第十一週■週三

w11d03-ch

晨興餧養

約十四3『我若去爲你們豫備了地方，就再來接你們到我那裏，我在那裏，叫你們也在那裏。』

      20『到那日，你們就知道我在我父裏面，你們在我裏面，我也在你們裏面。』

主的救贖不是爲我們在天上豫備地方，主的救贖乃是爲我們在神裏面豫備地方。…這個思想是在最高的水平上。主救贖了我們，將我們帶進神裏面，在神裏面爲我們豫備地方。…當我們蒙了救贖、得救、重生之後，我們在那裏？我們在基督裏面，也在神裏面。連約翰一書也啓示，我們住在神裏面，神也住在我們裏面。（四13。）整本新約的中心思想乃是說，在我們得救重生之後，我們就在神裏面，也在基督裏面。神與基督是我們的居所。再者，我們也成了神的居所。這樣，神與我們，我們與神，乃是互爲居所。主…豫備地方，使我們能進入神裏面，使主能藉着祂的救贖，將我們帶進神裏面。藉着祂的死而復活，祂已將我們帶進神裏面。讚美主，我們每個人在神裏面都有地方！（約翰福音生命讀經，四○五頁。）

信息選讀

主去是要將人帶進神裏面，以建造祂的居所。祂上十字架成功救贖，除去人神之間的一切障礙，好爲人開路，並爲人作出立場，使人進入神裏面。在神裏面的立場擴大之後，就成爲在基督身體裏的立場。凡在神裏面沒有立場、沒有地方的，他在基督的身體，就是神的居所裏，也沒有地方；這身體就是神的居所。因此，主去成功救贖，乃是爲門徒在
祂的身體裏豫備地方。

約翰十四章三節…證明主的去（藉着死與復活）就是祂的來（到門徒這裏——18，28）。這就是說，…祂藉着去而來。…主的心意是要進入門徒裏面。祂曾在肉體裏來，（一14，）也曾在門徒中間，但祂在肉體裏無法進到門徒裏面。祂必須進一步經過死與復活，使祂得以變化形像，從肉體變化爲靈，好進入並居住在門徒裏面，如十四章十七至二十節所啓示的。祂復活之後的確來了，將祂自己，就是聖靈，吹進門徒裏面。（二十19 ～ 22。）因此，祂的去就是祂的來。

主說，『就再來接你們到我那裏。』（十四3。）這不是說，主要接我們到一個地方，乃是要接我們到祂自己裏面。主接門徒到祂那裏，乃是把他們擺在祂自己裏面，如二十節所說，『你們在我裏面。』

在三節主說，祂要接我們到祂那裏，以致『我在那裏，叫你們也在那裏』。主在那裏？祂在天上麼？不，祂在父裏面。主要門徒也在父裏面。（十七21。）主旣在父裏面，所以祂也要把我們帶進父裏面。…藉着祂的死而復活，主已將我們帶到祂自己裏面。藉着在祂裏面，我們也就在父裏面，因爲祂在父裏面。祂在那裏，我們也在那裏。…在祂死而復活以前，主耶穌在父裏面，門徒卻不然。在祂死而復活之後，所有的門徒都進入父裏面，正如主在父裏面一樣。那時主就能說，『我在那裏，叫你們也在那裏。』

主自己是活的道路，把人帶進父神這活的地方。門徒像我們一樣，以爲地方與道路都是地方，不是人位。可是主對他們說，『我就是道路。』〔十四6。〕。（約翰福音生命讀經，四○六至四○九頁。）

參讀：神聖奧祕的範圍，第三章。

WEEK 11 — DAY 3

Morning Nourishment

John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, so that where I am you also may be.

           20 In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and
I in you.

The Lord’s redemption was not to prepare a place for us in heaven. The Lord’s redemption was to prepare a place for us in God…This thought is on the highest plane. The Lord redeemed us to bring us into God, to prepare a place for us in God…After we have been redeemed, after we have been saved, after we have been regenerated, please tell me where we are. We are in Christ and in God. Even John’s first Epistle reveals that we abide in God and that God abides in us (4:13). Throughout the whole New Testament the central thought is that after we have been saved and regenerated, we are in God and in Christ. God and Christ are our dwelling place. Furthermore, we have become the dwelling place for God. Thus, God and we, we and God, are a mutual abode…[The Lord] was preparing a place that we might get into God, that the Lord might bring us into God by His redemption. By His death and resurrection He has brought us into God. Praise the Lord that each one of us has a place in God! (Life-study of John, 2nd ed., pp. 346-347)

Today’s Reading

The Lord’s going was to bring man into God for the building of His habitation. He went to the cross to accomplish redemption, removing all the obstacles between man and God, that He might open the way and make a standing for man to get into God. The standing in God, being enlarged, becomes the standing in the Body of Christ. Anyone who does not have the standing, a place, in God does not have a place in the Body of Christ, which is God’s habitation. Hence, the Lord’s going to accomplish redemption was to prepare a place in His Body for the disciples.

John 14:3…proves that the Lord’s going (through His death and resurrection) was His coming (to His disciples—vv. 18, 28). The tense here is very strange to the English language. It means that His going was His coming, that He was coming by going…The Lord’s intention was to get into His disciples. He came in the flesh (1:14) and was among His disciples, but while He was in the flesh, He could not get into them. He had to take the further step of passing through death and resurrection that He might be transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit that He might come into the disciples and dwell in them, as is revealed in 14:17- 20. After His resurrection He came to breathe Himself as the Holy Spirit into the disciples (20:19-22). Therefore, His going was just His coming.

The Lord said, “I am coming again and will receive you to Myself” (14:3). This does not mean that the Lord receives us into a place but that He receives us into Himself. In receiving the disciples to Himself, the Lord put them into Himself, as is indicated by the words you in Me in verse 20.

In verse 3 the Lord said that He would receive us to Himself so that “where I am you also may be.” Where is the Lord? Is He in heaven? No, He is in the Father. The Lord wants His disciples to also be in the Father (17:21). Since the Lord is in the Father, He will also bring us into the Father…Through His death and resurrection the Lord has brought us into Himself. By being in Him we are also in the Father because He is in the Father. Where He is, there we are also…Before His death and resurrection the Lord Jesus was in the Father, but the disciples were not. After His death and resurrection all the disciples got into the Father, just as the Lord was and is in the Father. At that time the Lord could say, “Where I am you also may be.”

The Lord Himself is the living way by which man is brought into God the Father, the living place. Like us, the disciples thought that both the place and the way were places, not persons. Notwithstanding, the Lord said to them, “I am the way.” (Life-study of John, 2nd ed., pp. 347-349)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “The Divine and Mystical Realm,” ch. 3