I believe that after reading these messages everyone is able to clearly see that for us the saved ones, our eternal dwelling place is not in any of the three places of the universe—heaven, earth, or underneath the earth. We often say that the earth is where we dwell as pilgrims. Even people in the world confess that human life is a pilgrimage. The earth is where man passes through in his journey as a pilgrim. Underneath the earth is Hades, and within it is Paradise, the place of Abraham’s bosom where the souls of the deceased saints are comforted. That also is not the eternal dwelling place of the saved ones. When the Lord comes again, the souls of the dead saints will rise from Paradise in Hades, put on a resurrected and transfigured body, and then be caught up together in the air with the living and remaining saints to meet the Lord. Later, the holy city New Jerusalem will descend from heaven, and then God will dwell with us forever. So even heaven is not the eternal dwelling place of the saints. Our eternal dwelling place is the New Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem will descend from heaven at the time of the new heaven and new earth.
Many of the hymns in Christianity mention heaven being our home. This is an erroneous concept. From the time of our resurrection and rapture to the descending of the New Jerusalem from heaven, there will be at most one thousand years. The human concept is that God’s intention is to save and bring man to a certain place. In reading God’s Word, however, you can realize that God does not have a place as the goal, but the goal is He Himself. God’s intention is to save man into Himself. God has this as the goal of His salvation.
This is not merely a matter of God’s salvation, but also a matter of God’s eternal purpose. The eternal purpose of God is that man be mingled with Him. This is why we always say that God is working Himself into man and working man into Himself. It is not a matter of time or space but a matter of person. Therefore, the Bible shows us repeatedly that God wants to be mingled with man and take man as His dwelling place. God says, “Heaven is My throne, / And the earth the footstool for My feet. / ...Where is the place of My rest?” (Isa. 66:1). What His heart cares for and what He wants to gain are those of a contrite spirit, who tremble at His word (v. 2). Therefore, neither heaven nor earth is the place of His rest; it is man who is His resting place. Nevertheless, those who knew God in the Old Testament times revealed their longings through their groaning and prayer. They desired to dwell in the house of God all the days of their lives (Psa. 23:6; 27:4). They realized that there was not a place in the universe where they could dwell. God alone was their dwelling place.
All of the foregoing verses reveal that God’s desire is to have man as His habitation and to have man take Him as his habitation. That is why in the New Testament you see many ins, especially in the Gospel of John: “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (14:20). This is God dwelling in man that man may also dwell in God. Therefore, when we come to 1 John, we read such a word: “In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, that He has given to us of His Holy Spirit” (4:13). His giving to us of the Holy Spirit is His pouring of oil upon us as stones (Gen. 28:18-19a). This is Bethel, the house of God. Through the Holy Spirit’s entering into us, God abides in us and we in Him. This is the house of God.
The first step in this matter was the Lord’s incarnation. This was the first step of God’s entering into man. John says very clearly that the Lord’s becoming flesh was His tabernacling among men. Later, the Lord Himself also said that the body of His incarnation was the temple of God, or we may say, the house of God. The Jews wanted to destroy the Lord’s body, but the Lord said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (2:19). This means that the Lord would raise this temple up in resurrection. We have said that the body crucified by the Jews was limited to only one man, Jesus the Nazarene, but the Body raised up by the Lord through resurrection includes millions of His believers. When a grain of wheat dies, it bears much fruit (12:24). Before the grain dies, it is just a single grain; after its death and resurrection, it grows into many grains. Therefore, the Lord’s word in John 2, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” is a great word. We cannot understand it merely according to letter; we need spiritual understanding. God obtained a house on earth by putting on humanity and dwelling in humanity. This is the house that Satan attempted to destroy through man. However, the Lord said that He would raise it up in resurrection. This word will be fully fulfilled when we are raptured in the future. Then we will see that this temple, this house, this Body, which the Lord raised up in resurrection, is not just one individual—Jesus the Nazarene—but includes all who were regenerated through His death and resurrection throughout the ages.
Therefore, this house of God is not a place but a corporate person. This house is composed of the Triune God and all the saved ones. The apostolic Epistles express the same thought. Peter said, “You...as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house” (1 Pet. 2:5). Paul said, “In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit” (Eph. 2:22). These verses show us that this building is not a place but an entity composed of God and man.
I believe the brothers and sisters are already quite clear concerning this point. Now we will make still another turn. If we look at it simply from Hebrews 11, it seems that the city Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob longed after is a place. However, when we come to Hebrews 12, we realize that the name of the city is the heavenly Jerusalem. Therefore, what they eagerly waited for is the holy city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem. However, when you read on to Revelation, you see that the holy city is not a place. This is because the city is the bride, the wife of the Lamb. On the one hand, she is God’s tabernacle, that which is built by God to be the eternal dwelling place of God and man. On the other hand, she is also the bride of the Lamb, the counterpart whom Christ has gained. Therefore, you must agree that this is not a matter of place but a matter of person. This city is the group of people God has built throughout the generations, composed of the Old Testament saints represented by the twelve tribes and the New Testament saints represented by the twelve apostles.
Now we turn back to look at John 14. The Lord said, “In My Father’s house are many abodes” (v. 2). Now we know that this is not what people generally refer to as the heavenly mansion. Many people say that the Father’s house in John 14 is the holy city in Hebrews 11. This we absolutely agree with. Yet we have to ask, is the holy city in Hebrews 11 a heavenly mansion, or is it something built with God’s redeemed people? The Bible does not say that this is a heavenly mansion, but Revelation 21 clearly shows us that this holy city is a city built with God’s redeemed ones. This city is the Father’s house. So “My Father’s house” in John 14 does not denote heaven or a heavenly mansion. Rather, it denotes a building, which is God taking man as His dwelling place and bringing man into God that man may take God as his dwelling place.
Therefore, from John 14:2 through chapter seventeen, all that the Lord spoke about was that He would go through death and resurrection to bring man, who was outside of God, into God. The Lord said, “Where I am you also may be” (14:3). The Lord was in the Father, and through His death and resurrection we were brought into the Father as He was in the Father. That is why the Lord said that in that day “because I live, you also shall live” (v. 19). “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (v. 20). “The one who loves Me...I...will manifest Myself to him...and We will come to him and make an abode with him” (vv. 21-23). Abode here is the same Greek word translated as abodes in verse 2. So the abodes in verse 2 clearly refer not to a physical place but to those whom God gained to be His dwelling place.
Now we have made this great turn. As a result of this turn, we see that the New Jerusalem is not heaven but the people God has saved throughout the ages as His dwelling place and His counterpart. God is not marrying a place as His counterpart; He is marrying His redeemed as His counterpart. In 2 Corinthians 11 Paul said, “I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ” (v. 2). The counterpart of God and Christ is not a place but a group of people. This group of people becomes the dwelling place of God.
Brothers and sisters, interpreting the Bible is not a simple matter. It requires the entire Bible to interpret one verse. You cannot make a decision merely by examining one portion of the Word. If you read only Hebrews 11, it may seem to you that the city Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob eagerly waited for is a place; but if you study the entire Bible, you will see that the city is not a place but a group of people.