Dear Christian, Jesus is praying for you. Hebrews 7:25 tells us that Jesus always lives to intercede for us. In our text, we can read one of those prayers: 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 (v 20). We have come to believe through the New Testament (the message of the apostles). Jesus prayed this prayer for us.

What does Jesus’ pray? That all of them may be one, Father, even as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so the world may believe that you have sent me (v 21). Jesus prays for the unity of believers. He prays that we would be one just as He and the Father are one. There is a lot riding on this unity. Because of our unity, the world may believe that Jesus was indeed sent by the God.

This unity is to be like the unity of God. Our God is Triune—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All three persons share one essence. Jesus told his disciples that when they saw him, they saw the Father. He told them that the Holy Spirit would teach them all things they needed to know. Father, Son and Spirit are united in the same essence.

The Trinity is also united in their actions. Your salvation comes from God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All three persons of the Trinity are involved. We see all three persons of the Trinity involved in Creation. We see all three persons of the Trinity involved in everything that is done in Creation or with Redemption. The Father, Son and Spirit are united in their being and in all of their actions towards us.

When Jesus prayed that all believers would be united in the same way that the Father and Son (and Spirit) are united, he meant united in both Spirit and action. This is the unity that Jesus prayed for you, recorded in the gospel of John.

There is much in the Christian Church that does not show unity. Within congregations there is fussing and fighting. Between congregations and denominations there is mistrust and jealousy. These are conditions we should mourn and pray to have removed, for our benefit and for the witness of Christ.

Our synod has an interchurch relations committee (which I currently chair) which is mandated to seek greater unity and cooperation between other denominations and the ARP. Institutional unity and cooperation are important to us. Yet the type of unity Jesus is praying for is not primarily institutional unity. We know within denominations there are factions which oppose each other to the point that they do not welcome each other into each other’s groups even though they are the same denomination.

Jesus’ prayer for unity is not based on institutional unity or declarations of unity. Real Christian unity is based on real Christians being united to Christ. Jesus describes this unity in this way: I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one…Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world…I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.

The unity that believers have with one another is based on the unity they have with Christ. This is not a unity in name only. Someone is not united to Christ just because they call themselves a Christian. They are not united to Christ just because they attend or join a church. Just because the cat has kittens in the oven don’t make them biscuits.

We do not become united because we have a slick uniting program. We do not become united because of high level denominational talks. We become united when we receive the glory of Christ in our very persons and focus on that glory. If you are a believer in Christ focusing on the glory of Christ and I am a believer in Christ focusing on the glory of Christ, then we are united in the same goal—the glory of Christ Jesus.

Only when the power of Christ is in us creating in us what we are not able to create in ourselves, are we able to have the sort of unity that Jesus is praying for. Because it takes his power and glory to achieve, the world can indeed see that Jesus is really the Savior when it sees true unity.

We will know this unity, not by focusing on unity, but by focusing on Christ, the glory of Christ, the power of Christ, the presence of Christ, the Spirit of Christ. It is Jesus’ prayer for you that you know this glory of his, that you be sanctified by the truth. Only then will we be one in Him.