Scripture Reading: John 17:1, 11, 21-23
In previous chapters we have pointed out that the glorification in John 17 is the building up of the Father’s house in John 14, the spreading of the vine in John 15, and the growth of the new man in John 16. This means that the glorification, the house, the vine, and the new man are one.
Apparently, the glorification for which the Lord Jesus prayed in John 17 has nothing to do with the Father’s house, the vine, and the new man. This prayer, however, is the conclusion of the Lord’s message given in the three foregoing chapters. As a rule, a concluding prayer should strengthen the points of a message. In keeping with this principle, we may say definitely that the subject of the Lord’s prayer in chapter 17 should refer to the main points given in His message. Therefore, when the Lord prayed for His glorification, He also prayed for the building of the Father’s house, the spreading of the vine, and the growing of the newborn child.
It is important for us to see that the glorification of the Son for the glorification of the Father is the building of the Father’s house. Furthermore, this glorification is the spreading of the vine and the growth of the new man. In 17:1 the Lord Jesus prayed, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You.” In this single utterance concerning His glorification, the Lord was praying concerning the building of the Father’s house, the spreading of the vine, and the growth of the new man.
In chapters 12 through 17 of the Gospel of John we see that the divine glorification is actually a matter of the church life. According to 12:24, the Lord Jesus fell into the ground as a grain of wheat, died, and then was raised up to produce many grains. These many grains are the glorification, the multiplication in resurrection, of the unique grain. The many grains produced out of the one grain are the glorification of this grain. We, the believers, are the many grains. Moreover, as the many grains, we are the members of the Body, the abodes of the Father’s house, the branches of the vine, and the parts of the new man. To be sure, all this is a matter of the church life. The glorification of the Son is for the glorification of the Father, and this glorification is the building of the Father’s house, the spreading of the vine, and the growth of the new man. This glorification is actually the church life.
Recently, some brothers testified that when they came to the church life, they saw the glory of God. They saw the building up of the Father’s house on earth. We may also say that they saw the many grains, the many abodes of the Father’s house, the many branches of the vine, and the many parts of the new man. This is not only glory — this is glorification. Praise the Lord that we in the church life are in this marvelous divine glorification!
For many years I tried my best to understand the Lord’s prayer in John 17. I wondered why the Lord began this prayer by asking the Father to glorify the Son so that the Son may glorify Him. How happy I am that we have been enlightened to see that the glorification in chapter 17 is the building up of the Father’s house, the spreading of the vine, and the growth of the new man! After giving a message on the house, the vine, and the new man, the Lord went on to pray concerning the points He had covered in His message. Now we are in this glory and glorification today.
In this chapter we will go on to consider the last of the signs in John 14 through 17, the sign of the believers’ oneness in the Triune God. In His prayer the Lord prayed first for glorification, and then He prayed for oneness. Both glorification and oneness in chapter 17 are signs.
Many Christians talk about oneness without knowing what oneness really is. Their oneness may be merely a social union. But the oneness in John 17 does not signify that. Because the oneness here is divine, it signifies something divine.
The oneness revealed in John 17 is the oneness in the Father’s name. Verse 11 says, “I am no longer in the world; yet they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, which You have given to Me, that they may be one even as We are.” The oneness spoken of here certainly is not any kind of social unity. Rather, this is something of the divine name. In the Bible, especially in the Gospel of John, the name denotes a person. Thus, the Father’s name is actually the Father Himself. When you call a person by name, that person will respond.
When you call a person by his name, you expect a certain response, a certain kind of action. In 17:11 to be kept in the Father’s name is to be kept in the person of the Father through His action. Today the Father is active in building up His house on earth. How does He build up His house, the church? The Father builds His house in His person. In His name, that is, in His person, the Father is now actively building His house, the church.
The reason there is so little oneness among Christians is that too few are in the name of the Father, in His person and action, in a practical way. Instead, nearly every believer lives and acts altogether in his own person. It is difficult to find Christians who live, act, and work in the person of the Father. The result of believers living and acting in their own person is division. This is the source of denominations. Divisions are the result of the opinions and character of certain ones. Divisions also come as a result of a person’s own action, an action that is not in the name of the Father. We in the Lord’s recovery should not be Christians living in our own person. Instead, we should be those living in the person of our Father.
As the only begotten Son of God, the Lord Jesus did not come in His own name. In 5:43 He said, “I have come in the name of My Father.” Even though He is the Son of God, He did not come in His name, but He came in the name of the Father. According to 10:25, the Lord’s works were done in the name of the Father. The Lord Jesus never did anything in His own name. He came and worked in the Father’s name; that is, He acted in the Father’s actions. We should follow the Lord to live and act in the Father’s name.
If we live in the person of the Father and act in the Father’s action, the result will be oneness. But if we live and act in our own person, we will have division. As soon as a believer lives in his own person and acts in his own action, he himself becomes a division. Suppose there are three hundred believers in a local church. If all these believers live and act in their own person, there will be three hundred divisions.
Oneness is first a matter of being in the name of the Father, of being in the Father’s person and action. In order to have such a oneness, not only must our opinion be terminated, but even our own person must be terminated. In order to have oneness, we should not live in ourselves or act in our own action. On the contrary, we should all live in one person — in our Father.
We can live in the Father’s name because we have His life. John 17:2 says, “Even as You have given Him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom You have given Him.” Because we have the Father’s life, we can live in the Father’s person. However, if we did not have His life, we would not have the ability to live in His person. As long as we live by the Father’s life, we live in His person and act in His action. The result of such a living is oneness.
In order to have a oneness that does not fluctuate, we need to be in the name of our Father. However, if our oneness is a matter of having the same opinion or believing the same doctrine, this oneness will not last. Today you may hold a certain opinion or agree with a particular doctrine. But after a period of time your opinion may change, and your understanding of that doctrine may also change. As a result, the oneness that depended upon opinion and doctrine will fluctuate. The oneness among most Christians today is a fluctuating oneness, a changeable oneness. But I can testify that the real oneness, the oneness that we have been experiencing in the Lord’s recovery, never changes, never fluctuates, because this oneness is the oneness in the Father’s person. We are one in the Father’s person, life, and action. What a wonderful oneness!
In 17:21 the Lord Jesus prayed, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us.” Here we have the oneness in the Triune God. Simply to be in the Father’s name is not sufficient for our oneness. We also need to be one in the Triune God — one in the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. In order to understand what it means to be one in the Triune God, we need to study all the points we have covered in the foregoing chapters concerning the Triune God. We must be kept in the Triune God in order to be safeguarded in the oneness. John 17:21 is a crucial verse. Here the Lord Jesus prayed that His disciples would be one in the Triune God.
Oneness in the Triune God is more than unity or union. The unity of believers is greater than the union of believers, but oneness is better than unity. Our oneness in the Triune God is not a matter of union or unity. Our oneness is a matter of being blended into one.
When some hear of this kind of oneness, they may ask how it is possible for believers to be blended into one. To be sure, in ourselves we cannot be blended into one. Only in the Triune God can we be blended into one. When the Triune God dispenses Himself into all the inward parts of our being, we are mingled with Him. The more we are mingled with the Triune God through His dispensing, the more we are mingled, blended, together in the Triune God. All those who are mingled with the Triune God can easily be one with others who experience this mingling. However, a brother who is in the self cannot participate in this oneness.
Those believers who claim to be united may stay together for a period of time. But should something happen to shake their unity, they may easily fall apart. Their unity can be compared to bricks that are attached in some way, whereas the oneness in the Triune God can be compared to solid rock. When times are peaceful, those who have only unity may seem to have real oneness. But when the shaking comes, their unity will collapse. But those who are saturated with the Triune God and mingled with Him remain in the oneness no matter what happens. Nothing can separate them; nothing can divide them. They cannot be separated or divided, because their oneness is the oneness in the Triune God.
John 17:22 and 23 say, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.” Here we have the oneness of the believers in the Father’s glory given to the Son and given to the believers by the Son. This glory is for the expression of God through His life and nature. In the prayer in this chapter, the Lord Jesus seemed to be saying, “Father, I have been enjoying glory with You from eternity. I have given this glory to My disciples. O Father, keep them one in this glory.” This is not merely the Triune God; this is the glory, the expression, of the Triune God. Therefore, our oneness is in the Father’s name, in the Triune God, and in the glory of the Triune God.
If we have the oneness in the Father’s glory, the oneness in His expression, we will not express ourselves. Among today’s Christians, it is common for believers to express themselves. But in the recovery our desire is to express the Triune God.
The oneness among us has a threefold protection or safeguard. We are safeguarded by the Father’s person, by the Triune God, and by the glorious expression of the Triune God. How marvelous to have the oneness in the Father’s name, in the Triune God, and in the glory given by the Father to the Son and by the Son to us!
The oneness revealed in chapter 17 is for the Father’s glorification in the Son. This is the reason the Lord prayed in verse 1, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You.” This oneness is actually the divine glorification. The Son is glorified in the church, and the Father is glorified in the Son. This glorification is the mingling and also the oneness. As we have seen, the glorification in John 17 is the new man, the vine, and the Father’s house.
In chapters 14 through 17 we see five main things: the Father’s house, the vine, the new man, the divine glorification, and the oneness. Actually, all these five things are one. This is the unique subject of the Lord’s message in chapters 14 through 16, and it is the main point of His prayer in chapter 17. The Father’s house in chapter 14 is the vine in chapter 15, and the vine is the new man in chapter 16. After speaking concerning these things, the Lord prayed for glorification and oneness. Tracing these matters backwards, we may say that the oneness is the glorification, the glorification is the new man, the new man is the vine, and the vine is the Father’s house.
I am very thankful to the Lord for opening these chapters to us. We have seen the vision concerning the Father’s house. In particular, we have seen that the Father’s house is not a heavenly mansion. The Lord has enlightened us to see that the Father’s house, the vine, the new man, the glorification, and the oneness are all one thing. The glorification for which the Lord prayed is actually the divine mingling with humanity, and this mingling is the marvelous oneness revealed in chapter 17. This oneness is safeguarded in the name of the Father, in the Triune God, and in the glorious expression of the Triune God. This is the central point of the revelation in the New Testament.
