Friday, September 06, 2019

2019.09.06 Hopewell @Home ▫ John 17:6-10

Questions from the Scripture text: What does Jesus say He has manifested (John 17:6)? To whom? From where? Whose were they? To Whom did the Father give them? What have they done? What have they now known (John 17:7)? What has Jesus given (John 17:8)? To whom? What did they do with His words? What have they known about Jesus? What have they known about the Father? What else does Jesus do for them (John 17:9)? For whom does He not pray? What does He call those for whom He prays? Why does He pray for them? Which men are the Father’s (John 17:10)? Which men are Christ’s? Who is glorified in them?
In the first portion of our Lord’s prayer here, we learned that eternal life is to know the Father, and to know Jesus Christ whom the Father has sent. That is to say that eternal life is not the giving of everything that our flesh desires, but a re-setting of our purpose and pleasure back into God Himself, and finding that He is the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; finding that He has chosen to make the great display of His glory in His Son, Jesus Christ; and that the great act of displaying His glory has been to send that Son as the Savior of sinners.

This redemption mission is presented in John 17:6-10 especially by means of possessive pronouns. Those who are being saved belonged to the Father from eternity. They have belonged to the God-man for as long as He has been the God man. Not one was lost. All who were the Father’s are the Son’s.

And a sinner comes to be the Son’s by means of another important possessive. The words that Jesus speaks are the Father’s words. And those who come to faith in Jesus do so by recognizing that His words are the words of the Father.

By contrast, the word “world” here (John 17:6, John 17:9, John 17:11) is being used to indicate those who are not in Christ. It was out of the world that the Father gave specific people to the Son. It is the “world” that Jesus is very specifically not praying for. It is the world that Jesus is leaving behind, but among whom His people must continue to live.

The picture that emerges is that of a plan of redemption that has been focused upon a specific group of people from the eternal plan of God. What’s amazing about this plan is not so much that God has planned whom He is going to save, but rather what He plans to do with them. Jesus says “I am glorified in them” (John 17:10). Believers in Jesus Christ are at the heart of God’s plan to glorify His Son!
How have you been growing? How does this glorify God in glorifying Jesus?
Suggested songs: ARP1 “How Blessed the Man” or TPH469 “Who Are These Like Stars”

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