The night before the crucifixion, Christ prayed, “That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:21).1 We know that Yeshua (Jesus) asked the Father for this oneness, and we know that the Father will give Him what He desires. Our Lord’s prayer will be fulfilled. It will be answered. Yet when we look at what is happening in the Church, in the Body of Christ, we see that we are very far from this oneness. So we recognize that the dynamic of coming into oneness is something we must pursue and contend for and believe for in the Lord.
When we strive for oneness, we are striving for something that already existed within humanity back at the time of the Tower of Babel. Read Genesis 11:1-9. God said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language … and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them” (Genesis 11:6). When we are one, what we ask for will happen. Nothing will be impossible for us. Yet one of the biggest problems we have today is the inability to understand each other—even when we speak the same language. At Babel, God confused the language of the whole earth and scattered them abroad. He brought this curse on mankind to stop them from being able to understand each other. We see that in families, in our culture, and between different races of people. God divided us. This was not something satan did or that man did; it was something God did, and we still labor under this difficulty.
God did not impose futility on mankind because He is mean or hates people. He loves humanity (John 3:16)! But when God saw man in his fallen state, He recognized as a loving Father that He needed to add restraints. God did not take away man’s free will. But He made it impossible for man to accomplish his own will in his own way without first coming to the Father. God will work with us until we mature, until our will is linked with His, our rebellion is gone, and we are wholly given to Him. If we understand the prerequisites, we will be able to reach into God for the release that we need. At some point, futility will be removed (Romans 8:20-21). It will happen as our wills are conformed to His will and our desires are conformed to His desire.
A good parent does not give the car keys to a five-year-old child. Likewise, our loving Father is not going to allow us to destroy ourselves, one another, the earth, or His Kingdom. Yeshua gives you the answer: “Ask, and keep asking, seek, and keep seeking. Knock, and keep knocking” (see Matthew 7:7). Why? Because in that process God will perfect your spirit, mature you, and bring you to the place where you can have answers. The Father is driven to give you answers! This oneness will come when God allows it—at the time set by the Father (Galatians 4:1-2). When we walk as mature sons in total submission to His lordship and are set to do His will, God will give us oneness. Yeshua, in Your name we ask, “Bring us into Your likeness, help us, transform us, and change us into mature sons of God in Your image. Amen.”
1 All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).