The Glory That Makes Us One

The Glory That Makes Us One

“And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one . . . .” John 17:22.

What was this glory Jesus received from His heavenly Father, and which He gave to His disciples? It was the Word.

Many people can hear the Word all their life without receiving it into their life as a glory, thus they never become one. Perfect unity proceeds from the Father and the Son and embraces all those who are united with them from their heart, in the same Spirit and mind in the light. 1 John 1:7. Within this circle there is unity, light, life, and glory.

“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” John 17:14. We can see that the Word effected a powerful separation from the ways of the world and united them with the Father and the Son.

The Word is the glory in God. This glory was given to Jesus by the words He received in His heart through revelation, and which He faithfully and obediently lived, so that the disciples could see God’s glory revealed in His life.

It says about Jesus in Isaiah 50:4: “He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as disciples hear.” If we are Jesus’ disciples, we also have opportunity to hear the same words He heard; and then we can receive the same strength by the same Spirit to keep these words, so that the same glory is revealed in our lives, and those with whom we associate will know it and notice it.

“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” John 14:23. There is no other lasting glory besides God’s Word. The Father and the Son enter into our hearts together with the Word, if we love it and keep it. All those in whom the Father and the Son have made their home become one and will rule with them.

Nothing greater or more glorious than God’s Word could have been delivered to the disciples, and neither can anything greater or more glorious be delivered to us. This is the greatest confidence God can show to those who love Him with all of their heart, and who keep His Word. Perfect unity is, therefore, extremely rare, yet it is all the more precious before God. Money, honor, conceit, or any other earthly thing does not disturb this unity, because all these things have been forsaken as a result of this noble love relationship to Christ.

Jesus praised this brotherhood when He said, “O my soul, you have said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You’—and to the saints who are on the earth, ‘They are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.’” Ps. 16:2-3.

It was Jesus’ desire to deliver this glory to as many as possible by means of His disciples when He said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matt. 28:18-20.

There isn’t a single preacher of God’s Word on earth who has received any other commission from God than this: to observe everything Jesus has commanded in their own lives, and to teach those who have become disciples to observe it as well. Just think if all those who are preaching God’s Word in our days, and those who have preached it throughout the years had faithfully kept this commandment of Jesus! Then we would have seen unity and glory on earth! We can see very little of it now, but wherever these faithful ones labor, unity and glory will always be manifested through the virtues of Christ. May we see much of it in the days to come!