p. 554 | The Commentary by J.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 9, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 35.

The Commentary.

By J.

NOTES ON THE INTERNATIONAL LESSON.

Jesus Interceding.

THIS is Jesus's prayer for his disciples wherever found in all the world to the end of time. He says, “Neither pray I for these [the eleven] alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.” Here in this prayer is expressed the tender love and considerate care which the divine Saviour has for those who believe on him. Before departing out of the world he left this prayer to be recorded for the consolation and confirmation of his children who are left in the world. When his children are afflicted if they would remember more than they do this prayer of the Saviour for them, there would be more peace and comfort and joy in the Christian course.

CHRIST once said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” Shall we not believe that in this sifting, in this tossing about, which Peter experienced, he was strengthened by the consciousness that Jesus had prayed for him? Certainly. But Peter is not the only one of Christ's followers whom Satan has desired; he is not the only one who needed to be sifted as wheat; and, far better than this, he is not the only one for whom Jesus has prayed. Notice, he did not pray for Peter that he might escape the sifting, he prayed that his faith should not fail, while being sifted. Peter needed the sifting, so do we. He needed the faith to endure it, so do we. He had the prayer of the precious Saviour that his faith might not fail, so have we.

THAT he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” Eternal life is in Christ, and that alone for those who are his. “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 6:23. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life.” John 3:36. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” John 6:53. “God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:11, 12. These scriptures show, and indeed the Scripture altogether shows, that there is life only in Christ. Out of him there is no life, for the wages of sin is death. But Christ died for sinners, and through faith in him there is forgiveness of sin. Without faith in him there is no escape from sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. And death is death—the second death—and not eternal life in misery. Out of Christ there is no such thing as eternal life, in misery nor anywhere else. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” And when He appears in his glory, he takes “vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction [not with everlasting misery] from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” 2 Thess. 1:8, 9. In Christ is life literal and eternal. Out of Christ is death literal and eternal. Choose Christ that you may live.

HOLY Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me.” It is not the Saviour's wish, nor is it the Father's wish, that any should fall away. “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thess. 5:9. And, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things.” Rom. 8:32. Notice, the word is not, How shall he with him freely give us all, but it is, “How shall he not.” If God so loved us that while we were yet enemies he gave his dear Son to die for us, now, being reconciled and his friends, how shall he not with him freely give us all needed grace to keep us. Oh, how great is his goodness, and how great his mercy. “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” Jude 24, 25.

THEY are not of the world.” Those are they for whom this prayer is made, and who can claim the comfort and the strength which it promises. For he said that in this prayer he prayed not for the world. “I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which

thou hast given me.” It is plain therefore that no one can have the world, and the benefits of this prayer at the same time, nor even off and on. We must be Christ's. We must be not of the world. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” “The friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” James 4:4. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:16, 15. Therefore, “Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” Rom. 12:2.

I PRAY not that thou shouldst take them out of the world.” No. They are the light of the world; they are the salt of the earth; they are epistles which Christ writes to the world to tell the world of him, of his goodness, his holiness, his purity, his righteousness—in short to tell the world that he is Christ, the sent of God, in whom God reconciled the world unto himself. They are in Christ's stead in the world, for he said, “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” And when Christ's work is done for the world,—when he ceases to be priest upon his Father's throne, and becomes king upon his own throne; when he lays off the garments of the intercessor, and puts on the “garments of vengeance for clothing;” when the cup of salvation shall be emptied, and the cup of wrath filled; when the mystery of God shall be finished—then he will appear upon the white cloud, and call to the heavens above and to the earth, “Gather my saints together unto me;” and “shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other;” then and thus he will take them out of the world.

THAT they all may be one.” The unity of his disciples is the strong point of the Saviour's prayer, this wish being expressed no less than five times in it,—“That they may be one, as we are;” “That they all may be one;” “That they also may be one in us;” “That they may be one, even as we are one;” “That they may be made perfect in one.” Surely then the oneness of his disciples is the greatest wish of their Lord. This unity is accomplished and maintained by the Holy Spirit; as he says, “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.” On this Paul says, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Eph. 4:1–6. Again, in 1 Cor. 1:10, he says, “I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” See also Rom. 15:5, 6; 12:16; Phil. 2:2, 5; 1 Peter 3:8.

AND the object of this unity for which he so earnestly prayed, and upon which, through Paul, he so strongly insists, is, “That the world may believe that thou hast sent me;” and “That the world may know that thou hast sent me.” If his disciples everywhere had met, or if they would meet, the wish expressed in this prayer, the world could not deny that God sent his Son into the world. But alas, even in the very days of the apostles, there were those who loved to have the pre-eminence, 3 John 9, and from among the churches they themselves established, there should “men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.” Acts 20:30. Jude however exposes the secret of all such things then and in all ages. “These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.” Verse 19. Absence of the Spirit of Christ destroys the unity which should characterize the disciples of Christ. For this cause Paul beseeches us to endeavor to keep “the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace;” and Jude continues, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”