“….that they may all be one, just as you, Father are in me, and I in you, that they may also be in us...” John 17:21
(JFB Commentary notes from John. 17:21: Observe, that Christ never mixes Himself up with His disciples as He associates Himself with the Father, but says I in them and they in us).
Jesus’ prayer from John 17 emphasis’s the glory of the oneness he held with the Father. We see in verse five his request for the glory in Gods presence to be “the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” Is it possible there was some kind of limitation to what he experienced on the earth compared to what he possessed in heaven with the Father?
This glory Jesus experienced is something that was of such a vital need and desire for him that he conducted the entire training of his disciples to this end as well. He manifested the Fathers name, his power, his glory and the nature of God as Father. He gave them the words the Father gave Him for them. He prayed, guarded and kept them and then sent them into the world. He did not try to isolate them or spare them from hardships and suffering but enabled them to be kept from the evil in the world. He sanctified himself that they might be sanctified, all for a greater purpose to show the glory found in oneness with Himself and the Father.
Just as the Father was in Jesus, Jesus was in the Father, our invite is for us to be in them. Jesus never adapted to his disciples but always invited them into the union and the glory he shared with the Father. We aren’t called to adapt to circumstances or primarily other people. We understand that this comes with certain caveats, submitting to one another in the fear of the Lord, but it is always for maintaining the place of absolute oneness with the Godhead. We first and foremost align ourselves so that are obedience is to God and not to man where man conflicts with the purposes and ways of God.
The glory He has given to us is so we may be one EVEN AS they are one. Vitally united. No division. Perfect agreement and alignment.
Moving into this next decade will put decided pressure upon all of us to have this position resolved, heart and mind fixed, with a purposed pursuit of being perfectly one with them and each other and thus enabled to manifest His glory on this earth.