Now we must go on to ask what the Lord meant when He said “My Father’s house” in 14:2. This truth has been thoroughly leavened. After being leavened, this point has befuddled nearly all the Christians. They interpret the Father’s house as the heavenly mansion. In order to see what the Father’s house is in this verse we must go back to chapter two where the Father’s house was already mentioned. John 2:16 says, “And to those who were selling the doves He said, Take these things away from here; do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise.” The same term, My Father’s house, has been used in the book of John twice. Its first mention in chapter two indicates God’s temple, not the heavenly mansion. The Lord goes on to say in verse 19, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then verse 21 says, “But He spoke of the temple of His body.” Now we can see from John 2 that “My Father’s house” is God’s temple and God’s temple is the Body of Christ. “When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken” (v. 22). We need to read verse 19 again: “Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” In resurrection Jesus rose up with all His believers. First Peter 1:3 tells us that all the Lord’s believers were resurrected in Jesus’ resurrection. Therefore, the man Jesus was killed and destroyed as a smaller temple, but Jesus with all His believers were resurrected to be the larger and mystical Body of Christ. This mystical Body is the temple, and this temple is “My Father’s house.” This is the right way to interpret the Bible. “My Father’s house” in 14:2 must be interpreted based upon chapter two of the same book where “My Father’s house” is God’s temple and where God’s temple is the Body of Christ.
John 12 shows us the expansion, the increase, the multiplication of Jesus. One man was killed, but in resurrection He was no longer merely one man. One grain was sown into the earth, but after growing up it remains no longer one grain. It becomes many grains which are the multiplication of the one grain; this is the real expansion of Jesus to be His mystical Body. His glorification is His multiplication and His multiplication is His expansion from one person to a corporate Body. Also, this one person with His corporate Body is the house of His Father. In the Epistles we are told clearly that the church is the house of the living God (1 Tim. 3:15). After looking at all these verses, we can see that the house in John 14 actually refers to the church.
Then in 14:3 we can see what the Lord Jesus means by saying that He was going and that while He was going, He was coming. In 14:3 the Lord says, “If I go...I am coming.” This means that the Lord’s going (through His death and resurrection) is His coming (to His disciples—vv. 18, 28). Through His death and resurrection Jesus has been multiplied. He has been expanded. He brought forth many believers which are the many grains who are the members of His Body, which is God’s house. According to the context of the sections of the Gospel of John, the Father’s house must be interpreted in this way. To interpret it in another way would be according to the natural, religious concept and according to the traditional teaching.
It is crucial that we see the matter of glorification in these chapters. John 12:24 unveils His multiplication in which we see one grain becoming many grains. This was the time for the Son of Man to be glorified, so His multiplication is His glorification. His multiplication is to produce many grains for making a loaf and that loaf signifies the mystical Body of Christ, which is today the house of the living God. This house will consummate in the New Jerusalem. Both the New Jerusalem and the church are God’s dwelling place.
The eternal principle is applied to the church and also applied to the New Jerusalem. The eternal principle is this: the Triune God has wrought Himself into His chosen and redeemed people to be their existence, to be their entrance into the eternal kingdom of God, to be their constitution, to be their living, and to be their enjoyment. These items are not only in the ultimate consummation, in the New Jerusalem, but also in the book of John and in the Epistles for our present enjoyment and experience.
Do you not have the Triune God, the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Regenerator, as the source of your existence? Surely you do. Do you not have the Triune God as your entrance into the spiritual and divine realm? Surely you do. Are you not now under the constitution of the Triune God? The Father’s nature as the gold, the Son in His redemptive work as the pearl, and the Spirit’s transforming work as the precious stone are all our present experience. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3 that we need to build the church with gold, silver, and precious stones. This is something we are presently enjoying. Are we not living by the Triune God as our street, our way, as our food, and as our drink? Surely we are. Are we not enjoying the Triune God as our light, as our tree of life, and as our river of life? We are surely in the up-to-date experience of this enjoyment. All this is here today in the church and all this will consummate in the coming New Jerusalem for eternity. This principle is eternal. Therefore, the Father’s house is God’s dwelling in the New Testament age which is the church of Christ. This will consummate eventually in the new heaven and the new earth in the New Jerusalem. In the church today, and in the New Jerusalem in the eternal age, the principle is the same. In its intrinsic essence the church in this age is the same as the New Jerusalem in eternity.