NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — “And now I am in the world no longer, but these are in the world, and I come to You, Holy Father. Keep them in Your name, those whom You have given Me, so that they may be one as We are.” John 17:11 (read John 17)
Before Jesus suffered and died on the cross for the sins of the world and then rose again and ascended to the right hand of God the Father, He prayed for His disciples and for those who would believe on Him through their word.
He prayed, “And now I am in the world no longer, but these are in the world, and I come to You, Holy Father. Keep them in Your name, those whom You have given Me, so that they may be one as We are.”
Jesus had kept and preserved His disciples in the faith during His years with them here in this world, and He prayed that the Father would watch over and keep them, protect them from all evil, and make them one as He and the Father are one. As Jesus was one with His Father in all that He did and taught, He prayed that His disciples would be one with Him and the Father and so also be one with each other (cf. Eph. 4:14f.).
How does such unity occur? Jesus gives us the answer when He prayed: “Sanctify them through Your truth. Your Word is truth” (v. 17).
How was it that Jesus’ disciples would be set apart for the Lord and fully devoted to Him and His will? It wasn’t through man-made unity based on compromise of the truth. Rather, it was based upon the truth of God’s Word. Through the Word of truth, Jesus’ disciples are brought to know Him and the forgiveness of sins and eternal life He won for them by His innocent sufferings and death upon the cross. And it is through that same Word that the Holy Spirit works to conform our wills to His holy and perfect will. Thus, through the Word, we are brought to faith in Christ and set apart for Him.
Jesus sanctified Himself for our benefit. He set Himself apart wholly and fully to do the will of His Father - to suffer the full and just punishment for our sins that we might have forgiveness and everlasting life in fellowship with the Father. Now He is risen and has ascended into heaven to God’s right hand. He has been exulted and rules over all things for the good of His disciples.
While we are yet here in this world, Jesus prays the Father to preserve us from all evil and keep us in the faith until we join Him in the mansions of heaven. He prays that we be sanctified and set apart for God through the truth of God’s Word and that we be one in faith and purpose that others too might hear the Word of truth and know and trust in Jesus for life and salvation.
O gracious Father, sanctify and keep us in the truth of Your Word and preserve us unto life everlasting in Your eternal kingdom. Amen.
[Devotion by Randy Moll. Scripture quotations from Green’s Modern King James Version (MKJV). Scripture quoted by permission. Copyright 1993 by Jay P. Green Sr., All rights reserved. Jay P. Green Sr., Lafayette, IN. U.S.A. 47903.]
News, Pages 4 on 05/23/2012