The thought in John’s writings is absolutely divine. These writings do not contain ethical teachings or philosophical concepts. On the contrary, these writings are filled with divine matters. The word “divine” denotes something that concerns God or that belongs to God. The things concerning God and belonging to God Himself are divine, and anything divine is mysterious. We are not able to grasp, to lay hold of, these mysterious things. God is real and infinite. How can we, mere human beings, comprehend Him? This is impossible. We do not have the capacity to comprehend God. But we thank Him that He created us with a spirit, and in His salvation He has regenerated our deadened spirit and has imparted His divine life into our spirit. He has even given us Himself as the life-giving Spirit to dwell within our spirit. Only in our regenerated spirit are we qualified to see a revelation of the mysterious things in the writings of John. Our human mentality is not qualified for this. There is no possibility of seeing such things with our natural mind. Thank the Lord that we have a regenerated spirit, even a mingled spirit, our regenerated spirit mingled with the divine Spirit. Therefore, we should turn to this mingled spirit and pray, “Lord, we trust in Your unveiling and in Your wisdom. We believe, Lord, that You want to show us something in John’s writings. Lord, as You opened the veil to the apostle John, open it again to us. Lord, we need the reopening of the veil. Have mercy on us, and unveil the mysteries again. Grant us the wisdom to understand and lay hold of what You want to show us in the Epistles of John.”
We have pointed out that the word divine denotes things that concern God and belong to God. Actually, this word denotes God Himself. Hence, to say that the writings of John reveal divine things means that they reveal God Himself. As we come to the Epistles of John, it is not our goal merely to learn things about God. We come to these Epistles in order to see the things of God. We want to grasp, receive, and even digest the things of God. How great this is! Be impressed that it is not our aim in these messages to have a Bible study. We are not endeavoring to learn something related to religion or to study matters that will help us to improve our behavior or uplift the standard of our living. In these messages on the Epistles of John our purpose is to see God, grasp God, receive God, and digest God. When some hear about digesting God, they may be bothered and ask how it is possible for God to be digested by us. I can testify that I am very happy with this expression “digest God.” Daily I receive God and digest Him. If I did not digest God, I would not be able to bear the heavy burden that is upon me. Praise Him that through digesting Him I can bear a heavy burden! Through the digesting of the infinite God, I am what I am, and you are what you are. The revelation of the divine things in John’s writings is given so that we may receive God and digest Him.
The revelation of the divine things in the writings of John is supplementary to the revelations of the other holy writings. This indicates that if the writings of John were not in the Bible, something important would be lacking. For example, the Gospel of John is a supplement to the synoptic Gospels, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Without the Gospel of John, we could realize only that the Lord Jesus was a man who served God as a slave, as revealed in Mark, that He died on the cross to be our Savior, as revealed in Luke, and that He is the King, as revealed in Matthew. With the Lord as a slave, as the Savior and Redeemer, and as the King, we see His humanity. However, the Lord was God before He became a man. This means that in His Person He is of two aspects, a divine aspect and a human aspect. We may say that He has a twofold Person, for He is the God-man, God incarnate. He is God and also man. He is the real and complete God, and He is also a true and perfect man.
If we had only the first three Gospels, the synoptic Gospels, we would see only the aspect of the Lord’s humanity, but not much of the aspect of His divinity. By this we realize the need for a supplement to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The Gospel of John serves this purpose. This Gospel reveals that the man Jesus, the One who served God as a slave, who died on the cross to be our Redeemer, and who is the King of God’s people, this One is the very God Himself. Because He is God, with Him there is no beginning and no genealogy. He is the eternal, infinite God.
The Gospel of John opens with the words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The words “in the beginning” denote eternity past. In the beginning, in eternity past, was the Word. If John had not written this in his Gospel, we would never have imagined that our Savior was the eternal Word. What a marvelous revelation this is! Even with this revelation before us, we still may not be able to understand the true significance of the Word. Can you explain what the Word is? Do you know any books of ethics or philosophy that have such an expression as “in the beginning was the Word”? John says not only that the Word was in the beginning, but also that the Word was with God and that the Word was God. Then he goes on to say, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (v. 4). We know from John 1:14 that this One, who was the Word in the beginning, became flesh and tabernacled among us. In John 1:1, 4, and 14 we have Word, God, life, light, and flesh. The wonderful Word, who is God, became flesh. We may not regard the word flesh in a positive way, but the Bible declares that the Word became flesh. This is part of the revelation conveyed in John’s writings.
In John 1:14 we are told that the Word who became flesh tabernacled among us. I appreciate the word “tabernacled.” When the Word became flesh, He became the tabernacle of God. We know from the book of Exodus that the tabernacle in the Old Testament, a type of Christ, was a mutual dwelling place for both God and man. God dwells in the tabernacle, and we can enter this tabernacle to be God’s “roommate.” I can testify that my roommate is the very God who dwells in His tabernacle. My real dwelling place is not my house; it is the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God. This means that where God dwells, I dwell also. How marvelous that the very Word who was with God in the beginning became incarnate to tabernacle among us!
John 1:14 says that the Word that became flesh and tabernacled among us was full of grace and reality, and also that the disciples beheld His glory. When we put verse 14 together with verses 1 and 4, we have the Word, God, life, light, flesh, tabernacle, grace, reality (truth), and glory. Then in John 1:29 we have the Lamb: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Are you able to understand all these mysterious things? How can the Word be God, and how can the life in the Word be the light of men? How can the wonderful God Himself become flesh, and how can the incarnated God, God in the flesh, be the tabernacle? How can this tabernacle be full of grace and reality? Furthermore, how can such an incarnated One also be the Lamb of God? Who would ever imagine that in human history there could be a writing containing such matters? This writing, the Gospel of John, tells us of One who is the eternal Word and the very God, and tells us that in this Word there is life, that this life is the light of men, that He became flesh, that in the flesh He was the tabernacle, that when we come to this tabernacle we receive grace and truth and enjoy His glory, and that such a wonderful One also became a Lamb. A writing such as this is not merely human, and it is not something religious, moral, ethical, or philosophical. This is a writing containing a revelation that is altogether divine.
Many readers of the New Testament love the Gospel of Luke because it has many parables and presents the cases of sinners who are saved. However, we may love Luke because our view is limited, like that of a frog in a well. A frog in a well can see only a small circle of sky. But in the five books written by John the entire heaven is unveiled to us. When we see the revelation in the writings of John, we are lifted out of our “well.”
John’s writings not only lift us out of the well, but bring us to the heavens. In Revelation John could declare that he saw a door opened in heaven and that he beheld a throne set in heaven and One sitting upon the throne (Rev. 4:1-2). Eventually, John saw the new heaven, the new earth, and the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1-2). In a very real sense, the book of Revelation actually is not a book of prophecies; it is a book of revelation. In this book we are rescued from our low state and lifted up to the heavens. I hope that these messages will help you to be uplifted in this way. Then you will be able to testify, “No longer am I in a well with a narrow, limited view. Now I am in the heavens with a clear view of God’s revelation.” The purpose of John’s writings is to uplift us and show us a revelation of mysterious, divine things.