SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/28/2017
9:35 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3 “Intro
to John 17:6-10)
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 17:6-10
Message of the
verses: “6 “I have manifested Your
name to the men whom You
gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and
they have kept Your word. 7 "Now
they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them;
and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and
they believed that You sent Me. 9
"I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of
those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and
Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.”
I have to say that this has become quite a chore for me
to continue to write this introduction to these verses, and as I go over them
in my mind each morning I continue to see things in them that I have not seen
before, things that are very important for all of us to understand.
Now as we continue to look at this introduction we have
been talking about salvation, which is the eternal saving purpose of God and it
has always been the major primary concern of Jesus Christ when He was on planet
earth, for this is why He came. Now we
see that the cross is very near, just hours away from the time when Jesus was
praying to the Father in this magnificent prayer and it is believed that this
prayer is voiced audibly in order for His disciples can hear it, and as I think
about it I believe that this prayer was indeed prayed before Jesus’ prayer at Gethsemane. I know that some believe that everything that
happened from chapters 13-17 happened in the upper room and why some call this “The
Tabletop Ministry,” and I suppose that this does make sense to understand it
that way as after this prayer they would sing a song and then go to the garden
of Gethsemane where Jesus would ask some of His disciples to watch and pray
with Him, which they failed to do and after that Jesus would be arrested and
given a unjust trial, a fake trial, and then the crucifixion of Christ would
take place. I needed to get these things
straight in my mind to better understand when and where Jesus prayed this
prayer.
MacArthur writes “The Lord knew that what had been
planned in eternity past would be fulfilled in the next few hours of time (cf.
vv. 1-5). He also knew that His
disciples would abandon Him at the critical moment (John 13:36-38; 16:32), that
their faith would be shaken (cf. Luke 22a:31-32), and that their hearts would
be deeply grieved (John 16:22). Though
His own suffering would far outweigh theirs, Jesus sacrifice served them (as He
had done throughout His entire ministry [cf. Mark 10:44-45] including that
evening [John 13:1, 12], and would ultimately do on the cross [15:13] by
praying for them. In fact, of the
twenty-six verses that comprise Jesus’ prayer in John 17, fourteen center
specifically on the disciples (vv. 6-19) which an additional seven (vv. 20-26)
focusing on those who would believe in Christ in the future through their extended
ministries.”
We have learned that in the first five verses of this
prayer that Jesus prayed that the Father would receive glory with the Son and
now we see in verses 6-19 that Jesus is praying for His disciples. We have also mentioned that this is Jesus’ “High
Priestly Prayer” and have stated that once He returned to heaven that this
would be His ministry, interceding for those who are His, praying for them, and
this can also be seen in the book of Hebrews as some of the chapters in Hebrews
are parallels to this chapter as they describe His High Priestly ministry. Now John MacArthur writes that His prayer for
the disciples may be discussed under two headings: “His prayer for them as those whom the Father
had given Him (vv. 6-10); and His specific requests for them in light of His
imminent departure (vv. 11-19). The
first of those headings will be discussed below, with the second being
addressed in the following chapter.”
Now it is mentioned that much of this prayer is for the
disciples of Jesus and once again we must put ourselves into the sandals of
those eleven men who had been with Jesus for three years learning from Him
seeing the mighty miracles that He did.
Jesus took care of them and as mentioned before the disciples thought
that Jesus was going to usher in the Kingdom of God and that they would be the
ones who would be a large part of this kingdom, and now He tells them that He
is going to leave them. MacArthur writes
the following statement and then quotes from a man named Merrill C. Tenney. MacArthur writes “Jesus prayed that the
Father would ensure those promises. As one
commentator explains:
‘By far the largest part of
Jesus’ prayer relates to the disciples.
He was much more concerned about them than about himself. He was sure of the suffering that was
inevitable and the victory that was certain.
The disciples, however, were a variable quantity; in themselves they were likely to
fail…Nevertheless,
he prayed for them with confidence that they would be kept by the Father’s
power and presented for a future ministry.’
Jesus’ confidence was
founded, not in the resolve of the eleven, but in the will and power of the
Father. But before launching into His
specific requests for the disciples (in vv. 11-19), the Lord explained why He
knew the Father would honor His requests (in vv. 6-10).”
I am not sure how many more days we will be looking at
this introduction, but I have been thinking that perhaps I would quote the
introduction from the recent sermon after we finish the introduction that we
are now working on. I am thinking that
because this chapter, chapter 17 has been said that it is the most important
chapter in the Word of God that we want to learn as much as the Spirit of God
teaches us as we look at this chapter.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am greatly encouraged
with the words that Merrill C. Tenney wrote that I highlighted as there are
many times when I feel just like the disciples did that I am a failure, and yet
as I read this prayer and his short commentary on this prayer I am encouraged
that the Lord will empower me through His Spirit to accomplish things for the
cause of Christ.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
I trust the Lord to use me while I am
on planet earth, and that He will empower me to fulfill the things that He has
planned for me to do (Eph. 2:10).
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Hebron” (2 Samuel 2:11).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who advised the Jewish
council to leave the apostles along?”
Answer in our next SD.
2/28/2017 10:22 AM
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