Gospel of John [16:33 - 17:2]. The Lord's priestly prayer; part 1. Php 2:8; Joh 6:39

Title: Gospel of John [16:33 - 17:2]. The Lord's priestly prayer; part 1. Php 2:8; JOH 6:39

 

JOH 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

 

The common victory for all believers is in Christ. His words are a constant source of comfort and encouragement.

 

This encouragement is stated by a conquering King. "Cheer up, I have overcome the world." In the midst of a battle, when the soldiers are weary with fatigue, galled with fire, and grimed with smoke, if the general rides into the midst to cheer them with a few hearty words, and tells them that the key to the position is in their hands, they cheer him enthusiastically, and take up new hope. So down the line our Leader and Commander sends the encouragement of these inspiring words. From the first generation of the Church to this one, we have heard the same encouraging words from our General who rides among us. We should drink their comfort and encouragement to the full, that, amid our tribulation, in Him we may have peace.

 

Christ showed the vanity of the world in His life and conquered it for Himself in His death.

 

He delivered the vain world to a whole new kingdom of truth, power, love, joy, and peace. His kingdom is offered to everyone and anyone can enter it through faith in Him and any believer can walk in it and experience it through fellowship with Him.

 

He would not accept the world’s maxims, would not be ruled by the world’s principles. He followed the Father despite to the world’s most favorite plans. He even tasted the dregs of reprobation that the world metes out to those who oppose her, enduring the cross, and despising the shame. But His life was blessed while it lasted; His name is the dearest and fairest treasure of our entire history. He holds an empire such as none of the world’s most favored conquerors ever won. This shows the world system to be a lying temptress. Her policies are vain and she cannot give life. Christ has overcome the world. Her prince came to Him, but found no response to any of his proposals. He disregarded her flatteries and threatening; He would not have her help and despised her hate; He prosecuted His path in defiance of her, and has left an imperishable glory behind. Thus He overcame the world.

 

The Lord has shown that a great and blessed life is possible on conditions which the world pronounces simply unendurable.

 

The world cannot imagine a blessed life in the midst of poverty and persecution or in the midst of tribulation. The world can't imagine a blessed life in the midst of obscurity and mundane existence.

 

He conquered as our Representative and Head. What He did for Himself He is prepared to repeat in the life-story of His followers.

 

In this we conquer the loneliness that the world breeds. We are never alone and never without a purpose and destiny. Though we may forget this at times as our consciousness gets absorbed with loneliness or tribulation, we are reminded and comforted by our Lord and our Father through the same word that has been comforting believers for centuries.

 

PSA 23:1-3

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

For His name's sake.

 

It would have been very easy for David to get his eyes upon his grief over his son Absalom who usurped David's kingdom and his disappointment over the people in Jerusalem that he did so much for and who chose Absalom over him and his loneliness in the wilderness where he was on the run yet again, deposed from his throne with no clear solution in sight. I'm sure he did just these things a few times, probably more than he would be proud to admit, but he recovered to the thinking of the mind of the Lord and penned these eternal words.

 

HEB 13:6

"The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.

What shall man do to me?"

 

The world's glory fades in the exceeding glory of Christ. Most are content enough with the world until He reveals another, more glorious one. When the kingdom of Christ is seen the world no longer allures. Christ's heavenly kingdom exceeded this world's glory by so much that there isn't much of a temptation from the world to His followers. It's as if we beheld the most beautiful person in the world and then looked at the same person through the eyes of an angel or God and they become plain and unattractive. Hand a large, flawless diamond to a little child and he'll likely play with the box. To him it has no value, and to us, the world completely loses its value in the light of Christ.

 

The peace of our Lord is our experience if we:

Abide in Him.

Meditate on His words.

 

In Jesus you may have peace. It is not certainly ours, unless we follow the two conditions He lays down. If these be observed, we shall have peace in the midst of strife. Just as there is calm eye in the midst of a tornado, there will be peace in the heart of this believer, despite the whirlwind around him.

 

The reward in heaven: The tree of life in Paradise, the white stone with a new name, ruling with Christ, the morning star, announcement before the Father and angels, made a pillar in the eternal temple, God's name written upon you by Christ, and seated with Him on His throne.

 

JOH 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

 

As we review this section, we can see how in any life of sorrow can be turned to joy.

 

Starting in chapter thirteen we discover His complete cleansing of our sins. He gives us the power to serve one another. He has given us His very love. He has returned to the Father in glory and is preparing a place for us and we will soon follow Him. In Him we have seen the Father. He is the way, the truth, and the life. We shall do greater works than Him as He unleashes His inheritance upon us. He has give us unlimited prayer to the Father in His name. He has given us His Spirit who will take of Him and the Father and show it to us. In Him we bear the fruit of the Spirit. He calls us friends.

 

Of all that He said in the upper room discourse, four things were repeated several times: Love, fruit bearing, the ministry of G/HS, and prayer. These are gifts, not burdens.

 

Love, the ultimate virtue, fruit bearing, the ultimate work, the ministry of G/HS, the ultimate walk, and prayer, the ultimate intimacy. These are gifts, not burdens.

 

Christians who see these wonderful gifts as burdens do not know Christ or the Father, and so, as we will see in JOH 17:3, do not experience their eternal life in time. The gifts are ours because He overcame and we are to walk in that victory and reign in life.

 

ROM 8:32

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?\

 

ROM 5:17

For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

 

So then, cheer up, be courageous, these gifts are yours forever. Use them in joy and overcome as He did. We will do none of this effectively if we do not claim our position as conquerors in Jesus Christ.

 

He had taught them the Word, now He would pray for them.

 

The Word and prayer should always go together.

 

ACT 6:4

"But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word."

 

In His prayer, He used the word "world" nineteen times. He shows us how to overcome the world and it is imperative that we do so through Him. He is at this time facing the greatest hatred that the world can sling at any man, and He completely overcomes it by using the same power that He has prayed to be given to us and has.

 

He endured His suffering and He gained the victory. He took seven steps down and seven steps up in glory.

 

We must allow God to transform our sorrow into joy by yielding to His will, the ministry of God the Holy Spirit, and the word of God.

 

If we do so, we will be eye witnesses of that transformation as the apostle John was.

 

Joh 17; our Lord's priestly prayer.

 

This is the longest prayer recorded in the NT. It was offered on the most tender and solemn occasion that has ever occurred in our world, and it is perhaps the most sublime composition to be found anywhere.