Bible Reading: John 17:20-26
The last hours that Jesus had with his disciples before he went to the cross ended in a prayer meeting in John chapter 17. The one who prays is Jesus of Nazareth himself, unquestionably the one who understands more about the nature and the possibilities of prayer than anyone who has ever lived. The subject of the prayer is his disciples and those who should believe on him, that is, ourselves. From this prayer of Jesus, uttered in these dangerous moments when opposition was closing in upon him and the shadow of the cross was hanging heavy over him, we can learn a great deal.
We have already seen something of the possibilities, the priorities and the perils of the Christian life reflected in this prayer, but the last six verses are the most unusual of all. Here is what we may view as a great planning session between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to which we are privileged to listen. This is, in other words, a summit meeting, the highest possible summit.
It does not focus on a single country or continent of the world, but it has in its scope the entire world. It is not to plan a campaign of a few years or a decade or two, but it encompasses the entire age in which we live, from the first coming of Christ to the second coming. It does not involve a few local churches, or a denomination or two in some kind of united campaign, but it gathers in the whole Body of Christ, every Christian who has ever lived, or ever will live, in all time. In a very real sense these verses are the key to history, the blueprints of God’s program for this age. Here is a military campaign being planned which is designed to recapture this rebellious planet for God.
God so loved the world,” we read in John 3:16, “that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” The focus of it all is the world. “God loved the world.” It is so easy for Christians to forget this. Forgetting that we were once part of this world, we become so taken up with what he is doing to us as believers that we sometimes forget that he is still aiming beyond us. We seem to feel that God’s program stops with us, that his entire purpose in coming into the world and leaving by the cross and the resurrection is to get us to heaven. If that were the case it would be much simpler if we would erect a chopping block in every church, and as soon as someone becomes a Christian chop his head off! We could be sure then that they would get to heaven without any difficulty! But, aside from the involvements this would put us in with the authorities, it is clear from the Scriptures that the Lord does not intend it this way. He leaves us here in order that we may learn how to share in the painful process of drawing a struggling, rebellious creation unto himself. We must become part of the process of reaching the world.
Are you ready now to say, in order to reach the world around about us, “Lord, teach me to give up my prejudices, these separations, this withdrawal, these sub-Christian attitudes toward my fellow brethren in Christ, and make me willing to love them and to show it, for Christ’s sake?”
Solomzi