John 17:12, commentary and pictures

Spoken in His final intercessory prayer before leaving the world, Jesus declared that while He was with them He guarded those the Father had given Him, and none was lost except the son of perdition, Judas, that Scripture might be fulfilled. He kept them by giving them God's word, which kept them faithful, pure and sanctified through the truth and set them apart from the world's practices and spirit though they remained in the world. As He prepared to depart He committed them to the Father's continued keeping in His name, a keeping His heavenly intercession still carries on with power to keep obedient believers from falling and from sin. That keeping was unto oneness, that they may be one as Father and Son are one in a close living union bound by love without erasing personal identity. This oneness embraces all who afterward believe through their word, and when lived in self-denying love it stands as the evidence to the world that God sent His Son.

Setting and Occasion

The words belong to the upper chamber after Judas had left, when Jesus was alone with the eleven, giving farewell words of comfort, counsel and prayer before His approaching separation, betrayal, Gethsemane agony, trial, rejection, suffering and crucifixion, following His instruction in John 13-16. They were spoken to prepare their minds for the coming trial, the separation shortly to take place, and the wicked things they would see Him suffer at the hands of men, and they end His instruction with strong, hopeful words before He pours out His soul for His disciples. He was about to speak of His approaching separation, but first He directed their thoughts to the great object of His mission, which He kept ever before Him, and to His joy that all His humiliation and suffering would glorify the Father's name. They were given because they needed special instruction that unless divine power were combined with human effort their future work to bless humanity would fail, that they must not leave the divine agency out of their efforts but build all their ministry upon a divine Christ, and that same partnership holds where the Holy Spirit works through human agencies with all efficiency and power of God while responsibility rests with the human instrument to seek power from on high and improve the facilities God has provided to uplift fallen humanity. The whole prayer from the first verse to the last is to be studied for an understanding of its meaning.

The verse belongs to Christ's final, last, intercessory prayer to the Father for His disciples and His church, offered shortly before He left them and the world, at the close of His ministry as He returned to the Father and was no more in the world. It is part of His precious last prayer before He left His disciples to pass through His great agony in the garden of Gethsemane before His crucifixion, a prayer for His people to have, offered before His humiliation, betrayal and death. It presents essential instruction and eternal principles for Christian life, and is presented as instruction to be applied in times of difficulty, especially through belief in the truth that sanctifies. In it He committed the disciples to the Father's keeping and prayed that unity and love would continue among them, teaching followers to leave self-centeredness behind, devote themselves wholly to God's service, and live in harmony with one another. It applies to followers chosen out of the world who may be hated by it, who are to remain faithful to God and His truth rather than seek the world's friendship.

The prayer was uttered in the hearing of the disciples, was repeated by them to strengthen one another in disappointment and trial, and was fully understood and appreciated only after His resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit. These words steadied them through disappointment and trial, though they did not fully grasp them until after the resurrection, and they continue to give comfort, peace and hope to believers. It is full of instruction of the highest type and shows His desire that all be saved through faith in Him. It is a sample on earth of His intercession carried on in heaven within the veil for all who receive Him and believe on His name, even unto the ends of the earth.

The prayer illustrates His continuing ministry as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, where having died to make atonement for sin and paid the redemption price without which none could be saved He stands at the Father's right hand pleading for all who receive Him. It gives the rule for conduct, holds truth that will stand the test of ages, and pictures the intercession He makes for those who believe in Him and will continue to make to the end of the world. His keeping expresses His purpose to keep followers from sin and loyal to God, and those who humbly trust His saving power and faithfully do their duty may be assured of this prayer's answer. His intercession prevails with power to take away sin and to give power to become the sons of God, keeping obedient believers from falling, so that because He lives they shall live also. As consecrated high priest interceding for His people and joining humanity to God, He offered it as His final prayer to the Father for His church while comforting and instructing His followers before His departure.

He still presents that prayer for ministers over congregations and the churches entrusted to them when they stand clothed with filthy garments under Satan's resistance and accusation, pleading before the Father with His bruised hands bearing the wounds of cruel spikes and declaring that He has graven His church — the names of those who believe on Him — upon the palms of His hands, that through earnest humbling, fasting, prayer, sincere repentance, and the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God their sins may be pardoned and they may stand fast in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Though facing His own approaching agony, shame and death, He prayed to encourage and strengthen the disciples for the fearful test ahead, knowing they would face the world's opposition, hatred, persecution, trials and temptations, the temptation to abandon faith to escape suffering, and dangers under Satan when they could be led from duty into wrongdoing, that their faith would prove steadfast and not be overwhelmed with despair. As Good Shepherd and Elder Brother He identifies His interests with fallen humanity and petitions the Father for followers who are vulnerable to temptation and may be led from duty, seeking strength from the Father to give them assurance and hope. He remembered that His disciples faced the world's opposition and asked the Father to keep them from evil, gave them God's word and prayed that they might have His joy fulfilled in themselves, that though the world hated them because they are not of the world even as He is not of the world, the Father would not take them out of the world but keep them from the evil. His example and prayer rule out conduct that works against His instruction or turns disciples against one another, and forbid believers, especially leading brethren, to present conflicting views publicly in papers sent to the world or before large worship gatherings, for doing so works against Him and counteracts His own instruction. The warfare called for is aggressive against error and sin, not against one another, requiring believers to be a strength to one another, to heal and not destroy, and to keep receiving light without spurning the message nor the messengers by whom God sends light, for zeal that leads to such division is not inspired of God and He never prompts any man to work against Himself. The prayer is for people seeking salvation in the perils of the last days, and studying it directs them to cling to Christ for power to become God's children and gain victory over sin.

The night intercession for the disciples that the Father would keep them from the evil influences they would daily encounter in the world is located on the Mount of Olives, His favorite resort for devotion, where after the multitude left and the disciples went to sleep He spent all night in divine pleading with His head bowed under the dew and frost. By that prayer His own soul was strengthened and braced for the duties and trials of the day, and He prayed often and much, with strong crying and tears, for His disciples and for Himself, thus identifying Himself with human needs, weaknesses and failings. Though He was unsullied with corruption, a stranger to sin, Himself a source of blessing and strength who healed the sick, raised the dead, and commanded the tempests, His example leaves ministers and all followers the lesson that success in labor for souls requires unselfish devotion and much prayer instead of divided interest, double-mindedness, care for this life, and little prayer.

Keeping in Father's Name

While he was with them in the world he guarded in the Father's name those the Father had given him, keeping those entrusted to him, and none of them was lost. That keeping held them faithful to God, and its loss was only the son of perdition in fulfillment of Scripture. He kept them by a definite method and force, giving them God's word, which kept them faithful and set them apart so that their words, actions and spirit were unlike the world's and not in harmony with its practices, beliefs, maxims and dispositions. The keeping he began is continued by the Father keeping them from evil without taking them out of the world.

This keeping means keeping followers from sin, loyal to God, pure, from evil, and sanctified through the truth of God's word, while living in the world and being sent into the world as he was sent. They are not taken out of the world though hated by the world because they are not of the world even as he is not of the world, having received God's word. That keeping and sanctifying works repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ as fruits of the renewing grace of the Spirit, by which the soul seeks to reflect Christ's image. It takes in all who afterward believe through their word, granting everyone who meets the conditions the privilege of being blended in Christ as his life is one with the Father, and those who humbly trust his saving power and faithfully do their duty may be assured of its answer.

As he prepared to leave the world and be no more in the world he committed the disciples to the Father's keeping and asked the Father to continue that keeping through his own name, entrusting them to the Father's care as a sure refuge and gathering his flock. That prayer for keeping in God's name preserves their unity and asks that they may be one and have his joy fulfilled in themselves. Those entrusted with the care of others are to learn from him how to keep and save the souls committed to their charge. His keeping of those entrusted to him means persecutors may cause bodily pain or take temporal life but cannot destroy the life hidden with Christ, so suffering does not mean God has abandoned them, for his Spirit strengthens them to endure and their death is precious in his sight.

Son of Perdition Exception

While He was with them in the world He guarded in the Father's name those the Father had given Him, and none of them was lost except the son of perdition, whose loss fulfilled Scripture that the Scripture might be fulfilled. That keeping was before His betrayal and crucifixion, as He committed the disciples to the Father's keeping and prayed that unity and love would continue among them. He kept them faithful to God and from worldly practices, beliefs, attitudes, maxims and dispositions by giving them God's word, so that their words, actions and spirit were unlike the world's and set apart from its ways. The exception is Judas, the son of perdition, and Christ's final prayer for His disciples presents in this verse essential instruction and eternal principles for Christian life, teaching that believers are to live in the world while being guarded from evil and sanctified through the truth unto oneness in God's name.

Jesus knew Judas would betray Him into the hands of wicked men, yet dealt with him carefully, giving him no cause for offense or excuse to turn away. The keeping reaches its fulfillment when He presents the redeemed to the Father, who stand faultless before God, restored to His image and brought back into harmony with Him with sin's damage removed, and the exception named in the verse is not part of this redeemed company. The prayer that contains this exception belongs to the prayer Christ offered just before His betrayal by the wicked Judas, and it is to be read and considered with the fulfilment of prophecy kept in mind. He who prayed it was the only begotten Son of God.

Unity of Believers

The keeping in the Father's name was for oneness, that those given to the Son might be made one as Father and Son are one. It is a close, living union in which followers are one with Christ, and through Him one with one another and with God, bound together by love. That keeping guards from evil and sanctifies through the truth of God's word, giving His word so that life is set apart from the world, while still living in the world and being sent into the world as He was sent. It also carries His joy fulfilled within, and calls for encouragement rather than discouragement of those bearing heavy burdens.

Christ is distinct from the Father while being one with Him, and this oneness does not erase personal identity. So also the oneness prayed for among followers does not erase anyone's identity, even when they are scattered across the world. Their unity with Christ is to be after the pattern of His unity with the Father.

This unity is the evidence to the world that God sent His Son to save sinners. Studied and lived, especially its call to unity, the prayer reveals God's grace in life and convinces the world that Christianity is genuine. When answered there is no perfection in division, but reformation of character and a tremendous influence upon the world. Confessing and forsaking sin removes what separates from God and brings into this relation, with conviction of sin and revelation of God's glory accompanying grace in the heart.

That keeping and oneness was not for the first disciples alone but takes in all who afterward believe through their word. Everyone who meets the conditions is granted the privilege of being blended in Christ as His life is one with the Father. The possibilities held out in the prayer strengthen faith and show what Christians may become as they strive to answer it.

The unity depends on giving up one's own way for God's way. It requires leaving self-centeredness behind, setting aside selfishness and every thread of selfishness, devoting all wholly to God's service and living in harmony with one another. It sets aside barriers of color, caste and territory, empties the heart to receive the Holy Spirit and transforming grace, esteems others better than self, appreciates one another, helps and strengthens one another, and speaks words of hope and cheer that make hearts glad.

Difference and disunion dishonor God, and disagreement shows the lesson of the prayer has not been given its due weight. Lived in practical life, its unity and love make believers strong against Satan's attacks, while dissension and self-exaltation leave them weak. Satan understands the prayer and works to keep God's people in discord and strife over little misunderstandings and little differences that grow into variance and hatred when dwelt upon, so they present before the world exactly the opposite of what God desires.

The spiritual gifts Christ gave the church are means for bringing about that oneness. The verse does not prove a distinction that grants miraculous gifts to the apostles while denying them to later believers, since the commission declares that signs would accompany believers beyond the first apostles.

Joy Sanctification and Redemption

He spoke these words while still in the world so that His joy might be fulfilled in His followers through their oneness with Him. That joy is neither light and trifling nor mourning and groaning, but comes as believers place themselves where they can rejoice in the sacrifice made lest they be lost, grasp the promises of the Word, trust that He took their sins upon Himself, love Him, rejoice in redemption, and live in harmony with His example. Being one with Him in this joy gives power to ask what they will and have it done, with faith to speak courageously to those around them, to follow on to know the Lord with simple faith that takes God at His word, to glorify Christ in wholehearted likeness while keeping eternal life in view, and to pass through trials knowing the burden rests on One who saves to the uttermost.

The keeping He prayed for is a keeping from evil and a sanctifying through the truth, for God's word is truth, given to those hated by the world because they are not of the world even as He is not of the world, sent into the world as He was sent while not taken out of the world, with Himself sanctified for their sakes that they also might be sanctified. This keeping and sanctifying works repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ as fruits of the renewing grace of the Spirit, by which the soul seeks to reflect Christ's image to the world. Living in obedience to God's commands brings believers into unity with Christ, who is one with God.

That keeping continues now, for the prayer pictures the intercession He makes for believers and will continue to make to the end of the world, giving the rule for conduct and truth that will stand the test of ages. Having died to make atonement and paid the redemption price without which none could be saved, He stands at the Father's right hand pleading for all who receive Him, and His intercession prevails with power to take away sin and give power to become sons of God, keeping obedient believers from falling, so that because He lives they shall live also.

His keeping reaches its fulfillment when He presents the redeemed to the Father at the arrival of the kingdom, with none of His faithful people lost. They stand faultless before God, restored to His image and brought back into harmony with Him, with sin's damage removed and humanity restored. The exception named in the verse has no part in that redeemed company.

Those kept in the Father's name become one with Christ in God, partakers of the divine nature escaping the corruption in the world through lust, changed from sin to holiness, complete and whole in Him while apart from Him deficient, as chosen children and heirs. This enduring union is the privilege of men and women, opening the source of rich and eternal happiness that outlives all earthly sinful enjoyment. If believers preserve this unity and put the prayer into practice by repeatedly reading it, God will love them as He loved His Son, the sinner will be saved, and God will be glorified.

The prayer is about vital union with Him maintained by daily feeding on the Word of God, which is His flesh and blood. As blood is formed in the body by food eaten, so Christ is formed within those who feed on the Word as the hope of glory, and through obedience they become partakers of the divine nature. This feeding cannot be once only but must be daily, for knowledge of the Word is eternal life, its entrance gives light and understanding to the simple, it must be meat and drink to renew the mind and cause growth up into Christ the living Head, as a branch becomes a withered stalk bearing no fruit unless united fiber by fiber and vein by vein to the vine, so the soul lives only by receiving the bread from heaven, which is receiving Christ Himself for nourishment and vitality.

The prayer reveals earnest longing for the salvation of souls ready to perish, even weeping over souls ready to die, with inexpressible tenderness, compassion and solicitude. Those who consent to wear His yoke reproduce His character, aims and purposes by praying as He prayed. The same solicitude then appears in a life of self-denial, self-sacrifice and continual service that souls may be won.

Living the Prayer

The whole prayer from first verse to last is essential instruction and eternal principles, the rule for conduct and truth that will stand the test of ages, presenting the duties specified by Christ as Substitute and Surety and the plan of redemption. It is to be carefully studied, repeatedly read and often repeated, received as God's message in every home, and answered by entire consecration, living faith, and putting the powers of the whole being into living its words. Its lessons are to be studied and practiced, its call to unity lived so lives reveal grace, its fellowship with Christ and one another sought so God can answer prayer. Being one with Christ, and then in and through Christ one with one another, is the only hope of reaching heaven, for in Christ life and immortality are brought to light, He opened the way to the kingdom to all who believe, assigns no different path, and calls for unity.

Answering that prayer is the only hope and the way to obtain fitness for heaven in this world. Those who appreciate it are brought up onto a higher platform to be purified, refined and sanctified, feel the worth of souls for whom Christ died, and realize how perilous is doing nothing to bring souls to Christ. Its meaning is known when believers are meek and lowly in heart, come close to Christ and close to one another in Christlike sympathy and love, and send forth a decided influence for good demonstrating the sanctifying power of truth upon heart and character. Lived out it makes believers kind, tender, loving and Christlike in thoughts, words and acts, correcting self and setting a right example, so the world sees God sent His Son to save sinners and takes knowledge they have been with Jesus. Being one with Christ in His joy gives power to ask what they will and it shall be done, and calls them to have faith and speak with courage and faith, while humbly trusting His saving power and faithfully doing duty assures the answer of His keeping from sin in loyalty to God. That joy is not light and trifling nor mourning and groaning, but comes by placing themselves to rejoice in the sacrifice made lest they be lost, grasping the promises in the Word, trusting Christ took their sins, and its words sustain courage, strengthen faith and keep the soul in God's love through truth as it is in Jesus.

Its lived meaning is known in practical unity and love that guards unity and allows God's love and power to flow among His people. Followers are to be united as He is with the Father, no one discouraged, those carrying heavy burdens encouraged, talents used to cherish love and unity and heal divisions through sanctification by truth. When at variance they cannot live as branches of the True Vine, so they are to avoid stirring prejudice or strife, place no stumbling blocks, speak the same thing in the same mind, cherish fellowship, help and strengthen one another with words of hope. That process makes believers one with Him in this present life to be one with Him through all eternity, as God's plainly expressed will and divine antidote for the sin of the whole world.

It calls God's people to belong to God and be kept by Him, relying on God's strength and remaining distinct from the world whose service and fellowship oppose theirs. Chosen out of the world they may be hated by it, yet are to remain faithful to God and His truth rather than seek the world's friendship, keep unspotted, forgive and be drawn to enter the everlasting kingdom. The keeping faithful to the Father's name means not living in selfishness and pride nor doing what dishonors God's name. Leading brethren are forbidden to present conflicting views publicly in papers sent to the world or before large gatherings, for that works against Christ and counteracts His instruction, and zeal leading to such division is not inspired of God who never prompts working against Christ. The warfare called for is aggressive against error and sin, not against one another, requiring believers to be a strength to one another, to heal and not destroy, and to keep receiving light without spurning message nor messengers, though hated because not of the world even as He is not of the world, kept from evil without being taken out of the world, with His joy fulfilled in themselves.

Children and youth are to receive education in that same line that they may be separate from the world, with every instructor working in harmony with this prayer by leading students to Christ and fitting them for eternal life, by the definite method of giving them God's word so actions, words and spirit are not in harmony with worldly practices, maxims and dispositions. God's plan is for His people to work together as a church, for disorganization and separation into isolated groups oppose that plan and give Satan's forces cause to triumph. When united God's love and power flow richly, and separation between ministry and medical missionary work shows the Holy Spirit is not working on hearts, while unity in brotherly love, compassion, courtesy and reconciliation without criticism or alienation depends on the Spirit working in hearts.

The prayer expresses Christ's mind toward the Father and toward the disciples, as lesson for all followers, joining Himself to believing people in saving a lost world. As Good Shepherd He identifies His interests with fallen humanity and intercedes for disciples, aware of dangers under Satan when they could be led from duty into wrongdoing. It shows the breadth of His mercy and love waiting for all who walk in obedience and humility, calls people to trust in God rather than human beings and worship Jesus as giver of life, and by purchasing them with His life places high estimate requiring patience, forbearance and Christlike love instead of wounding hearts. Offered just before betrayal, rejection and crucifixion, it reveals His care in that hour.

The prayer is the help of truly penitent souls in every emergency as they offer earnest petitions for fresh grace, new supplies of strength, and the efficiency and power of the Holy Spirit promised to all who ask in faith. Success in labor for souls requires unselfish devotion and much prayer, after His example on the Mount of Olives where after the multitude left He spent all night in divine pleading with strong crying and tears for Himself and disciples, strengthening His soul for the day's duties and trials. Believers need to pray as He prayed and live out prayers by engaging in duty not only because it is duty but because they love right doing, for when need is felt and asked God is ever ready to supply from abundant fullness and sincere prayer of faith is never sent up in vain. Yet that prayer for His people before humiliation and death remains unheeded as though never made, and Satan who understands it better than members and heads of families wants the day of visitation unseen, working to keep God's people in discord over little misunderstandings growing into variance and hatred to present the opposite of what God desires.

Believers are to cling to Christ for power to become God's children and gain victory over sin in the perils of the last days. They are to follow on to know the Lord with simple faith taking God at His word, glorify Christ in wholehearted likeness in this world while keeping eternal life and gospel hope constantly in view, and carry through trials knowing the burden is laid on One who saves to the uttermost all who come to Him. God's people must carry out this instruction in unity and love in the testing time when God proves who is worthy of admittance into His family, by combined consecrated effort to recover sinners beginning in the home where members are measured by what they are. When Christ's words are obeyed in the home the influence extends to church, the Spirit is not grieved away, Christ's works are done, the lamp burns to give light in darkness so men see good works and glorify the Father, while angels preserve the world because some have not yet heard truth and those believing and practicing the Word answer the prayer presenting redemption.