SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/16/2017
9:54 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3 The Request for Spiritual Protection
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 17:11b-16
Message of the
verses: “Holy Father, keep them in
Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We
are. 12 "While I was with them, I
was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and
not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would
be fulfilled. 13 “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world
so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. 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. 15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the
world, but to keep them from the evil one. 16 “They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world.”
In our last Spiritual Diary we were looking at the betrayal
of Judas which Jesus speaks of in this prayer as a fulfillment of prophecy,
however this was certainly not the only fulfillment of prophecy that took place
in the life of Jesus Christ. In his
commentary John MacArthur goes over a fairly long list of fulfilled prophecies
that came about in the life of Jesus Christ, which include His birth, parts of
His life, His death, and His resurrection.
I have thought about this and have decided to quote this section hoping
that those who read this will look up the many verses that are mentioned here
and perhaps copy and paste it in order to have it to study because of the
importance of this subject:
“The prophetic Scriptures
fulfilled in Jesus were certainly much broader than just those that reference
Judas. The Old Testament foretold that
the Christ would be a descendant of Abraham (Gen. 22:18), from the tribe of
Judah (Gen. 49: 10), of the family of Jesse (Isa. 11:1), in the line of David
(Jer. 23:5). He would be born in
Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2), have a forerunner (Isa. 40:3; Mal. 3:1), begin His ministry
in Galilee (Isa. 9:1; cf. Matt. 4:12-17), be anointed by the Spirit (Isa. 11:2;
cf. Matt. 3:16-17), have a ministry of miracles (Isa. 35:5-6; cf. Matt. 9:35),
and bring healing and life to His people (Isa. 61:1-2; cf. Luke 4:18). At the end of His ministry, He would enter
Jerusalem on a donkey (Zech. 9:9; Luke 19:35-37). Then, having been fully rejected by the
Jewish leaders (Ps. 118:22; cf. 1 Peter 2:7), He would be falsely accused (Isa.
53:7; Matt. 27:12), made to suffer (Isa. 53:5-6; cf. Matt. 26:67), and
crucified with thieves (Isa. 53:12; cf. Matt. 27:38). Moreover, His garments would be divided (Ps.
22:18; cf. John 19:23-24), His side pierced (Zech. 12:10; cf. John 19:34), and
His body buried in a rich man’s tomb (Isa. 53:9; cf. Matt. 27:57ff.). All of
this took place just as it had been foretold by the Old Testament.
“Hence, after His
resurrection, Jesus could rebuke two of His followers on the road to Emmaus for
not understanding that the Old Testament Scriptures revealed the necessity of
His suffering and death (Luke 24:25-26).
As Luke records, ‘Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets,
He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures (v.
27). Jesus knew that Judas’s betrayal
had been part of the divine plan all along.
Judas did not defect because Jesus failed to protect him. Rather, Judas fell because he had never been
a true disciple of Christ in the first place and was void of spiritual life;
and because his role in Jesus’ death was part of God’s sovereignly predetermined
plan.”
Now we want to look at verse 13 ““But now I come to You; and these things I
speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.” Jesus was confident that the Father would
protect His disciples and so as we saw earlier in chapter sixteen Jesus speaks
of the joy of returning to His Father having the glory that He had before the
world began. Jesus is speaking this
prayer in the world to His Father in a place where we believe that His
disciples were able to hear this prayer.
Next we want to talk a bit about “His Joy” and this is the third time
that evening that He has spoken of the joy that was His legacy to His followers
(see and compare John 15:11; and 16:20-24).
As the disciples listened to this prayer and seeing that Jesus was
praying for their protection, this would give joy to them. “33 Who will bring a charge against God’s
elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ
Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of
God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just
as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;
WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." 37 But in all these things
we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created
thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:33-39).”
As we look at these very important verses we know that Paul realized and
then communicated this truth to his readers which speak of the same protection
that Jesus is praying for in our verses from John 17. The verses from John 17 and Romans 8:33-39
have brought joy to the hearts of believers for almost 2000 years.
Now only is Jesus praying that His joy would be made full
in the disciples, but in John 10:10 along with 11:25-26 He prayed that the disciples
would share in the fullness of His life.
Then in John 14:27 we read “"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you;
not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor
let it be fearful.” So we see He prays for
joy and peace, and because He prays for these two things for His disciples it
shows His love for them so we see peace, joy, and love. John 13:1 says “Now before the Feast of the
Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this
world to the Father, having
loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” Look once again at Romans 8:35-39 as written
above.
There is more to see in this 13th verse, and
Lord willing we will look at it in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: To know that the
Lord loves me and protects me does give me peace. I have peace with God through the blood of
the cross, and the peace of God as seen in Philippians 4:6-7, and that peace is
all provided for me because of what Christ did on the cross for me, taking my
place to pay for my sins and in exchange give me His righteousness.
My Steps of Faith for Today: It is my desire that since I have given
myself to the Lord that all of my life is given to Him and I desire not to compartmentalize
my life as part belonging to the Lord and at times some belonging to me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Deuteronomy” (21:11-13).
Today’s Bible question: “What
building did Joash order repaired?”
Answer in our next SD.
3/16/2017 10:56 AM
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