Scripture reading: John 17:22-23
John 17 shows us God’s perfect will for the church. Verses 22 and 23, “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) are one: I in them (Jesus in us), and thou in me (God in Jesus), that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou has sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” If you see this to be the perfect will of God, could you go into an ecumenical joining with people who are deviant and contrary to God and say that this is the will of God that we, the church, should be one? This is not the oneness that the Lord is talking about. The oneness that Jesus is talking about is a oneness wherein we are absolutely subject to the Head which is Christ.
Every man, everywhere, that is subject to the Head, which is Christ, does not have to go and make an agreement, or an ecumenical joining, with another man in order to be one. He is already one in Christ. If Christ speaks, he moves and becomes a part of Christ. Every part of my body is at this present time subject to my head. My hands and my feet must move according to the dictates of my head. This is what we call ONENESS. Anything else is a travesty; it is against the very thoughts of Almighty God. The thing that is about to come forth is called the one-world church, or the antichrist, with “seven heads and ten horns;” power will be given to them by Satan himself.
In Matthew 24:21 and 22, Jesus refers to this group of people (the “man child”) and He called them “the Elect.” “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” These are not just the called-out, not just the church, but the “eklektos, those who are selected out of the elected.” The selected ones will be selected out of the “ekklesia,” or “the church.” The “eklektos” comes out of the “ekklesia,” or “the chosen comes out of the church.” God is saying that there is a “man child” company.
Another description of this company is in Revelation 14. In this chapter they are called the 144,000. Verse 4, “These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.”
(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 3, pages 100-101)
Thought for today: The oneness that Jesus is talking about is a oneness wherein we are absolutely subject to the Head which is Christ.
Sonlight Devotional 
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