52. Praying the Kingdom
Gethsemane was from 3 in the morning to 6. John 18 does begin with the approach of Jesus and the disciples to the Mount of Olives, so that indicates that Jesus prayed John 17 immediately before He entered into great distress. There is a distinction of person between God and man, the Father and Jesus, but not a separation of Flow and Action.
Consider John 1:2-3. – That Word is inside of the beginning and source towards God. All through Him become, and without Him not even one thing becomes that has become. – Jesus is the All-Speaking of God, bringing forth and sustaining all things every moment by His power-filled Word. That Word is neither mechanical nor scientific nor enchanting. In its Flow, it is Gospel Word inside of Sustaining Word.
The Flow of Power-filled Word. Let’s consider two Bible chapters, John 17 and Ephesians 1. Read them aloud in the JSV. One is Gospel Word out from Jesus through John, and shaped by John’s own use of words. The other is Gospel Word out from Jesus through Paul, and shaped by Paul’s own use of words. As you read these differing chapters out loud, consider the Flow of Power-Filled Word. In its essence that Word is the becoming of all things. Yes, they are words from the page, words that carry human thought in the English language. But in their Flow is an essence of God that brings forth the very things being said.
John 17 is neither instruction nor theology. It is creation. – That He might create inside Himself one new man – a new creation (Ephesians 2 & 2 Corinthians 5).
God’s Thoughts Are God Himself. Yet there is far more. God’s thoughts are God’s thoughts. It is impossible for us to hear them or to know what kind of thing they are. Yet here is a most incredible statement Jesus just made. – “All things that I hear in the presence of My Father, I speak into you.” God’s thoughts have become you and me. Yet when the Spirit speaks of God’s thoughts coming out from God to become us, the language is that of a tearing open, a travail, a birthing.
~ In almost unbearable pain and in great love, He tore open, as it were, His own spiritual form or body… There I beheld something so terribly perfect in its holiness… This living something was very much a part of Himself, yet it seemed as though He were bringing forth, in a tremendous beginning, a new being from His own person. ~ (“That Holy Thing” – Annie Schissler)
The Agreement of Father and Son. I have called John 17 the prayer that birthed the Kingdom. Every word Jesus speaks into us creates us as the New Creation, planting Himself in us as that Word, and by that Word causing us to be just like Himself.
Yet John 17 is a conversation between Jesus and Father God. Every line implies full agreement between Father and Son. As we have seen, it is inside of that agreement wherein you and I are saved, which also means created brand new. But again, even the word “create” is not referencing something mechanical, but rather, what Annie saw and described. God “creating” means bringing forth from Himself. Let’s keep these things fully in mind as we look at every Gospel Verse in John 17. I know that we will see WONDERS.
Ruling Verse 10. (John 17) 1 • “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son might glorify You. • 2 Just as You gave Him authority over all flesh, so that He might give age-unfolding life to all whom You have given Him. • 3 For this is age-unfolding life, that they might know You, the One true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. – I now see that we must know these three verses together, and with 1 John 5:20 as Jesus Sent into us.
Up until this moment, I have never truly known what was meant by “glorify Your Son, that the Son might glorify You.” For that reason, I have taught it little. These words are the agreement, the EMBRACE, of Father and Son, and they are very specific in their meaning. Let’s paraphrase. “Father, fulfill now in Me My deep Desire and My great achievement, even as I fulfill in You Your deep Desire and Your great achievement.”
Caught inside of Giving. To know what God wants, we go to the Covenant, Hebrews 8:7-12. God wants His Word proven True out from our hearts, and God wants His Church pure, a people in whom to dwell. To know what Jesus wants, we go to John 17:24. Jesus wants those whom God has given Him to be with Him inside of God. Jesus gives God what God wants even as God gives Jesus what Jesus wants. You and I are caught in the middle of all this giving, for we are the ones being given. Yet there is more.
All authority in heaven upon earth is given to Jesus, and with that authority, Jesus turns and gives LIFE, age-unfolding Life to us. That is, Jesus turns and causes us to know every next step shared with God our Father forever. Now Jesus says to us, “Glorify Me, even as I glorify you (see verse 22). Give Me what I desire, even as I give you what you desire.”
Value and Achievement. What does Jesus value? He wants all our Christian brethren with Him, carried by us into Him. And what do we value? John 14:23. We want the Father at Home in our hearts.
Then, what is Jesus’ greatest achievement? Making us like Himself, the proving of Word, that He might then prepare us inside Himself into a dwelling place for the Father. And what is the Father’s greatest achievement? Keeping you and me all the way into our being, not just a bride for Jesus, not only His friends and companions in the Spirit forever, but the very body or form Jesus possesses as His own visibility to heaven and earth.
Notice that there is only purity here, a purity assumed entirely out from the propitiation of Blood, already all. The Covenant and Ruling Verse 10 are intrinsically tied together. Now I must transfer all of this, somehow, into Gospel Comments.
Defining “to Glorify.” 17:1 Definition: “To glorify” means a reciprocal giving. The closest thing in our experience is family giving at Christmas time. Glory means two things, it means one’s deepest value and thus desire, and it means the celebration of one’s greatest achievement. These are what Father and Son give to each other continuously. “Father, fulfill now in Me My deep Desire and My great achievement, even as I fulfill in You Your deep Desire and Your great achievement” (see Ephesians 2:21-22).
1 Covenant: Jesus desires us with Him inside of God (John 17:24). God desires a people in whom to dwell (Hebrews 8:10). This is the Covenant, for we are found inside this reciprocal giving, this “embrace” of Father and Son.
1: Definition (of our astonishment): You and I are the gift God gives to Jesus and Jesus gives to God.
What Is “To Know?” 2-3 Ruling Verse 10: John 17:3 is the goal of the gospel, the only definition in the Bible of age-unfolding Life. John 17:3 is the what, and John 14:20, 15:4, and Romans 13:14 are the how.
2-3 Definition: Age-unfolding life is to know God, the One True God, God as Father. We know God through knowing Jesus Sent into us. We have no other thought or goal.
3 Definition: What does it mean to KNOW God? The answer to that question must begin with the entirety of John 17, the “prayer that birthed the Kingdom.” Yet, to know is a sliding scale word; that is, its meaning increases forever, for the God we must know is without end. Yet this “know” is first personal.
1-3 Speak Christ: God, my Father, You Sent Jesus into me so that I might know You. Lord Jesus, You dwell inside my heart as every Word God speaks so that I might know the Father.
The Work Jesus Completed. • 4 I glorified You upon the earth; I have completed the work that You have given Me to do. 5 Now, glorify Me, Father, inside Your presence, with the glory that I possessed in Your presence separate from the world-cosmos.
What work did Jesus complete? He states exactly what He means through the next bit.
Definition: What work did Jesus complete? 1. He made Father God clear and visible to us, God as He is. 2. He gave us the Words that are God’s own thoughts inside Himself. 3. He kept us inside God’s keeping of us. 4. He shared His same glory with us. These four things are finished.
Definition: “Before creation” cannot mean “a long time ago,” for God is all here now. This is the relationship between Jesus and God, Father and Son together, apart from created things.
We Enter the Picture. 6 I made Your name clear and visible to those whom You have given Me out of the world. • They were Yours [in the first place], and You gave them to Me, and they have kept, watched over, and guarded Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things You have given Me are inside of Your presence; • 8 for the words that You have given Me, I have given them, and they received and seized hold of them and knew truly that I came from Your presence; and they believed that you sent Me.
Jesus now turns from His interaction with the Father to us, bringing us into that picture and defining who we are. We see God only through Jesus, knowing that we are seeing God clearly. We know that we belonged to God first, and that God gave us to Jesus. We know that Jesus is in God’s presence as everything of God comes through Him to us. Yet inside of this Embrace, we find Word at its heart.
What Is a Believer? 6-7 Definition: What is a believer, one who belongs to Jesus? As believers, we see God only through Jesus, God clearly visible. We know that we belonged to God first, who then gave us to Jesus. We know also that Jesus gives us to the Father. We know that Jesus is in God’s presence as all of God comes through Him to us. Yet inside this Embrace of Father and Son, we treasure Word above all, Word that has made us like Jesus.
7-8 Definition: What is keeping Word? Human performance NEVER keeps God’s Word. The curse is that they don’t care. We who CARE run into Jesus through faith, against all human sight and judgment, for we must be found inside of a Jesus who is already all Word fulfilled, that we might KNOW Word.
8 Covenant: Jesus is Word; Jesus alone connects us with God. Jesus has made us to be like Himself by Word.
Do Not Pray for the World. 9 I pray concerning them. • I do not pray for the world-cosmos, but concerning those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. • 10 And all things of Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified inside of them. 11 I am no longer in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world, and I am coming towards You.
We do not pray for the world. We do not pray for “all those sinners out there.” Rather, we pray specifically for those whom the Father has given to Jesus. These are coming out from the world, and some of them are not yet born again. Thus evangelism is not excluded. BUT! We do not fight battles not given to us. Our giving of ourselves for our brethren takes everything. If we are caught fighting for what God does not know, then we will fail in what He has given to us.
A Shared Gift. Then, verse 10 is again cryptic, for Jesus is speaking of His all-here-now doing, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Then there is this line, “I have been glorified inside of them.” What does that mean? Jesus speaks of a shared gift, which is us, but what does that mean?
9 Ruling Verse 9: We do not pray for the world; rather, we pray for those whom God has given to Jesus out from the world. The world has no hope except liberty comes to all through the Church. A glorious Church brings Salvation into creation.
10 Covenant: Jesus shares everything with God in the full possession found in Blood Covenant. Then Jesus turns and “is glorified” in us. That means that He now shares everything with us in the same Blood Covenant. Covenant is reciprocal giving.
KEEP Them! 11 • Devoted Father, keep, guard, and watch over those whom You have given Me inside of Your name, that they might be one, just as We are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept those whom You have given Me inside of Your name. 13 But now I am coming towards You; • and these things I speak inside the world-cosmos, that they might possess My joy fulfilled and made complete inside of them. 14 I have given them Your word, and the world-cosmos hated them, because they are not of the world, in the same way that I am not of the world. • 15 I do not ask that You should remove them from the world, but that you should keep them away from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world-cosmos, just as I am not of the world.
I have kept this all together, for it is one thought. The AGREEMENT between Father and Son continues. And we continue to define “to KNOW God.”
The Four Agreements. Let’s list the four specific agreements being made between Father and Son. (There is a fifth one coming up.) 1. Glorify Me as I glorify You. 2. Keep these whom You have given Me even as I have kept them. 3. Make them devoted to Yourself, even as I devote Myself to You. Then, later from the cross, 4. Forgive them (even as they forgive their brethren).
Inside each of these four agreements, you and I are caught in the embrace of Father and Son. And each of these four agreements are a continuous reciprocity of giving forever. A continuous reciprocity of giving is movement, the Flow of Life. It is the Father’s Life shared with us. Point 4, in its return, is you and me just like Jesus – And we also. And points 1-3 as well. We are found inside of every one of these agreements, for they are part of a Living Covenant.
A Living Covenant. Therefore receive one another interactively in exactly the same way that Christ received you into the glory of God (Romans 15:7). – Here am I, I and all the children whom You have given Me (Hebrews 2:13). – Bring your brothers and sisters with you, inside of you, into God. – Just like Jesus in return, the fulfillment of the Covenant.
11 Covenant: The relationship between Father and Son is a continuous reciprocity of giving all to each other. The essence of knowing the Father is knowing (your name in the blank), “I, ___, am the one whom the Father gives to Jesus and whom Jesus gives to the Father in a continuous reciprocity of giving.” Yet this reciprocity of giving is also the meaning of “Life,” and of “Grace.” Thus our being found inside this giving between Father and Son is a Living Covenant, a Covenant of Grace.
To Be Kept. The two cherubim of the Mercy Seat above the Covenant are representations of Keep and Make Devoted. These two reference the two parts of Life and of Grace. To be kept is outward, every next step KEPT inside of God. To be made devoted is inward, sharing Life with God as a personal knowing. Jesus references first one and then the other, but we know them together.
11-12 Covenant: The commitment God our Father makes with Jesus to KEEP us is absolute. We are kept.
11-12 Kingdom: To be kept is the outward movement of life, every next step we share with God. “To keep” is vast in its meaning. It includes protection from all, the certainty that every next step is shared with a God who cares and provides with great watchfulness. This is why we give thanks in return.
His Joy inside of Us. Jesus places two things in-between Keep and Make Devoted. The first is His Joy fulfilled in us. When a timid singer stands before a “Got Talent” audience, delivers a wondrous audition, and then watches 4000 people and 4 judges on their feet cheering with all celebration, the look on their face is wonder and glory, yes, but what you see inside of that one is JOY. And the second is our unique relationship with the world.
13 Ruling Verse 7: Joy is the personal sense defining Jesus inside as He successfully carries us through death and into knowing Father with us. His same Joy then comes to completion inside of us.
14-15 Kingdom: We are “out of the world” by appearance only, for we belonged to the Father first, who then sent us into the world for His purposes. Our task is not “to make the world a better place,” but to carry all our brethren with us into God.
Make Them Devoted! • 17 Make them pure and devoted to You inside of the truth; Your word is truth. • 18 Just as You sent Me into the world-cosmos, in the same way I also send them into the world. • 19 For their sakes, I make Myself pure and devoted to You, that they also might be made pure and devoted inside of the truth.
Verse 18 is also an extension of the agreement between Father and Son, even a point 5. Its meaning is found in the same return of reciprocity. I have placed a chart into the next slide for us to ponder, for the next lesson is “So I Send You.”
Make them pure and devoted to You, even as I, for their sakes, make Myself pure and devoted to You. – This is the heart of propitiation, the heart of the Covenant becoming the Kingdom. By this we know Love – and we also.
A Chart to Ponder. Let’s ponder this incredible Embrace.
To Be Made Devoted. To be made devoted is the movement, the reciprocal giving, of life within. It is the essence of sharing Hheart with God. Jesus words, “For their sakes, I make Myself devoted to You, that they also might be made devoted,” are the visibility and the action of God’s Heart. This is the Tent of David, after God’s Heart, a continuous, reciprocal worship of giving.
17 Definition: To be devoted is the essence of worship, the Tent of David, a man after God’s own heart, that is, a continuous, reciprocal worship of giving. It means we belong to God only, through Jesus, and to no other. It is best expressed by the words, “Look at me, God, for I belong to You. Let it be to me according to Your Word.”
17-18 Covenant and Kingdom: In every step, Kingdom is coming out from Covenant, and Covenant is bringing forth Kingdom. The essence of both is a Hheart shared with God.
By This We Know Love. John Chapter 17 is the beating heart between Covenant and Kingdom, the “pump,” the Covenant, sending forth, the going forth of Life, returning to the pump, that is, the Source and Cause of the Flow, and then being sent again. Sharing Hheart with God means placing what God wants, His Church, as the continuous description of our own hearts.
19 Ruling Verse 8: “Make them devoted to You, even as I, for their sakes, make Myself devoted to You.” This is the heart of propitiation, the heart of the Covenant becoming the Kingdom. By this we know Love – and we also.
19 Ruling Verse 5: Jesus is the Heart we share with God. He shares with us His Joy to bring to God what the Father wants.
We now know the meaning of the Blood of the Lamb.
Our Inclusion. • 20 It is not for these only that I ask, but also for those who believe into Me through their word. Verse 20 is a simple, but very important codicil to the Covenant. We do not look at the disciples as “special,” for we are as included into Jesus as they are. This is the same, then, as Paul found in Hosea, that all the ethnic families are included inside God’s Church, inside all that Jesus is.
20 Covenant: All who call upon Jesus’ name, all who believe into Jesus, are included in this embrace of Father and Son, regardless of ethnicity or gender. John confirms what Paul found in Hosea, that all are included.
Note: I am thinking of placing into The Open Scroll the assignment of speaking John 17 as Father and one’s own self. Found here: https://christrevealed.info/Purpose/abiding
Father with Us. • 21 [I ask] that all might be one, just as You, Father, are inside of Me and I inside of You, that they also might be inside of Us, that the world-cosmos might believe that You sent Me. • 22 The glory which You have given Me, I have given them, that they might be one just as We are one; • 23 I inside of them, and You inside of Me, that they might be brought to full completion inside of one, that the world might know that You sent Me, and have loved them in just the same way that You have loved Me.
This is way too much for us, neither can we place the entirety of its meaning into The Open Scroll. What we must do here is place our own personal goal, to KNOW the Father in a specific way, that is, Father at Home in our hearts. John 14:23 is the personal meaning of John 17:3.
Symmorphy. What we must do with this set of three verses is place it into the larger context, specifically across the Ruling Verses. And for the first time, I see that this is also Jesus asking of the Father, thus these things are inside that agreement to give Glory to one another.
21 Definition: God’s meaning of “one” is very specific. It is not “oneness,” that is, it is not an impersonal glob or a merging of identities. God’s “one” is many together as one, many persons distinct in themselves, yet sharing life together.
21-23 Ruling Verses 1 & 10: God is a Symmorphic Being, that means that He dwells inside of and reveals Himself through another Person, His Son, the Lord Jesus, who also dwells inside of Him. The symmorphy we then share with Jesus is found only inside the Symmorphy Jesus first shares with God.
From Glory to Liberty. 22 Definition: A believer into Jesus is one who possesses the Glory of Jesus already all, that is, the full celebration of all Victory completed, Jesus filling His Church with all of Himself (see Ephesians 1:23 & 4:10), the Gift of God into us.
21-23 Covenant: The Covenant is a Covenant of Symmorphy. It establishes you and me inside the Symmorphy of Father and Son, the flow of Love and Joy in their Fellowship together forever (see 1 John 1:3).
23 Ruling Verse 8: There is no distinction in God between His Love for Jesus and His Love for us. They are the same.
21-23 Ruling Verse 9: There is one Salvation only for the world. They will NOT know God or enter Liberty until they see Christians inside of Jesus, right here on this earth, loving one another as Jesus to each other.
Inside of Us. • 24 Father, I desire that those whom You have given Me might be with Me where I am, that they might behold My glory that You gave Me, because You loved Me separate from the foundation and blueprint of the world-cosmos. 25 Just and Innocent Father, although the world has not known You, I have known You and these have known that You sent Me. • 26 And I made known to them Your name and will make it known, that the love with which You loved Me might be inside of them, and I inside of them.
There are only two primary points in these verses, but they are huge. I can see that there are few other passages in Scripture that show more the PERSONAL nature of the Father, of Jesus, of us, and of Salvation. The Love with which the Father LOVES Jesus – inside of us.
Defining the Desire of Jesus. We begin with a fuller definition of Jesus’ Desire. Desire is the expression of Value, the movement from Value to Completion, that is, accomplishment, a job finished and well done. – Who, for the JOY set before Him, endured all (Hebrews 12:2).
24 Definition: The Greek word is thelema, that is, Jesus’ DESIRE, what He wants. Desire is the expression of Value, the movement from Value to Completion, a job finished and well done. – “Who, for the JOY set before Him, endured [all]” (Hebrews 12:2). That JOY is you and me with Him inside of the Father, sharing the same Joy.
24 Definition: To see His glory is to see Jesus in one another, that is, His Church, His Bride, His Beloved. To see His glory is to share His passion, to set the same Joy before our own eyes, a Church for Father, Christians loving one another.
Love inside of Us. “That the love with which You loved Me might be inside of them, and I inside of them.” – Make these words the only thing you know.
25-26 Ruling Verse 10: Knowing the Father is not found in the world, nor in the mind of humans; it is found in Jesus Sent into us. This Jesus inside of us makes us to know the very NAME of the Father, His essence and being.
26 Ruling Verses 8 & 10: The essence and being of the Father is Love. Beyond all human comprehension, the Love of God for Jesus is also the same Love of God for us as Jesus inside of us.
24-26 Definition: Verses 24-26 portray for us the deepest value that personalness is to God, that which is most valued inside one’s heart, the personal nature of the Father, of Jesus, of us, and of Salvation.
Gethsemane and Tearing Open Again. These words that birthed the Kingdom, words that join you and me with Jesus inside of the Father beyond our wildest imagination, are not spoken lightly. Rather, Gethsemane must then be the very next step, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. The one who sees Me sees the Father.
This is the great tearing open, the depths of travail, the entrance into all costliness, through which alone that which God speaks is brought into visible appearance. Gethsemane is the visibility of the Father; it is where the Ekenosis is taking place, Jesus CALLING an invisible God into being seen and known through Himself. Jesus, calling you and me into – AND WE ALSO.
I Have Found What I’m Looking For. When I left the move fellowship, Sister Charity Titus said to me, “I hope you find what you are looking for.” Well, the truth is, I was looking for being part of what Annie saw in her vision. – And I have, I truly have. Father at Home in my heart.
We are entering, not just another study of John’s vision, but its final fulfillment on this planet. I don’t think there is anything more important for us to KNOW, to be rooted in, to come out from every moment, this Flow from Covenant to Kingdom that we see here in John 17.
I am overwhelmed with Light, however, and am able to continue finishing this lesson only a bit at a time. Jesus shares His Glory and His JOY with us.
Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, we are so overwhelmed. All we are able to do is to place ourselves inside of You, inside Your very Heart. You love us as much as You love Jesus. You brought us out from Yourself in great costliness, and then You gave us as Your gift to Jesus. Now Jesus gives us in return to You as His great gift to You.
“God, our Father, look upon us, for we belong to You alone. Your Word is beyond us, beyond all, but we KNOW Jesus whom You have sent into us. Let it be to us according to all that You mean in all that You speak. God, we would share Hheart with You. We would be the expression of Your Heart into our world in our own unique and little way. Oh Father, You are God through us into Love.”