Previously, in our series, The Prayer of Jesus, we saw that Christ began by asking the Father to restore His glory…
“Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
John 17:5
In accomplishing His purpose, Christ had condescended His throne, His glory, and His position to enter our world. His mission of sacrificial substitution was about to be fulfilled, and His prayer reaches back to what has always been–glory!
Jesus now turns His attention to His closest followers. These disciples were not the leading Scribes or teachers of the Law, but rather common men who would continue His message about the coming kingdom…
And so, He prays that they:
- …are kept in the Father’s name—Jesus’ departure was imminent, and he knew that there would be difficulty quickly approaching. His life was a direct witness to His dependence upon the Father, and He wanted His disciples to have the same dependence. This would be then make them one. In other words, as the disciples are kept in Father’s name, they would be unified. The result of the disciples unity would be a witness to the world about the truth of God—just as God is unified (three in one) so too could be His disciples.
- …have Christ’s joy completed in them—The disciples would face many trials ahead, and joy (as James points out) comes from an internal disposition unaffected by external circumstances. Joy that is rooted in Christ is a joy that endures.
- …for protection from the evil one—The wicked one would soon be defeated on the cross, as well as when Christ conquers death through His resurrection; however, the enemy would still have sway on the earth until the final judgment. This sway is what will bring division among His disciples, and Christ prays for them to remain protected from his attacks.
- …are sanctified in the truth—Truth is what humankind has always sought, and it comes from God alone. To be sanctified means to be set apart. Jesus was praying for His disciples to be peculiar in that they posses the only truth for all of mankind—the way to enter God’s kingdom through His Son. This knowledge would be through the very Word of God—the Scriptures that many of the disciples would write in order to continue the teachings of truth that came from Christ.
These are the people that were used to carry the gospel message to the world. These were the people, and this was Christ’s prayer for them!
How Does This Apply To Us Today?
- Default is division. Sad, but true. We’re a selfish lot. We want what we want, and we want it now. Not convinced? How do you respond to traffic? Wrong coffee orders? A ding in your new vehicle? Having to share your dessert with someone who previously said, “I don’t want any.”? And on. And on. We are kept from division when we are kept in the Father’s name. When He is our aim, our focus, our delight, then we are able to put all the temporary and circumstantial things into perspective. Relationships become our priority, and selfishness begins to fade.
- Hoping for hope. Joy is hard to find. Likewise, when it comes and goes, that thing we call hope quickly loses traction in one’s life, which can lead to tragic outcomes. True joy comes not in momentary satisfaction, but in an eternal weighing of one’s life, situations, and experiences with the promises of things to come.
- Satan never sleeps. The reality is, we are surrounded by evil. The threat is real. The attacks never stop. The enemy is calculated. While Satan is ultimately defeated on the cross and through Christ’s resurrection from the grave, He still has a loud voice hollering lies to us everyday. We must reject his lies, and remember the truth–about God, about us, and about him.
- Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet. Light shines brighter as the darkness gets darker. God’s Word is your light, and He will guide you through your life as you come to His Word regularly and often to find out more of Him, more about you, and more about what was and will always be. “A dusty Bible leads to a dirty life.”
Next time, we’ll see how Christ prays for us.
— June 8, 2018