Christ’s Unanswered Prayer

In John chapter 17 Jesus prays for all His disciples present and future, that they would be kept in the world, and sanctified through the Word, then He prays something extraordinary… Joh 17:20-23 “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: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.“

Christ prays for unity on the basis of glory. That the glory of God which had been given to Christ would be upon them and that it would effect a unity among them. So that they might be one even as the Father and Son are one.

I think it is clear that the Church has not yet entered into this prayer, “That they may be one, even as we are one.” The importance of this prayer cannot be overemphasized, it was one of Christ’s last acts before His crucifixion when He was pouring out His very heart to His disciples. His love for unity and hatred for disunity is seen in Proverbs 6:17-19 where the last abomination in God’s sight is those who sow discord.

It is my belief that this prayer will be fulfilled in the last day revival, it clearly is not fulfilled in the Church at present. It must be fulfilled because Christ prayed it in accordance with the will of the Father and from the context it must be fulfilled on earth though, of course, the Church is united in heaven. It is the glory that God will send that will unify us.

One thing we must understand is the nature of the unity. Jesus prayed that we would be one as He and the Father are one. It therefor is essential to understand the Trinity. If The Father and Son and Holy Spirit are merely different manifestations of one person then what would this mean for this verse? It would follow, that we are to become some sort of pantheistic global soul, a unity of submerged and lost identity.

However, when we properly understand the Trinity the picture of the unity becomes clear. Three persons one will, one substance, one God, One in purpose, one in humility, perfectly one. What sort of unity are we called to? A unity in glorifying another not ourselves, even as Christ glorified the Father, and the Spirit glorifies the Son. The Father does not glorfiy Himself the Son does that, the Son does not glorify Himself the Holy Spirit does that. The Spirit does not defend Himself, instead the Father and Son do. In this unity we will always be individuals, but with a will submitted to the will of the Father, laying down our lives for each other. We are all unique, but joined together in one body each performing our own function. As we each focus upon Christ and His plan for our life we learn to function with others. As long as we focus on Christ and run after Him, He will show us any thing in which we need to change (Php 3:15).

In the end in spite of ourselves, Christ will have a perfect Bride. Praise His Name!