Not just any kind of unity, but a unity that reflects the unity of the Father and the Son!! “Perfectly one!” Of course, almost no converted person believes this; but by not believing it they brazenly reject Jesus’ words and thus Jesus Himself, without even noticing what they are actually doing. Unbelief in the Word has blinded them. It is also written how something as highly exalted as perfect unity can occur with former sinners; namely, “And the glory which You [Father] gave Me [Jesus] I have given them, that they may be one . . . .” John 17:22. Some of the most significant features of the glory that can truly accomplish something so indescribably great and glorious, are a boiling hot, godly love and a mighty peace that is basically unheard of! This is something that is unknown to most people throughout all the centuries since the work of Christ was finished! When people explain away this godly unity in one human way or another, it is appropriate to ask, “Is this the unity that the Father and Jesus Christ possessed?” What is your answer to that? For example, the apostle Paul expresses this perfect unity in 1 Corinthians 1:10: “That you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” The only thing that perfectly peaceful people cannot and shall not agree to is to accept manifest sin—works of the flesh. For example, when a brother has given good advice, and especially if it was from an elder brother, a peaceable person cannot say to him, and even less about him, “I don’t agree with that because I think something else would have been better.” Unfortunately, many people see it as their duty to disagree as much as possible! Our glorious, peaceable duty is the very opposite. Rom. 12:16, 18. Believe fully and firmly and unceasingly in John 17:22 and 23. It is the main condition for obtaining this godly life during the time of our sojourn.Elias Aslaksen

“Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work . . . .” Heb. 13:20-21. The new covenant, or the everlasting covenant, is: “Behold, I have come—in the volume of the book it is written of Me—to do Your will, O God.” In order to keep this covenant—doing God’s will instead of sinning and then sacrificing the blood of goats—Jesus had to lay down His own life, or sacrifice Himself. Heb. 10:7-10. The first covenant also was dedicated with blood. The law was written on tablets of stone, and all were sinners when the law was read. Moses took “the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people.” Ch. 9. However, the new covenant says, “I will put my law into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them . . . .” Therefore everything in the new covenant is voluntary. When we serve God, it comes from the heart. It is not the same as serving in the oldness of the letter, but rather in the newness of the Spirit. Jesus has consecrated the new covenant. Instead of doing His own will and bringing burnt offerings and sin offerings, He offered Himself in the power of an eternal Spirit. He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. In the sufferings the Father gave His commandments into His heart and wrote them in His mind. In order to fulfill them, He had to be offered. He did not live for Himself; He lived the Father’s life through obedience here on earth. 1 John 1:1-3. He did not need the blood of goats for the forgiveness of sins because He had not managed to keep the commandments; on the contrary, by obedience He sacrificed Himself through an eternal Spirit and went into the Holiest with His own blood. He has become the Mediator of a new covenant. “And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest ‘according to the order of Melchizedek . . . .’” Heb. 5:8-10. Jesus consecrated a new way. He had to have time to receive God’s commandments and laws, so that the fullness of the Godhead could dwell in Him bodily. Col. 2:9-10. We cannot receive this fullness all at once either, but with Jesus as head of the body the Father works in us the things that are pleasing to Him. The commandments are given into our hearts, with Jesus as the Mediator, and by the Holy Spirit we have grace to partake with Jesus in His sufferings by being conformed to His death. Phil. 3:10. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me . . . .” Then I have boldness to enter the Holiest in the blood of Jesus (Heb. 10:19) and become fully equipped for every good work. This cup of being crucified with Him—the fellowship of His sufferings—is the new covenant in His blood. 1 Cor. 11:25. In the power of this blood Jesus, as that great Shepherd of the sheep, was brought up from the dead, and by this same blood all those who have fallen asleep in Christ and those who live in Him will be caught up in the clouds and will always be together with Him. They will see the Father as He is. Heb. 12:14. Sigurd BratlieSigurd Bratlie