In order that the believers might participate in this oneness, the Son has given them three things: the eternal life for the first aspect of oneness (v. 2), the holy word for the second aspect of oneness (vv. 8, 14), and the divine glory for the third aspect of oneness (v. 22). We may have the divine life and be separated from the world through the holy word and still not be shining with God’s glory. When we realize that we have the divine life and the divine nature with the sonship to express God the Father in His fullness, we shall shine with glory. At such a time, our oneness will not only be in the eternal life and by the holy word but also with the divine glory for the expression of God. Now we see that our oneness has a goal—to express God the Father in His fullness, even during this dark age on this corrupted earth. Sometimes in the local churches we have experienced this glorification. We have been in His holy glory, in His divine glory, expressing the Father in all His fullness. As we read the Lord’s prayer in John 17, we need to see that genuine oneness is by His life, by His word, and in the divine glory for the expression of God.
In verse 23 the Lord says, “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.” How can we be perfected into one? Only in the glory of the divine life. We must live by this glorious divine life so that we may be absolutely perfected in the very glory of the divine life. By denying ourselves we can experience the divine life to such a degree that we are perfected into one. If the brothers in the church life argue and debate with one another one day and then confess and apologize to one another the next day, it means that they have not yet been perfected into one. On the day they realize in full the matter of crucifixion, that the “I” has been crucified on the cross and that they are living by the life of the divine glory, that will be the day when they all will be perfected into one. On that day we shall no longer debate or quarrel because there will not be the self and the opinions. Then we shall be perfected into one.
If we have not come to the point of being in the divine glory, we have not yet been fully perfected into one. But when we reach this point, we shall be on the highest level of oneness, having been perfected into one by the divine glory given to the believers to express the Triune God in a corporate way. When we reach this point, we are willing to forsake everything. We shall not only forego all the worldly attractions but also all the doctrines and concepts. We shall abandon everything and be for just one thing—the glorious expression of the Triune God. This expression is a miniature of the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem there will be no worldly attractions, doctrines, teachings, concepts, or opinions. There will only be the glorious expression of the Divine Being. We all shall be in that glory to express Him in an adequate way forever. In the past, we did reach this stage in some of the local churches. By His grace, we can also reach such a stage today. Such oneness is the real enjoyment of the divine glory in the corporate expression of the Triune God. When we enter into such a glorious oneness, we are willing to lose everything, even our lives. When we are in this oneness, nothing else means anything. This third aspect of genuine oneness is oneness with a commission, with a goal—to express the Triune God in a corporate way.
The third aspect of the believers’ oneness is the oneness in the divine glory for the corporate expression of the Triune God. In this aspect of oneness, the believers, having their self fully denied, enjoy the glory of the Father as the factor of their perfected oneness to express God in a corporate, built-up way. This is the oneness of the divine commission which fulfills the Son’s prayer that He be fully expressed, that is, glorified, in the building up of the believers, and that the Father also be fully expressed, glorified, in the Son’s glorification. Hence, the ultimate oneness of the believers is in the eternal life (in the Father’s name), by the holy word, and in the divine glory to express the Triune God for eternity.
In order that the Son might accomplish this oneness, the Father has given Him six things: the authority (v. 2), the believers (vv. 2, 6, 7, 24), the work (v. 4), the words (v. 8), the Father’s name (vv. 11, 12), and the Father’s glory (v. 24). The Father has given all these things to the Son that He might perfect such a oneness.