20 ¶ Neither pray I for these alone, but for them
also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father,
art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And
the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as
we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in
me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou
hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Here is a verse that should give we Gentiles great joy. When
our ancestors were living in pagan debauchery worshipping trees, the sun, the
moon, and the stars, laying our dead on hillsides to be eaten by vultures,
sacrificing human beings to devils, and living worse than animals in some
respects Christ made a prayer for those of us who would believe.
I read, and I don’t have the citation handy, that there is
evidence that missionaries from Antioch, where Christians were first called
such (Acts 11:26), went to what we would call today Northern Italy and even as
far as Wales and Ireland to spread the apostolic faith. This is why there where
congregations in the Cottian Alps of the Piedmont section of Italy, in Wales,
and Ireland who had a more Biblical faith than mainstream Christianity although
we know little about them other than through their “Christian” enemies who
slaughtered them.
Christ prays for those who will believe through the
preaching of the Apostles. He prays that we will be unified in our purpose as
He and the Father are in the same purpose, that people will believe that Christ
came from God the Father. He gave the glory that He received from God the
Father to the believers, that all may be one. And that we may be complete
(perfect as per Colossians 4:12 and finished as per 2Chronicles 8:16) in our
understanding so that the world will know that God the Father loves us as He
loved Jesus Christ.
God the Father loves us as He loved Christ. Ponder that for
a few million years.
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