John 17 Commentary (7)

John 17 Commentary (7) The sixth part of the Lord's Prayer is that the perfection of the disciples who are loved by God and are one with God in Christ will be known to the world."And the glory which you have given me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that you has sent me, and that  has loved them,  as you has loved me." (John 17:22-23)There are two reactions in the world due to the ministry of the disciples.One is that they hear the word they preach and believe, and the other is that the world may know the judgment of God. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, and if you believe in him, you will have eternal life, but if you do not believe in his name, you have already been judged. (John 3:16-18)Even now, there are children of God who follow the truth and come into the light and receive God’s righteousness, and there are those who hide in the darkness, avoiding the light for fear that their actions will be revealed.So, it becomes a faith that places God in the sky and worships the Lord outside of them.The characteristic of humans who sinned in Adam and have death is that they have a nature to avoid God.That is why the Lord testifies to us about the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and the world says that they will go to heaven if they believe in Jesus.The Lord says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17), and thus tells us that he is the kingdom of God, and says, “Believe in me and in him who sent me, and you will have eternal life that will never see death.” There is no mention of going to heaven by believing in Jesus.If you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Christ and receive Him, that is the kingdom of God, and you become the righteous children of God who have  eternal life.Going to heaven means that when our earthen tent, the tent of the flesh, collapses, God's tent is covered, and we become like the Lord with a glorious body and return to the eternal world.Just as the Republic of Korea is a country of Korean people, heaven is a country of heavens.If you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, the kingdom of God will be established within you, but if you reject the gospel that Christ came in the flesh, you should only know that the kingdom of God has come.There is a huge difference between the words, 'The kingdom of God is within you,' and 'Know that it is so.' Therefore, the church must reveal the reality of the kingdom of God to the world.The church must shine a glorious light different from the world to the world in order to be a church.Therefore, Christians are permeated with the image of the Son through the Spirit of Christ, and that image becomes glory.Through this glory, we become one with God."Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)When we hear and believe in the word of the Lord who sent the Spirit of truth, and the new covenant is fulfilled in us, the image of the Lord permeates into us, we see glory, and become one with that glory.Glory is a sense of weighty and precious qualification such as precious value, and authority.Therefore, it is an essential choice for Christians to see the glory of God. The plan of God, foreordained before the creation of the world, is to be called into Christ, justified, and glorified (Rom. 8:30).Therefore, perfection refers to the state of becoming one with God through this process and procedure.When we become one with the Lord in the Word through the Spirit of truth, we can become one with God.Humans can never achieve perfection on their own.With the love that God gave us through the Bible, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, He achieves our perfection.He wants to make this achievement of God known to the world through the church.However, the church belonging to the world seeks to obtain the glory of the world through faith.In the end, the church of the last days will be indistinguishable whether it is the church or the world.The church must reveal the light of the glory as the body of Christ with the Spirit of Christ, the head of the church.We must continue to carry out the great work of bringing glory to God the Father by revealing to the world our perfection through the love that made us one with the Father through His glory in Christ.That is why the church must become the envy of the world. Written by Ptr. Yohan Kim.Translated by  Nancy Chung COME AND SEE WORLD MISSION To God be the glory.