Not for these only...the Wayfarer 7/23/13

"Not for These only"

7/13/23
 

“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;”

(John 17:20)

As we worshiped this Sunday, many churches chose to dwell on Jesus’ time on the cross and his suffering. Others dwelled only on the resurrection. Both of these are integral to our faith. I, however, choose instead to call your attention to just whom it was, for which he chose of his own free will to go to that cross, and to die for, in his human form,which was just as scary for Him as it would be for you.  

The joy of the resurrection is only surpassed by the Savior’s own compassion for us. This is intended to allow you to comprehend the vast love shown by Him, not only as he suffered on the cross, but also the concern shown for you even before He was crucified.

Here we find Jesus with his disciples just prior to being arrested. 

In the previous chapter, he already told them of the coming persecution and that despite it they belong to God as well as him.  Note to fully comprehend the extent of the grief and trouble felt by Jesus at this time, the reader should begin at the 15^th chapter and read through the 18th chapter. For the sake of shortness I begin at the 32d verse of the 16^th chapter.

“Behold, the hour cometh, yea is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”

(John 16:32&33)

Jesus is telling them that they are to be scattered in fear of their very lives because of their belief in Him and that they should not have that fear. 

He warns them of the tribulation to come, but tells them that he has overcome the world! 

That same tribulation and persecution exists,and is alive and well today even after 2000 years.

 Often it is done by those who actually think that they are doing the will of God, because they take the teachings of men instead of the teachings of Jesus. After this previous warning, Jesus begins to pray to His Father:

"These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,

Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.

 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Christ Jesus whom thou hast sent.

I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 

And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: Thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.

 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

 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.

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, That they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. "

(John 17 1-13)

Jesus opened this prayer stating that the hour is come to glorify both himself and the Father through the completion of the work given him to do on this earth. Note that Jesus states that the glory that he seeks now is the same glory he had even before the world began. 

He is returning to his place in heaven where the real and only true glory can exist. He thanks God for the gift of those given to believe on him and to teach the things he taught while he was here. He states that they are the Father’s, and basically loaned to him while he is here. He further states that they have heard his teachings and finally understand that they are the teachings of God himself and not just some religious leader.

He makes a powerful statement that He prays for them... not the world. 

Jesus knows that the world itself is sinful. He prays for those who have come out of the world to follow him and his teachings instead of following the precepts taught by the lawyers, scribes, Pharisees and Rabbis of the time.

 He prays that they may be one in spirit and in mind just as he and the Father are one in mind and spirit. He states that he has not lost any of those given him except the son of perdition, Judas, who was among them of a necessity to fulfill the scriptures.

He states that while He was with them, he kept them, and asks that God keep them after he leaves and that they find the joy of being with him always. Our Savior didn’t ask that God give him more time to complete his work. He instead asks that He glorify the work already done. He knows the pain and suffering that he is about to endure, and asks only that it glorify God.

He is thinking not of himself at this crucial hour, but of others! He is thinking not of vengeance for his persecution and agony, but of love and forgiveness. He continues on in the14th verse:

“I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 

I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil. 

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

 Sanctify them through thy truth: Thy word is truth.

As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 

 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 

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.

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one even as we are one: 

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."

(John 17:15-23)

Jesus tells his Father that he has given the Father’s word to these and that they understand it, and live in accordance with it. Because they chose to follow Jesus, they were not of this world, even though they were still in the world. Jesus asks that God not take them out of the world, but keep them from the evils of that world. He asks that they be sanctified by the truth which he has revealed to them.  He goes on to say that God’s word is truth. It is only through that truth that they could be sanctified.

Jesus says that just as God sent Him into the world, he sent these into the world with the same message so that it could be heard and believed.

Now we get to the most precious part of this scripture to me. While my Savior was praying, waiting to be sacrificed on the cross, he prayed for ALL those that the disciples taught who believed as well.

He prays that we be as one with him and the Father which is our hope of eternal life through the eternal life granted him by the Father!

He says that the same glory granted him by the Father will be granted those who believe! He says that we are made perfect through his love! He says that we are to know that the Father loves us just as he is loved by the Father.

This is our hope, our salvation, and the resurrection, all promised by the one who cannot lie!

He continues in verse 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. 

O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

 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.

(John 17:24-26)

Once we accept Christ Jesus as savior, not only is he with us, but in us as well! The love of God himself and that of Jesus resides in us, and we therefore cannot help but to share that love. It is through that love for each other that the love of Jesus shows in our daily lives. It is that love that we should continually share with all those around us.

Just as at the time Jesus was praying this prayer, we must of needs face tribulations. We must suffer through persecution by those who do not, and will not, accept the teachings Jesus left us. This is when our love must shine through. It is when we are persecuted, and under tribulation that he loves us most. Don’t let that love grow cold because of those who refuse to accept it and Him! If you have not personally accepted Him as Savior, there is no better time than now!

I close with the salutation of a simple sinner saved by grace through the blood of Christ Jesus, as ever a soldier in His service, in the prayer and hope that others find him as well.

2 Timothy 1:12
 ¹²For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

AMEN and AMEN
the Wayfarer