Jn12-1

LIFE’S ISSUE AND MULTIPLICATION

A. A House of Feasting

In chapter eleven the Lord raised Lazarus from the dead. That resurrection issued into the church life. We all were dead persons. Then the Lord came in to resurrect us. After He resurrected us, we became the church. Thus, in chapter eleven, we see Lazarus resurrected and in chapter twelve we see that the resurrected person becomes the very place where the Lord can find rest and satisfaction. This is the church. Now we need to consider the church as the house of feast.

1. Outside of Religion

This house of feast is outside of religion. It was not in Jerusalem, the holy city, or in the holy temple. It was in a little house in Bethany, outside of Jerusalem and outside of religion.

The Lord being life to people to meet all of their needs brought about His rejection by the Jewish religion. Judaism could not tolerate seeing the Lord being life to so many kinds of people. So the religious ones rejected the Lord as life. This rejection began in chapter five (vv. 16,18) and reached its climax in chapter ten (vv. 31, 39). In chapter eleven, the Jewish religionists even held a council on how to put the Lord to death because He had raised Lazarus from the dead (11:53, 57). The Jewish leaders also plotted to put Lazarus to death for the same reason (12:10). This shows how much religion is against the Lord as life. It not only persecuted the Lord, but also tried to destroy those who participated in the Lord as life. Religion always renounces and rejects the Lord as life.

As we study the Gospel of John, we must see the difference between religion and Christ as life. The Lord Jesus came to earth in His incarnation not to be a religious leader but to come into man and to be man's life. From the first case of regeneration in chapter three to the last case of resurrection in chapter eleven, all that the Lord did was to present Himself as life to people outside of the Jewish religion. If we look at religion, from a viewpoint other than that of life, we shall be easily cheated and misled, for religion teaches people how to know God and worship Him. It even teaches the Bible. It seems that there is nothing bad about it. However, if the Lord has mercy on us and if His Spirit opens our eyes, we shall see that what God is doing in the universe is not merely to make people worship Him or serve Him. In this age, God's desire and intention is to come into man in the Son, by His Spirit, and through His Word to be man's life that man might live by Him. This is absolutely different from religion and altogether contrary to the religious concept.

2. A Place for Feasting, Rest, and Satisfaction for the Lord and his Believers

The rejection of the Lord by Judaism was a negative issue. But there was also a positive issue brought forth by the Lord's being life to people--a home for Him in His rejection, a place where He could rest, feast, dwell, and be satisfied. In chapter twelve we see that the Lord has come out and has hid Himself from the religion that rejected Him and has come into a home of His Jewish believers in Bethany. By making Himself the resurrection life to His believers, He found a home. This home may be considered as a shadow of His church. On the one hand, He was rejected by Judaism and gave it up; on the other hand, He obtained a home where He could stay and rest. He had a place where He could feast and be satisfied. Formerly, the Lord had "nowhere that He may lay His head" (Matt. 8:20). But now, after raising Lazarus from the dead, He obtained a place for resting and feasting. After the Jewish religion had rejected Him, He was no longer willing to stay in Jerusalem. He always went away to stay in Bethany (Matt. 21:17-18). There He could not only stay and rest but also feast and be satisfied. This spiritually signifies that He was absolutely separated from the Jewish religion of the Old Testament and was and still is dwelling in the church as His home wherein He can rest, feast, and be satisfied.

Although there was nothing outwardly attractive about that little house, inwardly it was filled with feasting, resting, and satisfaction. Not only the Lord Jesus was feasting and resting, but so was everyone else who was there. It must be this way in the church life. When you look at the church life outwardly, nothing is attractive. The building, the chairs, nothing may seem to be very good. Outwardly, everything may be poor; inwardly, however, everything is precious, sweet, and dear. We have the sweet sensation that we are with the Lord and that the Lord is with us. He is feasting with us and we are feasting with Him. Both He and we are resting. Everyone is at rest and everyone is satisfied. This is the church life.

B. A Miniature of the Church Life

1. Produced by the Resurrection Life

Let us now consider several points concerning the miniature of the church life found in John 12. Firstly, it was produced by resurrection life. Lazarus was present as a sign that the church is produced by resurrection life. The church does not come into being by man's organization, man's wisdom, man's work, or man's teaching. It comes into being by resurrection life.

Bethany was the place where the Lord accomplished His last sign--the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Therefore, Bethany is the place where the Lord raised up the dead. The believers there issued from the Lord's resurrection life. This is exactly where the church is--in the place of resurrection where the Lord as resurrection life raises people from the dead. Originally, we were dead, for we were dead in sins (Col. 2:13). But the Lord has raised us up from the dead; He has quickened and regenerated us. The issue of this is that we who have shared in His resurrection life have become the church. The church is the produce of the Lord's resurrection life. In the natural life there is no church. The church can only come into being through the Lord's resurrection life. Such a church in resurrection life is the place where the Lord can find rest and satisfaction with us and where we can feast with the Lord.

2. Composed of Cleansed Sinners

The church is composed of cleansed sinners as represented by Simon the leper (Mark 14:3). According to Mark 14:3, the feast mentioned in John 12:2 was prepared for the Lord in the house of a leper named Simon. The house of Simon, a cleansed leper, became the meeting place of the church. This is very meaningful. On the one hand, we all were dead; on the other hand, we all were lepers. Originally, the members of the church were both dead and leprous (sinful) people. In a sense we, like Lazarus, were dead and have been resurrected. In another sense, we, like Simon, were contaminated lepers and have been cleansed. Hallelujah, the Lord has raised us from the dead and cleansed us from our leprosy, our sins! Now where we are becomes the meeting place of the church.

It is very strange that the place where the feast was prepared for the Lord was in the home of Simon the leper, yet John 12 is silent about Simon's doing anything. The feast was prepared in Simon's house, but everything was done by two sisters and one brother. In Bethany, in the house of a leper, everything was done by Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Although the church is the place where the Lord quickens and regenerates the dead and cleanses the leper, the service in the church is not done by the lepers. This is the meaning behind the fact that Simon was absent from serving in John 12.

3. Outwardly Poor and Afflicted

Bethany means house of the poor or house of affliction. Outwardly, the church may be poor and afflicted. The church on earth may not be rich in material things; it should be rich with the enjoyment of the Lord in His presence. The outward people will always look down on the church, saying that it is poor and full of affliction. They do not have a spirit to realize how rich we are in the enjoyment of all that the Lord is to us.

4. Inwardly Feasting in and with the Presence of the Lord

Inwardly, the church life is a life of feasting in and with the presence of the Lord (12:2). The Lord came to that house and His presence was there. In the church life, the first thing we need is the Lord's presence. We must be a people in such a position and with such a condition that the Lord can come and be with us. His presence means very much to the church life. The church life is a life that absolutely depends upon the Lord's presence. Without the Lord's presence, the church life is empty.

Inwardly, the church life is a feast. In the church life, there should always be a feast that the Lord can enjoy by Himself and with His people. It is in the church that the Lord has rest, enjoyment, and satisfaction. Here there is always a feast prepared for the Lord and His people. Not only the Lord Himself enjoys it, but all the people who are with Him enjoy it as well. The church is a place where the Lord can enjoy Himself with His people and where His people can enjoy being with Him. The church is a place where the Lord and His people come together to feast with one another and to enjoy one another.

All excerpts are taken from the Book: “Life-Study of John” by Witness Lee

Life-Study of John

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