John 17 Prayer (Part Three)
©December 21, 2008 Asher Intrater
Yeshua (Jesus) prayed two things in John 17:21 and 23:
"That they may be one…", and
"That the world may know…"
We join Him in these two prayers. What is it about our becoming one that causes the world to know? It is not simply that they are impressed by our unity.
Our becoming one is like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. As long as you see the pieces separately, you don't see the picture. Suddenly when all the pieces come together in the right place, a picture emerges that was not seen before. And what is that picture? It is the "glorified bride of Christ."
The world will see something beautiful, something whole - something that is a supernatural creation of God. They will see something they could not have even imagined previously. It would be like seeing the harmony and diversity of a rainbow for the first time, or like seeing the glory of the Menorah (golden lampstand) of the Temple fully lit.
We ourselves could not imagine it… unless we pray. These are the "deep things" that "God ordained for our glory before the ages" - I Corinthians 2:7. – There is something of our being glorified together as a body that cannot be imagined until the Holy Spirit reveals it. When we pray for all the pieces of the puzzle of the international community of faith to come together into one, then a picture of glory will be revealed to us.
Has anyone ever seen this revelation? John described it as a glorified bride in Revelation 12 and as New Jerusalem in Revelation 21. This is the mystery of Israel and the Church becoming glorified together. The prayer of John 17 fulfills the prophecies of ancient Israel being glorified (Isaiah 60-62). The Bride is Jerusalem, and Jerusalem is the Bride.
What a surprise that will be! How beautiful that will be! Even Yeshua will be astonished. He will be like Adam seeing Hava (Eve) for the first time. The world will react like people attending a wedding when the beautiful bride walks in.
The word "One" is a great mystery in the Bible. It has three stages. First, God is one, unique and alone among all the so called pagan gods of this world.
"Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is One" - Deuteronomy 6:4.
Then Yeshua made an astonishing claim: That He Himself is one with the Father; that the Oneness of God includes Yeshua within it.
"I and the Father are One" – John 10:30.
Then Yeshua made an even more astonishing prayer: That we would become one together with Him and the Father.
"That they may be One even as we are One" – John 17:22.
John 10 is the extension of the Oneness of God in Deuteronomy 6; John 17 is its ultimate fulfillment.
We are commanded to love one another. If we all obey that commandment, we will become one. Unity is the result of love plus love plus more love. So the prayer for us to become one is a prayer for us to fulfill the two great commandments: "Love God with all your heart" and "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Our congregation (kehilah) in Jerusalem is like a microcosm of this prayer: there are native Israelis, immigrant Jews, Christians from around the world, and even ex-Muslim Palestinians.
Let us pray that all the disciples of Yeshua in the world would be One; and that the world would come to know the truth through them.
A Word of Repentance
This week:
25 people were killed as two Israeli bus drivers played "dare" on a winding mountain road near Eilat.
1,500 kilos of Cocaine were captured in the port of Ashdod by Israeli police from local Israeli organized crime groups.
1,007,221 SMS messages were sent in to Channel 2 reality program "Big Brother" in the course of one evening. The runner up received over 700,000 SMS messages. This in a country of 5.3 million Jews – men, women and children. Figure out the math on that one.
50 billion dollars were reported as the loss from the ponzi scam of Bernard Madoff, famous Jewish financial broker. This crime is causing waves of damage around the world.
While I am bold to proclaim that the Jewish people are still chosen by God and have a special calling as a priestly nation to the world, I believe we also need to be honest as a people and repent of the sins of our nation. God has called us; yet we have violated that calling again and again. It is only by His mercy that we are preserved to fulfill that priestly destiny.
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