【读圣经学英语】就再来

约翰福音-John 14 章 3~4 节

Enlightenment:

In verse 3 the Lord said, “If I go…I am coming.” I like this sentence very much. This word proves that the Lord’s going (through His death and resurrection) is 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 going was not His departure but actually another step of His coming. The Lord’s death and resurrection were a further step of His coming. His going to die was His coming into us. 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 them and dwell in them, as is revealed in verses 17 through 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.

Let me use as an illustration a story of something that happened in Taiwan many years ago. One day I bought a huge watermelon. When I brought it home and put it on the dining table, all my children were excited. Then we took this watermelon into the kitchen. One of the children cried out, “Don’t take the watermelon away!” I told them to be quiet, for the taking away of the watermelon was that they might eat it, that the big melon might get into them. The melon had to be processed, to be cut and sliced. After a few minutes the big melon came back to the children in slices. Every child was happy. In less than an hour the entire watermelon was gone. Where did it go? It went into the children. Eventually, all the children became watermelon children. The taking away of the watermelon was not its going away. Its taking away was a further coming of the watermelon into the children. Jesus was like that watermelon. How could the disciples swallow Him? It was impossible. He had to be processed, to be cut in pieces. He went to the cross and there He was cut and processed, not only into slices, but into watermelon juice good for drinking. Now Jesus is no longer just the watermelon but also the juice. Whoever drinks Jesus gets Jesus into him. Jesus went through death that He might come back as Christ in His resurrection.

亮光

   在三节主说，『我若去…就再来。』我非常喜欢这句话。这话证明主的去（藉着死与复活）就是祂的来（到门徒这里－十四18，28）。这就是说，祂的去就是祂的来，祂藉着去而来。主的去并非祂的离开，实在是祂另一步的来。主的死与复活是祂进一步的来。祂去受死，就是祂进入我们里面。主的心意是要进入门徒里面。祂曾在肉体里来，（约一14，）也曾在门徒中间，但祂在肉体里无法进到门徒里面。祂必须进一步经过死与复活，使祂得以变化形像，从肉体变化为灵，好进入并居住在门徒里面，如十七至二十节所启示的。祂复活之后的确来了，将祂自己，就是圣灵，吹进门徒里面。（约二十19～22。）因此，祂的去就是祂的来。

　让我用多年前发生在台湾的事作例证。有一天我买了一个大西瓜回家。当我把西瓜买回家，放在餐桌上的时候，孩子们都非常兴奋。然后，我们把这西瓜拿到厨房里。有一个孩子嚷着说，『不要把西瓜拿走！』我告诉他们要安静，因为把西瓜拿走是为叫他们能吃，叫这大西瓜能进入他们里面。西瓜必须经过过程，被切成片。几分钟后，大西瓜成片的回到孩子们面前。孩子们个个开心。不到一个钟头，整个西瓜都没有了。西瓜到那里去了？进到孩子们里面了。至终，这些孩子都成了西瓜孩子。拿走西瓜不是西瓜的去，拿走乃是西瓜进一步的进到孩子们里面。耶稣就像那个西瓜，门徒怎能将祂吞下？那是不可能的。祂必须经过过程，被切成片。祂上了十字架，在那里被切，且经过过程，不只被切成片，并且成了西瓜汁，好给人喝。现在耶稣不再仅是西瓜，也是西瓜汁了；谁喝了耶稣，耶稣就进到他里面。耶稣经过死而去，使祂成为基督在复活里回来。