“...ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” (Joh 15:7b-8 AV)
All the parables of Jesus about fruit, and all the commands about following and abiding with Jesus, are all about Christian unity in Jesus as God’s love for all His children, so that we can always be with Him, and bear much fruit, such as figs, in Him. We Christians wait together here in Christian unity, ever growing in Jesus, bearing ever more and more of the fruit of the Spirit now in this life, for all to see and enjoy, while we wait for the return of our dear Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Lord of the harvest. But waiting doesn’t mean wasting time. While we wait, we work to perform the commanded Christian unity of love for all believers, working to prepare ourselves as the Lord’s bride-to-be, becoming, in love for one another, the virgin-perfect bride He commands and deserves.
1 John 4: 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
1 John 4: 17 ¶ Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
While we wait for His return, we both wait and follow. We wait bearing the fruit of the Spirit for one another, and for the world, and we follow Jesus now to be where He is now. He’s with the Father preparing all of us Christians to take our proper place of service in His house, to where we are built together in the eternal house of God, which is at the same time both in heaven, and within us. We are not to be fooled into thinking that His kingdom will suddenly drop down from heaven while we refuse to build ourselves together in it within our own hearts, keeping our hearts far from Him. We are the parts of that house, and in our hearts is the construction site.
Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
John 14:2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
In Christian unity we follow Jesus now to be where He and the Father are now, building that eternal house of all of us believers, together in Jesus.
John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
4 ¶ And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
In Christian unity we know that we only come to the Father by first uniting in Jesus.
John 14:5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
In Christian unity we know that the children of God are the disciples, meaning "followers", of Jesus. So we follow Jesus by obeying His new commandment. In so doing, we follow Jesus into His love for all believers. We follow Him there because we know that in our love for one another as children of God, loving now with our lives laid down for each other, as Jesus loved us, the world now knows we are the “disciples” that follow the true Son of the one true God.
John 13: 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
36 ¶ Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.
Jesus told Peter that Peter would have to follow Jesus afterwards. Jesus was going to be with the Father, to prepare a place for us all in Christian unity. But this place is now a place of preparation, not a palace of leisure, not now at least. We’re supposed to follow Jesus wherever He goes. Should we go relax and watch while He does all the work to build us together into a house for God in which we are not willing participants? Or should we be *as He is*, serving all as our Master serves, by working for mutual love and forgiveness among all believers, working to perfect the unity of ourselves in God's love and forgiveness for all believers, including all Christian denominations and groups? Did Jesus not love and serve with His life, or did He do so for any less than all believers? Should we?
John 13:13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
John 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
1 John 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
Luke 6:40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.
1 John 2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
1 John 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
We’re supposed to be working to build ourselves together in God’s house now, not fighting over who gets which mansion. God is building us many mansions, all together in God’s house, whose house are we, if we follow Jesus to where He is preparing that place of His kingdom within us, so that we can help God build us together in our hearts, united in the one foundation of Jesus. Peter couldn’t be there with Jesus immediately, but had to wait until he received the Holy Ghost afterward, at the first Pentecost after the resurrection.
Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
John 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Hebrews 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
1 Corinthians 3: 9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
11 ¶ For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Peter knows that as a disciple it is his job to follow Jesus. Jesus isn't just explaining the fact that He's going to be gone away, He's also explaining to Peter how to follow Him. Jesus is telling Peter that it's the job of all disciples to follow Jesus into the next phase of the work of the Spirit of Christ in us, to make us one in love for each other. Jesus is saying that once Peter has the Holy Spirit, Jesus expects Peter to use that power to follow Jesus and the Holy Spirit into the work of building the body of Christ into the one, eternal kingdom of God that is within us all in Christ.
Jesus is effectively telling Peter, “If you just think about it, Peter, you know where I'm going because I just told you I’m going to prepare mansions in God’s house. You know there’s a place for you to work with me there because I just told you to follow me wherever I go. The Jews who’ve opposed me can’t follow me there because the Spirit is not in them to lead them to it. But once you’ve received the Holy Spirit, He’ll remind you what I’ve said, and you’ll know how to get there, which I just told you is by obeying my new commandment to love one another. You do that love with your lives laid down, the way I lay down my life for all of you. That’s how all men will know you are disciples (followers) of the Christ sent by the True God (i.e., “know that ye are my disciples”) enabling those who desire to follow God to look at you and know, once and for all, how to get there, united together as brethren in love with each other, in the same love the Father has for each of you.”
Jesus is just telling Peter the same things He's said all along, and He knows Peter will soon be reminded again by the Holy Spirit, so that Peter can finally understand. According to Jesus, following Him has always been about laying down our whole lives as the only way of choosing to allow God's eternal love, fruit that remains, to grow in us fed by the Vine, and to be born through each of us for one another, for all believers first, and through us that are united in the Vine, fruit to be grown and offered in us for the world to partake. That's the same way it was the only cup of fruit allowed in the Father's will for Jesus to choose, just as He bore to all of us the fruit of the Spirit in His Father's love by laying down His own life for all of us believers, of every Christian denomination and group. That's the fruit of the Vine that first flowed from Jesus to the world, and it is supposed to keep flowing now, through the continuing sacrifice of the body of Christ, united in self-sacrificial love for all God's children, to the world.
Matthew 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
John 18:11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?
1 Corinthians 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
Matthew 20:20 Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.
21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.
22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.
23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
24 And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.
25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
That is precisely what Christian unity is: *following*, *bearing fruit*, and drinking that same cup of fruit of the vine, fruit that remains eternally in the Father's will, the same as Jesus drank according to the Father's will, the cup of loving self-sacrifice for all the brethren. As disciples not above our Master, we love and forgive, and humble ourselves as our Master did, *laying down our lives* as the gift of God's love that goes to the world through us, by going first to all us believers, of every Christian denomination and group, united with each other and with God in His love for all His children, i.e., for all of us Christians. He calls us friends, not servants, just because we know that eternal unity with Him in His love for all of us is His plan for our eternity together. We, His friends, see His plan and follow His plan now by laying down our lives now in love for one another, as He did in this life for all of us. Serving Jesus in this life by serving all believers in love, we are as the Master is now, and we follow His plan for how He passes along His gift through all believers united in love, to all those now in the world who will come out from the world to join us believers in Him, forever.
John 12:23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
Christian unity in love of all believers is how you lose your life for Jesus' sake, and lose your life for the gospel's sake, and lose your life for the sake of being His disciples ("followers" of Him). It's also because God still so loves the world, and still wants that fruit of the Vine to flow to all men through us followers united in that Vine.
Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
If you can't do it without Him, then you can't do it without all who are *in Him*, in every Christian denomination or group. You can't get away from the other branches. You might as well lay down your life, by uniting with Him in His love for every one in Him, in love for every single branch, because there's no other way.
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Romans 12:5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
So we know Christian unity in His love is what our Lord doeth *in us*, where His kingdom is *in us*, where His Spirit is in each of us.
1 John 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
1 John 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
So now that the Holy Ghost has come, and all we Christians have received the Spirit of Christ in us, we don’t wait for the next life before we obey Jesus in His kingdom within us and we follow Him now, in the spirit and the truth of the Spirit of Christ who is in us all. We obey Him now in His new commandment to love all the brethren in Christ, in order to be where Jesus is now, building us all together as the eternal dwelling place of God, united in the Father’s love for all God’s children, of every Christian denomination and group.
Following Jesus, we also follow Him into the light, and we are where He is, abiding in the light of the Father’s love for all His children.
John 8:12 ¶ Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
1 John 2:10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
The men who oppose following Jesus to where we can all abide in this light of brotherly love together are refusing to come and unite in the light of the words of the Bible about Jesus. Some of these are our brethren who are babes, still carnal, causing divisions. As our brethren, we must forgive such babes yet carnal, teach them to turn from their carnal, prideful, divisive ways toward brotherly love, and draw them out of the decaying, carnal man deeper with us into God's eternal love for all His children .
But some others are just like the false prophets and ravenous wolves, the men who put thorns in the way of men reaching for the good fruit that is grown only by uniting in the love and the one Vine, who is Jesus. As we draw together in the light of brotherly love and righteousness, the light will drive the wolves away.
John 3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Following Jesus, we take up our cross daily and follow him, both in our lives as individuals, and also in our life together as one in the body of Christ. Following Jesus into His one body, we daily crucify the old, carnal man that once we were. In Christian unity of love for all believers, we put to death, daily that old, carnal man, who in times past tried to bring unrighteousness and immoral acts into the church, and also caused prideful strife and divisions in the body of Christ.
Matthew 10: 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Instead of living our life for ourselves, we live in holiness and we now lose our life in this world for Jesus’ sake, and we follow Him in brotherly love by laying down our own lives in humble service to all our brethren united in Jesus.
1 John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
In so performing the love of all our brethren in Christ as He commanded, we are friends more than servants of Jesus, because we show in this brotherly love that we do, that we now know what our Lord doeth in us, that God’s eternal purpose in the fullness of times is to unite us all in Jesus.
John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Ephesians 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Following, abiding, and bearing fruit is always about Christian unity in love of all believers. Following Jesus, we believers are all together with Him where He is, and we abide, or continue together, united in what Jesus called "my love", which is His love for all God's children, united in Him, who is both that Love, and that one Vine where we live together in love and bear good fruit for one another and the world.
John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
John 15: 9 ¶ As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
But we don’t abide and continue in just any, old love. As the Father loved Jesus as a child of God, so Jesus loves each of us as a child of God, with self-sacrificial love for each child of God, and we follow Jesus to where we continue in that same love of His for every child of God.
John 15: 9 ¶ As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
In order to follow Him to where we abide in the love of Jesus, we keep all the commandments of Jesus, all of which He heard from the Father and gave to us, and all of which are for the purpose that we love one another united in Him.
John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
John 15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
Keeping all the commandments of Jesus, we keep Jesus’ new commandment for us to lay down our lives in love for all our brethren in Christ; where we abide in the love of Jesus for all God's children.
John 15: 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love;...
And that is the same way Jesus kept His Father’s commandments by laying down His whole life for all of us, and in so doing, abided in His Father’s self-sacrificing love for all the Father’s children, whosever believeth in Jesus to repentance, of every Christian denomination and group.
John 15: 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
We follow where He goes in the love of God’s children, and we abide where He stays in the love of God’s children, and His self-sacrificial love for all God’s children is also in us for one another, so that His presence remains in us giving us eternal fullness of joy.
John 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Psalms 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore
Following Jesus, we unite in Him as God’s love for all His children, believers of every Christian denomination and group, becoming the fig tree that sprouts green leaves as the sign that can be seen afar off of the fruit we bear in the Spirit. Together in Jesus, as God’s love for all His children, we are that sign which all men in the world can see. We bear the fruit, and show the sign that is the result of the agape brotherly love, which Jesus promised would cause us Christians to be seen by all men as the disciples of the One sent by God, if we members of the body, branches together in the same one fig tree, love one another with our lives laid down, as now we do.
John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
In this statement, Jesus wasn’t just saying that the world would know that we Christians are the disciples of a really nice man, or the disciples of a great philosopher, who happened to be named Jesus. Jesus knew who He was. He was saying that by our love for one another in the body of Christ, if we love each other with our lives laid down for all believers, like He did for all of us, then the world knows that we are the disciples of the One truly sent by God. Jesus knew who He was, and when He said this about the world knowing we are His disciples, He expected us to know who He was, too.
John 17: 25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
Jesus expects us to know that in His name, Jesus has declared to all of us, that the love wherewith the Father loved Jesus is the love of the one, true God for one of His very own, true children, so that the Father’s love for His child, Jesus, as for all His children, could be in us for each other. That love in us, is Jesus in us.
John 17: 26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
With that love in us, and with God in that love, we are perfect in one love for all God’s children. And thereby the world knows that God truly sent Jesus, because our Father’s love for each and every one of us, His children, is the same as our Father’s love for Jesus.
John 17:23 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.
Consider what the word says in John 17:24:
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John 17:24 ¶ Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me,…
All of us children of God have all been given by the Father to Jesus, delivered by the Father to know the eternal, self-sacrificial love of Jesus for all of us. And Jesus, by His love for all of us believers, reveals God to us, as being our dear Father having boundless, eternal, self-sacrificial love for us as His children.
Luke 10:22 All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
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…be with me where I am;…(John 17:24, continued)
Knowing that all of us are thus given to Jesus as children of God, we follow Jesus into that love for us, as for all the Father’s children, to where we can be with Jesus there where He is, in the Father’s boundless, eternal, self-sacrificial love for all His children.
Recognizing both others and ourselves as children of God, we receive every one of the other such little children of God to ourselves as our brethren born of the same Father, and receiving the least of these brethren of Jesus to ourselves as our brethren, we receive Jesus. Receiving Jesus, we are with Him where He is.
Matthew 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Matthew 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
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… that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. (End quote, John 17:24)
Following Jesus into our Father’s love for all His children, we are there together with Him and in Him, united with Jesus and in Jesus, in God’s love for all His children, where we behold His glory, which glory the Father gave to Jesus, and Jesus gave to us that we may be one in that love, which is the love God had for Jesus and all His children before the foundation of the world.
John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
John 17: 24 ¶ Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Ephesians 1: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
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Believing Jesus when He said that He gave us His glory that we may be one in Christian unity with Him in this love, we there behold His glory to work any miracle we ask, that we may be one in this love.
John 11:40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
One together in the love of both Jesus and the Father, in their love for all God’s children, and with their love in us which they both have for all God’s children, we are all with and in both of them, and they are both with and in all of us, made perfect as one together in God’s love for all His children. By reason of this unity in love we lay down our lives for each other, as Jesus laid down His own for all of us, by which obedience God shows His glory to make the world know that we are the disciples of the One truly sent by God.
John 17:21 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.
John 17:23 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.
1 John 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
John 13: 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Consider now what the Word says in John 15:7
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John 15: 7 If ye abide in me,...
Together in Christian unity, we abide in Jesus as the Father’s love for all His children.
1 John 2:7 ¶ Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
1 John 2:24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
John 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
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....and my words abide in you,... (John 15: 7, continued)
In Christian unity, all the words of Jesus abide in us, all of which are about our repentance to righteousness and brotherly love, all of which He heard from His Father, and all of which He commands us, for the purpose that we love one another.
John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
John 15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
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...ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (End quote: John 15: 7)
Abiding united in that love, we ask what we will for the whole body of Christ, and we get whatever we ask for, no matter how much glory of God is required in order to work the miracle thus asked for Christian unity.
John 17: 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.
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God does whatever we ask for, abiding united together in that love for all God’s children, so that we may truly be the disciples of the One sent by God, and so that we may be seen by the whole world as such. One together in that love, we truly are His disciples who follow Jesus into His love, bearing much good fruit of the Spirit, and drawing all men in to the one vine, Jesus. Those drawn in to this fruit of the Spirit, take the good, desirable fruit we bear them, which makes them want to accept the seed of the word and faith of Christ that's inside that fruit. Then from that seed of the word and faith of Christ they accept from us, they also take and bear more fruit in Jesus, many fold, many times over.
John 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Receiving any miracle we ask united in Jesus, we glorify the Father with the glory of God’s miracles for Christian unity, with the glory the Father gave Jesus, which glory Jesus gave to us, that we may be one in God’s love for all His children, of every Christian denomination and group.
John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
John 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
John 15: 16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
The generation that is the fig tree with green leaves and fruit is the growth in due season of us Christians, who now begin to understand and bear much fruit of the Spirit in Christian unity. This green fig tree generation is all of us Christians who now believe in, and work for, with our lives laid down, the unity of all Christians, of whosoever believeth in Jesus to repentance, of all believers in the Bible’s account of the sacrifice of Jesus for the remission of our sins, believers of every Christian denomination and group. We are the generation of the green fig tree come to fruition, and we all behold the glory of God’s kingdom of love for each other within us, and in the glory of God’s miracles done now for Christian unity, in the glory Jesus already gave us that we may be one in His love for all God’s children.
John 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Proverbs 27:18 Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.
Daniel 12:12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
(END OF THE PARABLE OF THE FIG TREE)