The Gospel of John is the fulfillment of the tabernacle as a type. In the opening chapter it tells us that the Word of God came to be the tabernacle. The Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us. Even the tabernacle is the subject and focus of this Gospel. Such a One was full of grace and truth.
In the first chapter there is also the altar. We can say this based upon verse 29, which says, “Behold, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!” Where did the Lamb of God take away the sin of the world? We know that this was at the cross. That is the altar.
In the following cases from chapter two through chapter twelve there are all the offerings. In chapter three with the case of Nicodemus, there is the sin offering. In chapter four with the case of the Samaritan woman, there is the trespass offering. In chapters six and seven, there are the burnt offering and the meal offering. In chapter twelve there is the love feast, the feast of the peace offering. Those disciples and the Lord Jesus who were together in that house enjoying the feast were enjoying the peace offering.
It might seem that these dear ones were ready to enter into the tabernacle. They had enjoyed the sin offering, the trespass offering, the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the peace offering. It seems that they were ready and qualified to enter into the tabernacle. Yet according to the typology in the Old Testament, before entering into the tabernacle, you need the washing. You need to go to the laver. This is why in chapter thirteen there is the washing of feet. This is the laver. After all the offerings are covered in the first twelve chapters, there is a laver in chapter thirteen. At first Peter rejected the foot-washing, but once he understood, he told the Lord to wash his whole body. But the Lord told him, “He who is bathed has no need, except to wash his feet, but is wholly clean” (v. 10). This is the function of the laver. According to Exodus 30:17-21 the laver is for washing the hands and the feet to prepare you to enter into the tabernacle.
After chapter thirteen covers the matter of the washing of the feet, the Lord Jesus began his most mysterious speech composed of three chapters. He opened by telling his disciples: “In My Father’s house are many abodes” (14:2). You have to realize “My Father’s house” is just the tabernacle. You have to forget about your traditional inheritance that told you “My Father’s house” was a big heavenly mansion. This term “My Father’s house” is used twice in the Gospel of John, once in chapter two and once in chapter fourteen. In 2:16 it is so clear that “My Father’s house” refers to the temple of God. It should also be the same in chapter fourteen. How could the same term by the same writer in the same book after twelve chapters change in its meaning? The change was not with the writer, but with all the traditional teachers. They have taught the Bible according to their traditional concept, not according to the Word itself.
Even I myself was not so clear about this portion of the Word until 1958. While I was staying in an honorable guest house in London I was considering John 14, and the light came. By going back to chapter two you can be clear that the Father’s house is the temple. In chapter two the Lord Jesus told the Jews that if they destroyed this temple, He would rebuild it within three days. He was, of course, referring to His physical body which was the tabernacle and the temple of God, even the Father’s house. They would destroy this temple by crucifying Him on the cross. Yet in three days He would be raised up again. The raised-up house of the Father becomes the corporate Christ. The raised-up house becomes Christ and all His believers as His members. So in the Epistles we are told that the church is the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15), and we are told that the church corporately is the temple (Eph. 2:21).