I still feel that we need to see more concerning the New Jerusalem and this problem of interpreting it as a heavenly mansion by looking at John 14, an auxiliary chapter to Revelation 21 and 22. We must purge out this leaven of the heavenly mansion. To understand John 14 through 16 plus chapter seventeen as a prayer, we need to know how the entire Gospel of John is arranged. To know any point, especially a serious point in the Bible, we must take care of the entire book in which it is located. Then we know where that point is and how it is related to the context of the entire book.
The Gospel of John has an initial, complete section of eleven chapters. Chapter one gives us an introduction, a prologue, of the entire book. This prologue provides a clear view of the book of John. Then in chapter two are the principle of life and the goal of life. Then nine cases are presented to us from chapter three through chapter eleven—from the case of regeneration with Nicodemus through the case of resurrection with Lazarus. All of these cases are quite meaningful. They give us a clear view of how this life which Christ imparts into people meets the need of every man’s case.
Chapter twelve begins a new section. In this section the first part is a feast, a fellowship, in a small home in Bethany. That house in Bethany gives us a picture of the miniature of the church life. In chapter twelve the church life is portrayed in a miniature way because after all the instances of the divine life meeting the need of every man’s case, the church life is produced.
In chapter twelve we also see the feast of the Passover (v. 12). Many people, even from abroad, came to Jerusalem to keep this feast. When they came they heard about the greatest miracle, the resurrection of Lazarus from among the dead (12:17-18). Many people were excited and wanted to see the one who had performed this miracle (v. 19). Therefore, the name of Jesus became widely spread and famous. At that juncture, Jesus entered into Jerusalem in a lowly and humble way, yet the people gave Him the top welcome. Humanly speaking, according to the natural concept, this was a golden time for Jesus when He was on the earth. All the people welcomed Him and a number of people wanted to see Him. They thought that Jesus would be happy, but His answer indicated just the opposite (12:23-28). It indicated that He did not care for that big welcome. That was not the thing on His heart and that was not the thing in which He was interested.
From John 12:20 to the end of chapter seventeen is a separate section which could be titled: “The Way of Jesus’ Glorification.” The glorification of Jesus is also mentioned in chapter seven. Chapter seven tells us that whoever believes in the Lord shall drink of Him and shall have rivers of living water flowing out of his innermost being. These rivers refer to the Spirit and this Spirit was not yet because Jesus was not yet glorified (vv. 37-39). In the Gospel of John, the glorification of Jesus is a major point to which many readers and Bible teachers have not paid adequate attention. Chapter twelve tells us that the people gave Him a big welcome and that to them it was exciting to see Jesus (v. 13). It was at this juncture that the Lord spoke something which indicated that he was not interested in that kind of welcome, in that kind of exaltation, but that He was burdened to go through a procedure that He might be glorified.
We need to read some of the verses in chapter twelve and in chapters fourteen through seventeen in order to have a clear view of this matter of glorification. “And there were some Greeks among those who went to worship at the feast. These then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew came, and Philip too, and they told Jesus” (12:20-22). Jesus did not answer Andrew and Philip by saying, “Hallelujah! Glorious!” Instead, we read in verse 23, “And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” This is the subject of the following chapters through chapter seventeen. If we are going to understand chapters fourteen through seventeen we must stand on this key verse. This verse is the ground and base for interpreting John 14 through 17. After chapter seventeen, He was betrayed, arrested, judged and sentenced to death, crucified, buried, and resurrected. Then He came back in glorification. From 12:20 to the end of chapter seventeen is an unveiling of how Jesus could be glorified. Then from chapter eighteen through chapter twenty Jesus was glorified through death and resurrection. In resurrection and on the day of resurrection, He came back to His disciples not in the natural way but in the resurrected way. In other words, in the glorified way He came as the glorified Jesus.
Then in the verse following 12:23 the Lord Jesus unveils the way for Him to be glorified: “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” This is the way for Jesus to be glorified—to die and to be resurrected to bring forth many grains. These many grains actually are the essence of His glorification. Within a small grain of wheat is the life element. When the life within it is released to bear much fruit, the many grains become the glorification of the one grain. The more grains which are produced, the more glory the one grain enjoys. To die and to grow up in resurrection was the way for Jesus, as the one grain with the divine life concealed in His humanity, to be glorified. His humanity was a shell to Him just like the grain of wheat has a shell which must be broken through death. The human shell of our Lord’s humanity had to be broken so that the divine life concealed within Him could be released to grow up to produce many grains for Him to be glorified.
After the Lord responded to Andrew and Philip, He prayed in verse 28, “Father, glorify Your name.” The Father’s name denotes His person. The Lord was asking the Father to glorify His person, because the very divine person of the Father had been concealed in His humanity. After Jesus prayed, “Father, glorify Your name,” there came a voice out of heaven, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” This is the Lord’s prayer on the way to His being glorified. Then in verses 32 and 33 He said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself. But He said this signifying by what kind of death He was about to die.” The Lord’s death and His resurrection would produce much fruit, and this fruit would be the many men drawn to Christ by His wonderful death. When He died, all men would be drawn to Him and these men drawn to Him would be the very fruit produced by Him in resurrection.
John 13:31-32 says, “Then when he [Judas] went out, Jesus said, Now has the Son of Man been glorified, and God has been glorified in Him. If God has been glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and He will glorify Him immediately.” At the feast of the Passover the Lord Jesus exposed Judas and indicated to Peter and John that Judas was the one who was going to betray Him (13:23-27). At the end of the feast of the Passover and before the setting up of the Lord’s table, Judas was exposed. As a Jew, Judas had a right to participate in the feast of the Passover, but he was not a genuine regenerated believer so he did not have the right to participate in the Lord’s table. He was exposed and at that juncture he left. Then he went out to see the Pharisees to carry out his betrayal. While the Lord Jesus was setting up His table, Judas was carrying out his betrayal to bring those Jewish opposers to the garden of Gethsemane.
When Judas left, Jesus said, “Now has the Son of Man been glorified, and God has been glorified in Him” (13:31). This meant that the very inner essence of the man Jesus would be released through His death, and when He is released and the Father is released within Him, God is glorified—“If God has been glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and He will glorify Him immediately” (13:32). These words concerning glorification refer to His death and resurrection. His death and His resurrection was a glorification to Him. The glorification of Jesus is His multiplication—the one grain being multiplied into many grains. This is also His expansion, His enlargement. He was expanded, enlarged, multiplied, in His death and resurrection, and that multiplication was His glorification.
After this the Lord went to the garden of Gethsemane according to the record of the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. According to John, however, after this the Lord did not go directly to the garden of Gethsemane. He gave a long discourse recorded in John covering three chapters plus a long prayer in chapter seventeen. Most Bible readers realize that John 14 through 16 comprises the Lord Jesus’ last talk with His disciples while He was on this earth on the night of His betrayal. After this talk and the prayer, He and the disciples went to the garden of Gethsemane where He was arrested. This fellowship should make us clear concerning the context of chapters fourteen through seventeen.