Bride of Christ

      A father gives his daughter away to a young man to be his wife on a lifetime marriage relationship. This has been a common practice in most nations from their beginning, certainly in the Scriptures. The apostle John writes of certain ones whom the Father has given to Christ. This chapter (Jn 17) establishes explicitly and unequivocally that those whom the heavenly Father has given to His Son to be His bride are the faithful covenant people, who are His church in this age.
      The Father appointed the Son by covenant to be the Heir of all things (Heb 1:2; 5:1-10), therefore He has given all things to the Son. This includes righteous angels, fallen angels, saved people, lost people, and everything else. However, the Father has given only the faithful covenant people to the Son in this unique oneness which only a marriage relationship at best can portray.

      6 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word," Jn 17:6. Those whom the Father gave to the Son were faithful and KEPT THE WORD OF GOD. Only the covenant people have done this. Only the faithful covenant people CAN do this, because God does not give His Word to anyone else Deut 29:29; 4:7-9; Ps 25:14; 147:19-20; Rom 3:1-2; Mt 28:18-20.
      8 "For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me," Jn 17:8. God does not show His Word fully to anyone but the faithful covenant people, Deut 29:29; 4:7-9; Ps 25:14; 147:19-20; Rom 3:1-2; Mt 28:18-20.
      16 "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world," Jn 17:16,14. Really we are of the world, and the unfaithful saved will eternally have earthy, physical bodies and will eternally be of the physical world. Only in God's purpose and in His reckoning are the covenant people not of the world. God reckons us to be glorified members of the glorified body of Christ, and therefore "in the Spirit," I Cor 6:17; Rom 8:9; 6:4 (2-13); 7:6 (4-6); II Cor 5:16-17; Eph 2:1-15; 4:22-24; Col 2:9--3:11. This is true only of those in the body of Christ.
      18 "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world," Jn 17:18; Mt 28:18-20. Christ did not commissioned every saved person to go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to observe all His commandments -- only His church, who are both His covenant people and His bride people.
      20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for the ones who are constantly believing INTO Me through their word," Jn 17:20. Our whole lifetime is a process of constantly believing INTO Christ in order that we may be IN the Father and IN the Son, and that the Father and Son may be IN us, as the next three verses so passionately and impressively emphasizes.

      21 "That they all may be ONE, as You, Father, are IN ME, and I IN YOU; that they also may be ONE IN US, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
        22 "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be ONE as WE are ONE:
        23 "I IN THEM, and YOU IN ME; that they may be made PERFECT IN ONE, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. and have loved them as You have loved Me," Jn 17:21-23.

      The covenant people are constantly believing INTO the Father and INTO the Son (Jn 17:20) in order that we may be ONE WITH THEM and ONE IN THEM even as the FATHER, the SON, and the HOLY SPIRIT are ONE WITH and IN each other, Jn 17:21-23. This is the same divine ONENESS experienced between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are ONE IN each other by having the same divine nature and divine fullness. There is no more intimate ONENESS than this. This divine ONENESS is of THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST because they are eternally and infinitely inexhaustible in all the richness of the fullness of God.
      This is a very passionate prayer the Lord prayed FOR HIS BRIDE just before going to Gethsemane and the Cross. The prayer is for the continuing welfare, the final victory, and the eternal and most intimate ONENESS standing and relationship of His bride people WITH and IN the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, possessing all the fullness of God in the measure of the faithfulness of each individual.