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Scripture Reading: John 17:1-5, 11-12, 16-24
John 14 through 16 records the Lord’s words to His disciples on His last night on earth. After this wonderful message He offered a prayer to the Father. This prayer in John 17 is the most profound word in the Bible. It is far beyond our mental understanding. Even to grasp its central point is not easy.
Notice that in this prayer the Lord did not pray for small things. He made no mention of the healing of the sick or the salvation of the lost. What He prayed for is something deep within God’s heart.
He began by saying, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You” (v. 1). What does it mean for the Father to glorify the Son? How is the Son to glorify the Father? How can the Father and the Son be glorified? Glory, we know from the Bible, is God expressed. The illustration of electricity may help make us clear. Electricity is concealed until the switch is turned on. Then the lights shine. The shining of these lights is the glory of electricity. When electricity shines, it is glorified. As we look at the bright lights, we can realize how electricity is glorified by being manifested.
God too is hidden. Whenever He is expressed, however, there is glory. When the tabernacle was erected, for example, God’s glory filled it (Exo. 40:34-35). An overshadowing cloud could be seen by the Israelites. The glory over the tabernacle made them realize that God was there.
This happened a second time when the temple was completed. “When the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of Jehovah; and the priests were not able to stand and minister because of the cloud, for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah” (1 Kings 8:10-11). As the bright light bulb indicates the presence of electricity, so the cloud of glory showed the presence of God.
When the Lord Jesus became a man, His glory was concealed in His humanity. His physical body was like the tabernacle with the shekinah glory hidden within it. From the outside, this glory was not visible, but when the high priest entered the Holy of Holies, he saw the shekinah glory there. The tabernacle was a type of Christ in the flesh. God’s glory was concealed in Christ’s physical body. One day, on a high mountain privately, Christ was transfigured in the presence of Peter, James, and John (Matt. 17:1-8). “His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as the light” (v. 2). God was expressed, but just for a short time; after that the glory was again concealed.
In John 17 the time was at hand for the Lord Jesus to die and then be resurrected. Resurrection, you may not realize, is simply the full expression. Consider a carnation seed. It is small and inconspicuous, yet within this tiny seed the blossom is concealed. As long as it stays where we can see it, there is no blossom, that is, no glory, to be seen. If, however, we sow the seed into the soil and it dies, it will grow up and then blossom. The blossom is the release of the hidden glory. The blossoming of the carnation is its glorification.
The Lord Jesus was a seed. He was a despised Nazarene with no beauty that we should desire Him. That seed, however, concealed the divine glory. Now He was about to fall into the ground and die. Then He would be raised from the dead, and the divine glory would be expressed. Christ, in other words, would be glorified.
The glory released in the resurrection was the Father Himself. For the Son to be glorified meant that the Father too was glorified, because the Father was concealed in the man Jesus. When the glory shone forth, both the Son and the Father alike were glorified.
How, then, could the Son of God be glorified? It was by death and resurrection. How could the Father be glorified in the Son? It was by the Son’s glorification. When the Son was glorified, that glory was the Father expressed. So the Lord prayed, “Glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You” (v. 1). To be glorified, then, is to have the divine nature expressed. Dear saints, we are touching something that human language cannot adequately express; I sense that I am short of utterance. I look to the Lord that you may see what I have seen.
Many plants, after they blossom, bear fruit. The blossom is a temporary expression; it is followed by the fruit, which is more lasting. In my home province in north China there were many apple groves. What interested us was not so much the blossoming of the trees. Year by year we eagerly anticipated the month of September, when the trees would be laden with fruit. We greatly enjoyed going to see these apple trees in their glorification. Even while we were still far away, we could smell the fragrance of the apples. The aroma was so sweet that we would store some apples in with our clothing for the next few months so that their fragrance would permeate our clothes.
Is Christ in His glorification more like the carnation flower or like the apple tree? He is like the apple tree. The fruit He has borne is even more fragrant and beautiful than the blossom. We are this fruit. If Christ had never produced a disciple after His resurrection, He would have remained a carnation blossom. After His resurrection, however, there were one hundred twenty in Jerusalem (Acts 1:15). Then three thousand were added (2:41). Before long there were five thousand (4:4). Now throughout this whole earth there are “apple groves” that have issued from Christ’s resurrection. From Europe to Africa to North and South America and all the way to the Far East are spread these apple groves, expressing and glorifying the Lord Jesus.
A church is simply an apple grove, bearing the fruit of the resurrected Christ. When the Lord Jesus as the Son of God is glorified by our thus expressing Him, the Father is also glorified. What the Lord Jesus was praying that night in John 17 was for the proper church life, with all His disciples expressing Him the way apples express the apple tree. We are His apples, expressing Him in resurrection so that the Father may be glorified. The proper church life, in other words, is the glorification of the Son and of the Father, the glorification of the Father in the Son. The Lord’s prayer, “Glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You,” is fulfilled in the proper church life.
If we understand this first verse, then we can come to some understanding of this whole prayer.
The Lord goes on to pray four times for the oneness of all believers.
(1) “Holy Father, keep them in Your name...that they may be one even as We are” (v. 11).
(2) “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us” (v. 21).
(3) “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one” (v. 22).
(4) “I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one” (v. 23).
In John 17 glorification is equated with oneness. When oneness disappears, glorification is gone. When there is oneness, the Son is glorified, and the Father is glorified in the Son.
Perhaps you can see now why we are so concerned about the situation among Christians today. When there are divisions among the saints, is there any glorification? Once the genuine oneness was destroyed, there could be no glorification of the Son nor of the Father through the Son. Nevertheless, we do thank the Lord that in spite of the divisions these past centuries, there have been a few sincere, faithful seekers of Him in every generation who would let lesser things go and come together to be one in Him, one in the Spirit, one in the Father. Wherever and whenever there has been such a gathering with the genuine oneness in the Triune God, there has been some glorification of the Son and of the Father.
The oneness of believers is the central point of the Lord’s prayer in John 17. After fifty-five years of receiving the Lord’s mercy, I can testify that there is nothing so glorious as believers meeting together in the real oneness. When we come together mindful of nothing but the Lord, we are one in the Spirit and one in the Father. Such oneness in the Triune God is the glorification. To experience this, even to a limited degree, is to have part of the answer to the Lord’s prayer. This answer of the Father to the Son’s prayer is still going on. The answer began on the day of Pentecost, when all one hundred twenty were made one, and the Son and the Father were thus glorified. In the nineteen centuries since then, the answer to this prayer has been continuing here and there on the earth.
Even as we meet here, I believe there is a measure of answer by the Father to this prayer. How great a measure depends on how much we drop the differences and take Christ as our center, even as our constituent. We are one not because of our opinions or doctrines or practices. Our oneness is Christ. He Himself is the content of our oneness. Such a oneness is the glorification of the Son and of the Father.
Of all the books in the Bible, John’s Gospel most fully reveals the Triune God. Chapters 14, 15, and 16 comprise the message, and chapter 17, the prayer. These four chapters are a full revelation of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
In John 14:7-11 the Lord spoke of the Father, and Philip foolishly asked, “Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us.” The Lord indicated surprise that He had been among them so long, yet Philip still did not know Him. Day after day Philip had been with Him. Did Philip not realize that to see Him was to see the Father? How could Philip ask to be shown the Father? The Lord was in the Father and the Father in Him. Even the words He was speaking were not from Himself; the Father was abiding in Him, doing His works. Did Philip not believe that He was in the Father and the Father in Him?
In human relationships a father and his son are not one. A son cannot say that his father is in him or that he is in his father. He is not one with his father, nor does his father work while he is speaking. Such a oneness cannot exist on an earthly level. In the whole universe only the Son of God can say this of His relationship with His Father. In the Trinity there is a distinction between the Father and the Son; They are two. Yet They are one, for the Son is in the Father, and the Father is in the Son. What a wonderful mystery!
After the conversation with Philip, the Lord went on to say more strange things: “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever” (v. 16). The disciples already had the Lord as their Comforter. Now He would ask the Father to send them another One, the Spirit of reality. This second Comforter would be in them, whereas the first could only be among them. “I will not leave you as orphans,” the Lord said; “I am coming to you” (v. 18). Strange! Who was coming to them — the Lord or the Spirit of reality? Were two coming? No, only One was coming. The coming of the Spirit was the coming of the Lord Himself. When the Comforter was in them, the Lord would be in them.
When we touch the matter of the Trinity, we are out of our depths. I have studied this chapter time and again, hour after hour, trying to figure out what the Lord was saying. The more I read and the more I studied, the more I found myself in a maze. Eventually, I turned away from my analytical study and took John 14 simply as it is written. It tells us that the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father. It tells us that the Spirit of reality is coming. He will make real the Father and the Son. For one of Them to be with us means that all three are with us. Yet the three are not here separately; They are one.
Consider your experience. Do you not have the Father, the Son, and the Spirit? Where are They? They are simultaneously in your spirit and also in the heavens on the throne. This is the God we enjoy.
When I was with the Brethren, I was taught to pray to the Father in the name of the Son through the power of the Spirit. Under certain circumstances, but not often, it was all right to pray to the Son. Never, they said, should we pray to the Holy Spirit. I tried to follow their teaching, but I found it was a bother to me. Where was the Father that I was praying to? How could I distinguish Him from the Son when I prayed? Where was the Spirit? Eventually, I came out of this confusion. All of Them are with us, the New Testament tells us; the three are one.
John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit.” The third of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit. The Son in resurrection became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). Is the Father a Spirit, the Son the life-giving Spirit, and the Holy Spirit yet another Spirit? Are there three Spirits? Surely not. These three are one Spirit. Do not think that I am trying to bring you into theological confusion or mental stimulation. My desire is simply to share with you my enjoyment of the Triune God. Day by day from morning till evening the Father, Son, and Spirit are my full enjoyment. How happy I am to have the Triune God in me!
John 15 is even more glorious than chapter 14. In verse 1 the Lord declared, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.” Consider what is implied in this picture. The Father is the source, the origin, of this vine. It was planted by Him and is cultivated and supplied by Him. He is its soil, its sunshine, its air. The Son is a vine, embodying the Father. All that the Father is, has, and does is wrapped up in this vine.
When we come to John 15:26, the Spirit is brought in: “When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of reality, who proceeds from the Father, He will testify concerning Me.” The Greek preposition translated twice here as “from” has no precise English equivalent. It means “from with.” The Spirit comes from and with the Father. The two cannot be separated; when the Spirit comes, the Father comes.
This is true of the Son also. He came from and with the Father. While He was on the earth, He was not alone; the Father was with Him (8:16, 29). Wherever He was, the Father was there also. The three of the Trinity are distinct, but They are not separate. When we have the Father, we have the Son. When we have the Son, we have the Father (1 John 2:23). With the Son, we have the Spirit. The Father is the source of the vine. The Son is the vine. The Spirit is the vine’s life-juice.
This great vine is the organism of the Triune God. All that the Father is, is in this organism, embodied in this vine, which is the second of the Trinity. Within the vine is the circulating life flow of the Spirit. It is the Spirit who carries the riches of the Father to sustain the vine and its branches. This is the very vine into which we have been grafted. We have been grafted into this organism of the Triune God.
Does this mean that we are deified? I have been accused of teaching that there are four in the Godhead — the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and the church. We are not objects of worship, but we surely have the divine life and the divine nature. The branches unquestionably have the life and nature of the vine. We are children of God. Since God is our Father, we surely have His life and nature. We are members of the Body of Christ. Surely we are one with the Head.
John 14 unveils to us the relationship of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. John 15 goes further to speak of the vine with the branches. John 16 speaks again of the Triune God.
“When He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality;...He will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify Me, for He will receive of Mine and will declare it to you. All that the Father has is Mine; for this reason I have said that He receives of Mine and will declare it to you” (vv. 13-15). Whatever the Father has is the Son’s. The Son is therefore the embodiment of the Father. Whatever the Son has, has been given to the Spirit. The Spirit is therefore the realization of the Son. Then, what the Spirit has, He passes on to us. From this sequence we can see that eventually all becomes ours. All that the Father has belongs to the Son. What the Son has, the Spirit receives. What the Spirit takes, He discloses to us. The Spirit, the Son, and the Father are all ours to possess.
Your experience will confirm this. You surely have the assurance that the Spirit is within you. This Spirit is the realization of the Son. The Son within you is the embodiment of the Father. How do you know you have all three within you? By the Spirit. He is real to you, comforting you in sadness, enlightening you in darkness, and bothering you when you would turn aside. Did you have such experiences before you were saved? This inner sustaining and supplying have been yours only since you believed in Him. This rich One within is the realization of the Son, who is the embodiment of the Father. Thus, the Triune God is within you for your daily and hourly enjoyment.
After these three chapters — John 14, 15, and 16 — unveiling the riches of the Triune God, the Son, lifting up His eyes to heaven, prayed, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You” (17:1). How was this glorification to come about? It was by the oneness of the believers (vv. 11, 21-23).
The Son has been given authority to impart eternal life to all those whom the Father gave Him (v. 2). Then He prayed, “Holy Father, keep them in Your name, which You have given to Me, that they may be one even as We are. When I was with them, I kept them in Your name, which You have given to Me, and I guarded them” (vv. 11-12). The life and the name are inseparable. Without the Father’s life, how could we have His name? If we were not born of Him, He would not be our Father. God is our Father because we have His life. Thus, we call Him “Abba, Father!”
Besides giving the believers eternal life, the Lord said, “I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world even as I am not of the world...Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth...And for their sake I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. And I do not ask concerning these only, but concerning those also who believe into Me through their word, that they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me” (vv. 14-21).
The word that the Lord has given the believers separates them from the world. They do not belong to the world but to Him. The sanctifying word keeps them, even while they are left in the world.
Thus, through the word, the life, and the name the believers can be brought into oneness.
“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” (vv. 22-23). The Son has been given the Father’s life and nature so that He may express the Father. The glory of the Son is that He expresses the Father by having the Father’s life and nature. Suppose the president has a son whom he sends as his representative. The glory of this son is that he expresses the president in life and nature. The Son of God has received glory from the Father in that He has the Father’s life and nature to express.
He has given the very glory of the Son to us. We share the Father’s life and nature and have the position and right to express Him. We have this glory.
We are brought into oneness, then, through the life, in the name, by the word, and in the glory. This oneness is genuine because it is in the Triune God. We are mingled with Him in such a oneness.
We are here for this genuine oneness — oneness in the name of the Father through His life; oneness in the Triune God by His word, which separates us from the world; oneness in the glory to express God with His nature and life. This is the glorification of the Son and of the Father, and this is the church life.
