We have seen that genuine oneness is possible only in the Triune God. The Lord Jesus has brought us into the Father, where He is. Before we were saved, we were outside the Father, and we had nothing to do with Him. But now that we have been saved, we have been transferred into the Father. However, we still need to be with Christ in the glory of the Father. To be in the Father’s glory is to be in the Father’s expression.
In a very real sense, all genuine Christians are in the Father. However, very few can truly say that they are in the Father’s glory. In John 17 the genuine oneness of the believers is related to the two occurrences of the word “in”: in the Father and in the glory of the Father. The first “in” indicates that we have been saved, whereas the second indicates that we are one in the expression of God. By the Lord’s mercy and grace, we are one with Him where He is, in the Father and in the Father’s glory.
In order to understand the oneness in John 17, we need the type, the picture, of the tabernacle in Exodus 26. The oneness in the Triune God is very profound; it is a mystery. Hence, it is difficult for us to explain or define. Because this is the case with many spiritual realities in the Bible, there are types depicting the details of them. Because the oneness revealed in John 17 is abstract and mysterious, we cannot understand it adequately without the type in the book of Exodus. The tabernacle is a picture of the building up of the New Testament believers into God’s dwelling place on earth. After the Old Testament tabernacle was erected, it was filled with the glory of God. From that time onward, the tabernacle became God’s dwelling place on earth, the place where His glory rested.
In the Old Testament tabernacle there were forty-eight boards. The number forty-eight is composed of six times eight. The number six signifies the natural man, and the number eight signifies resurrection. Therefore, the number forty-eight signifies people who were formerly in the natural man but who have now become believers and have come into resurrection. When these believers are put together, or, to use a New Testament term, are built up together, they become the dwelling place of God. The oneness for which the Lord Jesus prayed in John 17 is this building.
In John 14 through 17 we find the concept of building. In John 14 the Lord Jesus says that He and the Father will come to the one who loves Him and will make Their abode with him (v. 23). Then in chapter fifteen the Lord says, “Abide in Me and I in you.” Furthermore, in John 17 He prays concerning this abode, which is simply the oneness of His believers. If there is no oneness among the believers in Christ, how can there be any abode, any dwelling place, for God on earth today? The oneness, which is the building, in actuality is the church built up in a practical way. Many Christians talk about the church, but to them the word “church” is an empty term. For God’s dwelling place to be a reality in a practical way, there must be the builded oneness. The oneness among the believers is the building up of the believers into one abode.
As we consider the picture of the tabernacle, we see both the details of this oneness and the steps by which we reach it. In the foregoing message, we pointed out that, in themselves, the forty-eight standing boards are separate from one another. No matter how close to one another they may be, they still are separate. The oneness among the standing boards is not in the boards themselves, but in the gold that overlays them, links them, and unites them. Each of the boards was overlaid with gold. Hence, it was the gold that made the tabernacle one unit as God’s dwelling place. Therefore, God’s dwelling place was constituted of the practical oneness of the boards. Without such a oneness, it is impossible for God to have a dwelling place on earth.
Concerning the standing boards in the tabernacle, the gold has three functions. One of these functions is that of overlaying the boards. However, as we shall see, this is not the first function. Another function of the gold, seen in the golden rings, is that of linking the boards together. Eventually, the uniting function of the gold is seen in the golden bars. Therefore, the three functions of the gold are overlaying, linking, and uniting.
According to our natural concept, we may think that the boards were first overlaid with gold and that the rings were then welded to the gold that overlaid the boards. However, if the rings had been welded to the overlaying gold, they would not have been strong enough to bear the weight of the boards. I believe that the golden rings were placed on the boards directly, although I do not know by what means. Before the boards were overlaid with gold, the golden rings were attached to them. After that, the boards were overlaid with gold and then united by the golden bars. Therefore, the initial function of the gold was the attaching of the golden rings to the boards.