Gospel of John [17:9-12]. The Lord's priestly prayer; part 10. 2Co 4; Psalms of the

Title: Gospel of John [17:9-12]. The Lord's priestly prayer; part 10. 2Co 4; Psalms of the "name" of God.

 

Jesus now prays for His disciples.

 

JOH 17:9 "I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine;

 

JOH 17:10 and all things that are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.

 

The salvation of the unbeliever depends on the witnesses of the gospel. Therefore, He prays for the witnesses. It is they who need His intercession.

 

He will leave the responsibility of this witness in their hands and He will give them the gift of the Holy Spirit. They take care of that responsibility and so they glorify Him through their witness, which is not just the words of the gospel but the reflection of the gospel believed and acted upon within themselves.

 

2CO 4:1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart,

 

2CO 4:2 but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

 

2CO 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,

 

2CO 4:4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

 

2CO 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake.

 

2CO 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," [GEN 1:3] 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.

 

2CO 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels [all that is freely given to each believer], that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves;

 

2CO 4:8 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;

 

2CO 4:9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

 

2CO 4:10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

 

2CO 4:11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake [suffering for revealing the treasure within], that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

 

We must remember that God does not need us to glorify Him, but yet He gives us the opportunity to see His glory and reveal it, whether others notice it or not, and in this He is glorified.

 

2CO 4:12 So death works in us, but life in you.

 

2CO 4:13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, " I believed, therefore I spoke," [PSA 116:10] we also believe, therefore also we speak;

 

The witness that believes the truth will be a witness of the truth. Why would he not speak of that which he truly believes?

 

And what Paul truly believes is that no matter what we face as witnesses in time, even if it is death, we will be raised from the dead.

 

2CO 4:14 knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.

 

2CO 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

 

All that God has given, the truth, the Spirit, the inheritance, the Christ, the apostles, all witnesses etc. are for the sake of the elect. Grace means freely given. It is a wonderful word that encompasses all of God's magnificent gifts to all believers and it causes in those who see them, the giving of thanks, which spreads and abounds as it has continued to do over the centuries. Each believer who receives these gifts in Christ through believing in Him and sees them well enough to elicit thanksgiving to God glorifies God the giver. This glory spreads, one believer at a time, and together, the whole company of them, have given glory to God in thankfulness and the world system has been unable to stop it.  

 

2CO 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

 

Every day we are reminded through doctrine of our position in Him and our sanctification through Him because He sanctified Himself unto the will of the Father and gave Himself for us. No matter how old we get our inner man is forever free and always young (33 years old?).

 

2CO 4:17 For momentary, light affliction [affliction, perplexity, persecution and being struck down] is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

 

If someone persecutes you for the sake of Christ you should be thankful since that has produced a much greater weight of glory.

 

2CO 4:18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen [the spiritual life within and the fruit that is without] are eternal.

 

JOH 17:9 "I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine;

 

JOH 17:10 and all things that are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.

 

The unbeliever has to believe the gospel. It is the witnesses that are the recipients of His intercession for they must grow spiritually, be willing to be used by the Father for what He deems proper, and deliver that witness with clarity and power even in the midst of persecution and tribulation. They, and now we, need His intercession badly and He provides it faithfully.

 

It should be noted that He did pray for His persecutors as He instructed others to do. This prayer was fulfilled through His own cross.

 

LUK 23:34

But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."

 

Yet they are not included here since He is praying for those that the Father has given Him as a gift and who will be the witnesses of Him to the world. They belong first to the Father and the Father gives them to the Son so they equally belong to the Son. The Father withholds nothing from the Son. All things that are Thine are Mine.

 

This is the reciprocal love between the Father and the Son. What One possesses the other has. What Christ possesses in inheritance He has given to each believer.

 

He prays confidently that He has been glorified in the disciples. This shows that the love that He shares with the Father is the same love that He has for the disciples and the Church as a whole. This love has been given to us as a gift, along with righteousness and all the fruit of the Spirit. We should pursue it as much as we thirst and hunger.

 

We would not conclude that they were worthy of this love; no one is.

 

Christ sees a value in them that is not of them. This value is precious in His eyes and so is the object of divine love.