Seeing the Subjective Truth concerning the Church unveiled in the Gospel of John

The Gospel of John reveals the subjective truth concerning the church, showing us the constituents of the church and the existence of the church in many pictures and types.

Although the word church is not specifically used in the Gospel of John, the church is referred to in seven ways: the church is the many grains, the Lord’s many brothers, the Father’s house, the Son’s vine with many branches, the Spirit’s new child, the bride with Christ as the bridegroom, and the one flock with Christ as the Shepherd. Hallelujah for the church!

This gospel, the Gospel of John, is full of subjective truths; the Christ revealed in this book is not an objective Christ that has nothing to do with us but a subjective Christ whom we can enjoy, experience, and partake of.

Christ is the eternal Word of God who became a man to speak for God. Christ spoke for God through His creation of all things, through His incarnation as the tabernacle of God, and through becoming the Lamb of God for redemption.

Christ as the Word of God speaks for God through His becoming the anointing Spirit to transform God’s people for His building.

Hallelujah for Christ as the Word of God who spoke for God to express God, manifest God, define God and make God contactable.

In Christ God can be contacted, received, experienced, entered into, and so enjoyable, for this One expressed God by speaking for God and by living out God.

After passing through His amazing incarnation and His wonderful human living, Christ died on the cross to accomplish an all-inclusive redemption and, in resurrection, He became a life-giving Spirit.

As the Spirit, God in Christ can be received by man, enjoyed by man, and partaken of by man.

The One who came as the bread of God to be our food can now be enjoyed and eaten by us as and in the Spirit, and the Spirit is in the Word of God.

He is so available to us today – He’s the living bread, the living water, and even the living breath, for He has become a life-giving, a life-dispensing, Spirit.

Whenever and wherever we turn to Him and come to Him, Christ as the Spirit is available for us to breathe in, eat, drink, enjoy, and partake of.

As we do this, God has a way to work Himself into us and constitute us with Himself. This is God’s desire in His economy, and it can be clearly seen in the Gospel of John.

Seeing the Subjective Truth concerning the Church unveiled in the Gospel of John

The word “church” is never mentioned in the Gospel of John, but there are at least seven ways that the church is referred to. The existence of the church and the constituents of the church is clearly defined in this book.

If we prayerfully study this gospel of life, we will be unveiled to see the subjective truths concerning the church revealed in the Gospel of John.

We will be blown away to see such rich types of the church, such great pictures of the church, and such amazing symbols of the components of the church.

The seven main subjective truths concerning the church revealed in the Gospel of John are: the church is composed of many grains, the Lord’s many brothers, the church is the Father’s house, the Son’s vine with many branches, the Spirit’s new child (the new man), the bride with Christ as the Bridegroom, and the one flock with Christ as the Shepherd.

The Church is Composed of Many Grains – the Believers produced through Christ’s Death and Resurrection

In John 12:24 the Lord reveals that He is the grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying so that many grains would be produced in His resurrection.

These many grains are a type of the many believers in Christ who are produced through His death and resurrection.

The one grain, Christ, died, and grew and multiplied in resurrection to become many grains. Christ as the one grain was multiplied and reproduced in the many believers in Christ.

All believers in Christ are the many grains of wheat by their regeneration; through believing into Christ, the divine life comes into us to make us grains, the multiplication of Christ.

Furthermore, as the many grains, we are being grounded and blended together, even baked together, to become the one bread; even though we are many, there is one bread (1 Cor. 10:17).

We praise the Lord that He has dispensed His life into us to make us the many grains, and we want to cooperate with His transforming, grinding, breaking, and blending work, so that we may be mingled with the Spirit and blended with the saints to be the one church, the Body of Christ, as the one bread.

We are not merely many individual grains of wheat; we are being ground to powder and blended together to become the one bread.

We are losing our distinctions, our sharp edges, and anything that naturally differentiates us from others, and we’re mingled with the Spirit and blended with the saints to be the one Body of Christ, the one loaf.

The church is not a society that is organised by people who are like-minded, those who read the Bible and keep the principles in the holy Word.

Rather, the church is an issue of the Lord’s dispensing of Himself into His believers through His death and resurrection to make us grains of wheat.

These grains are blended into one to become the one bread, and this is the Body of Christ. Hallelujah for such a subjective truth concerning the church found in the Gospel of John!

Thank You Lord for regenerating us through Your death and resurrection to make us the many grains of wheat who are blended together to become the one bread, the Body of Christ! Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to You today to be mingled more with the Spirit and to go through the process of breaking and blending until we are fully blended into one. Gain the church as the one bread, the Body of Christ, formed of the many believers in Christ as the many grains produced in the death and resurrection of Christ. Amen, Lord, gain the blending of all the members of the Body for You to gain the church, the Body of Christ!

The Church is Composed of the Lord’s Many Brothers

In John 20:17 the Lord Jesus told Mary, Go to My brothers and say to them…

Before His death and resurrection, when the Lord was on earth among the disciples, He called them His disciples and His friends (John 15:13-15), but He never called them His brothers.

Why was this, and how come now they are His brothers?

Before His death and resurrection, the Lord was merely among the disciples, and He could not be in them; after His resurrection, He became a life-giving Spirit to enter into man and make all those who believe into Him the many brothers of Christ.

Through Christ’s resurrection, the divine life entered into the disciples; since they had not only the human life but also the divine life, they are now not only His disciples but also his brothers.

All believers in Christ are not just born of man but also those born of God; as such ones, they are the many brothers of Christ to be the church.

And according to Hebrews 2:12, the many brothers of Christ are the church; in the midst of the church the Lord sings hymns of praise to God, and He declares the Father’s name to His brothers.

The church is the composition of the Lord’s many brothers; we as the many believers in Christ are His many brothers to compose the church. What an amazing fact!

All believers in Christ are the Lord’s many brothers to constitute the church; we are all the brothers of the Firstborn Son of God, and together we are the church, the Body of Christ.

This subjective truth concerning the church is clearly seen in the Gospel of John and it is developed in Hebrews.

Hallelujah, we are the Lord’s many brothers to be the church, the house of God! Thank You, Lord, for imparting Your life into us to regenerate us and make us the many sons of God and the many brothers of the Firstborn Son of God! Hallelujah, Christ is the Firstborn Son of God in His humanity, and we are the many sons of God, the many brothers of Christ, composing the church as the Body of Christ!

The Church is the Father’s House with the Believers as the Many Abodes

In John 14:2 and 23 we are told concerning the Father’s house; the Lord said to His disciples that He is going to prepare a place for them, for in His Father’s house there are many abodes.

What is the Father’s house, and what are all these abodes in the Father’s house?

In John 2:16 the Lord referred to the Father’s house when He referred to the temple, the Body of Christ; the Father’s house is the church as the Body of Christ.

We should interpret the Father’s house in John 14 is not according to our own understanding but by using the Scriptures; we must interpret the Scripture by the Scriptures.

The Father’s house is the temple, the Body of Christ, and this is the church today.

When the Lord said that in the Father’s house there are many abodes, He referred to the church as the Father’s house, and the many abodes are the many believers in Christ as the members of the Body of Christ.

At first, the Father’s house was only the Lord Himself, His individual body, for God was incarnated in one man, Jesus Christ.

But through Christ’s death and resurrection, the body of Christ has increased to be the corporate Body, which is the church; the church includes all His believers as the many abodes in the Father’s house.

All believers in Christ have been regenerated through Christ’s resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3) and are the many abodes in the Father’s house, the many members of the Body of Christ.

The church is the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Pet. 2:5; Heb. 3:6), the place of God’s habitation (Eph. 2:21-22), and the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16-17), while all the believers in Christ are the many abodes in the Father’s house.

This subjective truth concerning the church is revealed in the Gospel of John and further developed in the New Testament.

Thank You, Lord, for going to the Father through death and resurrection to prepare a place for us in the Father’s house. Hallelujah, we as believers in Christ and members of the Body of Christ are the many abodes in the Father’s house! Amen, Lord, thank You for bringing us into and making us part of God’s habitation, God’s temple, the Father’s house! Praise the Lrod, we are the dwelling place of God in spirit!

The Church is the Son’s Vine with many Branches, the Many Believers in Christ

In John 15:5 and 7 we see an amazing type of the church, the vine and the branches; the church is the Son’s vine with many branches abiding in the vine.

This is is an amazing subjective truth concerning the church. Christ came to be the vine, and we as the many believers in Christ are grafted into Him to be the many branches; together, Christ and the believers, are the church as the Body of Christ.

This is not a doctrine or a mere type: it is a reality, something subjective and experiential for us to enter into today.

We as branches are abiding in Christ, and we cannot be divided or separated; we are plugged into Him, intimately joined to Him, to be one with Him and even part of Him.

He was the stump from the root of Jesse, but He shot forth with many shoots, the many branches; He is spreading all throughout the earth through the many believers in Christ who are the many branches in the vine.

The church is composed of Christ as the vine and the many believers in Christ as the branches abiding in the vine.

The aggregate of the branches abiding in the vine is the church; everyone who believes into Christ is a branch of Christ because it is He who comes into us to grow in us.

The believers in Christ are the many members of the Body of Christ, the many branches in the vine; the vine is one with the branches, just as the members of the Body of Christ are one with Christ, the Head.

Even though the word “church” is not mentioned in John 15, what we see is the vine tree, a type of the church, expressing the reality and bringing us into the subjective experience of abiding in Christ for the spread of the church as the Body of Christ.

The more we abide in Christ, the more we receive the riches of the life of Christ, the more we grow in life, and the more we become part of the spreading of Christ in man today.

Hallelujah for such a subjective truth concerning the church seen in the Gospel of John!

Lord, we want to abide in You – You are the vine, we are the branches, and apart from You, we can do nothing! Amen, Lord, thank You for making us branches in Christ to receive and enjoy Your divine dispensing for our growth in life and spreading of the Triune God on earth. Keep us abiding in You, Lord, and keep us enjoying Your divine dispensing every day. May we absorb what comes from You, assimilate the divine riches, and grow with the growth of God for the spread and increase of the Triune God in man!

The Church is the Spirit’s New Child, the New Man, Born by the Consummated Spirit

In John 16:20-22, the Lord speaks in a mysterious way concerning a woman who gives birth and brings forth a little child; she travails in the pains of childbirth, but she rejoices when she sees that a new man is born into the world.

This is a wonderful yet mysterious subjective truth concerning the church as the Spirit’s new child, the new man.

The Lord Jesus likens the disciples to a woman travailing in birth, and He is like a little child to be brought forth in His resurrection (Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5; Rom. 1:4).

This bringing forth here is the begetting spoken of in Acts 13:33.

In His resurrection, the incarnated Christ with all His believers were begotten to be the Son of God (1 Pet. 1:3).

He has become the firstborn Son of God, and all the believers have become the many sons as His brothers to constitute the church as His multiplication, His increase, and His Body to be His fullness and expression (John 3:29-30; Eph. 1:23)

. This child, this new man, is born by the consummated Spirit, who comes in to regenerate us and make us the members of the Body of Christ and the components of the one new man.

The one new man, the new child spoken of in John 16, was born of the Spirit in Christ’s resurrection, and this new man is a type of the church.

The church is the one new man (Eph. 2:15; Col. 3:10), and we as the many believers are the members of the one new man, those who were made one by Christ in His death and resurrection.

Praise the Lord for such a rich subjective truth concerning the church seen in the gospel of John!

Thank You, Lord, for begetting us of the Spirit in Your resurrection to make us the many members of the one new man! Hallelujah, the church is the one new man produced in the resurrection of Christ. Praise the Lord, in His resurrection Christ has been begotten by God to be the Firstborn Son of God, and we were also begotten as the many sons of God, the components of the one new man! Amen, Lord, in You we are one; in You and by the Spirit we are the church as the one new man!

The Church is the Bride of Christ with Christ as the Bridegroom

After John the Baptist saw Christ, baptised Him, and watched Him perform His ministry, he could not but conclude that Christ is the Bridegroom, and He wants to gain His bride, the church (John 3:29-30).

One of the most wonderful subjective truths concerning the church in the Gospel of John is seen in John 3:29-30, where the church is the bride with Christ as the Bridegroom.

Christ is the Bridegroom, and He wants to gain a bride, which is the increase of Christ; this bride is the church, the Body of Christ.

Just as Eve was taken out of Adam and returned to him to be his counterpart, so the church comes out of Christ and is brought back to Christ to become His bride, His wife, His enlargement and increase.

The increase spoken of in v. 30 is the bride in v. 29; through being regenerated with the divine life, we become not only believers in Christ but also part of the bride of Christ for His increase.

All believers in Christ are part of the bride of Christ, the increase of Christ in humanity; He must increase, and we must decrease so that the bride would come into existence.

On one hand, our serpentine nature is annulled on the cross by Christ who died in the form of a serpent; on the other hand, we are regenerated with God’s life to become part of Christ’s increase, the bride of Christ.

We who were the increase of Satan, serpentine in nature, and sons of the devil, have become part of Christ’s increase through faith in Christ to be the bride of Christ, the counterpart of Christ, His increase and multiplication.

The church is the bride of Christ, the increase of Christ; through His death and in His resurrection, Christ was increased.

On the cross, water flowed from His side to regenerate us and make us part of His increase, the church; He is the Bridegroom, and we are the bride.

Lord Jesus, You must increase and we must decrease. Increase in us day by day for the church, the bride of Christ. We open to You to receive Your element, be infused with You, and become Your increase, Your reproduction, and Your duplication. Amen, Lord, may Your life in us grow and may our natural element decrease. Make us Your bride, the church as the bride of Christ who fully comes out of Christ to match Christ for eternity!

The Church is the one Flock with Christ as the Shepherd

In John 10:14-16, we see the church as the one flock with Christ as the one Shepherd.

He is the Good Shepherd, the Shepherd of the sheep; He lays down His life for the sheep, He leads them to pasture, He protects them, and His sheep hear His voice.

The sheep are not just those who at that time listened to His speaking but all those who believe into the Lord by the preaching of His disciples.

All believers in Christ are the flock of Christ, the church, and Christ is the one Shepherd.

He calls His own, and His own hear His voice; He speaks to them and leads them to waters of rest and to the pasture, and he safeguards them.

The one flock consists of the Jews and Gentiles, all those who believe into Christ; there is one flock under one Shepherd.

The flock is the church, the Body of Christ, composed of so many different kinds of people who have one thing in common: they have God’s life and they listen to the one Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

The one flock, the church, is brought forth by the Lord’s eternal, divine life, which He imparted into us, the members of His Body, through His death (John 10:10-18).

He lays down His life for the sheep, and we as His sheep receive His divine life to be the many members of the Body of Christ.

There are some folds in which the sheep are kept, but the Lord calls them all out of the fold, and His sheep hear His voice, come to Him, and follow Him to find pasture; this is the church as the one flock with Christ as the Shepherd.

What a sweet subjective truth concerning the church revealed in the Gospel of John!

Thank You, Lord, for coming as the Good Shepherd laying down Your life for us, Your sheep, so that we may receive Your life and be the many members of Christ. Hallelujah, all believers in Christ are the Lord’s sheep to be part of the one flock with Christ as the Shepherd. We open to You, dear Lord, and we listen to Your voice, for You lead us to waters of rest, You lead us into pasture, and You protect us from the enemies. We love, You, our Good Shepherd!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1977, vol. 3, “The Subjective Truths in the Holy Scriptures,” ch. 3, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing the Truth, being Absolute for the Truth, and Proclaiming the Truth in this Present Evil Age (2021 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 4, The Recovery of the Subjective Truths in the Gospel of John.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – He’s the vine and we’re the branches, / We should e’er abide in Him, / And let Him abide within us / As the flow of life within. / In the vine, in the vine, / In the vine, in the vine, / We would know Thee, Lord, / more deeply, / E’er abiding in the vine. (Hymns #1163)
  – Do you see the Lord is coming / For the church for whom He died? / In the churches He’s preparing / Now His holy, chosen Bride. (Hymns #1257)
  – Jesus, our wonderful Shepherd / Brought us right out of the fold / Into His pasture so plenteous, / Into His riches untold. / Glorious church life, / Feasting from such a rich store! / Here where we’re dwelling in oneness / God commands life evermore. (Hymns #1221)