Reading 5—Lord’s day
A.J.G. John 14 sets before us, in a most remarkable way, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The chapter seems to show that we can enter into the greatest privileges of the assembly, even in the day of breakdown. As we know, John writes for the last days; he does not refer to the assembly in his gospel, nor in his first letter. He refers to the assembly only in the third letter and in Revelation. In his gospel, however, he shows how we enter into the truth of the assembly, as those that love Christ. This section leads in verse 23 to the thought of tabernacle conditions prepared for God. The Lord says, as it were, that where there are suitable conditions provided, the Father and the Son would come there. He had said just before this, that the Spirit was about to remain with those concerned. Verse 23 shows conditions provided by those that love Christ where God can dwell. That corresponds with what we have read in chapter 13, where the Lord is about to serve His own, and where He knew that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He went out from God and was going to God. The fact that the Father had given all things into His hands indicates this dispensation in which the Father is the supreme One; and has given everything into the hands of Christ so that He might bring it to pass, and it is brought about in the love for His own. And in giving Himself up to serve His own the Lord always knew that He came out from God and that He was going to God. That is to say that He would provide a complete revelation of God, and also bring back an answer to this revelation. In the action of the feet washing, and the Lord laying His garment aside, there lies the thought that He has served us in love in His death. But it all served its purpose, that God should be made known and that He also should receive an answer. In chapter 14, the Lord immediately starts by speaking about the Father and the Father’s house, but He also emphasises that He, as the Son, should be believed in, that is to say that Christ as man in the presence of the Father should be held in our hearts and affections. So all that the Lord said from chapter 13 and onwards, He said anticipating that He was going to the Father.
K.W. Does this give us liberty to speak to the Father, because we know that Christ as Man is before the Father?
A.J.G. Yes, the full light of the Father shines in Him, and the full light of a perfect answer in sonship also shines in Him, so that the Lord Jesus in His present position above should be the abiding Object of our faith.
R.Z. Can we say that the serving love of the Lord Jesus in chapter 13 comes into expression, as we see it in the Hebrew bondman in Exodus 21?
A.J.G. Yes, that is very similar. It says of the Hebrew bondman, that he says distinctly: “I love my master, my wife, and my children”, Exod 21: 5. The master comes first, and then the wife and the children are connected with the servant in service towards their master. But the answer from the Hebrew bondman in Exodus 21 is seen in chapter 28, where we see the Lord in His garments of glory and for ornament. Just as He also has served down here in love as a bondman, now He serves in a glorified condition. That is why it says in John 13; when “he had … taken his garments, having sat down again”.
So what comes to light in the words in chapter 14 is the special place the saints have in His love as belonging to the assembly. We are marked by this, that we are where He is. He has prepared an abode, where He is now as Man, and a place where He Himself will bring us to.
B.M. Could you say something more about laying aside His garment and taking His garments again?
A.J.G. It says first that He “lays aside his garments, and having taken a linen towel he girded himself: then he pours water into the washhand basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them with the linen towel with which he was girded”. This means that He went the full way in the service of His love. He even did a bondman’s service. But after He had done this, and taken His garments, and having sat down again; He would now present His present glory to us.
So we hold in our thoughts the way He took in His love. And this love has in mind that we should be with Him in a conscious way: “that where I am ye also may be”. This shows that the assembly is intimately connected with Christ. All this should be in our souls, as it provides liberty and power in the service Godward.
C.M.Oe. Is the purpose of the feet washing that it should set us in liberty in the presence of such a love?
A.J.G. Yes, that is the case. But I am not thinking now of the feet washing in its moral bearing, but rather how far the love of Christ has gone, and its object is that we should have part with Him. But surely the feet washing in its moral bearing must be known by us.
H.H. Did you think that this was the entrance door to all that followed?
A.J.G. Yes, and also the Lord, as He did this service He thought about His coming out from God and that He was going to God.
A.G. We know Him now as our High Priest, who intercedes for us at all times.
A.J.G. Yes, He also represents us, but now He is above, where He has prepared us a place, that we should be where He is.
H.Br. Does this remind us of Psalm 22: 22: “I will declare thy name unto my brethren”?
A.J.G. Yes, it is significant that this is the first thing that comes up, as soon as the Lord is heard from the horns of the buffaloes.
K.W. Is the love of the Lord also seen in the word: “Father, as to those whom thou hast given me, I desire that where I am they also may be with me”, John 17: 24?
A.J.G. That is closely connected with the third verse of John 14. Do you not think, when we consider the glory that the Father has given Him, that we get then a view of the whole extent of the counsels of God? For it is His (Christ’s) glory, it has been entrusted to Him to bring it all about.
K.W. We can behold it.
A.J.G. Quite so. As a result, it causes worship to the Father and to God by us.
W.R. Do we have in Ephesians 2, “made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus”, a fulfilment of John 14: 3?
A.J.G. Yes, that is so, but there the elevated position that has been given to us in grace is emphasised; but here it is love that is prominent. It is the love of Christ that desires that we should be where He is; He wants nothing less.
R.Z. Would faith precede this love?
A.J.G. Yes, we should believe in Him.
G.S. Joseph presented his brethren before Pharaoh, is that the same thought?
A.J.G. I would rather say that the thought is more linked with Joseph presenting his own sons before his father, and his viewing them. Joseph brought his own sons before his own father, and the father said: “they shall be mine”. Then they were brought nearer, and he kissed them and embraced them. It is a wonderful thought how we are brought into sonship, for they were not the sons of Jacob, they were his grandsons; that is to say that they were not born to him, they belonged to his generation. But Jacob still gives them the position of sonship, “as Reuben and Simeon”, Gen 48: 5. That is a wonderful type of being taken up in sonship. It means the gift of sonship.
R.B. Does the mediatorship in Christ come to light?
A.J.G. Yes, that is right. The Lord says: “No one comes to the Father unless by me”. One can say that one of the most outstanding glories of Christ is that He is the Mediator.
R.Z. Was Thomas unclear about the way to the Father, as he asks: “how can we know the way”?
A.J.G. Yes, but he still had the liberty to ask. Chapter 14 of John is similar to a reading. One after the other asks questions, and the truth opens up as the Lord gives the answers.
B.M. If Philip had not asked, we would not have known.
A.J.G. It is a great advantage when we ask questions, it could even be ignorant questions, because the Spirit is prepared to answer.
E.B. When Philip presented the question, “Lord, show us the Father and it suffices us”, the Lord’s answer was: “He that has seen me has seen the Father”. Could you say something about Philip’s question?
A.J.G. The Lord had spoken so much concerning the Father to them that they were attracted. But the answer that the Lord gave them then served the purpose of shedding more light on His Person. He said: “He that has seen me has seen the Father … Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?”
E.B. Is there a thought in this, that Philip saw here a living Man presented in the Lord Jesus, a man that is living?
A.J.G. Yes, the Lord had moved along with them, but all that they had seen in Christ was always an expression of the Father. There was never any inequality or defect there; that is why the Lord asked: “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?”
E.B. Did He bring in the answer showing His manhood as well as His deity.
A.J.G. Yes, that is the case; we have a similar expression in chapter 10: 37, 38: it says, “If I do not the works of my Father, believe not me; but if I do, even if ye believe me not, believe the works, that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him”. That is why one Person in the Godhead can fully represent the other.
H.H. That is why we should be completely at home with the Father.
A.J.G. Yes surely. As we see how the Lord moved amongst His own, and the way He took the little children into His arms, He always expressed the Father.
A.W. Even in His activities, for example when He raised Lazarus, He expressed the Father.
A.J.G. Yes, that is right.
R.B. Do we have this thought also in John 1: 18?
A.J.G. “The only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”. It is significant that He has been declared in that way, it is the way of love.
O.H. He is the effulgence of His glory and the expression of His substance, Heb 1: 3.
A.J.G. The expression of His substance involves the essence of God.
S.C.D. The expression, “I am the way, the truth and the life”: is this our side?
A.J.G. I believe that is so. “No one comes to the Father unless by me”. So He is the way. Then He is also the truth in His own Person. Man is placed in the glory of sonship in the Person of Christ, and this is what the Father has in mind for man. But then He is also the life, as we have part in His life as man. The Lord said: “Because I live, ye shall also live”.
H.Br. Is it a similar thought when it says: “Let us make man in our image”, Gen 1: 26?
A.J.G. Yes, that is God’s image. I believe the image is a representation.
R.Z. Then also the life of the Father comes into expression in the Son.
A.J.G. The Lord says: “as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son also to have life in himself”, John 5: 26. What is in mind is that it should be communicated to us. Of course, we have no part in deity, but we have part in the life of a Man who in Himself is God. That is the preciousness of God bringing us so close.
H.Ch.H. Does a difference exist between the Father’s house in Luke 15 and the Father’s house here in John 14?
A.J.G. Yes, the Father’s house in Luke 15 is more a type of the house of God at the present time. But the Father’s house in John 14 is the whole area of blessing that is before the Father, and it corresponds with what was considered yesterday in Ephesians 3 where the many families were named by the Father.
W.Schr. Does the Lord bring us there to learn to know the love with which He was loved by the Father?
A.J.G. Yes. He does not go further here on the thought of the many abodes; He just touches on it briefly, as Paul in Ephesians 3 refers to the many families. But then the Lord occupies Himself with the unique position the assembly has been given; that is to say, to be loved by Christ, where He is.
R.D. Does not Christ fill that place?
A.J.G. Yes surely. As a final result indeed, God fills this place.
W.Schu. Did Moses have this in mind in his song in Exodus 15? He spoke of “the mountain of thine inheritance, The place that thou, Jehovah, hast made thy dwelling”, v 17.
A.J.G. Yes. “Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, The place that thou, Jehovah, hast made”. That corresponds with what He says: “I go to prepare you a place”.
C.M.M. Is the purpose here why the Lord speaks about the Father’s house and the Father Himself, that we should feel at home in the Father’s house?
A.J.G. It should confirm to us that the love of the Lord Jesus to the assembly is unique, in order that we should really be in the joy of union with Christ, then the Lord can avail Himself of this power, in view of giving an answer to the Father and presenting praise to God. It is to be noticed that, when the Lord spoke to them at first, He refers to what is future; He says: “I am coming again and shall receive you to myself”. In verse 23, we see where this will bring us, that there can be a dwelling place for God now; and it is most important that there should be a place now where God as manifested can dwell.
S.C.D. Is this the character of “my Father’s house”?
A.J.G. It takes character from what soon will appear publicly.
C.M.Oe. In the day of breakdown, the Lord takes up individuals even.
A.J.G. Yes, that is so. In this section the Lord comes down to an individual. It is not just to make it fully and altogether a personal matter, as it is an assembly truth that is nourished in the heart of each one that is faithful. It says: “If any one love me”. That does not mean to say only individuals are available, but rather it is open for all that love the Lord.
L.M. Such as keep His commandments?
A.J.G. Yes.
R.Z. Why does He say, “Let not your heart be troubled”?
A.J.G. It grieved them much that the Lord intended to leave them; He had just said that Peter their leader would deny Him. But now the Lord takes their thoughts away from all that and brings them on to the purpose of God. He says, “Let not your heart be troubled”.
H.H. Do you not think verse 23, that you referred to, includes all assembly privileges?
A.J.G. Yes, I believe so. I believe in the verses from 1-14 we have especially the Father and the Son, and then we have in verses 15-20 the Holy Spirit, the Comforter; and then in the power of the Spirit who is with us and in us. We know, according to verse 20, that Christ is in His Father, and we are in Him and He is in us. Then we see in verse 21-23, the conditions in which those precious things that can be already known. Of course, it embraces the presence of the Spirit, though it requires more than the presence of the Spirit. It demands first of all that the Lord's commandments are kept, and further on that His words are kept.
H.L. What does “His word” mean”?
A.J.G. To begin with we must keep His commandments. One must for example consider 2 Timothy 2: “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”. That is a foundational commandment. Then we must consider the whole of 1 Corinthians, that is as a whole a commandment of the Lord, and it regulates us in all our comings together. We must also keep the new commandment that John brings us, that we should love one another; that puts us together in assembly conditions. All this is necessary if the truth of the assembly really should be known. When we reach this state, then we must also keep the word of Christ. We should be marked by keeping His word. His word simply means what He says to us: we must always have the door open to what God brings out and have it in freshness.
H.H. Is that what He appreciates with Philadelphia?
A.J.G. Yes, they had kept His word.
S.C.D. Do we see this with individuals in John on the island of Patmos? He was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day in spite of the circumstances. Would he have been fit for every assembly privilege?
A.J.G. I believe so. When the Lord desired to speak to him about the conditions in the local assemblies, and how the Lord walked in a judicial way amongst them, John had to turn round to hear the voice. I believe his thoughts were occupied on the Lord’s day with the assembly privileges, but he still had to turn round. He said: “And I turned back to see the voice which spoke with me”, Rev 1: 12.
P.Sch. Is the speaking of the Spirit the same as when the Lord speaks?
A.J.G. I think both correspond. What is on your mind?
P.Sch. “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies” (Rev 2: 7, etc) was said to the assemblies.
A.J.G. The Lord may have something definite to say to a certain local assembly, as we see in Revelation 2 and 3. The Lord spoke of the conditions that He found in each assembly. And when He had finished His speaking, He said, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”. I believe that the word of the Christ is almost the same and it corresponds with what we have in Colossians: “Let the word of the Christ dwell in you richly”, Col 3: 16.
P.Sch. Would keeping His commandments make us overcomers, as we have in the last four assemblies? The speaking of the Spirit comes afterwards.
A.J.G. Yes, the commandments are important, and they remain unchangeable, yet the word of the Christ always goes further and is always new and fresh. Mary of Bethany was marked by this, as she sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to His word. If the Lord came a second time to Bethany, Mary would once again be listening to His words. But the Lord would then not say the same thing He said previously: He would say something fresh then. That is the bearing of keeping the word of the Christ, that we give an ear to what the Lord says at the particular moment.
St.Gl. Does this come out in Genesis 17 and 18 when Abraham took heed to the word of God in chapter 17, and then in chapter 18 he got a divine visit?
A.J.G. Yes, you can say that. The three men were prepared to receive the meal that Abraham provided. You can say that in principle they made their abode with him.
K.H. It says in Psalm 25: 14 “The secret of Jehovah is with them that fear him”. It says ‘intimate communications’ in the footnote. Does this mean that “the word” is the intimate communication of the Lord?
A.J.G. I do not know if it is always the intimate communication. It is what the Lord says to us. We find in the end of Numbers 7, Moses going into the holiest, to speak with God. “And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him, then he heard the voice speaking to him”, and then at the end “and he spoke to Him”, v 89. God said something fresh to Moses that He had not said before, and then Moses spoke to God, after God had spoken to Moses, all was put in order. In this way the word of Christ holds us constantly in freshness.
R.Z. We have an attractive section in Isaiah 50: 4: “He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the instructed”.
A.J.G. That is more for the path in the testimony and its responsibility down here. As it says, “that I should know how to succour by a word him that is weary”.
E.B. It says in verse 19, “the world sees me no longer; but ye see me”. Could you say something of what this word involves?
A.J.G. It is an effect of the presence of the Spirit with us, that we may not lose sight of Christ. The Christian profession around us has lost Christ from their view. That also happened when they made the golden calf. They said of Moses: “we do not know what is become of him!”, Exod 32: 1. But when the Spirit of God is acknowledged, then we will not lose Christ from our view.
H.Ch.H. Could you say something about the manifestation in verse 21?
A.J.G. The Lord loves to manifest Himself. We should know something of this on the first day of the week. I believe we do so too.
A.W. Was this the case with Mary of Magdala, that the Lord manifested Himself to her?
A.J.G. Yes, that is the case. The Lord accustomed the disciples to the thought of manifestation. We read from the first chapter of Acts of “all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us” (v 21), and every time He came in afresh, they received a new presentation of Himself.
A.G. In John 20, the Lord manifested Himself to the disciples.
A.J.G. Yes, He showed them His hands and His side. In chapter 21, it says that He manifested Himself again.
H.H. There is an attractive word in Acts 1: He presented Himself living.
A.J.G. Yes, but it is important to see what we have in Acts 1: 21: “that of the men who have assembled with us all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us”. When the Lord was in the days of His flesh down here, He taught His disciples the thought of assembling. What marks the assembly is that the Lord comes in and goes out; that is to say, He left a manifestation of Himself, a constant fresh manifestation.
H.H. That continued until the day He was taken up.
A.J.G. Yes.
L.M. What is the thought of going out?
A.J.G. From this point of view the Lord is not always with us. From another point of view, as to support in our weakness, the Lord says: “I am with you all the days”, Matt 28: 20. But according to John 14, the Lord has gone to the Father, so He is absent from this scene, and He only manifests Himself to those who love Him. But in contrast to the Lord coming in and going out again, the Spirit remains always with us.
H.L. Should we expect a new manifestation every Lord’s day morning?
A.J.G. Certainly we should.
Fr.R. Would we otherwise be orphans? The Lord said: “I will not leave you orphans”.
A.J.G. Yes, that is the thought, we should not be comfortless.
H.Rö. He says also in verse 18: “I am coming to you”.
A.J.G. Yes.
P.Sch. So it speaks three times in this chapter of His coming, in verse 3, 18 and 23.
A.J.G. That shows how much the saints are in the heart of Christ.
E.C. In chapter 20, we see Jesus coming into the midst.
A.J.G. That was on the first day of the week, when He came and stood in the midst.
B.M. He says in the Song of Songs: “I am come into my garden”, SofS 5: 1.
A.J.G. The bride says as well:
Behold, he cometh
Leaping upon the mountains,
Skipping upon the hills. SofS 2: 8
G.S. It says here: “we will come to him and make our abode with him”. Does that include the three divine Persons?
A.J.G. That would be the Father and the Son, because the Spirit is already there, as He had just said that the Spirit was due to come and remain with us in eternity. Consequently, we have reached a climax in verse 23, as it seems to me. We have there an abode, tabernacle conditions for God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
E.B. In the note in verse 23 [in the German Bible], it says, ‘we will prepare an abode with him for us’.
A.J.G. It says it comes to pass where such a state exists. I believe it is important to see that here in verses 22 and 23 we have the way to prove our love for Christ. We prove our love to Him in having and keeping His commandments, but also in keeping His word. Indeed, we have no right to say that we love Christ if we do not consider His commandments and keep His word.
H.M. Is this expressed in 1 John 2: 5: “but whoever keeps his word, in him verily the love of God is perfected”?
A.J.G. Yes, that is right.
A.G. We love, because He first loved us.
A.J.G. That is so, but we must also show our love. There are many Christians that love Christ, at least basically in their hearts. But they do not show their love. They do not prove their love by having and keeping His commandments and also keeping His word.
L.M. It says in verse 24, “my words”: would that be the details of what He says?
A.J.G. Yes, I believe, “the word” is the content of what the Lord would generally say at any time. “The words” would be the details of it as you said.
K.H. Does this include the Old Testament scriptures?
A.J.G. It is what the Lord says. The Lord speaks to us through the Scriptures. He can use the Old Testament scriptures just as much as the New Testament scriptures. But here it is the word, that is to say it is a living voice.
W.Schu. Should we make room at the Supper for the Lord to speak to us?
A.J.G. Definitely we should do that. Maybe we need to have more faith and exercise in these matters, in order that the Lord should speak to us.
R.D. Do we see this in the two disciples going to Emmaüs?
A.J.G. Yes, we see that to a certain extent. They had to be adjusted and brought back. But the Lord loves to find such conditions amongst us, in which we are able to keep what He says to us.
A.Sh. Could you say a little more of the position the Spirit has in this?
A.J.G. From our side nothing is possible, except through the Spirit. That is why the Lord says: “the world sees me no longer; but ye see me; because I live ye also shall live”. Thus we are held in the light of Christ, and in the assurance that we are united with Him. That is the service of the Spirit for us. Then it says: “In that day”—that is the Spirit’s day, the present day—“ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you”. That is the result of the Spirit’s service towards us, that we are fully conscious of this, that Christ as Man is in the Father’s affections, and as Man the Father’s affections rest upon Him, a Person that is of the Godhead; and that we are in Him and He is in us. Thus, we get an impression of the wonderful nearness that the saints have with God because they are in Christ, and also of the pleasure that God has in the saints, because Christ is in them.
L.M. Why does the Lord say here “know” (verse 20) which means objective knowledge (see footnote)?
A.J.G. It is the result of the service of the Spirit presenting it before our view.
R.Z. Could you say something about the greater works in verse 12, please?
A.J.G. I believe that the Lord emphasises especially the character of the day of the Spirit; “because I go to the Father”, He says. That means that the Spirit could come.
C.M.Oe. Is the Spirit the gift of the Father? We see from the Acts that He is the promise of the Father. But here it says: “I will beg the Father, and He will give you another Comforter”.
A.J.G. I think this helps us to appreciate the Spirit, because He is the gift of the Father and the result of the request of the Lord Jesus.
H.M. That comes out in chapter 15: 26: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes forth from with the Father, he shall bear witness concerning me”?
A.J.G. The Spirit is presented as the gift from the Father, because Christ had asked for it, but then He was also sent from Christ, so He was sent both from the Father and the Son to be at our disposal.
O.H. Could you say something about chapter 14: 12: the greater works?
A.J.G. I believe I cannot say much about them. The Lord emphasises in these verses the special character of the day when the Spirit is down here. I believe the greater things were apparent in the great results of the work of God, that we find in the day of the Spirit. The Lord was subject to great restrictions when He was on earth. He did not go beyond the borders of Israel. But now in the works of those whom the Spirit has sent out, the work of God has extended to the whole world, and finally according to God’s thought a full answer will come to light in the saints.
H.Ch.H. Do we see the dwelling conditions for God in the material for the tabernacle, Exod 25?
A.J.G. Yes, God commanded the people to make Him a sanctuary, that He should be able to dwell amongst them, and He indicates what they should all bring. We can see the first three things that were required come from our knowledge of God, so that it is a result of our knowledge of God: the gold, the silver and the copper or brass. After this come eight things that have to do with our appreciation of Christ as Man. Then comes oil for the light and spices, two things that have to do with our appreciation of the Spirit. Finally, there are two things, onyx stones and stones to be set, that have to do with our appreciation of the saints. What is necessary for tabernacle conditions, is that God Himself is fully appreciated by us, that is, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and the saints should also be appreciated accordingly, what they are according to the work of God, for the saints are indispensable for God in His dwelling place.
C.M.M Then we reach what we have in verse 23 at the end of Revelation 21:3 where it says: “and God himself shall be with them, their God”.
A.J.G. Yes, quite right. I think we should take special care that already now dwelling conditions for God are found with us.
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