John 17
“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:” (v. 1)
This entire chapter is a prayer that Jesus prayed for us. Jesus prayed for those that the Father had already given Him, as well as future generations; in v. 20, we see Him praying for Gentiles, as well as future Jews who believe on His name. The word “shall” in that verse implies a future context. Do you believe that Jesus’ prayer was answered? Definitely. If anyone ever had a prayer answered you can be assured that His was. In v. 21 we see one thing that Jesus was praying for concerning us, that we would be “one” as He and the Father are one. We see that the unity of the body was important to Jesus. In our unity and the harmony of the body, the world can see Christ in us, and that the Father has sent Him. In our text verse, Jesus knows that He has glorified, and will yet glorify the Father as well as being glorified when He is “raised up” on the cross.
We can glean much from this chapter about prayer. Note first that Jesus always addressed the “Father” some six times in His prayer, and always reverently. Note too that the entire “message” of the prayer is for unity of the believers; even that God would “keep” us, for the purpose of being “one”, v. 11, and again in v. 21. Over and over again the Lord emphasizes the oneness of the body, and the importance of it to Him. If we desire to please the Lord, let us all be in one accord, in purpose; in product; in praise, and in person. Let’s do what we can to avoid strife and concentrate of glorifying the Lord. But the most exciting thing I see here, in my opinion, is that Christ is in us, and we in Him. Just as the Father was with the Son, and in Him, so the Son is with us, and in us. What a comfort that is to me. Jesus goes with me wherever I venture to go. It is comforting to know, but also convicting. We must be careful where we take Him, or rather, where our feet take us. Jesus reminds us of this when He teaches us to pray in Mat. 6, with the words, “and lead us not into temptation”…Whenever we walk into temptation, we take the Lord with us! We would be wise to flee from it, as James tells us, and it will flee from us. When we “flirt” with temptation, it will get us eventually. We may be strong at first, and able to resist for a time, but temptation has a way of wearing us down, and breaking down our resistance. It is better to flee from it altogether, and thank the Lord that He gave us the sense to do so.
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