John 17:10-13 (NASB)
“(Jesus Christ prayed)…10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. 12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.”
In the Old Testament, GOD revealed His plan to restore Israel. The Lord God had said, “Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day.” (Ezekiel 34:11-12)
Fast forward in the New Testament, Jesus Christ who was the Word of GOD that became flesh, fulfilled the aforementioned plan. He said in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” In lined with this plan, He appeared as Grace of GOD to bring salvation to all (Luke 3:6, Titus 2:11). Then after Jesus found the lost sheep, He prayed for them aloud of His voice to disclose that He, the Son of Man, being the Finder, is the same as GOD, the Holy Father, being the Keeper of His sheep. They are One.
If we come to know how did it happen, then we could easily understand how we must be one as well, so that we will be at the ‘safe-key’ of the Father in His Name. Come to think of it, that while we are in this world, waiting for our ride on the day of rapture, there is Someone, our Keeper to protect us from the evil ones. What a great benefit for us to know how we could enter into this mystery.
In our topic verse today, it is clear that the Name of GOD, the ‘Holy Father’ is also the name given to Jesus Christ. It was already prophesied in Isaiah 9:5-6 which pronounced;
“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
When GOD who is the Word at the beginning became flesh in Jesus Christ (John 1:1-14), His flesh received the Holy Spirit of GOD (Luke 3:22). The Spirit of GOD in Jesus led His flesh to be tempted for forty days in the desert and because of the Spirit of God in Him, Jesus flesh was not defeated by Satan who wanted to also defeat us using our flesh (Matthew 4:1-11). This means that Jesus as the Son of Man was kept in GOD’s protection through His Spirit in Jesus. The Spirit of GOD in Jesus was also the one who raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11). God is Spirit and He is in Jesus. This is why They are One.
Jesus made a very clear statement on this in John 14:10-11. He said to Philipp who is asking Him to show him the Father, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.”
Now, how can we become ‘one’ like them? If the Holy Spirit of GOD is in us, we will be like Christ, all of us will be in one accord, in one body and mind of Jesus.
There will be fellowship of the Spirit. And since there is only one Spirit of GOD living in us, there will be love, affection and compassion, and Jesus joy will be ours too (John 17:13). Our joy will be made complete being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, intent on one purpose, all will become one because we are united in the same Spirit Philippians 2:1-2).
Jesus needed to leave us, so that the Holy Spirit that made Jesus and Father to be One, will be in us, so that we all become one too. In John 16:7, Jesus declared, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” He foretold us that He will ask the Father, to give us another Helper, that He may be with us forever; that is the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but we know Him because He abides WITH us and will be IN us (John 14:16-17). Continuing His prayer in John 17:25, He prayed for us that although the world has not known the Holy Father, yet because Jesus have known the Father; and we have known that the Father sent Jesus; and He had made His Name known to us, so that the love with which GOD loved Jesus, may be in us, and Jesus in us.”
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we know that we received the Holy Spirit of GOD if we believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If we know the Gospel, we certainly know that Jesus is our “Finder” and GOD, the Father, is our “Keeper’ and certainly we have the Love, the fruit of the Spirit that unites us to be One with one another and one in Them. AMEN.
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