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I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17:23)It is not possible that the members of the Body can become one while they have an adamic nature. Our personalities are individualistic, abrasive, sinful, and rebellious. We can cooperate with one another to a limited extent, but after that we find ourselves preserving our privacy and independence.

Sometimes efforts are made, both in the secular and Christian realms, to break down this privacy. Through intense fellowship, communication, confession, and prayer, an attempt is made to bring a group into oneness.

Our opinion is that such efforts are premature, that they are an awakening of the Bride "before she please." They may bring about a close union of people, but each person will be subject to the group opinion and possibly to a strong leader rather than to the Lord Himself.

Antichrist may seek such union among his followers.

The Lord prayed we would be one as He and the Father are one. This perfection of union with one another can come about only after each member has been brought into total union with Christ.

It is not that we arrive at union among ourselves and through this attain union with Christ and the Father. Rather, we arrive at union with Christ and the Father and through this union with God we attain union with one another.

Perhaps in time past we may have overlooked or ignored the startling statements of John, Chapter Seventeen because they appear to be beyond us. Not only are they beyond us, they are more marvellous than any idea that at any time has entered our thinking.

These statements, which have to do with our being incorporated into the union existing in the Godhead, startling and "impossible" as they are, are a part of God's eternal Word. We always are to say yes and amen to God's Word whether or not we can grasp it.

The Kingdom of God is found in unionthe dwelling of the Father in Christ in people. People enter the Divine Oneness as they are prepared for such a holy state by the Lord. The love that binds the members of the Body together is Divine, fiery, intense. It is holy beyond all holiness. It brings us into union with God, Jesus, and one another.

If the Lord Jesus Christ has prayed that we be brought into union with one another in Christ in the Father, let us grow beyond our lesser understanding of redemption so we may lay hold on the greater. It is not that we lose what we already have attained, it is that we press into the fullness of union to which Christ has called us.

We do this by asking God to increase our faith until we are able to overcome all obstacles and gain the crown and throne God is offering to His victorious sons (Revelation 21:7).


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