Oneness with Christ, October 15

Oneness with Christ, October 15

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one. John 17:22.

In these words we have a most convincing statement to prove the fact that unity, kindness, and love will exist among those who are Christians indeed. The world’s Redeemer is exalted, glorified, in the character of all those who believe.... What tremendous consequences to the world depend upon the unity of those who claim to be Christians, who claim to believe that the Bible is the Word of God.35

“Emmanuel, God with us.” This means everything to us. What a broad foundation does it lay for our faith! What a hope big with immortality does it place before the believing soul! God with us in Christ Jesus to accompany us every step of the journey to heaven! The Holy Spirit with us as a Comforter, a Guide in our perplexities, to soothe our sorrows, and shield us in temptation! “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” ... Cultivate love, uproot suspicion, envy, jealousy, and the thinking and the speaking of evil. Press together, work as one man. Be at peace among yourselves.

I beseech you in the name of Jesus of Nazareth to put away everything like spiritual pride and love of supremacy. Become as little children if when the warfare is ended you would become members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King. Read John 17 over and over again. That prayer of our Saviour offered to His Father in behalf of His disciples, is worthy to be oft repeated, and carried in the practical life. This will raise fallen man; for the Lord has promised that if we preserve this unity, God will love us as He loved His Son; the sinner will be saved, and God eternally glorified.

Angels and archangels wonder at this great plan of redemption; they admire and love the Father and the Son as they behold the mercy and love of God.36 [296]