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10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. ~ John 17:10-19
We continue today in the longest recorded prayer of the Lord Jesus. In this prayer He prays that He may be glorified (v.1-5), His disciples may be protected and sanctified (v.6-19), and the church may be unified (v.20-26). Today, we will consider v.10-19.
In our last blog, we considered the theme of grace. There is nothing more heart changing than God's grace. There is nothing more positioning of our heart's to be defined by God than the God's undeserved favor.
In v.10, the Lord Jesus, once again, identifies His disciples as gifts from the Father. He knows that He is about to leave them, and He is allowing them to eavesdrop in on His conversation with the Father. In so doing, the Lord Jesus commends His disciples to the Father's care for it was in the Father's name that they were protected.
This protection is for their fellowship with the Father. You will remember that our relationship with the Lord is based upon the performance of the Lord Jesus on our behalf. And our fellowship is the experience we gain with God as we choose to live by faith in His involvement in our lives.
According to v.11-13, the Lord Jesus prays, "Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name." The Father's name, in fact, had been given to the Lord Jesus, so He acts on behalf of the Father. The name "Jesus" includes God's personal name "Yahweh." "Jesus" means "Yahweh saves." The Lord Jesus is appealing to the Father's attributes on the behalf of His disciples.
Notice the purpose of the Father's protection at the end of v.11: "so that they may be one as we are one." The result is "oneness" or "not lacking" which is a product of His name and His holiness defining us. The adjective "holy" (hagios in the Greek) in v.11 is the same as the verb "sanctify" (hagiazo in the Greek) in v.17-18. The Father, who is holy, is able to and desires to make us holy or complete or sanctified as well.
God never intended for our relationship with Him and with other believers to exist in a vacuum. Similar to the community among the Trinity, a community of believers nurtures oneness, and the relationships that are forged contribute to the community. The community of believers and the oneness produced plays a crucial role in protecting our fellowship with God. This facilitates the fulfillment the Lord Jesus offers us.
In v.12, we read, "None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled." The Lord Jesus is referring to Judas who never was truly a member of the disciple community. Outwardly he was, but inwardly his heart never yielded to the grace, love and mercy of God. Long ago the scriptures foretold that one would betray the Savior (Psalm 41:9, John 13:18). Nevertheless, the emphasis is not on the one who betrayed but on the eleven who believed and enjoyed the protection of God.
In v.13, we read, "I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them." The Lord Jesus had protected the disciples by His word and His gift of inner joy. He told them the truth, and as they believed it they found it led them to joy. The joy of knowing God has a protective influence in our lives. If we find true joy in knowing Him, we're less likely to look elsewhere for false joy.
The Lord Jesus clearly saw the coming persecution these believers would face. He knew the world would hate them, because He had given them the Father's word. It is the Scripture, the Word of God, that is the primary object of the enemy's hatred. It is the word of God which gives us His culture, His definition of things. And, when we walk in the truth, the world will hate it.
In v.14 the Lord Jesus identifies the threat to our felowship with God: the world. The Lord Jesus has given us God's word, which is the gospel that we believed (17:6), thereby attracting the world's hatred. Anyone who believes the gospel poses a threat to the world, because the gospel confronts the world's sin. The world's hatred, therefore, may draw us away from God, where it appears safer.
As a side note, I have always been astounded by the churches desire to isolate itself away from the world. This passage explains why they would desire such, but this desire is not biblical. We are clearly not to isolate ourselves from the world. Despite the fact that the phrase, "be in the world but not of it" is not in the Bible, the concept is definitely biblical.
The Lord Jesus wants to love the world through the believer. Therefore, He asks the Father to protect his disciples "from the evil one" in v.15. The enemy is not the world but Satan, who inspires the world. As Paul says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 6:12).
In v.14-16, the Lord Jesus says the disciple is not of the world, just as He is not. Because this is so, the world will hate us, because it wants undisturbed wickedness. So the Lord Jesus asks the Father that we might be protected from the influence of the world, whose hatred, as inspired by Satan, might cause us to wander from God.
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