resurrection has been enlarged to be the Body of Christ—vv. 19-22.
B
My Father's house in 14:2 refers not to heaven but to God's dwelling place on earth—the Body of Christ, the church.
C
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—1 Tim. 3:15-16; Eph. 2:21-22.
D
The Father's house is the Body of Christ, which is the church as the dwelling place of God on earth—1:22-23; 2:21-22; 1 Tim. 3:15-16.
Ⅳ
In the Father's house are many abodes—John 14:2:
A
The many abodes are the many members of the Body of Christ, which is God's temple—Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 3:16-17.
B
All the believers in Christ are the abodes in God's building, the Father's house; this building is the Body of Christ, and all the abodes are members of the Body of Christ—Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22; 5:30; 1 Cor. 12:27.
Ⅴ
I go to prepare a place for you means that the Lord would prepare a place, accomplish redemption, open up the way, and make a standing for us to enter into God—John 14:2-3, 6:
A
By death and resurrection the Lord Jesus paved the way and prepared the place so that we might be brought into God—v. 20.
B
By His death and resurrection He prepared a standing for us before God and in God; in this way He prepared a place for us in God—vv. 2-3, 6.
C
The standing in God, being enlarged, becomes the standing in the Body of Christ—Rom. 12:4-5; Eph. 5:30; 1 Cor. 12:27:
１
Anyone who does not have a standing, a place, in God does not have a place in the Body of Christ, which is the Father's house, the dwelling place of God—Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22.
２
As believers in Christ, we all have a place in God and a place in the Body, and now we should live in the place prepared for us through the death and resurrection of Christ—John 14:2-3, 20; 1 Cor. 12:27.
Ⅵ
The church, the Father's house, is in God the Father—John 14:2, 20; 1 Thes. 1:1; 2 Thes. 1:1:
A
For the church to be in God the Father, God must become the Father to us, and we need to have a life relationship with Him—John 20:17:
１
In the New Testament the Father denotes the source of life—5:26.
２
The title God refers to creation; the title Father refers to the impartation of life and indicates a relationship of life—20:17:
ａ
The Father, the source of life, is for the propagation and multiplication of life—1 John 3:1.
ｂ
God is no longer merely our Creator; He is also our Father, our Begetter, for He has begotten us with His life—John 1:12-13.
ｃ
We call God our Father because we have been born of Him, and now, as His children, we have a life relationship with Him—Rom. 8:15-16.
３
Through His life-releasing death and life-imparting resurrection, the Lord has made us one with Him; His Father is now our Father—John 20:17.
４
By His death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus has brought us into Himself; since He is in the Father, we are in the Father by being in Him—14:20.
B
For the church to be in God the Father means that the church is in the One who is the unique source, Originator, and Initiator—1 Cor. 8:6:
１
To know God as the Father is to know that everything originates from Him and that everything proceeds from Him—Matt. 15:13; Rom. 11:36.
２
In the church life the Father should be the unique source, and we all should be in His unique purpose and plan—2 Tim. 1:9; Rom. 8:28.