Christ as the Father’s house—the mutual abode of God and man—was enlarged with His believers to be God’s full expression not only through His going—His death, but also in His coming—His resurrection. Speaking of His resurrection, the Lord said in verse 3, “I am coming again.” This word refers to Christ in His resurrection coming to His disciples. This thought corresponds to the Lord’s words to the disciples in verse 18: “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.” This coming was fulfilled on the day of His resurrection (20:19-22). After His resurrection the Lord came back to His disciples to be with them forever, thus not leaving them as orphans. Furthermore, in John 14:3, the Lord told the disciples, “I am coming again and will receive you to Myself.” In receiving the disciples to Himself, the Lord put them into Himself. This is indicated by verse 20 where the Lord spoke to the disciples regarding the day of resurrection: “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” In verse 3 the Lord also said that He would receive us to Himself that “where I am you also may be.” The Lord is in the Father (vv. 10-11). He wanted His disciples also to be in the Father, as revealed in 17:21. Through His death and resurrection He brought His disciples into Himself. Since He is in the Father, they are in the Father by being in Him. Hence, where He is, the disciples are also. Therefore, the Lord’s resurrection was a further step of coming into us to enlarge the Father’s house, a mutual abode of God and man.
It was through death and in resurrection that Christ built the Father’s house. The Gospel of John reveals that the Triune God is dispensing Himself into us, working Himself into us, by way of Christ the Son’s death and resurrection. The Lord Jesus indicated this in chapter two when He said to the Jewish leaders, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (v. 19). The phrase, in three days means “in resurrection.” Thus, here the Lord is saying that He would build up the temple, the Father’s house, in resurrection. Apart from the death and resurrection of Christ, there is neither a way for us to enter into God nor a place for us in God. The Lord Jesus died for His believers and was raised up with them. Now based on His death and resurrection, He is working on them to build them up into one Body, and this Body is the church, the house of the living God (1 Tim. 3:15).
Christ as the Father’s house is a mutual abode, an abode for both God and us. However, if we would not be built up through Christ’s death and resurrection so that God can dwell in us, we shall be short of the experience of God as our dwelling place. We need to be built up through Christ’s death and resurrection so that God can dwell in us. When we are built up in this way, we become an abode to God. When God dwells in us, He becomes our dwelling place. This is our abode. Furthermore, this means that we and God, God and we, are mingled together to become one abode, a mutual abode. God abides in us, and we abide in God—a mutual abiding. Christ as the Father’s house is thus a sign signifying the mingling of God with His people. Therefore, we should be built up through Christ’s death and resurrection so that we and God can be mingled together to become a mutual abode, the Father’s house.
John 14:4-6 reveals that Christ is the way for man to enter into the Father’s house, that is, for man to get into the Father. In verse 4 the Lord Jesus said to the disciples, “And where I am going you know the way.” In verse 5 Thomas said to the Lord, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; how can we know the way?” We should note that these two verses speak of the words where and way. According to verse 6, Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” This verse reveals that Christ the Son is the way and that the Father is the “where” (destination). Therefore, both the way and the where are living persons; Christ the Son, the living person, is the way, and the Father, the living person, is the destination. Through Christ the Son we get into the Father. To take the Lord Jesus as the way means that when we walk in Jesus as the way, we arrive at the destination, which is the Father. Hence, we take Jesus as the way, and we reach the Father as the place.
Christ is the way for man to get into God. Since the way is a living person, the place to which the Lord brings us must also be a living person, God the Father Himself. The Lord Himself is the living way to bring man into God the Father, the living place. Although the disciples thought that both the place and the way were places, not persons, the Lord said to them, “I am the way.”
Moreover, Christ as the way signifies the incarnated God with all that He is and all that He has done. The Father is holy, dwelling in unapproachable light, and we are sinful. We are also involved with sin, the world, Satan, and other negative things, all of which are obstacles that make access to the Father impossible. Yet through His death on the cross, the Lord Jesus dealt with sin, the world, Satan, and other negative things, thus clearing away all the obstacles between us and God. By taking away sin, judging the world, destroying Satan, terminating the old creation, and dealing with all other negative things, Christ has cleared the path, and now He Himself becomes our way into the Father. We simply need to enter into Jesus, and He will transport us to the Father. He is the way for us to enter into the Father. The only way to go to the Father and contact Him is through the Lord Jesus. Christ, and Christ alone, is the way into the Father.
If we want to contact God, we simply need to say, “O Lord Jesus.” By calling on the name of the Lord, we are immediately taken to the Father and brought into Him to enjoy Him. We also know that God is in us, that we are in Him, and that we are one with God. This is a fact, and this is our experience. As Christians we can testify that we have God, that we enjoy God, and God enjoys us. We can enjoy God so much through the Lord Jesus as the way. The Lord has taken away sin, He has judged the world, He has destroyed Satan, and He has terminated the old creation. Now everything is clear, and there are no longer any obstacles between us and God. When we call on the Lord, we are immediately in the presence of God. We experience the fact that God is in us and that we are one with God. Then God becomes our enjoyment.
The way by which we enter into the Father is the crucified Jesus and resurrected Christ with His redemption (vv. 2b-3; Heb. 10:19). According to Hebrews 10:20, the Lord Jesus as our way into the Father is a new and living way: “Which entrance He initiated for us as a new and living way through the veil, that is, His flesh.” Ephesians 2:18 says, “Through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father.” This verse indicates that through Christ as the way we have access in the Spirit unto the Father. When we call, “O Lord Jesus,” we have the sense that we are in the presence of God and that God is within us. Today the Triune God is the life-giving Spirit. Actually, Christ as this life-giving Spirit is the access for us to touch God and enter into Him.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son, is the way to the Father. Simply by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, we are brought by Him and in Him into the Father. When we get into Christ as the way, we arrive at the Father as our destination, because the Son is one with the Father. Therefore, to be in the Son is also to be in the Father. Once we are in Christ Jesus, there is no longer any distance between us and God. Because we are in Christ, we are immediately brought into the Father. We in the Lord’s recovery can testify that this is not a mere doctrine—it is a spiritual fact. From experience we can testify that when we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we are immediately in the Triune God in an experiential way. The Lord Jesus is the way for us to enter into the Father.