PT-2 "Because They Had Believed in Him as the Son" (John 17:7-8)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/5/2017 7:19 AM

My Worship Time                         Focus:  PT-2 “Because They Had Believed in Him as the Son”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  John 17:7-8

            Message of the verses:  “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.”

            We are looking at the first reason that Jesus knew that the Father would grant His requests for His disciples.

            As we mentioned in our last SD, the disciples did not totally realize what it was that they believed in, other than Jesus was their Messiah, and also mentioned they would totally understand this once the Holy Spirit would come upon them on the Day of Pentecost, but now they were believing the truth about Jesus that they had learned from Him, which brought about their salvation, as they knew that He was different than the false truths of many other during that day.  “68 Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God’ (John 6:68-69).”  MacArthur writes:  “The eleven had ‘come to know’ first of all, as Jesus said to the Father, ‘that everything You have given Me is from You’ (a statement that again highlights His intimacy with and dependence on the Father).  The disciples believed that Jesus worked by the power of God and did everything according to His Father’s will.  This was in contrast to the Jewish religious leaders, who accused Jesus of operating through the power of Satan (Matt. 12:24-32) but foolish, since Satan would never empower someone to further the work of God (vv. 25-29).  The disciples, of course, knew the truth.”  How did the disciples know the truth?  They had been with Him for three years and have seen many miracles that He had done including casting out demons, healing the sick, providing food, raising the dead, even raising the dead after being dead in the grave for four days. 

            “For the words which You game Me I have given to them” is found in the later part of verse seven and the disciples knew that this was a true statement “14 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world (vs. 14).”  We can also look at 7:16; 8:28; 12:49; 14:10 and 24 for other references showing this is true.  “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves (James 1:22).”  This is what the disciples had done as they both affirmed the words of Jesus and also subsequently acted upon them.  The disciples also believed in His divine mission which can be summed up in the words from John 17:1 where Jesus praying to the Father stated “The hour has come,” and the hour had come to bring glory to both the Son and to the Father by completing the mission that Jesus was given by the Father in eternity past, which was to pay for the cost of the bride that God was going to give to Him.  MacArthur adds “They had come to realize what John’s prologue articulates; the He is the Son of God (John 1:1; cf. 16:30), equal in essence and eternally coexistent with the Father (1:1-2), the Creator of all things (1:3), and the source of eternal life and spiritual light (1:4).  They recognized the glory of the Word made flesh, and knew that it was ‘glory as of the only begotten from the Father full of grace and truth (1:14).  Soon they would also understand the wonders of His death and resurrection (cf. 16:20).  Those realizations were revolutionary for the disciples:

‘The response of these men did not seem like very much.  But for them to see the source of these things was a spiritual miracle more wonderful than the miracle of a man born physically blind being enabled, for the first time to see the wonder of a tree, the glory of a sunset, the mobile mystery of a human face (John Phillips, Exploring the Gospel of John).’”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Matthew” (1:21).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘"Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem.”

Answer in our next SD.

3/5/2017 7:52 AM