John 17 is the Lord’s prayer as the conclusion of His speaking in chapters 14 through 16. The basic concept, the central point, and the subject of the Lord’s prayer in John 17 is glorification – the Father would glorify the Son so that the Son would glorify the Father, and the believers would be brought into the divine glory.
This is a mutual glorification between the Son and the Father – the Father glorifies the Son and the Son glorifies the Father. We the believers are being made one in the divine life, in the divine nature, and in the divine glory, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son and the Son may be glorified in the church!
God desires to be expressed, glorified
When God created man in His image and with His likeness (Gen. 1:26) His intention was that He would be expressed in and through man. The first man failed God, but the second man, the last Adam, came as the embodiment of God to express God.
No one has ever seen God, but the Son of God, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared Him and expressed Him on the earth (John 1:18). The Lord Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15) expressing and declaring the invisible and rich God to man through His living and His being. God tabernacled and dwelt among us in the flesh through the Lord Jesus!
Even though God dwelt among man in the flesh, the Lord’s divine element and His divine glory were confined in the shell of His humanity. God tabernacled among men in the Lord Jesus (John 1:14), but the Lord’s divine element was confined in His humanity just as God’s shekinah glory had been concealed within the tabernacle in the Old Testament.
There was at least a moment in time when the disciples saw His glory, on the mount of transfiguration (see Matt. 17:1-4). There, the Lord’s divine element was released from within His flesh and His glory was expressed – but only for a short period of time, and He was seen only by three disciples.
Christ was glorified in His resurrection
Just as the blossoming of the seed is the glorification of that seed, so the Lord’s resurrection was His blossoming and His glorification. In the seed there’s all the beauty and shape of the divine life, and through death and resurrection this seed is “glorified” to blossom and be fully expressed.
The Lord Jesus was like a seed – contained and concealed within the shell of His humanity there were the riches of life, the beauty and style of His life. Through His death His human shell was broken and His divine life was released, and in His resurrection the Lord was glorified!
In His resurrection, the beauty, form, style, color, and riches of the divine life were released and expressed!
In John 17 the Lord Jesus prayed for this – He prayed that the Father would glorify Him so that He would glorify the Father. This means that the Lord had to pass through death – so that His human shell would be broken – and enter into resurrection so that His divine life would blossom, be released, and be expressed fully.
In His resurrection the Lord brought His humanity, His human element, into His divinity, His divine element, so that His divine element would be expressed! His whole being was glorified in His resurrection, and in this the Father was glorified (see Luke 12:49-50; John 12:23-24)!
This is God wants – to be expressed and glorified in man in full.
Oneness, One Accord, the Lord’s Move
We need to see the genuine oneness of the Body and we need to practice it in the one accord in the church, so that we would cooperate with the Lord in the direction of the Lord’s move today! The direction of the Lord’s move today is to build up the Body of Christ, prepare the Bride of Christ, and bring in the kingdom, to turn the age and bring the Lord back.
How can we express such oneness as the oneness of the Triune God? How can we be divine and shining just like the Lord in His resurrection? Hallelujah, eating Jesus is the way! As we eat Him, we become Him!
This One is now in resurrection as the Spirit ready to be received and enjoyed by us, so that we may be made just like Him! In this way we can enter into the oneness of the Triune God and practice it as the one accord for the Lord’s move today!
Thank You Lord for Your life-releasing death and Your glorifying resurrection. Cause us to see the process You went through to bring Your humanity into Your divinity and glorify the Father. Lord, we praise You that we are one in Your life, in Your nature, and in Your glory. We just want to keep the oneness and practice the one accord for the Lord’s move to build up the Body and bring in the kingdom of God today!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from, Life-study of John (msg. 38), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Genuine Oneness of the Body, the Proper One Accord in the Church, and the Direction of the Lord’s Move Today, week 1.
- Hymns on this topic:
# How may we express such oneness, / be divine and shining too? / Hallelujah, eating Jesus is the way!
# In Thy life, in Thy life, / We have oneness in Thy life.
# Once Thou wast the only grain, Lord, / Falling to the earth to die. - Picture source: John 17:1.
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