Thoeolgical Research--Part 7

John 17 records the prayer of Jesus Christ—one of the most remarkable portions of Scripture in the Bible. The disciples could not be invited to this prayer meeting with the Father. All that is stated in this prayer is for the present time. It is all related to the “security” of those the Father gave to Christ in the eternal covenant of grace. Christ’s intercession, therefore, was twofold: (1) to be glorified “by” the Father (vv. 1-3) and (2) to be glorified “with” the Father (vv. 4, 5).

Christ’s Spirit was reverential as the Mediator. He was in subjection to the Father as seen in John 17:1—“Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.” The Son of God asks of the Father the same things He asked of His disciples. Furthermore, He would be the same in absence that He was in their presence. He had said to the disciples, in John 15:26 and 27, “When the Helper [Comforter, Advocate, or Intercessor] comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”

Christ knew that the hour of His death had come. Every hour of life is important; but there is one hour for which all the others are preparing, like the stones of a building from the foundation to the capstone. All the stones are needed, either for symmetry or beauty. All the hours of Christ’s earthly life were parts of a whole, but there was one climactic hour. There was one hour which stood out in Christ’s own mind and which appears in history as overshadowing all the other hours—Calvary.

Although Christians—those chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world—will never have to face their “Calvary,” they do not know what they will have to face before they “appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (II Cor. 5:10). Paul said, in I Corinthians 3:9-15, “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

The election of some by God the Father, the blood of God the Son on behalf of the chosen ones, and the sanctification (positional—setting apart in regeneration) of God the Spirit can never be separated in Christianity. Therefore, whoever belongs to the Father belongs to the Son. There is a mutual interest in each other, and the things that belong to each other. The Eternal Three—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—are united together in the Divine essence and have a mutual interest in Their redeemed people.

Christ returns to the Father; therefore, He said, in John 17:11-12, “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. 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.”

Saints on the earth need constant preservation. While Christ was on earth, the saints had constant care, when there was need. However, in every age, men have sought to mold the doctrine and worship of God according to their own depraved impressions. Whenever human authority has found its way into the assembly, it has not been satisfied with merely adding to the testimony of revealed truth. It has, in some measure, altered and annulled Scripture before our ears and eyes in our lifetime.

Warnings of apostasy are constantly given us in the Scriptures; but the closer we get to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are reminded of the Biblical statement in I Thessalonians 5:1-11—“Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation [soterias, meaning deliverance]. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation [same as verse 8] through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.”

The explanation of Paul’s letter to the model assembly at Thessalonica must begin with a question. Was Paul talking about the same thing in I Thessalonians 4:13-18? Post-tribulation rapturists say that Paul was talking about the same thing. What about the “coming as a thief”? What comfort would there be in going through the tribulation? How would post-tribulationists react to the government of the Antichrist? Can Christians subject themselves to the government of the beast (Rev. 13)? Is there not complete apostasy during the tribulation?

Salvation is presented negatively and positively. Paul is not talking about the period known as “the tribulation.” There was tribulation in Thessalonica at the time when the model assembly was brought into existence by the Spirit (Acts 17:1-9; I Thess. 1:1-10).

The two most consolidated prophesies in the Old and New Testaments are Daniel 9:24-27 and II Thessalonians 2:1-12. Soon after Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, it was necessary for the second letter. Due to a false, verbal message and a forced letter, many of the members of the model assembly thought they were passing through the great tribulation. That is why Paul said in his second letter, in II Thessalonians 2:1-4, “Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit [note the lower case] or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy [falling away from the faith] comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.”

Properly speaking, the beginning of Christ’s prayer is found in John 17:9 and 10—“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; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.” Christ’s previous utterances were introductory. Prayer had never been introduced in this manner before. Not only is He our Mediator at the Father’s right hand, but He said, “I knew that you always hear Me…” (John 11:42).

These are the mighty pleadings of the Lord Jesus in John 17 on behalf of the elect: (1) The occasion—“the hour has come” (v. 1); (2) His relationship—“Father, the hour has come” (v. 1); (3) His commission—“You [Father] gave Him [Christ] authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life” (v. 2); (4) His consecrated life—“I glorified You on the earth” (v. 4); (5) The preservation of His chosen ones—“I was keeping them in Your name” (v. 12); (6) Christ as our successful guard—“I guarded them” (v. 12); and (7) The future of eternal glory—“The glory which You [Father] have given Me [Christ] I have given to them [the elect] (v. 22).”

The Christian trembles in contemplation of the weakness of his flesh, the malice of his enemies, and the difficulties with which he has had to grapple. However, the believer can rise above these things, because the Son of God has been given power over all flesh. Paul said, in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

Christ prays that the elect might be kept from the evil one while they are in this world. J. Vernon McGee made the following statements: “Jesus Christ does not pray for the world today; He died for the world. What more could He do for the world? ‘…Those that thou gavest me’—we have election mentioned again. There are certain things which I believe that to me are not contradictory, but they certainly are paradoxical. Election and free will happen to be one of those. I wish you could have met me when I graduated from seminary. I was a smart boy then, and I even had the answer to election and free will. But I have more sense than I had then, and I realize that we simply do not understand it.”—J. Vernon McGee, John, Chapters 11-21

How can the statement by Dr. McGee be one of growth in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ?

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