That They May Be One As We Are

John 17:6-11

"I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.
For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.
"I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.
And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.
Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.

My Bible divides John 17 into three parts — Jesus prays for Himself; Jesus prays for His disciples, and Jesus prays for all believers. There is, of course, much more to it than that. The whole of John 17 is devoted to the connection of each one of us who believe to the idea that we can be one with Jesus; that with Him we can have everlasting life, but without Him we dwell among the eternally lost. It also expresses through Jesus’ prayer — and the chapter is His prayer — in essence a summation of His purpose.

That purpose is best summed up in the last few words of verse 11 — that they may be one as we are. So, just as The Father and The Son are one, so too are The Son and His disciples. And as we shall see, Jesus extends this ‘one-ness’ to all who believe through their [the disciples’] word (verses 20-21). Thus, Jesus pulls together so much of what is prophesied and laid down in the Old Testament. Here He reveals how His church was created and continues to be created in the hearts of men, and sets a seal on it with The Father, while they are connected in Spirit through prayer.

John 17 is the template for the creation of the Third Testament — the body of Christ. That body — with Christ the Head — is one. All who have and move in the mind of Christ are part of that one entity. We should see that Jesus is showing us by example, about our prayer-life, but also inferring our responsibilities one to another if we become believers and part of the body.

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Meditate On These Things

JOHN 10:14-16 — ONE FLOCK AND ONE SHEPHERD
I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

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AS ONE — Hatton Primary School

Here are the words to their song, and while these words do not come straight from The Bible, they reveal as aspiration among young people to live in a right and spiritual way which is commendable

We've got to get on together, think of each other,
Look at ways to help us to get along.
If we can learn how to listen, where there's division,
we can live as one.

We've got to trust one another, stand with each other,
fix our eyes on all that's right not wrong.
If we can learn to be sorry, love everybody,
we can live as one

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A HOLY COMMAND: Oswald Chambers on LOVE
— Love with all your STRENGTH --

THE DEATH OF Jesus not only gives us remission from our sins, it enables us to assimilate the very nature of Jesus until in every detail of our lives we are like Him. How much more does the death of Jesus mean to us today than it ever has before? Are we beginning to be lost in wonder, love and praise at the marvellous loosening from sin, and are we so assimilating the nature of Jesus that we bear a strong family likeness to Him.
[from ‘The Philosophy of Sin’]

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