CRUCIFIXION part 9
JESUS PRAYS:
FOR HIMSELF
After telling the disciples that they were going to be scattered all to his own home, while leaving him alone, and; yet, not alone, for he would be with his Father, He said, "Take heart! I have overcome the world." Then he retired to pray, first for himself.
John 17: 1-2 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
Here we have a glimpse into the sovereignity of God. We do not choose God, he chooses us. Therefore, if you know he is calling you, you had better come to him immediately. The faster, the better. Otherwise, who can know the outcome of refusal? How many times does God call us?
John 17:3-5 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began
This last I underlined for those nay sayers, who do not believe that Jesus was with the Father God at the beginning before the world began, as was the Holy Spirit. They have always been and always will be the Truine God. Hard to grasp, but nevertheless, true.
JESUS PRAYS:
For the Disciples
Once when Jesus fed the five thousand, many people came looking for him and many became his disciples. But, when Jesus taught more deeply about himself, many could not understand. The Spirit of truth was not yet here, so; they did not understand the words of Jesus.
He taught so: John 6:53-54 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day.
These guys had been following him for earthly bread and fish as he had given to the five thousand. They did not understand these words of Jesus and they were put off.
John 6:58 This is the bread that came from heaven. Your forefathers ate the manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread (the Word of God, Jesus) will live forever."
John 6: 60-64 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe andwho (Judas Iscariot) would betray him.
John 6:65 He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.
Another piece of evidence about the sovereignty of our Father God. He chooses us, we do not choose him. If you hear him calling you today, answer with a resounding "Yes!" Jesus was saying, you must take me into your heart totally, just as the Passover Lamb was to be eaten totally at the one meal. Anything left over had to be burned to ashes.
John 6:66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
Jesus was down to the twelve disciples. Judas Iscariot was not with them at this moment, because; he was with the chief priests, accepting thirty pieces of silver for betraying Jesus. In the meanwhile, Jesus is praying for himself, knowing his hour of death is near upon him. Now, he prays for the faithful disciples.
John 7:6-19 I have revealed you to those whom you gave to me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is miine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me-- so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name (Jesus) you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Santify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they may be truly sanctified.
He is to die to truly sancitify the disciples and all those that would come to believe in Jesus. This is why if we belong to Jesus, we cannot truly be of the world. The world more and more is 'pushing Jesus to the curb' and creating false gods for themselves, and placing those gods ahead of Jesus. We cannot do that or participate in any activity that does that to him if we belong to him, love and obey him. He must remain first and foremost with us at all times.
JESUS PRAYS:
FOR ALL BELIEVERS
How divine is all that? Jesus prayed for YOU and for ME on the night before his crucifixion on the cross. Yes, he did. He knew us before the foundation of the world. He knew who he was praying for, just as he knew the disciples one by one. If he knew us before the foundation of the world, he has to know the number of the chosen by God. (Pslams 139:16 your eyes saw my unformed body. all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.) Therefore, we must give thanks to our Lord for remembering us, on the day of his greatest ordeal, the crucifixion.
John 17:20 "My prayer is not for them alone. (the disciples) I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you loved me. "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me before the creation of the world. "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.
We were prayed for nearly two thousand years ago by Jesus, who asked his Father that the love he had for Jesus should be the love God has for us. How divine is that? Jesus is willing to make it all ours, the most important being the love of God the Righteous Father. Righteous Father: For us Jesus died; for us to be made righteous, so we can be with a Righteous Father.
Shalom
Chapitag
John 17:20 "My prayer is not for them alone. (the disciples) I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you loved me. "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me before the creation of the world. "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.
We were prayed for nearly two thousand years ago by Jesus, who asked his Father that the love he had for Jesus should be the love God has for us. How divine is that? Jesus is willing to make it all ours, the most important being the love of God the Righteous Father. Righteous Father: For us Jesus died; for us to be made righteous, so we can be with a Righteous Father.
Shalom
Chapitag