Believe into God to Enter into God and be Part of the Church as the Father’s House

The central thought of John 14 is that we must believe into God and thereby enter into God; in this chapter we see that Father’s house, the dwelling place of God on the earth, for the Father’s house is a type of the enlarged Body of Christ, the church as the house of God. Amen!

This week we come to the topic of, Living in the Father’s House – Living in the Place Prepared for Us through the Death and Resurrection of Christ.

The Father’s house in John 14 has been very much misinterpreted throughout history.

In His last great discourse before His crucifixion, from John 14 to John 17, the Lord Jesus spoke in John 14 concerning the Father’s house.

He said that in His Father’s house there are many abodes, for He goes and prepares a place for us, His disciples, and He is coming again and will receive us to Himself, so that where He is, we also may be.

Nowhere does the Lord speak of going to heaven or in the heavenly mansions; He speaks only of the Father’s house and how He prepares a place for us.

In Christianity today, however, this has been very much misunderstood and misinterpreted.

Many times these verses are quoted at funerals and things like this to comfort the survivors of the dead and tell them not to be troubled but to believe in God and in Christ, for their loved one went to the heavens and now lives in a heavenly mansion.

Many say that the Lord Jesus, being the son of a carpenter, is now in heaven preparing an amazing place for us, where we can play sports, play golf, and walk on the golden streets.

This is the leaven in Christianity, something evil that has been added to the pure word of God to make it more palatable and adjust it to people’s expectations.

We need to return to the pure revelation in God’s word and allow the Lord to adjust us in our concepts and views regarding the Father’s house.

Many Christians think that today, after they are saved, they need to do their best to be good and do good works, for they have a one-way ticket to heaven, and one day the Lord will take them there.

They believe they will stand on the clouds, enter the pearl gates where St. Peter is waiting for them to let them in, then walk on the golden streets, and there may be some hymns playing in the background.

Then everyone will get their own lush mansion down the street, paved with gold. Oh, Lord Jesus!

Such things are not spoken of in the Bible, but Christianity today teaches them.

Such teachings are very much according to man’s natural concept and expectation.

Every tribe and nation has some cultural and traditional teachings that say that, after people die, they will go to the heavens and there everything will be alright. Oh, Lord Jesus!

May the Lord speak to us in His word to shine on us, unveil us, expose any concepts that are tainted and affected by the evil teachings today, and may we come back to the divine revelation in God’s word regarding the Father’s house.

We must Believe into God and thereby Enter into God, having an Organic Union with Him

The central thought of chapter 14 of John is that we must believe into God (not just believe in God) and thereby enter into God (v. 1).

The Lord Jesus told us not to let our heart be troubled but rather, believe into God and believe also into Christ.

First of all, we need to realize that God and Christ are one, for we need to believe into God and believe also into Christ.

The Lord Jesus is God Himself; we must believe into God and believe also into Christ.

There is a difference between believing in God and believing into God.

To believe in God is to believe that God is, that God exists and that God does many things; everyone believes in God, but they are not affected by this in their personal life.

To believe in God is to believe that God will help us and do things for us, but to believe into God implies that we enter into God, we are organically joined to God, and we become one with God.

We believers in Christ are not those who merely believe in God; we are those who believe into God and believe into the Lord Jesus Christ.

To believe in God is something objective, but to believe into God is something subjective; to believe into God is to have a subjective believing that brings us into God.

This is the same as John 3:16 where the Lord Jesus said that whoever believers into Him will not perish but will have eternal life.

We believe not only in Christ but into Christ. This preposition, into, is very important; we believe not some facts objectively but into a person subjectively.

We believe not only that God is real, God is true, and God is almighty; we believe into God.

We make a motion toward Him to be joined to Him in spirit and be one with Him.

By our subjective believing into God we are joined to Him organically and we are one with Him.

It is by believing into the Lord that we enter into Him to be one with Him, to partake of Him, and to participate in all that He has accomplished for us (John 3:15).

The demons and the evil spirits believe in God, for they are aware and afraid of God’s existence.

But we as believers in Christ believe into God, and we enter into Him to be one with Him organically.

We not only believe that Christ has died for us to redeem us; we enter into an organic union with the crucified Christ to partake of His wonderful redemption in spirit.

To believe into Christ requires that we exercise our spirit of faith to believe into Him and be therefore organically joined to Him.

To believe into Christ is to enter into Christ, to be one with Christ, and to be joined to Christ. It is to be united with Christ and to be one with Him to have a living organic union with Him.

When we believe into God, we enter into God in spirit, and He enters into us; He as the Spirit enters our spirit and we enter into God; by believing into God, we are in God and God is in us.

We do not see this with our physical eyes nor can we touch this with our hands but we can apprehend this with our spirit, for God is Spirit (John 4:24).

Through believing into Christ, we have an organic union with Him and we have our being merged into Him so that we two may be one organically (John 15:4-5).

We are merged with Him; we are blended, united, mingled, and incorporated with the Lord through our faith into Him.

We don’t blindly believe a set of doctrines with a group of regulations; we are joined to the Lord as one spirit and we are in Him and He is in us! Praise the Lord!

Before we can know the Father’s house we need to see that we believe into God to be joined to Him organically and to participate in all the riches of His being.

Lord Jesus, we believe into God and we believe also into You! Amen, Lord, we not only believe You or believe in You but even more, we believe into You! Hallelujah, we have a subjective believing that brings us into God! Praise the Lord, by believing into the Lord we enter into Him to be one with Him! Amen, Lord, by our faith in Christ we partake of all that Christ is and participate in all that He has accomplished for us. We love You, Lord Jesus, and we believe into You. We believe into You and we have an organic union with You. Amen, Lord, Your being and our being are merged together and we two are one organically! Praise the Lord for the organic union between God and man through faith! Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are joined, mingled, and incorporated with God so that His being and our being may be merged together and have one life with one living! And this is all by faith! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit of faith to believe into God and believe also into Christ!

The Father’s House is the Body of Christ, the Church as the House of God

John 14:2 is a wonderful verse telling us that in the Father’s house, there are many abodes, and the Lord went to prepare a place for us.

What is the Father’s house? What are the many abodes?

Many Christians unwittingly believe that the Father’s house is the third heaven, or at least heaven. But this is not what the Bible says about the Father’s house.

According to the divine revelation in the Bible, the Father’s house is a matter of the Triune God – through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection – working Himself into the believers to be fully mingled with them so that He may build them up as an organism for His dwelling and expression (John 14:2-3, 23).

We need to be saved from remaining in our natural concepts and thinking what many unbelievers also think, that there’s a place in the heavens for all those who believe in Jesus.

We need to let the Bible interpret itself; instead of interpreting the Bible according to our own concepts and feelings, we need the Scripture to interpret the Scripture.

In John 2:16 the Lord Jesus mentioned the Father’s house as being the dwelling place of God on earth, the temple. This is where the first mention of the Father’s house is in the Gospel of John.

The temple is a type or a figure of the body of Jesus, which in resurrection has been enlarged to be the Body of Christ (vv. 19-22).

In other words, the Father’s house is the body of Jesus which has been enlarged to be the Body of Christ, the church as the house of God to be His dwelling place.

The Father’s house in John 2:16 does not denote a place in the heavens but the temple of God on earth, and the Lord Jesus said that this is the temple of His body.

When He was on the earth, the Lord Jesus possessed a human body, albeit a small one, but through the processes of death and resurrection, this body was enlarged and increased to become a universal Body, the Body of Christ.

We all as the many believers in Christ are part of the enlarged Body of Christ in His resurrection.

The Father’s house is the dwelling place of God, not the third heavens but the Body of Christ.

In other words, the Lord said in John 14 that He will go through death and will come back in His resurrection to prepare a place for each and every one of us as the many believers in Christ – He prepared the Body of Christ.

The Father’s house is the Body of Christ, the church as the house of God.

The Epistles continue to reveal that the Body of Christ is the church and the church is the house of God. 1 Tim. 3:15 tells us that the church is the house of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.

What is the Father’s house today? It is the church, the house of the living God.

The Father’s house is not something up there in the heavens but something here on earth among us and even in us.

1 Cor. 3:16 says that we believers in Christ as a corporate entity are the temple of God, and 1 Pet. 2:5 says that we as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house. Praise the Lord!

We believers in Christ are the many abodes in the Father’s house, for we have become part of the enlarged Body of Christ!

Heb. 3:6 says that we are the house of God, and Eph. 2:21-22 says that we believers are being built together as God’s dwelling place in our spirit.

This is the key: our spirit. Where is the Father’s house today? It is in our spirit.

Where is Christ today? He is in our spirit.

How can we be part of the Father’s house in reality? By being in our spirit.

The Father’s house according to the entire revelation in the New Testament is the Body of Christ, the church as the house of God, the dwelling place of God.

We today are part of the Father’s house, for we are the church as the dwelling place of God, and we are being built up as a dwelling place of God in spirit!

Lord Jesus, unveil us to see the Father’s house. May we be delivered from the concept that the Father’s house is heavens or heavenly mansions. Bring us back to the divine revelation in Your pure word. We open to You, dear Lord, to see what the Father’s house is. May we see that we are the Father’s house today! Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are the many abodes in the Father’s house by being in our spirit! Praise the Lord, the Lord Jesus as the individual temple of God has been enlarged to be the Body of Christ, and we all are the many members of His Body! Hallelujah, as the members of the Body of Christ, we are the many abodes in the Father’s house today! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit today to be built up as a dwelling place of God in our spirit. We exercise to be one spirit with You and to let You do a building work in us. Amen, Lord, build us up as Your Body! Visit us again and again and make us Your dwelling place! How we love to be here in the Father’s house today!

Read this article in the Romanian language – citiți acest articol în limba română la următorul link, Credem întru Dumnezeu pentru a intra în Dumnezeu și a fi parte a bisericii – casa Tatălui.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of John, msgs. 29-30, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2024 July Semiannual Training), week 11, In the Father’s House—Living in the Place Prepared for Us through the Death and Resurrection of Christ.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – To believe being to receive, a portion from, Dead to Law but Living to God, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
  – The True Nature of Our Relationship with the Lord Jesus, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – The church being the Father’s house and God’s dwelling place, a portion from, The Subjective Truths in the Holy Scriptures, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
  – Enter into Christ, into the Holy of Holies, into New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – “In My Father’s House” – the unleavened truth of John 14, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Helping New Believers With A Foundational Life Lesson, via, Living to Him.
  – The ones chosen and called by God needing to believe into Jesus Christ, a portion from, Life-Study of Job, Chapter 35, by Witness Lee.
  – How Do I Believe into Jesus Christ? More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Knowing the truth and experiencing the reality of the Father’s house in John 14, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Oh, what a fact! Oh, what a bliss! / That I of Christ a member am. / With all the saints I blend as one / And share the life of the new man. / Joined to our great ascended Head, / We’ll be the Church of His own plan. (Hymns #500 stanza 2)
  – While in remembrance now we meet / And here the symbols see, / For Thy redemption great and full / We’re filled with praise to Thee. / Since we are made Thy Body, Lord, / Thy dwelling place and bride, / We would give thanks and worship Thee / And in Thy praise abide. (Hymns #116 stanza 5)
  – The Church is Christ’s own Body, / The Father’s dwelling-place, / The gathering of the called ones, / God blended with man’s race; / Elect before creation, / Redeemed by Calv’ry’s death, / Her character and standing / Of heaven, not of earth. (Hymns #824 stanza 1)