_THE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST_ ‘Thou gavest Him authority over all flesh.’ John 17:2 (R.V.) ‘All flesh.’ It is an expression often found in Scripture. It is a phrase which denotes man in his weakness and transitoriness, in contrast to the greatness and unchangeableness of God. The flesh of which all m... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE ONLY TRUE GOD 1_ ‘And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent.’ John 17:3 The truth and the reality of a man’s religion depend on his conception of God. We see this as we study other systems and other religions. If we go to a h... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE WORK OF LIFE_ ‘I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.’ John 17:4 If we might each choose his own epitaph, who would not choose this if he could? It is plain that before we can say to God that our work is finished we must be able to say it is... [ Continue Reading ]
_CHRISTIAN UNITY_ ‘That they may be one.’ John 17:11 The duty of unity is the hardest duty to fulfil. After all the teaching of the centuries the Lord’s Prayer in text has not been fulfilled. Divisions have become deeper, more permanent, more real. What is the real binding power for drawing men t... [ Continue Reading ]
_HOLY KEEPING_ ‘I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.’ John 17:15 But why does Christ leave His people in the world at all? Why not at once remove them, and take them home? That is not God’s way. I. CHRIST LEAVES HIS OWN IN T... [ Continue Reading ]
_CHRISTIAN SANCTITY_ ‘Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.’ John 17:17 This is emphatically the Lord’s own prayer, the prayer which He Himself alone employed. It may serve as a model for us to teach us what to pray for, for without His help we know not what to pray for as we ought.... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE CONSECRATION OF PERSONALITY_ ‘And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.’ John 17:19 The translation is perhaps a little old-fashioned at this point and remote from our ordinary use, too much so to give us at once the full force of the statem... [ Continue Reading ]
_OUR UNHAPPY DIVISIONS_ ‘That they all may be one; as Thou Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.’ John 17:21 Some things are good, but not pleasant; others are pleasant, but not good; it is not easy to combine the two... [ Continue Reading ]
_‘ONE WITH HIM’_ ‘The glory which Thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one.’ John 17:22 The text points to our oneness and union with Christ, by which alone we derive an interest in Him and we are made partakers both in His grace and glory. Jesus hath given us—... [ Continue Reading ]
_CHRIST’S WISH FOR HIS PEOPLE_ ‘Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory.’ John 17:24 The truth that men are judged by their desires finds its highest illustration in Jesus. The perfectness of His wishes. This is one of Christ’s wi... [ Continue Reading ]