I wonder how many ladies here like to
knit. I find that if I have spare balls
of wool after I’ve finished a project I will put them in a bag with previously
saved balls. But often when you later go
to see what you have you find that mysteriously the wools have all become
entangled with one another and you have to spend a lot of time sorting it all
out again. It’s a bit like that in the passage
from John 17 I am looking at today.
There is so much there to learn but you have to tease it apart in order
to understand it and benefit from it.
As we read from John 17 we realize we are
eavesdropping on a very special conversation, although we only hear one side of
it. Jesus is talking to the Father. This
passage comes after Jesus has been teaching His disciples about the true vine
and about the coming of the Holy Spirit to be their comforter. He begins by
stating that “The time has come.” What
time is this? It is the time for Jesus to sacrifice Himself upon the
cross. Was there an appointed time for
this? Yes.
In Rev 13:8 we read of a lamb slain from the
foundation of the world.
The time had
been appointed then at the beginning..
The crucifixion was not some terrible mistake that took God by surprise,
but the means decided upon by Father, Son and Holy Spirit to bring salvation to
His children. God is not taken by surprise by anything or He would not be
God. This way of salvation was planned
in eternity. It was not an imposition of one person of the Godhead on another
but the means all three persons chose
unanimously before time began. And now Jesus
says, “The time has come.” Although this is the hardest thing in history that
Jesus is to go through He is just interested in glorifying the Father as the
Father glorifies Him. This glory they had is in eternity. We so often fail to realize even a little bit
what this glory is. It is the glory of
the holy God, who is totally good and righteous and who has power over all
things. We are not capable of taking this in unless the Spirit reveals it to us,
for we on our own are so lacking in goodness and holiness. We need the robe of righteousness that Jesus
gives, before we can begin to understand God even a little.
The Father has granted the Son
authority over all people. Do you take
pleasure in this, in Jesus having authority over your life. There are many who do not believe and rebel
against Jesus. Like the men in the parable they do not want this man to reign
over them. And they are fools to act this way for Jesus is the most loving and
merciful ruler over His people and in Him they are secure from all harm.
What makes people rebel against Jesus? It is the desire to go their own way and take
their pleasure no matter how evil it is and how it harms others. Indeed it is the rebellious way that Adam and
Eve went. In Psalm 2 we read about people rebelling against God and his anointed,
that is Jesus. When Jesus was given the power over all people it was not to act
like a Roman emperor with cruelty and disdain for them, instead He brought
eternal life, the very thing Adam lost. In 1 Corinthians 15:22 we read, For as
in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” Jesus was given
the authority so that He would give eternal life to as many as the Father has
given him and not one be lost. In John chapter 15 verse 16 we read, “You have
not chosen me, but I have chosen you.”
That is so comforting to know. We
are so fickle and sometimes we choose and then change our minds, but if we know
that Jesus had done the choosing we are secure.
There is no fear that He will change His mind.
Now we turn
to john 17 verse three. “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the
only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Earlier Jesus in chapter
14 had said,”I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father
except through me.” There is no ambivalence here. There is but one true God and He is the one
that Jesus has revealed to us and Jesus is indeed God the Son. Do not be led
astray by people wanting to join up all religions. As Jesus says there is but one true God and
we can only come to Him through Jesus. I
am all for peacefully co-existing with peoples of other religions on a daily
basis but we cannot afford to let go of our own faith to please others, because
it does not please God. Earlier in John’s gospel Jesus stated, “He who does not honour the Son honours not the
Father who sent Him.” The true God is the one whom Jesus has revealed to
us. By trusting in Him we gain eternal
life. What is this eternal life? Is it something only for the future? Or is it
something we can begin to experience now?
We are so bound up in our day to day living that we often miss out on
the eternal life which is ours in Jesus.
We are trapped in time and subject to the clock which is ticking our
lives away, but in Jesus we can know something of the eternal life which we
will one day experience for ever. But we can experience this eternal life as we
spend time with our Lord each day. Our
prayer time can be and must be an experiencing of eternity. I like to think
that when we pray we are popping into another dimension, that of eternal life.
There time doesn’t rule so you don’t need to worry about how long you pray,
little prays are as acceptable as long ones.
So if you are someone who worries about your prayers being short, worry
no longer. If you pray them in Jesus
name they are acceptable. One more hint
about prayer and eternity. Because
prayers enter into eternity, if you have forgotten to pray for a particular
event, for instance someone having an operation has asked you to pray and you
look at the clock and find their op must be over and you have forgotten, you
can still pray for them and that prayer will be as effective as if you had done
it at the right time, for God knows you were going to prayer and gave the
answer when it was needed. Prayers don’t
belong in time but in eternity. They are the means by which we reach into
heaven for heavenly help. They are also the means by which we get ourselves in
line with God’s will for us and our friends. They are not a shopping list of
requests, but a desire to do God’s will and see it being done in our lives and
the lives of others.
In verse 4 we read, “I have glorified you on
earth. I have finished the work which
You have given me to do.” Again we have
to look at this from the perspective of eternity. In time Jesus had not yet gone to the cross,
but He was so set on that course that it was just as if he had already gone
there and finished the work of salvation. In verse 5 we again see that Jesus is
the eternal Son of God who shared glory with God the Father before the world
was. That glory belongs to Jesus, it is
His of right. We read in Philippians 2
how he laid it aside for us.
did not regard equality with God
as something to be grasped,
by taking on the form of a
slave,12
by looking like other men,13
and by sharing in human nature.14
by becoming obedient to the
point of death
– even death on a cross!
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
every knee will bow
– in heaven and on earth and
under the earth –
that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.
Again we see Jesus was with the
Father before time began and shared His glory.
In verse 6 of John 17 He speaks of the disciples as the men that God had
given Him. He speaks of them as the ones who have kept the Father’s word. Again He is looking from an eternal
perspective as these men are about to deny Him and desert Him. But eventually
He will send them into the world and in verse 20 we find that Jesus does not
just pray for them but also for those who will believe in Him through their
word. Down through the centuries Jesus
is praying for you and me, the ones who have come to believe because of those
faithful ones who have declared His word to us.
It is indeed a humbling thought to think of Jesus praying for us just as
He was on the brink of going to Calvary as indeed He was for all His children
down the centuries and around the world. Have you ever thought about this and
taken in the wonder of it; Jesus praying for you just before Calvary. His
disciples had realized that everything Jesus had taught them had been from the
Father. We have to realise this and pass
on the message to those who come after us. Jesus has been sent by the Father
and represents Him. Jesus desires that
we will be one in Him as He and the Father are one. This seems a tall order but He will make it
happen.
What I would like you to take away with you is the eternal
dimension. Don’t feel trapped by the day
to day concerns of your life but look towards heaven where Jesus has gone ahead
to prepare a place for us. Not a place
in time with all its restrictions and problems, but a place in eternity where we will see His
glory forever.
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