Thoeolgical Research--Part 6

There are four divisions of John 17:6-26. They are preservation, sanctification, unification, and glorification. We have seen in previous messages that Christ’s earthly “Holy of Holies” was a foretaste of the heavenly “Holy of Holies,” just as the transfiguration was a foretaste of the kingdom (Matt. 17:1-13).

The purpose of Christ’s work was to manifest God the Father. In Himself, God is invisible and incomprehensible. In John 1:18, John said, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” In John 6:46, John also said, “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.” Paul put a capstone on the description of God, when he said, in I Timothy 6:15 and 16, “…He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” Paul’s statement continues to give information concerning God the Father. He says that God alone, by Himself, and unequally has immortality. The word for “immortality” is athanasia, meaning no death or immortality. The Greek word thanatos means extinction of life and mortality. When one adds the word “a” to “thanatos” you have immortality, which is the opposite of death.

The object of giving all authority to Christ was in order that He may give eternal life to all the ones the Father permanently gave Christ. (See John 17:2, 6, 11, 12, and 24.) There are two inflected forms of the verb didomi—two aorist active indicative and five perfect active indicative verbs. It is not enough that hindrances be removed. The elect must be qualified to enjoy life in time and enter the kingdom. Christ takes away sin, conquers death, gives a new heart, slays the enmity, and subdues the flesh until death is swallowed up in victory. Seven things are given to Christ as Mediator in John 17—chosen people, eternal life, authority, a work to be accomplished, the Father’s name, words from the Father, and glory.

Eternal life is the highest life for man. It is the highest because it is heavenly—comes from heaven and is destined for heaven. Earthly life will terminate either from external force or internal disease. Eternal life, however, has nothing either externally or internally to terminate it. Eternal life is realized—made real or given reality to—in God-given knowledge. In II Corinthians 4:6, Paul said, “For God, who said, Light shall shine out of darkness, is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

Knowledge is a growing experience; therefore, spiritual knowledge elevates the mind, sanctifies the affections, and regulates the conduct. Mere knowledge about God—human understanding about God or spiritual things—can never do the aforementioned things. Such knowledge of God—His existence and attributes; the Son, His Person and work; the Holy Spirit, His Person and work—leads the elect of God to say with Paul in Romans 8:38 and 39, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 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.”

Christ was perfect in obedience. The purpose of Christ’s work was to manifest the Father. In Himself, God is invisible and incomprehensible—“who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see…” (I Tim. 6:16). He manifested Himself in creation. The Psalmist said, “O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens” (Ps. 8:1). In Psalm 19:1-3, David said, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard.” God revealed Himself to Israel in types and shadows (Heb. 8-10). However, it was not until the incarnation that Jesus Christ said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Following this, Paul said, in Colossians 1:15, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” Christ answered the question raised by Thomas in John 14:5-9—“…Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him. Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, Show us the Father?”

This brings us to John 17:6-16, the division which deals with preservation of both the elect and the non-elect, until the will of God is accomplished. The little band of disciples was given to Christ out of the world because they were given to Him before the world began. The first evidence of Divine election in persons is their keeping of God’s word. No one has a desire to keep God’s word apart from a work of God’s grace in regeneration. However, the word is effectual in conversion (I Thess. 1:3-10; 2:13).

In testing one’s salvation, it is not enough to see what the word is that accomplished the change. Has it been the word of God or the mere words of preachers, relatives, or friends? The effectual word of God becomes the steady diet of the recipient of grace. Peter said, in I Peter 2:1-3, “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.” All that religious trash can produce is hypocrisy. (Study Malachi 2 and Matthew 23.)

There are three great unions designed for the faith of the elect: (1) the union of essence in the Godhead, (2) the union of two natures in Christ, and (3) the union of Christ and the sheep. There is no union between God and man without a Mediator. Christ is in us by regeneration. God the Father is in us by the work of the Holy Spirit who puts us in Christ.

Christ interceded for His disciples to whom He had been speaking. Interceding was not for the world, but for His disciples to whom He spoke. There are seven considerations mentioned: (1) He mentioned the Father’s name to them (v. 11). (2) He pleaded the Father’s interest in them (v. 11). (3) He pleaded the gift of them to Himself (v. 6). (4) He appealed to their reception of Himself and His message (v. 6). (5) He pleaded the fact that they were not of the world (v. 6). (6) He appealed to the hatred the world has for them (v. 14). (7) He appealed to His glorification in them (v. 22).

The Shepherd of the sheep keeps His own in the eternal power and wisdom of God, quickened with eternal life, possessed with eternal grace, compassed in eternal faithfulness, enshrined in eternal love, and will be crowned with eternal glory. Believers are kept in the world for their conditional sanctification, because they have been positionally sanctified (set apart). Christians are not here in this world by chance or accident. Christ said to the Father, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world” (John 17:18). The antagonism of the world is needed to build up a deep piety. We do not feel the energy of our faith as much as when we have to defend it. How do you feel? Can you relate to this statement?

Believers are kept from the destructive power and snares of the evil one, until the course of each Christian is finished. Paul said, in Romans 8:35-39, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 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. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, not angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 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.” Christians are not kept by forceful compulsion, but by spiritual persuasion. Isaiah said, in Isaiah 54:17, “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me, declares the LORD.” Paul worded God’s care a little differently in I Corinthians 10:12-14—“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”

The Christian life is never represented as an ever-ascending scale, because it will appear as a zigzag line, indicating our falling and rising again. The Psalmist said, in Psalm19:12-14, “Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”

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The NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE—UPDATED EDITION is the source of all Scripture quotations in this message, unless otherwise noted.