Jesus’ Intercessory Prayer
In part 1, of day 22, I left you with my ‘re-thinking of my BELIEF’. In the end I said, “I am probably one of Jesus’ greatest challenges”. I said, “I fall quite often, but I am glad He is there to catch me when I fall”. In chapter 17 of John’s Gospel, we find that Jesus does in fact catch us, by interceding for us.
In verses 1-5, Jesus prays for Himself. We see that He has authority over all peoples of the earth and that He has the power to give eternal life. The way to this eternal life (a life with God for eternity), is to know the only true God and Christ, the one He sent to the earth. Jesus asks His Father to bring Him into the glory they shared before the world began. (As a child saying, ‘I want to come home, to his father’)
In verses 6-10, Jesus prays for His Disciples, for those that are His. He continually gives God the Glory for all that is, all He has said and all that will be done. He says that He does not pray for the world, but for those ‘who have kept thy (God’s) Word’ (verse 6) and that ‘He (Christ) is glorified in them’ (verse 10).
Verses 11-17 reveal to us Jesus the mediator (one who intervenes on our behalf). One thought I have, is that we should wake each morning, Beliving that Christ will know what sort of intervention we need. We should ask for protection and guidance for what will come our way. He prayed, as intervention, knowing that His Disciples would be hated of the world, that they would be kept from the evil (‘Satan’), and that they would be set apart through God’s truth~the Word is truth.
In verse 20, Jesus prays for those who also will Believe (you and me). What an awesome thought. He has know you and I forever..all eternity…from the beginning. Wow, my little pea brain has trouble grasping that. Matthew Henry’s commentary says, “Our Lord especially prayed, that all Believers might be as one body under one head, animated by one soul, by their union with Christ and the Father in Him, through the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.” He prayed this, “that the world may know that thou (the Father) hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me” (verse 23). What a GRAND thought….The Father loves us, as He loves Jesus!
At the end of this chapter, Jesus (who is one with the Father) claims (to ask for, especially as a right) on behalf of all that have been given to Him, to be where He is to behold His glory. And Jesus said, “And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them“. Through Christ, we can be blessed with the fullness of God and His deep love for us.
Thought to Ponder: Christ, our Mediator
Scripture to Ponder: Psalm 36:7 ”How priceless is your unfailing love…….”
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