I would like to highlight and briefly explain three points from the Scripture reading above. First, John 1 opens by saying that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was God, in Him was life, and one day this Word became flesh and tabernacled among men. These are great words with deep and wide connotations. We need to have a deep understanding of the background of the Old Testament in order to understand the meaning of these words.
For example, John 1:4 says, “In Him was life.” In reading such a word we have to know the Old Testament background. In the beginning of the Old Testament, Genesis 2 says that after God made man He placed him before the tree of life. What exactly is the tree of life? What is the reason that God placed man before the tree of life? If you stop at Genesis 2, you will find it difficult to answer these questions. If you keep on reading, however, when you come to John 1, you see a sentence that says, “In Him was life.” This means that the life related to the tree of life in Genesis 2, the life that was mysterious to man, was in Him. In the beginning was the Word, and in the Word was life.
One day this Word became flesh, or we may say that this Word who was God came into man. John says that this was God tabernacling among men. This also has an Old Testament background. In the Old Testament times, there was a tabernacle among the Israelites. Through the tabernacle God dwelt among the Israelites to supply their every need. It was from the God who dwelt in the tabernacle that the Israelites drew the supply to meet all their needs in the wilderness. The God in the tabernacle was their light; the God in the tabernacle was their revelation; the God in the tabernacle was their guidance; the God in the tabernacle was their supply. The God in the tabernacle was their source of everything. All their problems were solved by the God who dwelt in the tabernacle. When they were at war, the God in the tabernacle fought for them. When they had a lack, the God in the tabernacle came to supply them. Therefore, in the wilderness the Israelites received everything from the tabernacle. The God in the tabernacle met their every need. If there had not been a tabernacle, or if the God who dwelt in the tabernacle had departed from them, the Israelites would have had no solution for any problem, and they would have had no supply to meet any need.
Now the Word has become flesh; God has come into man. John says that this event was God tabernacling among men. Just as in the Old Testament the tabernacle among the Israelites was the center of God’s union with man, so this tabernacle of God’s becoming flesh is also the center of God’s union with man. Just as in the Old Testament the tabernacle was the source of all supply to the Israelites, this tabernacle of God’s becoming flesh is also the source of all supply to man. We need to have a substantial background in biblical knowledge to understand this point; otherwise, we will not have a thorough comprehension.
Second, Nathanael was amazed when he contacted the Lord because the Lord saw him under the fig tree before He met him. However, the Lord said, “You shall see greater things than these....You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (1:50-51). I believe that by now, brothers and sisters, you know what the Lord Jesus was referring to. This is Jacob’s dream becoming reality. One day Jacob was at Bethel, and in a dream he saw a ladder set up on the earth. Its top reached to heaven, and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it (Gen. 28:12). Jacob said, “This is none other than the house of God” (v. 17). When he rose up in the morning, immediately he took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it (v. 18). He said, “This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house” (v. 22). If you impress this picture into your mind and then come again to read what the Lord Jesus said, you will clearly understand its meaning. What He said means that He is the ladder that Jacob saw in the dream. The incarnated Lord was to join earth to heaven and to open heaven to earth. The result of the joining of heaven and earth is that God gains a house on the earth.
This shows us that in the Gospel of John, the goal and result of the incarnation of God is that God is mingled with man to produce the house of God. The Lord’s incarnation is the tabernacling of God among men. Therefore, the Lord Himself is a building of the mingling of God and man. The result of incarnation is that heaven is open to earth and earth is joined to heaven for God to be joined with man. This is Jacob’s dream becoming a reality, so that God may gain a house on the earth.
Third, John 2 speaks of the Lord Jesus cleansing the temple. We know that the things in the Bible were not recorded in a casual way. The Lord Jesus did many things on the earth. Yet out of these many things, only those that have a special relationship with the truth that God wants to reveal were selected, recorded, and further depicted by the Holy Spirit. Because of this, we should believe that the Holy Spirit had a specific intention in recording the Lord Jesus’ cleansing the temple in John 2.
In verse 18, after the Lord had cleansed the temple, the Jews asked Him, “What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things?” The Lord Jesus answered and said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (v. 19). This was the only sign He would show them. Do you find this strange? Here the Lord Jesus spoke of Himself as the temple. What is this temple? It is God becoming flesh to enter into man and to be joined to man. Jesus the Nazarene was the temple. The Lord said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” We all know that this refers to the Lord’s resurrection. His incarnation was His tabernacling among men, so His body of flesh was the temple of God. The Jews would kill Him to destroy His body, but through His resurrection the Lord would rebuild His body that was destroyed by the Jews. In other words, He would rebuild the temple that was destroyed by the Jews. It is this tabernacle, this temple, that one day would cause the heaven to be opened and the angels of God to ascend and descend on Him. Therefore, John’s record of these things is altogether for showing us that the Lord’s incarnation, death, and resurrection were for the gaining of a tabernacle, a temple. Moreover, this tabernacle, this temple, is the house of God.
Regrettably, people rarely pay attention to these things when they read the Gospel of John. They may realize from reading the Gospel of John that in the Lord was life and that He came that men may have life. However, this is not enough. We need to further ask, “What is the purpose of life being in Him and of His coming that man may have life? What does He want to accomplish by being life and by entering into man to be life?” Brothers and sisters, I do not know if you have ever thought of this question. We have repeatedly said that He came into man as food to be man’s life that man may enjoy Him. Now we need to ask, “What is the purpose of His coming into man to be life and to be enjoyed by man? What result does it produce?”
Previously we said that we were born a little more than a foot tall and weighed seven or eight pounds, but we have grown to be tall and big by being built up. How were we built up? It was by eating chicken, duck, fish, meat, rice, noodles, and vegetables. By eating and digesting day after day, slowly we grew to be as tall and heavy as we are today. Please remember, the digestion is the growth, the building. God’s coming into us as food to be digested in us to be our life is likewise for the building up of His spiritual Body.
The Bible shows us that this Body is a house. In Ephesians the apostle, on the one hand, says that the church is the Body of Christ, and on the other hand, he says that the church is a spiritual house (1:22-23; 2:19-22). With us, our body is our house. Strictly speaking, we dwell in our body. In 2 Corinthians 5 the apostle tells us that our body is a temporary dwelling and that one day we will be clothed with a resurrected body, which is an eternal dwelling (vv. 1-3). When a person is about to leave this world, we often say that he is going away; he is leaving his body. This matches what the Bible means by saying that a body is a house. The church is the Body of Christ, and it is also the house of God. Therefore, the intention of God in coming into man as food, being digested in man, and being life to man is to build up the Body of Christ, that is, to build up His house.
The body the Lord put on in His incarnation was the body of one individual man, which was limited. However, the Body He built up after His death and resurrection is not limited to one individual man but includes all those who belong to Him throughout the generations and over the whole earth. If you understand that the story in the Gospel of John is outside of time and space, then you know that today the Lord Jesus is still here “resurrecting.” I do not know if you understand this statement. This is to say that today the Lord Jesus is still here doing the work of resurrection. The temple destroyed by the Jews through Satan’s instigation was only the Lord’s body of flesh. But the temple He built up after His resurrection is an enlarged temple which includes all those who believe in Him throughout the ages and over the whole earth. Today this temple still is in the process of being built. That is why I said that the Lord is still doing the work of resurrection today.
Now we will see the purpose of the Lord’s coming to be life as shown in the Gospel of John. He came to be life so that God and man may be joined as a building, a house. This house is the temple of God, the house of God. Although this is clearly shown in John, Regrettably when many read it, they do not easily see it. When people read expressions such as tabernacle, destroy, and raise up the temple in three days, and heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man, it is very difficult for them to understand their meaning. After having this pointed out, I believe we all are very clear. John shows us that when God became a man and came to be man’s life, His intention was to have a tabernacle among men, and this tabernacle was God’s temple. Although this temple was destroyed, through His resurrection the Lord rebuilt the temple and enlarged it as well. This temple is joined to heaven and causes heaven to be opened. That was the scene at Bethel. Therefore, Christ’s becoming man’s life is to build up Bethel, the house of God.