Going on from John 12 to John 15, we see one vine with many branches. This chapter reveals the principle of many in oneness. We do not see this thought with the many grains of wheat. A person may divide the grains. He may say, “I am a grain, whole and entire; I have nothing to do with you.” All right. But remember, we are also branches, and the branches can never be divided. As a branch, if you have nothing to do with me, you will be dead, for we are all one in the one vine. Here again, the vine typifies the tabernacle in the first stage, and the vine with many branches typifies the enlarged tabernacle in the second stage.
Let us go on now to John 17. This chapter records the prayer of the Lord Jesus concerning oneness: “That they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me” (vv. 21-23). The “us” to which the Lord refers in this chapter is He and the Father. In chapter 12 there are the grains, but in this chapter we see the formation of the loaf. As the many grains, we have been formed into one loaf, or one Body (1 Cor. 10:17). Originally there was but one grain; now it has increased into a loaf. The original one grain is included in the many grains, and the many grains have been blended together into one loaf. In chapter 15 the oneness is somewhat apparent, but in chapter 17 the oneness is formed. This oneness which is formed is the enlargement or the second stage of the tabernacle. Our outstanding and desperate need today is to realize how we may become such a tabernacle.
In order to realize this oneness we must learn how to enjoy Christ as our life, rather than just understand the doctrine concerning Him. We must know how to experience Christ by applying Him as our life and by living in Him. Because we were born of Adam, we are members of Adam. But praise God for the regeneration clearly revealed in John’s Gospel. John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh”-that is something of Adam. However, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit”-this is something of Christ. In the spirit we are a part of Christ, because in the spirit we have been regenerated by Christ and with Christ. Christ was the one grain, and all who have been regenerated of the Spirit have become the many grains of Christ. There are two potential conditions existing in every Christian: in the flesh we have the potential of being the members of Adam, while in the spirit we have the potential of being the members of Christ. In the flesh we live by Adam, but in the spirit we can live by Christ. In the flesh we live as the enlargement of Adam, but in the spirit we live as the enlargement of Christ. Here the secret is revealed: it is to live in the spirit.
Then we must go on to the reality of John 15: we must abide in Christ and let Him abide in us. First we have life in the spirit, taking Christ as our life. Then we must learn to abide in Christ and let Him abide in us. Such abiding requires the absolute denial of our self-life.
We have seen that God desires to build us up with Himself by being life to us in Christ. Christ came to be our life that we may have life and that we may have it abundantly (John 10:10). How do we receive this life? This very Christ is the Spirit, and this Spirit enters into our spirit at the time we believe. Thus, our spirit is reborn or regenerated of Him. From this time forth He is the Life-giving Spirit in our spirit. We need only learn how to live by this spirit, no longer living by ourself, our flesh. By this spirit we must learn to abide in Christ and let Him abide in us. We need to practice this abiding. If we live in this way, we will realize how much we need the other members. We will have a deep sense that we need others, that we cannot live by ourselves.
Christians today like to talk about loving one another, and some do indeed love others. But such love is not that which is mentioned by the Lord Jesus in John 15. Even in human society there is a mutual love which is similar to that of most Christians. The love mentioned in John’s Gospel results from our abiding in Christ. When we abide in Christ, we sense our need for the other members; thus, we fellowship with others. Likewise, when they abide in Christ, they also sense the deep need of fellowship. Therefore, we have an abundance of mutual fellowship. Spontaneously, then, we love one another. This is the love Jesus referred to in John 15:17. The kind of love manifested among some Christians is not a love for the Body of Christ, for it is not a love which comes out of Christ. When we learn to love not by our self, but by taking Christ as our life in the spirit, and when we learn to abide in Him continually and allow Him to abide in us, immediately we sense that we need the members of the Body. We cannot go on without the church.
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