Glorious Union (John 17:22)

The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one - John 17:22

Jesus says these words as part of His "high priestly prayer" in John 17. Only moments before Judas arrives to betray Him, He is speaking intimately with the Father about His disciples and the future of the Church.

It can be easy to skim past these words in verse 22, but if we pause to meditate on them, I believe there is luscious, revelatory fruit just waiting to be plucked.

Jesus is saying that God the Father has given Him glory, and that He in turn is giving this glory to His disciples and all who would come to believe in Him.

We cannot grasp the magnitude of this comment until we visit Isaiah 42:8 of the Old Testament. There we read:

"I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other"

In the Old Testament God says "I give my glory to no other." In the New Testament God says "I will give my glory to all who follow me."

What gives? Is there a contradiction here?

Far from being a contradiction, I believe this is a profound window into what God has unlocked for believers in the New Covenant.

Only through the mystery of Jesus Christ - the union of humanity and divinity - God is both able both to give His glory to another and not give His glory to another.

This is because in Christ we become both 'other' and 'not other.'

We maintain our own personal identity (we do not get absorbed into the impersonal divine essence as some Eastern traditions suggest) and yet we are so united to God in Christ that we no longer see ourselves as separate from Him.

This is the type of union that God desires for us to taste here on earth in ever increasing magnitude until we step into its infinte fullness in the realm of eternity.

God can give us His glory without giving His glory to 'another' because in Christ we are not truly 'other.' We are truly His body, united to Him in the deepest sense. Just as a husband and wife unite to become one flesh - Christ, the Bridegroom, and we, His bride, unite to become one Spirit.

This divine union is the purpose of human existence. We do not exist merely as tools of God, or servants of God, but fundamentally we are His sons and daughters, made in the divine image and made partakers of the divine nature - sent here to earth to spread this glory to all creation. We were made to commune with God and others in such intimate union that Jesus compares it to the union within the Trinity itself.

Jesus is the revelation of God as well as the revelation of man. He shows us what God looks like as well as what man is designed to look like.

We were designed to manifest the glory of God upon the earth. We were designed to live supernatural lives. What was lost at the Fall is regained in Christ.

And to access this glorious union, all we must do is believe.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me

will also do the works that I do;

and greater works than these will he do,

because I am going to the Father

John 14:12