If you look around the landscape of Christianity today you may wonder, “How will we ever become one?” Our oneness is important because the oneness of the Body of Christ will be a sign of the Lord’s return. In His prayer to the Father, Yeshua (Jesus) said, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one” (John 17:22). [1] The glory of Christ was given to the Church to enable us to come into the same oneness with Christ and the Father. What is the glory Yeshua spoke of and how can we see it expressed in our lives? It is the transforming glory of the very nature, personality, and presence of God Himself dwelling in and among us.
As people who really love the Lord and are trying to walk with God, we look for change in our spirits, in our souls, and in our physical bodies. Yeshua was a human transformed by God’s glory, and it will have the same effect on us as well. Moses cried, “Show me Your glory!” and was literally transformed until the skin of his face shone (Exodus 33:18, 34:29). As we experience the glory of the Lord, it will become the vehicle for our change, transformation, and transfiguration—just as it was for Yeshua.
On the Mount of Transfiguration, Christ was transformed until “His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light” (Matthew 17:2). Likewise, Paul teaches, “We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). While you behold the glory of the Lord, you are changed from glory to glory. The change may not be instant or complete, but while you are seeing Him, you are changed into the same image of the glory that you are beholding. This means that as we find a way to behold the Lord, we are changing into the identical image of the glory of Yeshua and of the Father. You will come to know the love of Christ and be “filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).
When we talk about oneness, we are talking about the personality of God. God is one and God is love (Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 John 4:8, 16).
“‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF’” (Mark 12:29-31).
We are to be one with Christ and identical to His nature. That is what He meant when He prayed, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one” (John 17:22). It is not just any oneness. It is the oneness that Christ had with the Father. It is the oneness that is the exact nature of God. Yeshua was speaking about a tremendously deep transformation. There is only one true measurement of God’s glory and that is this oneness with Christ and the Father. As the glory of the Lord returns to His Church, we will be one and we will be transformed into the very image of God.
[1] All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).