EXPERIENCING, ENJOYING, AND EXPRESSING CHRIST (1)

Message Eleven
In the Father's House— Living in the Place Prepared for Us through the Death and Resurrection of Christ

Scripture Reading: John 14:1-3, 6, 10-11, 20, 23; 1:4, 14, 16; 11:25

I.　The central thought of John 14 is that we must believe into God and thereby enter into God—v. 1:

A.　To believe in God is objective, but to believe into God is subjective; it is the subjective believing that brings us into God.

B.　It is by believing into the Lord that we enter into Him to be one with Him, to partake of Him, and to participate in all that He has accomplished for us—3:15.

C.　Through believing into Christ, we have an organic union with Him and have our being merged into His so that we two may be one organically—15:4-5.

II.　The Father's house is a matter of the Triune God—through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection—working Himself into the believers in order to be fully mingled with them so that He may build them up as an organism for His dwelling and expression—14:2-3, 23:

A.　In 2:16 My Father's house refers to the dwelling place of God on earth, the temple; the temple is a type, or figure, of the body of Jesus, which in resurrection has been enlarged to be the Body of Christ—vv. 19-22.

B.　My Father's house in 14:2 is the Body of Christ, the church as the house of God—Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22; 1 Tim. 3:15.

C.　The Father's house is a divine and human incorporation of the processed and consummated God constituted with His redeemed, regenerated, and transformed elect—John 14:20.

D.　In the Father's house are many abodes—v. 2:

1.　The many abodes are the many members of the Body of Christ, which is God's temple—Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 3:16-17.

2.　All the believers in Christ are the abodes in God's building, the Father's house; this building is the Body of Christ—Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22; 5:30; 1 Cor. 12:27.

E.　I go to prepare a place for you means that the Lord would prepare a place, accomplish redemption, open up the way, and make a standing for us to enter into God—John 14:2-3, 6:

1.　By death and resurrection the Lord Jesus paved the way and prepared the place so that we might be brought into God—v..20.

2.　By His death and resurrection He prepared a standing for us before God and in God; in this way He prepared a place for us in God—vv. 2-3, 6.

3.　The standing in God, being enlarged, becomes the standing in the Body of Christ—Rom. 12:4-5; Eph. 5:30; 1 Cor. 12:27:

a.　Anyone who does not have a standing, a place, in God does not have a place in the Body of Christ, which is the Father's house, the dwelling place of God—Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22.

b.　As believers in Christ, we all have a place in God and a place in the Body, and now we should live in the place prepared for us through the death and resurrection of Christ— John 14:2-3, 20; 1 Cor. 12:27.

F.　The Lord's coming brought God into man, and His going brought man into God; by this coming and going, He builds up the house of God by building God into man and man into God—John 1:14; 10:10b; 14:2-3.

G.　By the Spirit and through His death and resurrection, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is building an organism, the church, which is His Body and the Father's house, produced by the mingling of the Triune God with His chosen and redeemed people— vv. 7-24.

H.　The Father's house is built up by the constant visitation to the redeemed elect of the Father and the Son with the Spirit—v. 23.

I.　The Father's house is in three stages: the stage of God's incarnation, the stage of Christ resurrected with His believers to be built up as the church, and the consummate stage—the New Jerusalem—2:19-21; Rev. 21:2-3, 9-10.

III.　The Father's house, the church, is in God the Father—John 14:2, 20; 1 Thes. 1:1; 2 Thes. 1:1:

A.　For the church to be in God the Father, God must become the Father to us, and we need to have a life relationship with Him— John 20:17:

1.　In the New Testament the Father denotes the source of life— 5:26.

2.　The title God refers to creation; the title Father refers to the impartation and multiplication of life—1 John 3:1.

3.　God is no longer merely our Creator; He is also our Father, our Begetter, for He has begotten us with His life—John 1:12-13.

4.　We can call God our Father because we have been born of Him, and now, as His children, we have a life relationship with Him—Rom. 8:15-16.

5.　Through His life-releasing death and life-imparting resurrection the Lord has made us one with Him; His Father is now our Father—John 20:17.

6.　By His death and resurrection the Lord Jesus has brought us into Him; since He is in the Father, we are in the Father by being in Him, the Lord Jesus—14:20.

B.　For the church to be in God the Father means that the church is in the One who is the unique source, the Originator and Initiator—1 Cor. 8:6:

1.　To know God as the Father is to know that everything originates from Him and that everything proceeds from Him— Matt. 15:13; Rom. 11:36.

2.　In the church life the Father should be the unique source, and we all should be in His unique purpose and plan—2 Tim. 1:9; Rom. 8:28.

IV.　We need to see the intrinsic significance of living in the church as the Father's house—John 14:2-3, 23:

A.　To live in the church as the Father's house is to live in the Triune God as life—1:4; 5:26; 6:53; 11:25; 14:6.

B.　To live in the church as the Father's house is to live in the light— 1:4; 8:12.

C.　To live in the church as the Father's house is to live in resurrection—11:25.

D.　To live in the church as the Father's house is to live in grace and reality—1:14, 16-17; 14:6; 16:13.

E.　To live in the church as the Father's house is to live in the divine glory—17:22-23.

F.　To live in the church as the Father's house is to live in a house of prayer and worship—14:13; 15:7, 16; 16:23-24; 4:23-24.

G.　To live in the church as the Father's house is to live a life of shepherding—10:10-11, 15-17; 21:15-17.

H.　To live in the church as the Father's house is to live in and for God's building—2:19-21; 14:23.

I.　To live in the church as the Father's house is to live in the divine and mystical realm of the consummated Spirit for the keeping of oneness—7:39; 14:16-20; 16:13; 17:11, 21, 23.

J.　To live in the church as the Father's house is to live in the divine and human incorporation of the processed and consummated Triune God with the redeemed and regenerated tripartite believers—14:10-11, 20.