Verse 23, referring to what the Lord had said to Peter about John, says, “This word therefore went forth among the brothers that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?” In this word the Lord indicates that some of His followers will live until He comes.
It seems that in this portion of the Word there are some contradictory elements. When the Lord said, “Follow Me,” He was there with the disciples. How then could He say, “Until I come”? Since He was there, He need not come. If He meant that He would leave them and later come back to them, how could He say to them, “Follow Me”? How could they follow Him? When I was young, I was troubled by this and said to myself, “If the Lord is here for us to follow Him, then there is no need for Him to come. He is here already. But if He is coming, then He must be away from us. How then can He ask us to follow Him?” The answer to all these questions is the Lord’s invisible presence. According to His visible presence, He would leave the disciples and come back later. But according to His invisible presence, He would be with them all the time. On the one hand, He would be with them, and on the other hand, He would be away from them. Therefore, on the one hand, they could follow Him, and on the other hand, they would have to wait for His coming back.
There are two aspects of the Lord’s presence—His invisible presence and His visible presence. Because of the Lord’s invisible presence, we can follow Him. Invisibly, the Lord is here, and we follow Him. Visibly, He is not here, and we must wait until He comes. The key is the Lord’s wonderful presence. In this age, His invisible presence is better than His visible presence. His invisible presence is more precious, available, prevailing, rich, and real. I hope that we all understand these two aspects of the Lord’s presence. Visibly speaking, we are waiting for Him; invisibly speaking, He is walking with us and we are following Him. After His resurrection, the Lord remained with the disciples for forty days (Acts 1:3-4) in order to train them to realize, practice, and live by His invisible presence. In verse 23 the Lord indicated that some of His believers would follow Him to death and that some would remain, would live until He comes.
John 21 is a very practical chapter. We have seen that we have been regenerated as the sons of God and have the life and nature of God. Thus, we are the manifestation of God. God has committed to us His heavenly and divine commission, and we must do something to accomplish the Lord’s purpose—feed His sheep and shepherd His flock until all the sheep are brought together as one Body to be a spiritual house. Although we must do these things, there is still the practical matter of our living. In this chapter we see that the Lord will provide for our needs and take care of our living. We must simply commit the matter of our living into His hands and leave it there. If we are under His will, the Lord will certainly maintain our living. Furthermore, we must also realize that we must suffer and sacrifice for the Lord’s testimony, following Him even unto death.
The span of things covered in John 20 and 21 is very broad. It begins with the discovery of the Lord’s resurrection and ends with His coming back. These two chapters show everything that will happen to us between the Lord’s resurrection and His coming back. Between these two events are all the things related to the Christian life during the church age: seeking the Lord with love toward Him, especially in the personal morning watch; seeing the Lord in resurrection; receiving the revelation of the issue of the Lord’s resurrection concerning the “brothers” and the “Father” by experiencing His manifestation; meeting with the believers to enjoy the Lord’s presence; being breathed on by the Lord with the Holy Spirit and being sent by the Lord with His commission and authority to represent Him; learning how to live by faith in the Lord and to trust in Him for our daily living; loving the Lord with our natural strength having been dealt with and having learned the lesson of being broken, of losing our self-confidence, and of putting our trust in the Lord; shepherding the flock for the building of the church; practicing the Lord’s invisible presence in which some follow Him even to death to glorify God, not by self-will but according to His leading, and some live until He comes back.
As we have seen, the Gospel of John begins with the Word in eternity past. After passing through the long process of incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, this Word has become the life-giving Spirit, the holy pneuma, the holy breath (20:22). In Greek, the word pneuma is used for both breath and spirit. The very eternal Word has become such a breath, such a Spirit. This is the processed God for our enjoyment. He is now the life and the Spirit in resurrection, moving, living, working, and walking with us. Furthermore, He meets with us all the time. As the life, the Spirit, the holy breath, in resurrection He is constantly with us invisibly. He will continue with us invisibly, meeting, moving, living, working, and walking with us, until He comes visibly. This is the very Jesus Christ in whom we believe; the very Lord whom we have received; the very God whom we serve, worship, and enjoy; and the very all-inclusive Spirit who is always with us and within us. Praise Him!
The Gospel of John has no conclusion. This book is not closed; it is still under the Spirit’s composition. Perhaps today’s Gospel of John has two or three thousand chapters. This book is still being composed, and we are included in its composition. Praise the Lord!