PT-2 "Because they were given to Him from the Father" (John 17:9-10)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/8/2017 9:49 AM

My Worship Time                    Focus:  PT-2 “Because they were given to Him from the Father”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 17:9-10

            Message of the verses:  “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.”

            Once again I want to remind you and myself that we are looking at the second reason that Christ’s prayer for His disciples will be answered by the Father, also a reminder that we did not get too far in this section in our first SD as I kind of talked a lot about praying for things that are found in the Word of God, an important theme to be sure.

            John MacArthur writes “they had been chosen out of the world by the Father as a gift for Him.  This then provides the second and ultimate reason why Jesus was confident that the Father would great His prayer for the disciples; the Father would be sure to protect and purify them because they were His gift to His Son (cf. vv. 11, 15, 17).  By reiterating that He was asking exclusively on ‘behalf’ of ‘those whom’ the Father had ‘give’ Him, Jesus made it clear that He did ‘not ask on behalf of the world.’  Rather, He was asking on behalf of His own who remained in the world after He had left (vv. 11-12).”

            We have talked about the word world in the past stating that it is a system headed up Satan and not the physical part of what we live on.  We as true believers were also a part of this system, for when we were born we were born into it and were a part of it up until the time when the Holy Spirit of God gave us an effectual call for salvation and we believed in the finished work of the Lord Jesus who died on the cross for us exchanging our sin for His righteousness so that we could one day stand before God in perfect righteousness.  However what about those in the world who have never accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, what kind of grace is shown to them?  Theologians call that kind of grace “common grace,” grace that is like food to eat, rain to water the ground, sunshine, things like these.  However Christ’s intercessory work as High Priest, which is previewed in this chapter, is only for those who belong eternally to Him and that is because they have been given to Him as a love gift from the Father to Him.  Now this next statement may seem a bit strange, but nonetheless true, that the only time that Jesus prayed for the unregenerate is from the cross when He said “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34).”  This is a prayer for us as believers that we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us as seen in Matthew 5:44 and 2 Timothy 2:26.  MacArthur adds “But the unredeemed would was not His interest in this prayer.  His attention was on those whom the Father had given to Him and for whom He was about to die to provide atonement—that they would be protected from the world especially during the immediate events surrounding His arrest, trial, and crucifixion.” 

            Now we want to look more closely at the phrase “they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are mine.”  I suppose that when Paul speaks of the trinity as a picture of marriage we can gain much from this statement that we are now looking at for that is how a marriage is to work, but unfortunately it does not always work that way as the primarily thing that keeps it from working that was is the sin of selfishness.  Now in making this statement Jesus underscores that He is confident in the fact that the eleven belong to God.  This statement is not only true of the eleven, but true of all who belong to the Father that are given to the Lord as all believers are adopted into His family through the Son as seen in Romans 8:14-17 “14  For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”  This truth is also seen in Galatians 3:26; and 4:5-7.  As we look more at the phrase “all things that are…Yours are Mine” we can clearly see that Jesus is stating His claim to deity and full equality with the Father.  Think about a mere creature claiming this that all things of God’s were his would certainly be blasphemous presumption.  MacArthur writes “Martian Luther grasped the significance of this claim:

‘Everyone may say this, that all we have is God’s.  But this is much greater, that he turns it around and says, all that is thine is mine.  This no creature is able to say before God…The word: all that is thine is mine leaves nothing whatever excluded.  Are all things his, then the eternal deity is also his; otherwise he could not and dared not use the word at all.’

“Since the Father and the Son have ‘all things’ in common, believes also belong to Christ (1 Cor. 3:23; 15:23; 2 Cor. 10:7; Gal. 3:29; 5:24).  Those who belong to the Father belong to the Son, and vice versa.”

            Jesus states that He would be “glorified in them,” meaning the eleven and this glory would even be given to Him in His state of self-humiliation.  Now as I think about that and look at what happens next as they all run after His arrest, and Peter denies He knows Him, and some of them fall asleep when He is praying as seen in Luke’s gospel all I can say is that God’s grace is wonderful.  Now, of course after His resurrection and His ascension His glory would continue to be displayed and still is displayed.  I have say that after I write my Spiritual Diary and then post it onto my blog that one of the things that I pray for is that Jesus Christ will be glorified through souls being saved, believers growing in the Lord, revival coming to believers and also that the Spirit of God will continue to spread these Spiritual Diaries around the world in order to bring glory to the Lord.  “Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you (2 Thessalonians 3:1).”  It is the supreme goal of every believer to bring glory to the Lord, “Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God,[1] and to enjoy him forever.”  This statement comes from the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The amazing grace of God is what I see in this passage and truly it is overwhelming.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to study the Word of God each day to mine the golden truths that are found there.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Rahab” (Joshua 2:1).

Today’s Bible question:  Which book tells about a queen of Persia?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/8/2017 10:43 AM