Enlightenment
The Lord continues to build His Body in resurrection, and Satan keeps on helping this. The house of God is still increasing in resurrection with the Body of Christ (1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Pet. 2:5; 1 Cor. 3:9; Eph. 2:21-22). Today, we are still within “the three days,” because the Lord is still working for the building of His Body under the process of resurrection.
In the changing of water into wine, the principle of life was set forth. Now, in the dealing with the temple, the purpose of life is shown. The principle of life is to change death into life. The purpose of life is to build the house of God. The principle of life is for the purpose of life. The changing of death into life is for life’s building, the building of God’s house. These two points govern the whole Gospel of John. This is why after the introduction in the first chapter, the second chapter follows to show us these two points by two events. Then from chapter three through chapter eleven is the record of the nine cases proving how the Lord came into all kinds of human situations and changed death into life. After all of the cases have been related and after the last message has been given in chapters fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen, in chapter seventeen the Lord offered a prayer to the Father about oneness. This prayer for oneness was simply a prayer for the building. If we are not built together, we can never be one. For example, a heap of materials is not one, because the materials are not built together. A house is composed of many materials, and these materials are one because they are built together. Only when the materials are built up together as one building is there oneness. Oneness means to be built up together. Therefore, the purpose of life is to build up God’s house, God’s temple, for God’s habitation. The purpose of the Lord being life to us is to build the church as God’s dwelling place. Life is for the building. Life is for the church. It is for the building of the church, His Body and God’s house, that the Lord has come to be our life.