First Corinthians 15:45 says, “So also it is written, The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” There are two important things in this verse. First, Christ, the last Adam, became a Spirit. Second, Christ was made not only a Spirit but also a life-giving, life-imparting, Spirit. He was made a Spirit for the purpose of giving life to us.
First Corinthians 15:45 does not specifically say that Christ, the Son of God, or that Jesus became a life-giving Spirit. It says that the last Adam became such a Spirit. The first Adam is the beginning of mankind; the last Adam is the ending of mankind. The last Adam means the last man. After him there are no more Adams.
Now we have to ask how Christ became a Spirit. The explanation of how this man became a life-giving Spirit is in the Gospel of John. This Gospel begins with the Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God (John 1:1). In Him was life (v. 4). How could this life which was in Him be ours? In Him was life, but this life was not in us. The Word, which was God, became flesh; He became a man (v. 14), and this God-man was the last Adam.
In John’s Gospel there are many items of Christ from chapter one to chapter fourteen. Chapter fourteen is the turning point of this Gospel. Chapter thirteen is still in the outer court. The Lord’s washing of the disciples’ feet in this chapter points to the washing, cleansing laver in the outer court of the tabernacle. From chapter fourteen we are turned from the outer court into the Holy Place, and from this chapter through chapter seventeen the tabernacle with the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies is built up. The Lord revealed how He would become a life-giving Spirit in John 14—16, and this way is recorded in John 18—20. This way is the way of death and resurrection. Through death and resurrection, this man became a life-giving Spirit.
In John 20 after His death and resurrection, this man came back to His disciples in the form of the Spirit and breathed into the disciples, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit that gives life (2 Cor. 3:6). With this Spirit, life comes into us; with this life we have light; and with this light we have all the riches of what this God-man is. All the items of Christ in the Gospel of John are the different aspects of the riches of this God-man, and all these riches are now in the life-giving Spirit. All the riches of Christ in their totality equal the life. If you have life, you enjoy the Lord as the door, the shepherd, and as so many other items. Even the footwashing in John 13 is not merely something outward. It is something inward. If you do not know how to feed on the Lord as life, you cannot enjoy life’s washing. When you enjoy Him by feeding on Him as life, you will be nourished, and at the same time you will sense the washing. The nourishment washes and cleanses. When you are feeding on the Lord Jesus, eating of Him, feasting on Him, you are nourished and at the same time you are watered, enlightened, cleansed, strengthened, and comforted. The riches of this life are with the life-giving Spirit.
The book of John starts with the Word and ends with the Spirit. The Word, which is God, passed through the processes of incarnation, human living with its sufferings, crucifixion, and resurrection. In resurrection this wonderful God-man became a life-giving Spirit. All the items of what Christ is with all of His processes are condensed and included in this life-giving Spirit. You may know that Christ is the Son of God, that He is the Lamb of God who died on the cross for your sins, and that He is the Savior. But do you know Him in a living way as the life-giving Spirit?
The book of John is concluded at the end of chapter twenty with the Lord breathing Himself into the disciples as the Holy Spirit. Chapter twenty-one is the “P. S.” to the Gospel of John. When we write a letter, we may have something further to say after the conclusion to make a particular point. John 21 is the “P. S.” of this Gospel, proving and confirming that this life-giving Spirit is not only with but also within the disciples. Wherever they were, there the life-giving Spirit was. Even when they were fallen and backsliding, He was still there. No matter what you do, He is always with you. If you go to a movie theater, He will go with you but not happily. When the disciples backslid in John 21 by going back to the sea to take care of their living, the Lord was present with them the whole time. When Peter told the other brothers that he was going fishing, they followed him to return to their old occupation. They fished the whole night and caught nothing, but even on the land where the fish were not, the Lord could provide fish for them. Where the Lord is, our needs are taken care of. We need to learn the lesson to be one with Him. John 21 is a proof, a confirmation, that this wonderful One is now within His redeemed ones. He is with them all the time as the life-giving Spirit. John’s conclusion is in chapter twenty but his “P. S.” has no ending. Today we still have the “P. S.” to the Gospel of John.
We have to spend some time to see the turning point of John in chapters fourteen through seventeen. John 14:1-2a says, “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many abodes.” The word “abodes” in verse 2 is the same word in Greek as “abode” in verse 23. The Lord Jesus says in this verse that He and the Father will come to the believer and make an abode with him. The word “abode” in Greek is the noun form of the verb “abide.” The Lord continues in verses 2 and 3, “For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, that where I am you also may be.” The Lord said, “If I go...I am coming.” This means that the Lord’s going was His coming. Then He continued to say that He would receive the disciples to Himself that where He is the disciples might also be. Where is the Lord in John 14? Verse 10 says, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?” The Lord is in the Father and His desire was for the disciples to be where He was. He is in the Father, and they would also be in the Father. The Lord was going to do something to bring the disciples into the Father. Peter, John, James, and Andrew were not in the Father but He was. They were sinners and there was no place for them to be in the Father. Therefore, the Lord had to go (through His death and resurrection) to prepare a place for them in the Father. His desire was to bring them into the Father.
In verse 20 the Lord told the disciples, “In that day [the day of resurrection] you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” In the day of resurrection the disciples would be in the Lord and in the Father where He is. The Lord’s going to the Father (v. 28) through His death and resurrection was actually His coming into the disciples (v. 18). The first step of His coming was by incarnation. The second step was His passing through death and resurrection for Him to be transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit that He might come into His disciples and dwell in them as revealed in verses 17-20. His going was really His coming.
Verses 4-6 say, “And you know where I go, and you know the way. Thomas said to Him, Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the reality, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” The way is a person and the place is also a person. Many believers interpret these verses as saying that no one can go to heaven but by Christ. But the real meaning here is that no one can go into the Father but by Christ. No one can have a real union with the Father except by Christ.
Verses 16-20 say, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever; even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I am coming to you. Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you shall live also. In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” The very “He” who is the Spirit of reality in verse 17, becomes the very “I” who is the Lord Himself in verse 18. This means that after His resurrection, the Lord became the Spirit of reality. First Corinthians 15:45 confirms this. In dealing with the matter of resurrection, it says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” “That day” in John 14:20 should be the day of the Lord’s resurrection (20:19). It should be after His resurrection that the Lord lives in His disciples and that they live by Him, as mentioned in Galatians 2:20.
Verse 23 says, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.” In John 15:4 the Lord Jesus says, “Abide in Me and I in you.” In John 14 is the abode, and in chapter fifteen is the abiding. Because the abode has been prepared, the abiding is possible. The abode in 14:23 is one of the many abodes mentioned in 14:2. Eventually, it will be a mutual abode for the Triune God to abide in the believers and for the believers to abide in Him.
The book of John reveals to us that we have sin (16:8-9), and in John 12:31 the ruler of this world, the king of this age, the enemy of God, Satan the Devil, is mentioned. We human beings are sinful and are under the hand of this usurping one, Satan. With the problem of sin and of Satan how could we have a union with God the Father? How could we get into the Father, and how could the Father get into us? The Lord Jesus came to bring us into the Father and to bring the Father into us. He came that we might have life and that we might have it abundantly (John 10:10). But how could this be accomplished since we are sinful and are under the hand of Satan? First, the Lamb had to be slain, had to die, for our sins (1:29). The Lamb had to be put on the cross to shed His blood so that our sins could be dealt with. Also, when He was lifted up on the cross, Satan was judged and cast out (12:31-32). By His death He solved the problem of sin and the problem of Satan, thus preparing the way that we might get into the Father to have a place in the Father. He went to prepare a place for us in the Father by shedding His blood to redeem us from our sins and to wash away all our sins, and by destroying His enemy Satan, thus releasing us from Satan’s usurping hand.
The Lord was not going to heaven to prepare a heavenly mansion for us in order that we might go there one day after we die. This thought does not correspond with the entire Gospel of John. The Lord came that He might bring God into man and that He might bring man into God. But we have the problems of sin, Satan, and the world. These negative things separated us from God and hindered God from coming into us. All these problems were solved and dealt with by the Lord’s all-inclusive death. By His crucifixion, sins, the world, and Satan have been done away with. By His death He has prepared the way, and He has even prepared a place that where He is we also may be. He is in the Father and through His death and resurrection we can also be in the Father. He was going to prepare a place for us in the Father.
On the positive side, the Lord came that He might impart Himself into us as life. For this He went to the cross as a grain of wheat (John 12:24). A grain of wheat imparts its life into other grains by death and resurrection. When a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it grows up and the life within it is imparted into many grains. Through death and resurrection the life within the one grain becomes the life of many grains. It is in this way that the Lord imparted Himself into us. By having Him within us, we are one with Him. He is in the Father, and we also are in the Father by His death and resurrection. By His all-inclusive death and His wonderful resurrection, He has brought Himself into us and He has brought us into Himself and into the Father. This is why He says, “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” Through His death and resurrection He became our abode and we became His abodes. We are in Him, so He is our abode; and He is in us, so we are His abodes. By His death and resurrection many abodes were prepared. All these abodes added together equal the Father’s house.
The term “the Father’s house” is used in the Gospel of John in 2:16 and 14:2. In chapter two the Father’s house is the temple, and in chapter 14 it is the same. To say that the Father’s house is heaven is not according to the biblical revelation. The Father’s house is the building, the temple, which is the total of all the abodes, the total of all the regenerated people. In the Father’s house there are many abodes. The Father’s house is actually a mutual abode, a mingling of the Triune God with His chosen, redeemed, and regenerated people. To the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, we are the abodes, and to us They are the abode. This is the mutual abode revealed in the Gospel of John. We have been brought into the Triune God and the Triune God has been wrought into us in the way of mingling. The Lord Jesus was going in order to die and resurrect that He might bring us into the Father and that He might bring the Father into us, thus accomplishing the universal mingling of the Triune God with humanity. This mingling is the Father’s house.
The Lord Jesus brought the Father into us by the Spirit and in the Spirit. John 14—16 shows us that through death and resurrection the last man, the last Adam, became a life-giving Spirit. Thus, on the evening of His resurrection, He came to the disciples not in the form of the flesh but in the form of the Spirit. He is the Spirit in resurrection.