THE HOUSE OF GOD AS PRESENTED BY JOHN
[p. 100] THE HOUSE OF GOD AS PRESENTED BY JOHN
John presents the truth of the House of God in a different way from either Peter or Paul. He brings before us God’s house viewed as a family of children — a household. He speaks of saints as children of God, and shows that God dwells in them. In that way they form God’s house. It may be well, perhaps, to glance briefly at what is presented in the first two chapters.
We are living in a wonderful moment, for “the Word of life” has come very near to men in the Son of the Father. That holy One was heard, seen, contemplated, and handled by a chosen company of men called to know Him and be with Him in the days of His flesh. They saw in Him eternal life with the Father, and had fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. What they saw and heard they have made known to us, that we may have fellowship with them, and that our joy may be full.
The apostles were privileged to be in peculiar nearness to divine Persons with a view to their subsequent testimony. They learned that “the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand” (John 3: 35); and they contemplated One who loved the Father, and who was here in infinite devotedness and capability to carry out in every way the Father’s pleasure and to glorify Him. Fulness of joy is connected with the apprehension of this. It is not now demand on God’s part and utter failure to meet it on man’s part, making it necessary that God should be hidden behind a veil and surrounded with clouds and thick darkness. All that is in God’s mind and heart has been told out by the Son of His love, found in this world as a Man: One able also to [p. 101] secure a perfect answer to it all on the ground of redemption in the deepest blessing of man. So that now God is in the light, and there is eternal life for men in His Son.
All this has now become the light of men. Light has come into the world. All that goes to make up the light of God — love, holiness, righteousness, etc. — has shone forth, and we now walk in the light as He is in the light. The effect of doing so must be profound self-judgment, for we find everything in ourselves (according to the flesh) which is contrary to the light. Men love darkness rather than light because they do not wish to judge themselves; but the Christian does not shun the light, he loves to walk in it; and the more light he gets the lower down he goes in self-judgment. And so, as a beloved servant of God used to say, repentance goes on deepening all through the lifetime of a saint. But along with this there is the deepening consciousness that “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin”. The consciousness is maintained in the soul that everything we have to judge has been removed by the death of Christ. Our consciences are purged, and we have “no more conscience of sins” (Hebrews 10: 2); we have the abiding consciousness that everything which the light of God exposes as being contrary to Him has been taken away by the death of Christ.
If we sin there is necessity for confession on our part; we must have it all out with God, and “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1: 9). The advocacy of Christ comes in here. “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (2: 1). If a believer sins it becomes a matter of consideration with divine Persons how he can be brought back to the proper state and feelings of a child of God. The question is not taken up in a judicial way, but in the home of divine affections — it is “with the Father” — in [p. 102] order that the one who sins may be restored to the right feelings and conduct of a child of God. It is not a question of clearing the conscience, but of rectifying the state of soul, and all is founded on the fact that Jesus Christ the Righteous is the propitiation for our sins (chapter 2:2). So far as propitiation is concerned everything is settled, and now the One who has settled everything is entitled to speak in love to the Father about the one who sins, because He has maintained righteousness with regard to the sin. This is in view of our moral cleansing from all unrighteousness.
The effect of walking in the light and of being cleansed from all unrighteousness is that divine love becomes active in us. “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him” (chapter 2: 10). What we have heard from the beginning is the presentation of Christ, and He has become the commandment to us. He does not enjoin anything that has not been exemplified in Himself. He could say, “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you”, and immediately afterwards, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another as I have loved you” (John 15: 9, 12). The one who says that he abides in Christ “ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked”.
The children of God are characterised by these things — they have joy in the knowledge of divine Persons, and they walk in righteousness and love. But in these things there is growth, hence we find three different classes addressed — fathers, young men, and little children or babes. The fathers have known Him that is from the beginning. They have come to the apprehension of CHRIST as the starting point of every divine thought. The purpose of God was formed in Him before the foundation of the world. Whether we think of creation, redemption, the peculiar blessings of the assembly, or what will characterise the world to come, everything has its beginning in Christ. He is the origin and [p. 103] starting point of everything that is of God in the universe. To know Him is to be put morally outside the whole world of human thoughts, and to see everything in relation to Him who is the Beginning and Head of God’s universe. In that circle there are no snares or dangers; all is blessed and perfect and of God. Hence there is no warning addressed to the fathers such as is addressed to the young men and babes.
To the young men he says, “Ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2: 14, 15). The young men are regarded as strong — as being what we might speak of as established believers. There are a good many who are well-grounded in the truth of Scripture, and the testimony of God has its place with them, but with whom there is danger of the truth failing as to practical application. It is one thing to be able to expose error, or refute a gainsayer, by Scripture; but quite another to apply the truth in self-judgment to all one’s ways and associations so as to be kept in entire separation from the world. Many of us can understand this very well. We are informed about a great many things that have not yet had their divine application in our souls so as to practically affect us in our walk and ways. It is astonishing how much one may know of the truth, and how diligent and faithful one may be in refusing anything like bad doctrine, and yet at the same time many links with the world and its things may be kept up, and the door may thus be standing open for the introduction of much that is not at all of the Father. The spirit of the world may come in with those who have much, light — nothing really keeps it out but CHRIST — and the world is the sphere of sin. If a man loves the world he sins.
It is sometimes supposed that the babes are most in danger of worldliness, but as a matter of fact it is the young men who are warned against the world. Young souls fresh in the joy [p. 104] of grace are not so much in danger of the world as those who perhaps know more, but whose joy has somewhat declined. It is then that the spirit of the world very often asserts itself again. It is the spirit of the world — the inward working in our hearts of the principles which make up the world — that we have to watch against. It is easy and convenient to many of us to stand apart from gross forms of worldliness. But there may be outward separation and yet much of the spirit of the world in our hearts. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are things that work in the heart — the very principles of worldliness within. These are things we have ever to be on the watch against. This corresponds very much with the word in verse 1, “These things write I unto you that ye sin not”. The world is the sphere where sin works; it is really sin systematised; it is the sphere where provision is made for the gratification of every lust of man. Let us beware of the spirit of it! It is most important that the light of God should have its practical application in the way of separation from the world.
With regard to the babes, what is said is that they know the Father, and that they have received the unction, thus becoming the subjects of divine teaching. The youngest babe in the family of God is on this footing. He knows God in grace, and he is taught by the Spirit to find all truth in Christ, and to abide in Him. Seducers may seek to move him away from the grace of God, and to turn him from Christ, but, having the Spirit, he is able to discern that this is the enemy’s work. He may not be able to answer subtle arguments, but he knows God in grace, and he realises that to give up Christ is to give up everything. He abides in Him.
All this is introductory, and the moral effect of it is developed in chapters 3 and 4. The Father has in love given us the place of children of God. We have kindred nature with God, as born of Him. The fact of one really appreciating Christ is the proof that he has kindred nature with God.
[p. 105] Men in the flesh do not appreciate Christ. Hence we read, “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons [children] of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1: 12, 13). If Christ is received and appreciated it is evidence that one is born of God and has kindred nature with God. God has pleasure in those who appreciate Christ; it is a delight to him to see hearts that really value Christ. The Lord said, “The Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God” (John 16: 27). In that way we come under the Father’s love; we come into view as children of God. He has given us capacity to appreciate and love what is delightful to His own heart. Is it not amazing — if we think of what we were — that the Father should have wrought in us so that we might be according to God in nature and able to appreciate His beloved Son? We may well say, “Behold what manner of love!”
We are children of God, but what we shall be has not yet been manifested. When Christ appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. We shall be like Christ in the circle of divine love and complacency for evermore. We shall be divested of every trace of that which we derived from the first man, and we shall be like Him — the Heavenly One — who is soon coming out of heaven as the Second Man. We shall be in every way suited to the Father’s eye and heart like Christ.
Then “every man that hath this hope in him [Christ] purifieth himself even as he is pure”. This blessed hope has an intensely practical effect in moral cleansing. The purity of Christ is the standard. It must be so, for if we derive morally from God as being His children, nothing will really satisfy us short of what is altogether delightful to God. This is found in full measure in Christ. Purity and righteousness are found absolutely in Him. We cannot be too simple in [p. 106] making Christ our only standard; we must not allow the religious world, or even our brethren, to become in any way our standard. If others are content with a lower measure of purification than that of Christ Himself we must not drop down to their level. We must keep the eyes of our hearts simply and steadily upon Christ. Those who abide in Him do not sin; they are not lawless. The only right thing is to abide in Christ, and the one who does so escapes from the power of evil and comes under the blessed influence of good. He practises righteousness and loves his brother.
It is thus that the children of God come into manifestation here. A people marked by righteousness and love must be the children of God. They are begotten of Him, and He abides in them, and they know it by the Spirit which He has given to them (chapter 3: 24). “God is in the generation of the righteous” (Psalm 14: 5). It is a very wonderful thing that there should be a company of people in this world in whom God dwells. He dwells here in His house, and His house is composed of His children, who come into manifestation as those in whom righteousness and love are expressed. They manifest God’s blessed character in this world, where lawlessness and hatred abound. I know of no more practical truth than this, that we are called the children of God, and that as such we are to come into manifestation here. Love is the spring of righteousness. All that is right is the outcome and activity of the divine nature; it all springs from love.
Love is a thing we have had to learn, because naturally we had no idea of it. Natural love never gives people a true thought of divine love. We have to learn that love in the death of Christ. “Hereby perceive we the love, because he laid down his life for us”. In chapter 4 John enlarges upon it. He speaks of love absolutely — “God is love” — and then he shows how it has been manifested toward us. “God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but [p. 107] that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (verse 9, 10). In God’s house we find ourselves in an atmosphere of love; it is the home of love and the school of love. We may only be on the lowest bench in the school, but how blessed it is to know that God has brought us into His house that we may learn and experience His love! In natural things the home circle is where a child learns love. Children are born with capacity for affections, but the affections have to be developed in an atmosphere of care and love. Many a one goes through life with a hard and loveless nature because he was brought up in a cold, hard way. But no one could say that the House of God is a cold place; it is filled with the warmth of His blessed love. We are brought into the family of God — into the children’s place — that we may learn those deep affections that have their spring in the Father, and have had their manifestation and expression through the Son, and which are known now in our hearts by the Spirit. As we thus learn divine love and live in it we become capable of expressing it towards one another, and, “if we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us”. This is how John presents the truth of the House of God; he speaks of God dwelling here in His children. Is it not wonderful that God should be dwelling here in His saints? — that His nature should be coming out in all our relations one with the other? In John’s gospel when it is said “No man hath seen God at any time” it is added, “The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”. But in the epistle it is, “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us”. The same blessed God who was declared by the only begotten Son now dwells in His children who love one another. In this way God is set forth in a world where no man has seen Him at any time. His nature and character are expressed here in His children, who form His house. Then there is also the testimony of His grace towards men in general. “We have seen and do testify that the [p. 108] Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world”. John is in perfect harmony with Paul. Paul speaks of the testimony that sounds out from the House of God when He says, “God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Timothy 2: 3 - 6). John speaks of the same blessed testimony when he says, “We have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world”. That is the testimony that sounds out — the evangelical testimony — the blessed witness of grace towards all. The youngest babe in the family of God knows the grace of God, for it is said to the babes, “ye have known the Father”. The Father is that blessed Name in which God is revealed in grace. Those who know the Father are left here in testimony to His grace. God’s house is here as a living witness to Himself in this world. He dwells here in blessing and grace towards men; what He is as the Saviour God is expressed by and in His saints.
In God’s house His love is known and believed, and His children abiding in love abide in God and God in them. Fear dwells not in that holy circle; perfect love has expelled it. God was the first to love, but the effect of His love known in our hearts is that we love. This great miracle God has brought to pass on earth, that there are those who love Him and His children, and who keep His commandments without finding them to be grievous. What victory over the world is seen in this! What a setting aside of lust and lawlessness! What a blessed witness for God! And all this is morally the outcome of believing that Jesus is the Son of God. For this involves the entire setting aside of man in the flesh, and our moral purification from that man by the water aspect of Christ’s death as well as expiation by blood. He came by water and blood, and the Spirit bears witness.
[p. 109] It is by the Spirit that we understand in our souls the meaning of the water and the blood. The Spirit is the truth of it in our souls, hence the one who believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself. The effect of the presence of the Spirit here is that God’s witness is here. The witness is that God has given to His saints eternal life, and this life is in His Son. May we ponder much these great and blessed realities, and know better what it means to be able to say, “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding that we should know him that is true; and we are in him that is true, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life”. Nor let us forget that last solemn word, “Children, keep yourselves from idols!”