Wednesday, May 15, 2013
John 17:6-8 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me."
OUR ASCENDED LORD PRAYS FOR YOU: THE CIRCLE OF LOVE
These verses seem rather simple on the surface, but they contain an amazing story of love. From the disciples' perspective it may have seemed that they had chosen to follow Jesus, but these verses reveal that it all began in God's love and has returned to God's love.
Why were those disciples with Jesus? As Jesus said earlier that night, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you" (John 15:16). Now Jesus reveals that it did not begin with Him but with His Father. God the Father had them in His heart and in His plans from eternity. God gave them to Jesus. He entrusted them into Jesus' care.
Jesus in turn manifested God's name to them through the word which He taught them. As a result, they now know and believe that Jesus truly came from God and that what Jesus spoke was God's word. As Peter once confessed, "You are the Christ the Son of the living God."
Do you realize that God has done the same for you? He has chosen you out of the world. Already in eternity He knew you as His own, you were His. He entrusted you into the hands of His Son, who died for you to set you free from your bondage to sin and death, so that you could be His forever.
Now Jesus has also given us the Father's word through the inspiration of the Spirit and by that same Spirit, you have been brought to faith in Christ and united with your Father in heaven. Glorify and praise the name of the one who loved you so!
