John 17:20-23
My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one,
Wow, Jesus prayed not only for those disciples who walked with Him, but He looked down the corridor of Time and saw all of those through the centuries who would come to Him through the words the disciples wrote, which became the New Testament. Jesus wanted all of us to believe the same Truth He taught His followers who walked with Him in Palestine.
There is no "New Christianity" that is the Truth Jesus taught; that sounds like a "new gospel," something different than what the Church taught from the beginning on the Day of Pentecost. Paul wrote to the Church at Galatia that they were "turning to another gospel--which is really no Gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the Gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from Heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God's curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God's curse!" (Galatians 1:6-9).
Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in Us
God is in perfect agreement with Himself: the Father, the Son and the Spirit. And He wants us also to be in perfect agreement with Him, in believing and trusting and living out all that He has given us in His Word, not adding anything to it or taking anything away from it.
Written language is "words that stay," (to quote a line from The Dark Chrystal movie). Words that are written down do not change their meanings, if they are understood according to the writers' intentions. And if these intentions are changed by someone else, then the truth of them is removed and the new meanings are deceptive. This applies to every piece of written material, whether it is ancient Egyptian, original Parchments, our American Constitution, or our Bible.
Jesus tells us why He wants us to be in agreement with Him:
so that the World may believe that You have sent Me.
No one alive has any excuse for not believing God. The Creation itself testifies to God's divine nature and eternal power (Romans 1:19-20). And when Jesus' Body on this Earth, His Temple built of Living Stones, is in agreement with Who God is and what He has said, believing it and trusting in it and living it out in our love for him and one another, then the World around us will know for a certainty that Jesus did come, even if they refuse to believe it.
I gave them the Glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as We are one--I in them and You in Me--so that they may be brought to complete unity.
The glory: the dignity, the integrity, the honor of the Truth. Jesus wanted us to be confident in our Faith, having the complete, finished Bible, and each one of us trusting in the same Truth. God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, and the Church on this Earth, all One in faith and doctrine.
Then the World will know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.
The center of it all is Love. God is Love, He loves what He has made, He loves His own Son, and He also loves us with that same Love. It's Love that makes the world go 'round, and our Love for one another will demonstrate God's love to the World.
This prayer is the most important passage in the whole Bible to show us Jesus' heart for us, God's concern for our good. And it's all about Love.
We will study through the Chapter on Love, after we see the conclusion of this prayer.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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