“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one; as Thou, Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us…” John 17:20,21
The salvation which Christ offers by the sacrifice of Himself, to become sin for us, that we might know peace with God, is far more than the forgiveness of sins, even the hope and expectation of blessedness in eternity. The greatest blessing of God’s calling, and the redeeming of the believer, is the oneness with the Father, Christ the Son, by the Spirit. It is a oneness that takes precedence to all else in Jesus’ high priestly prayer just prior to His crucifixion. Jesus speaks of eternal life in that prayer, knowing God and Christ by virtue of the new birth, being born of the Spirit. He goes on to petition the Father to keep all of those who belong to Him, and the plea that they should know His peace, His joy fulfilled in themselves. He does not only pray for these matters, but for the Father’s continued and everlasting work of sanctification in their hearts, whereby, not only are they separated unto God by their choice, but they are set apart eternally by the finished work of Christ on the cross. However, Jesus, in His prayer will reveal for time and eternity, a truth which He taught His disciples, and one for which He prayed to be realized by the Spirit in answer to prayer.
Previously in the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus told one of His disciples: “If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My father will love him, and WE will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” (Jn. 14:23) Not only is this declaration describing the full effect of one being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but it is the promised realization of a spiritual reality that is immutable, unchanging. In Jesus’ prayer in John 17, He reveals to us the full realization of the ultimate goal and means by which we know God. It is that which Paul wrote of when to the Corinthian believers he declared: “But of God are ye IN Christ Jesus…” (1 Cor. 1:30) This act by the Spirit, in accordance with the word and will of the Father, is one where the heart and soul of the believer becomes intertwined with the very life of God. It is then that Christ becomes the life, and we live by His life and power. We are intertwined with Christ and the Father by the Spirit, never to be untwined, undone, separated, or disassociated in any way from the Divine Life. The full realization of that blessed union will only be revealed in Heaven, in the presence of God at the moment of one’s death, or the rapture. But the prayer “on earth,” for those residing on earth, is one where not only is a knowledge of this fact sought to be grasped by the heart, but the very life and power of the Father and Son, by the Spirit are to be known. How can this be done? It is by prayer, and the seeking of the face of God, for Him to reveal it to the heart, and strengthen the believer to embrace it by faith. God reveals His riches to the seeking heart.
It was Frances Ridley Havergal, who wrote a hymn on this matter, as she came to realize the beauty and worth of it in a wondrous manner. She wrote: “Jesus, Thy life is mine, Dwell evermore in me; And let me see, That nothing can untwine Thy life from mine.” She continued by writing: “The blest reality Of resurrection power, Thy church’s dower, Life more abundantly, Lord, give to me.” She would conclude her hymn with the stanza: “Jesus, my life is Thine, And evermore shall be, Hidden in Thee, For nothing can untwine Thy life from mine.” Herein is unceasing oneness.
Dear Father, Abide fully in us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.