AN EXPOSITION ON JOHN 14
BELIEVING IN GOD AND BELIEVING INTO GOD
One important point in verse 1 is that to believe God is different from believing into God. You may say that you believe God, but do you believe into God?
In Greek, the preposition in means into, that is, to believe into God. In other words, this is not an objective believing; it is a subjective believing.
The basic thought of this chapter is that the Lord intends to help or instruct the disciples to be in God. We must remember that to believe God is objective but to believe into God is subjective. It is this kind of subjective believing that brings us into God.
In effect, the Lord was saying, "If you believe into God, you must also believe into Me." The preposition into is very important. We must not miss the preposition. It is not a matter of believing the fact objectively; it is a matter of the subjective believing that BRINGS US INTO GOD (JOINT FELLOWSHIP).
The central thought of this chapter is that we must believe INTO God. The world is full of troubles But we find PEACE only IN HIM (John 14:27)...
In fact, for almost two thousand years the saints have misunderstood this chapter. Even today it is not easy to understand what the Lord meant when He said that He was going.
This does not refer to Jesus' going to heaven and coming back at the time of the second advent. No, it refers to Jesus' going through death and coming in resurrection to bring the believers into the Father. This crucial matter is covered in the first six verses of this chapter.
Jesus came, not as the revelation of a geographical or astral location, but as the revelation of a PERSON. And that Person is the FATHER. It is significant to note that the word "heaven" does not appear even once in this entire chapter, whereas the term "Father" appears TWENTY-THREE TIMES!
Jesus did not say, "In heaven there are many mansions" , rather, "In My FATHER'S HOUSE there are many abiding places." Jesus did not say, "I am going to heaven to build you a mansion". He said, "I GO to prepare a PLACE for you". Jesus never said, "I will come again and take you to heaven". What He said was, "I will come again and receive you UNTO MYSELF". Jesus never said, "I am the way to heaven". He said, "I am the way... no man cometh UNTO THE FATHER but by Me". Jesus was not talking about a "place" in "heaven."
He was talking about a PLACE IN THE FATHER, and in the FATHER'S HOUSE. "Believe Me that I AM IN THE FATHER, and the FATHER IS IN ME...at that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and YE IN ME, and I in you" (Jn. 14:11,20). Can we not understand by this that the key word in John chapter fourteen is "Father" and not "heaven"!
Let us now proceed to examine the profound truth that Jesus the SON is unfolding to those who are called unto sonship in this significant portion of scripture.
As a preface to His teaching He says, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me".
... "FATHER'S HOUSE".. Acts 7:49 ► ......"Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will you build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?"......
Multitudes today believe Jesus told His disciples that Christians will spend eternity in "mansions" in heaven. Jesus said, "In My Father's house are many mansions". There is the assumption that the Lord was discussing some material and physical mansions in a far away heaven somewhere; mansions in some bright glory world above that we will move into on "Some Golden Daybreak."
The supposition is that these splendid mansions are now being built by Jesus, the master carpenter, on some utopian planet in a far distant galaxy. He has been ardently preoccupied with this monumental project for the past 2,000 years.
The book of John is a book of life, love and light. We are admonished to believe INTO God in this chapter. Our believing must bring us so close to God as life, love and light( PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH THE TRUE GOD).
Let us identify this "Father’s house" of which Jesus spoke. Long centuries before these words of promise fell from the lips of Jesus David's holy desire was that he would "find out a place for the Lord, an HABITATION for the mighty God of Jacob" (Ps. 132:5). This holy, spirit-born desire was within him while just a child in his father's house in Ephrata (Ps. 132:6; I Sam. 17:12).
The word "habitation" is a plural word, and should read "habitations". Jesus went up to Jerusalem, entered into the temple, "And said to them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not MY FATHER'S HOUSE an house of merchandise" (Jn. 2:16). "And said unto them, It is written, MY HOUSE shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves" (Mat. 21:13). "Everyone that taketh hold of My covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in MY HOUSE OF PRAYER: - for MINE HOUSE shall be called an house of prayer for all people" (Isa. 56:6-7).
And yet again Jesus refers to the earthly tabernacle as God's house, when He spoke of David, "How he entered into the HOUSE OF GOD, and did eat the showbread" (Mat. 12:4).
According to the scriptures, the earthly tabernacle and temple in Israel was called "THE HOUSE OF GOD", and served "unto the example (exhibition) and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount" (Heb. 8:5).
Moses built a portable tabernacle, which was followed by Solomon's temple of splendor, and later still by the rebuilt temple of Zerubbabel, all of them to be an EXHIBITION, an earthly display of the greater spiritual habitation that is yet to be assembled, and which is even now in preparation under the ministration of the Holy Spirit.
JESUS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE TRUE TABERNACLE OF GOD
“Destroy THIS TEMPLE, and in three days I will raise it up again"(Jn. 2:19).
Those Jews became indignant and replied that it had taken forty-six arduous years to construct that temple, and would He rebuild it in three days?
With their carnal minds darkened, only able to see the natural, not receiving the revelation of His words by the Spirit, they "perceived not that He spake of the TEMPLE OF HIS BODY" (Jn. 2:19-21).
Jesus here states that HIS BODY is the TEMPLE. The revelation that His body was the Temple of God was as difficult for carnal minds as was the revelation that God was His Father.
The scriptures clearly reveal that Jesus Himself is the beginning of the TRUE TABERNACLE of God. We must note particularly that beginning with the New Covenant, which Jesus came to establish, God no longer dwells in tabernacles made with hands. "But it was Solomon who built a house for Him. However the Most High does not dwell in houses and temples made with hands; as the prophet says ... What kind of house can you build for Me, says the Lord..." (Acts 7:47-49).
And again, "The God who produced and formed the world and all things in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in HANDMADE SHRINES. Neither is He served by human hands, as though He lacked anything..." (Acts 17:23-24) (Amplified).
When king David desired to build a house for the Lord, God sent Nathan the prophet to him who delivered this message: "Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build Me a house to dwell in: it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired... that I will raise up thy SEED after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom. HE SHALL BUILD ME A HOUSE, and I will establish his throne forever". Now while it is true that Solomon, David's son, did build a house for God in Jerusalem, it is quite evident that neither Solomon nor his temple were the true fulfillment of this prophecy. But when Jesus came He was specifically identified as THE SON OF DAVID (Mat. 1:1).
So Nathan's remarkable prophecy was never fulfilled until Jesus came. The son of David who was to BUILD THE HOUSE OF THE LORD - is Jesus! Therefore, Jesus Himself is the beginning of the TRUE TABERNACLE of God.
Jesus was the first man on the earth realm to ever build God a habitation where He could live and reveal Himself in His fullness
(col 2:9).
He did this by possessing His vessel (body) in honor and holiness, in obedience and submission, in love, humility and perfection. This was a place where God could fully live. For the first time since the creation God had a TRUE HABITATION on earth - a temple which was WHOLLY HIS - nothing reserved.
THE HOUSE OF THE FATHER IS THE ADDRESS OF THE FATHER- JESUS THE REVELATION OF THE FATHER.
THE FATHER'S HOUSE IS THE BODY OF CHRIST ,THE CHURCH
...I will build my church .....Matthew 16:18
The phrase "My Father's house" is used twice in the Gospel of John. It is used the first time in 2:16, where it clearly refers to the temple, the dwelling place of God on earth.
The temple is a type, a figure, of the body of Jesus (2:21), which, as we have seen, has in resurrection been ENLARGED into the Body of Christ. We must pay our full attention to this point. In 2:16, "My Father's house" is the temple on earth.
In the Epistles, the revelation that the Body of Christ is the church and that the church is the house of God is fully developed. First Timothy 3:15 discloses that the church is the house of the living God. Hence, the Father's house must mean the house of the living God on earth and not heaven.
It is not sufficient to know only that Jesus was and is the temple, the dwelling place of God. It was with an expression of wonder that Paul demanded of the Corinthians, "Know ye not that YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, WHICH TEMPLE YE ARE" (I Cor. 3:16-17).
And again, "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD; as God hath said, I will DWELL IN THEM, and WALK IN THEM; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people" (II Cor. 6:16).
And with still greater emphasis, "For we are laborers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, YE are God's BUILDING" (I Cor. 3:9).
Listen to the words of Peter: "To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, YE ALSO, as living stones, ARE BUILT UP A SPIRITUAL HOUSE... acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (I Pet. 2:4-5).
Add to this these meaningful words of Paul from Weymouth's beautiful translation: "You are therefore no longer foreigners nor persons excluded from civil rights. On the contrary, you share citizenship with the saints and are MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY. YOU ARE A BUILDING which has been reared on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus Himself, IN UNION WITH WHOM the whole fabric, truly bonded together, is rising to form a HOLY SANCTUARY IN THE LORD; in whom you also are being BUILT UP TOGETHER to become a FIXED ABODE FOR GOD through the Spirit" (Eph. 2:19-22).
WE ARE NOW THE ADDRESS (HOUSE) OF THE FATHER ....
Further reference : Heb 3:1-6
MANY MANSIONS ⛪
The word "mansions" is obviously a mistranslation. The Amplified Bible says, "In My Father's house are many dwelling places".
John 14:2
The Greek word MONE should be correctly translated as "abodes" or, as the Amplified Bible renders it, "abiding places". In the Father's house are many "abiding places", with no allusion to size or grandeur. Furthermore, the reference is not to the space available inside the house, but rather to the very FRAMEWORK OF THE HOUSE ITSELF. For it is NOT WE who dwell in the Father's house - it is the FATHER HIMSELF who dwells in and fills the house. We ARE the house! ( Eph 3:19, 4:10)
Read it again please, The "mansion" is not for YOU to live in! A few verses later Jesus says,...
