Monthly Archives: June 2022

THE FOUR SOILS EXPLAINED

Christian Life, ,

THE FOUR SOILS EXPLAINED

When He was alone, the Twelve and the others around Him asked Him about the parables. He told them, ‘The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,

‘They may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven.’ (Mark 4: 10-12)

Jesus explained the meaning of the parable. One kind of seed, four kinds of soil, four different responses to the seed.

  1. Footpath ground

Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. (Mark. 4: 15)

The footpath resembles the hearts of people who fail to believe anything they hear from the Word of God. They are so hardened in their unbelief that nothing penetrates. The Word simply lies on the surface until Satan snatches it away. It’s as though they had never heard it at all.

What makes people’s hearts so hard that they reject God’s word?

  1. Some have chosen to follow false religions. They resolutely believe lies and refuse to acknowledge or believe the truth when it is presented to them.
  1. Some people’s hearts become hardened through persistent disobedience. Every time they hear the Word and choose to disobey, they become less sensitive to God’s directions. They resist the Holy Spirit so often that they can no longer hear His voice.
  1. Some people become insensitive to the Word because they feed on worldly “junk food”; movies, TV programmes, magazines, and books which present the ungodly ways of the world and feed the flesh. They have no appetite for the Word of God because they have fed so long on “junk food”.

Although these responses might apply to all people, there is a sense in which this story illustrates the way everyone responds to different facets of God’s Word. Some parts of the Bible are palatable, and we receive them gladly while we reject other parts because they demand something of us which we don’t like. Wherever a part of our hearts become hardened, the Word is snatched away, and we lose our capacity to respond to it in that area.

We may, for example, classify ourselves as believers but if, for one reason or another, we are practising sin, say, having sexual relations with a boyfriend or fiancée with the excuse that “we will get married one day”, and we refuse to obey God’s instruction, we will not respond to His rebuke. We will have lost our ability to hear that word because we have chosen our will above His will.

  • Shallow topsoil

Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. (Mark 4: 16-17)

Have you ever tried to grow plants in shallow topsoil? The seeds germinate readily enough but the hot sun soon withers them because the roots are too shallow to anchor the plants or to reach water to sustain them.

What constitutes “rocky soil” in people’s hearts? Unlike the footpath, they do have some topsoil, but it does not have enough depth for roots to establish themselves and anchor the plant.

”Shallow” people usually don’t take anything seriously. They are not interested in the real issues of life. If they can get along without too much inconvenience, they are satisfied. Their relationships are superficial, their values opportunistic, their behaviour selfish and their motives self-seeking. They are not prepared to work at creating harmony in their relationships. Any clashes, any misunderstandings and they cut the other person out of their lives. Everything must work for their benefit, or they are not interested. They crack under pressure. They cannot take adversity.

They are always on the defensive, never willing to ask for or take advice or change the way they think. They take everything personally, are easily offended, speaking, and acting defensively instead of learning something from the situation that will be of benefit to their character.

They embrace the message of Jesus readily enough if it is to their benefit but, when He begins to apply a little pressure to grow their faith and mature them in their relationship with Him, either through people or circumstances, they take offence and walk away. Unless the gospel works for them the way they expect it to, they do not want it.

  • Thorny ground

Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. (Mark 4: 18-19)

This condition describes what the Bible calls a “divided heart”. With penetrating insight, Jesus diagnosed the three symptoms of a divided heart.

  • The worries of this life.

Worry causes people’s hearts to split into two – either “what if” or “if only”. “What if” concerns itself with the future and “if only” with the past. Instead of living life now, they are held captive to the past by regret or the future by fear. This kind of enslavement is tenacious. Regret or fear takes hold of the mind and cannot easily be shaken off. Their minds are “split” by being “here” but also “there” – in the past or in the future but not in the “now”.

  • The deceitfulness of riches

Greed also causes people’s hearts to split. Since what they have is not enough, they live in the future, always scheming to make more so that they will have “enough” – however much enough might be. They are deceived by the devil into believing that they would be contented if they only had enough. They are here “now” in body, but they live in the future in anticipation of enjoying life “then” while life passes them by now because they have pinned their contentment on a mirage in the unknown future. They are split by trying to live “then” instead of “now”.

  • The desire for other things

This hits at the very heart of their relationship with God. This is what the Bible calls “covetousness”. When they are dissatisfied with what they have and constantly hanker for “other things”, they are in effect accusing God of short-changing them. God has been unfair. He has given this “thing” to this person, that “gift” to that one that they would like. Therefore, they covet what they do not have instead of being grateful and content with what they do have.

Instead of their hearts being satisfied with “this” so that they appreciate what they have and be contented with their gifts, and can develop their potential, they want “that”. Split again! They try to live another person’s life, coveting their possessions or their gifts and wasting what God has given them on useless desires that will never be fulfilled.

How can the seed of the Word of God grow and be productive in soil that is cluttered with beliefs and desires that are contrary to everything that God is? The seed has no hope of ever taking root and producing a crop in soil fouled with pernicious anti-God attitudes.

  • Good ground

Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it and produce a crop – thirty, sixty and even a hundred times what was sown. (Mark 4: 20)

Hearts that are not cluttered with pre-conceived ideas and beliefs, or that are willing to relinquish what reduces their ability to reproduce, will receive the Word, put down deep roots, endure all kinds of conditions and produce a harvest of spiritual fruit according to the seed sown. Like the good soil into which some of the seed falls, the volume of the harvest will depend on the preparedness of the soil to receive the seed.

The harvest from the good soil does not merely reproduce the same number of seeds as were sown. This is how God’s harvest works; He multiplies what is sown by huge margins because He is superabundantly generous!

What is the point of this story, then? There is nothing wrong with the seed. The potential to germinate, grow and produce a harvest is locked up. Whether it grows and produces a harvest depends on the environment into which it is sown. God has given each person the power to choose. The productiveness of His Word in their lives depends on what they choose to do with it.

There are factors which influence their choices – the character of the person and the thought patterns and beliefs that have been laid down in their hearts. The outcome, harvest or no harvest, will depend on their response or lack of response to the Word of God.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

THE DISCIPLES’ RESPONSE

Christian Life, ,

THE DISCIPLES’ RESPONSE

Jesus’s ministry was in its infancy. He was so popular that He had to make escape plans from time to time to evade the crowds and to keep the purpose of His coming in focus. It would have been easy to succumb to popularity and just be a miracle healer at the beck and call of needy people. After all, wasn’t it His purpose to reach as many people as possible?

However, there was another part of Jesus’s ministry that was equally important, that of training His disciples because they would be assigned the task of continuing where He left off. Wasn’t that why He called men to follow Him?

What Jesus had to say as recorded by Mark is the perfect way to conclude His directions for this journey that His disciples were on, and we are on if we define ourselves as disciples of Jesus. This was not about how they did respond but how, as His talmidim, they should respond.

Jesus told a story about a farmer who sowed seed in his field. This is a matter-of-fact story about how things are. It makes no demands and needs no response. It prescribes no treatment. It is like a doctor’s diagnosis, telling the patient what condition he has according to his symptoms. It was up to each listener to figure out his or her place in the story.

Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew, and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty or even a hundred times. Then Jesus said, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear.’ (Mark 4: 3-9)

How did Jesus come up with a story like this? Was it a traditional story told by the rabbis or was it His own, a masterful diagnosis of people’s responses to the Word of God? As someone who had keen powers of observation and astute interpretation, coupled with His intimate knowledge of the Scriptures, and understanding of human nature, He was able to tell a simple story to illustrate the way people dealt with His teaching.

Easy as the story was to understand, not even the disciples got the point. When they were alone with Him, they questioned Him about the parable, I can imagine them asking, “Rabbi, why do you tell so many stories. Why don’t you just teach them the plain truth?”

When He was alone, the Twelve and the others around Him asked Him about the parables. He told them, ‘The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,

‘They may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven.’ (Mark 4: 10-12)

But this seems so contrary to what God really wants. Doesn’t He want everyone to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth? Jesus’s response was both astonishing and puzzling.

Firstly, He explained that His stories had two different purposes for two different groups of people. The disciples were chosen for their potential to become authentic disciples and their willingness to embrace Jesus’s teaching and believe in Him. The other group – which Jesus called “those on the outside” – had shown by their response to the Word that they either refused to receive His Word, or their faith was temporary and conditioned by their circumstances.

He was teaching by parables to harden people in their unbelief! Why would He do that? These people had a choice. Every time someone heard the Word of God and failed to believe and live by it, his heart became a little harder and he was less able to hear and receive the Word. Jesus knew, as He taught the people, how this worked in practice.

His people had responded like this to the covenant at Mount Sinai. Despite all the evidences of His love and care for them during their journey through the wilderness, they murmured and complained every time they were put to the test. Their rebellion was proof of their unbelief. His provision of manna and water, His protection against the dangers of the journey and the enemies that came against them, instead of growing their trust, only hardened their hearts against Him.

Secondly, Jesus explained the meaning of the parable. One kind of seed, four kinds of soil, four different responses to the seed.

(To be continued)

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

THE THREE GREATEST QUALITIES OF A DISCIPLE

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THE THREE GREATEST QUALITIES OF A DISCIPLE

Jesus concluded both His prayer and the Upper Room discourse with a summary of all He had imparted to them and prayed for them.

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 I myself may be in them. (John 17: 25-26)

One almost feels sad that this prayer had come to an end and, at the same time, guilty for eavesdropping on sacred moments like these between the Father and the Son. And yet, since the disciples overheard the prayer and John wrote it down, it is obvious that Jesus wanted them to be a part of it.

We would expect that a summary like this, short as it is, would contain the essence of Jesus’s heart for His disciples – those who were with Him then and those who would come after them.

Three thoughts emerge that encapsulate Jesus’s heart for His disciples;

  1. Knowledge

He wanted them to know the Father. Jesus “knew” the Father in the deepest and most intimate sense of the word. He came to reveal the Father and to give them the name which was most precious to Him. How did Jesus reveal the Father to them? By speaking about Him, by doing His works and by being a perfect replica of the Father to them.

This was an ongoing commitment, entrusted to the Holy Spirit when He left them. As the Spirit revealed Jesus to the disciples and reminded them of the words He had spoken to them, so their intimate knowledge of the Father would grow and their fellowship with Him would deepen. This would be the hallmark of their lives as His followers, loving and submitting to the Father just as Jesus had done.

  • Love

Jesus’s passion was not only that the disciples know the character of the Father but that they would also know His love. The Father loved the disciples in the same way as He loved His Son. That they were human, finite and fallible made no difference. He loves because of who He is and not because of who we are. To be so sure of that love that no adversity of any kind could shake their confidence in the Father’s love was Jesus’s goal for them. God’s love for them, as it was for Him, would be their anchor through the storms of life.

They, like all people, had been created to live in the circle of the unity and intimacy between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Through His sacrifice, Jesus has removed all barriers and invites us also to enjoy the love and favour that God, the three in one, offers to all who will choose to believe His promise and to live loved, just as He did on earth.

  • Unity

To be one with His disciples, each one in Him and He in them, was His highest ambition. To direct their lives through the indwelling Spirit was the only guarantee that His message would not be distorted, and that the message of God’s love would be taken to the world.

Jesus did not aim for great buildings, great leaders, or great ministries. When we listen to His heart, what do we hear? He wanted His followers to know the Father, to understand the Father’s passion as Jesus mirrored it in His life.

He wanted His disciples to be ensnared by the love of God. His love was to steady them in times of trouble, to guide them along His path, to enrich their lives so that they would reflect Him, and to be the spectacles through which they looked at and interpreted every circumstance, good or bad.

He yearned to be in them in such close unity that they would be an extension of Him on earth, understanding His heart and doing His will through the Holy Spirit in them.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

JESUS PRAYED FOR US

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JESUS PRAYED FOR US

Just imagine – as Jesus’ prayer embraced the disciples in their desperate need at that moment, so His prayer follows every disciple from then to this very moment and beyond!

  1. Unity

What was the kernel of His prayer for all those who would follow Him down the ages through the message of His disciples?

His passion for us, as it was for them, is for the unity among His followers which reflects our oneness with Him and with the Father.

My prayer is not for them alone. 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. (John 17: 20-21)

Why is unity between the Father, Jesus and His disciples so crucial to Jesus? As we have already discussed, only the life of Jesus flowing to and through His disciples can produce the fruit of His nature in them. Nothing will convince the world of the truth of who Jesus is like the love the disciples have for one another (John 13: 34-35) and the supernatural unity between them which reflects the unity between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The amazing thing is that this unity already exists, even between strangers. Meet a true brother or sister in Christ for the first time and the connection is already there. Spirit bonds with spirit before a word is spoken. The opposite is true when the Spirit of Jesus encounters the spirit that is in the world. The clash of light and darkness is evident without saying a word.

How tragic, then, that the church of Jesus is so fragmented today that unbelievers have to ask why there are so many different denominations. The church, to a large extent, has been hijacked by so-called “spiritual leaders” who draw followers after themselves instead of connecting them to Jesus.

Even the Apostle Paul recognised this as a symptom of disunity in the infant church at Corinth.

My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ.’

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptised into the name of Paul? (1 Cor. 1: 11-13) 

How do we foster and maintain the unity which the Holy Spirit has created between believers? Paul urged the Ephesian church, and all who read his letter, to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Why?

There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (Eph. 4: 4-6)

How do we keep the unity? Submission is the key; dying to self (Gal. 2: 20); humbly submitting to Jesus as Lord (Eph. 5: 24); to spiritual leaders (Heb. 13:17); to one another (Eph. 5:21); wives to husbands (1 Pet. 3: 5-6); and having the attitude of Jesus (Phil 2: 5-11). 

  • Our glory

I have given them the glory that you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me. (John 17: 22)

What was the glory which Jesus gave to His disciples? Certainly not the glory which Peter, James and John witnessed on the Mount of Transfiguration and of which John spoke in John 1: 14:

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth,

Peter was an eyewitness of that same glory of which he wrote: 

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with Him on the sacred mountain. (2 Pet. 1: 16-18)

The glory of which the three disciples were eyewitnesses was but a momentary glimpse of the glory that the Son had with the Father before the world began.

Jesus referred here to another “glory” which was associated with His suffering. This was the glory which He gave to His disciples. “What kind of glory is this?” you may ask. Jesus gave Peter an inkling of the kind of glory his death would display:

‘I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.’  Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then He said to him, ‘Follow me.’ (John 21: 18-19)

There is a hidden glory in the suffering He asks us to endure for His sake. It is both the glory of identifying with Him in His suffering and the richness of His grace which, apart from our need, we would never experience.

Something unusual happens when people are thrown together in their suffering. Both the best and the worst comes out of them. Stories of the terrible suffering at the hands of the Germans in the concentration camps during WW2 reveal both the depth of selfishness and the heights of selfless love.

This was the heart of Jesus’ prayer for His disciples in the future – that they would grasp the glory of sharing in the suffering of others so that their hearts would be bonded into one. Amid the darkness of a greedy and selfish world, the light of unselfish love shines brightly to reflect the glory of God.

  • Love

May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:  23)

Deeper and deeper went Jesus into the relationship between Himself, the Father, and His followers. He dared to ask the Father that the love they shared as Father and Son would be the same love shared between the Father and His human sons and daughters. At the Father’s instruction, Jesus gave them, and all those who follow them His name. Included in the gift of that name was the power of attorney to use that name. Never in all of history were people allowed to use the name of the Father. What did this imply?

So great is the love the Father has for His human children that He is willing to risk giving them power of attorney to use His name, to ask in His name and to receive whatever they asked for, because they ask in the authority and according to the nature of His name. This is like a father giving his son a blank cheque on the understanding that the love and trust between them would prevent his son from abusing the privilege. Since the father loves and trusts his son, the son in turn would honour that trust by spending his father’s money wisely.

This is the kind of love the Father has for His children, entrusting to us all the privileges of sonship on the understanding that we will not abuse those privileges because we love the Father. We will respond to His love by honouring Him and upholding what He values and stands for by our submission and obedience to Him.

  • His glory

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world. (John 17: 24)

Where is this all leading? Jesus renounced His right to retain His glory when He came to earth as a human being. However, this was a temporary interlude. When He took on human flesh, He took it on forever, but when He laid aside His glory, it was for a season and for a purpose. The time was coming when the Father would exalt Him to the highest place, give Him a name above every name and give Him even greater glory than He had with Him from before the creation of the world.

What Jesus had before with the Father as His right would now be given back to Him in greater measure as His reward. We have a tiny inkling of that glory as Jesus revealed the Father’s mercy poured out on undeserving sinners through His life and death. It was only because mankind rebelled against God, spurned His love, and disobeyed His instructions that God was able to reveal the greatness of His love and the depth of His mercy.

Why was Jesus so eager to receive back the glory He had with the Father and to reveal it to His disciples? The answer is simple. The more we gaze at His glory, the more we are being transformed into His image.

And we, who with unveiled faces, all reflect (or contemplate) the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3: 18)

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

WHAT A PRAYER!

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WHAT A PRAYER!

What was the kernel of Jesus’ prayer for His disciples? One had already fallen away – on his way to sell his rabbi out for a few pieces of silver? Have you noticed that Jesus excluded Judas from His prayer? Judas’s mind was already made up. Jesus made no urgent request for the Father to stop him or for the Holy Spirit to convict him. It had to be and, in the sovereignty of God, He would blend every circumstance into His plan of redemption, even the free will of Judas who chose to betray his Master.

I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave then to me and they have obeyed your word. (John 17: 6)

What an insight into the heart of Jesus! The Father had given Him twelve men as a sacred trust. It was His task to impart the Father’s Word to them until they had grasped, embraced, and obeyed that Word. Jesus could not leave them alone in this world until He was sure that His task of training them to be His disciples was complete. From the moment He finally left them, their role would change. No longer would they simply be His disciples. They would be, like Him, true sons of the Father.

Verse 6 can also be translated:

I have revealed your name to those you gave me out of the world.

What was the significance of this declaration? The Lord revealed Himself to His covenant people by many names; Elohim – the Mighty One; El Elyon – the Most High God; El Shaddai – the one who nourishes; Adonai – the Master; El Olam – the everlasting God; Yahweh – the one who is; and the many facets of Yahweh – provider, shepherd, healer, righteousness, peace, banner, sanctifier, Lord of hosts and the Lord who is there.

But there was one name by which He was not known until Jesus came – the name, Father. Jesus came to reveal that name by being the perfect Son. It was that name He made known to His disciples and it was to that name that He entrusted them because He knew that God, as the perfect Father, would always be with them, vigilant and caring like no earthly father could ever be.  

Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I have given them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They know with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. (John 17: 7-8)

But wait a minute! What are you saying, Jesus? You are speaking as though the disciples had it all together. We know very well that they were an imperfect lot; they didn’t have a very good track record, and the events of the next few hours would show them up for what they really were – cowards and deserters. They had failed to learn their lessons and they fell apart when the crunch came. Jesus had warned them many times of the coming events, but they dismissed His words as of no consequence. How could He speak of them to the Father in this way?

Jesus has already shown us, time after time, that He saw people not as they were but as they would be through the work of the Holy Spirit in them. He spoke of His disciples as though they were already perfected because He had full confidence in the Holy Spirit to complete in them what He, Jesus, had begun.

But He was also realistic. The process by which they would reach maturity was fraught with danger. There was a threefold enemy they had to battle – the world, the flesh, and the devil. They needed the supernatural defence and protection of the Father to arrive at their destination. Jesus was fully aware of this, and He prayed for them.

Threefold protection

  1. Protected by the power of the Father’s name

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 mine. 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. (John 17: 9-11)

Theirs was a shared responsibility. What belonged to the Father also belonged to the Son. Jesus was soon to leave them. He would no longer be with the disciples to sort out their squabbles and keep them together as a band of His followers. They had the potential to lapse into their old, self-centred ways, ignoring the priceless love and unity that Jesus fostered among them, and which set them apart as His disciples.

Jesus would now entrust to the Father those whom the Father had entrusted to Him. It would be the Father’s responsibility to guard them against the ravages of their ungodly old natures, the lure of the world and temptations of the devil. Jesus’s prayer was not about physical safety. That was not His priority. It was far more important to Him that God’s supernatural power at work in them would mould them together as one with one another and with the Father since unity was the supreme hallmark of the Godhead and God’s goal for them.

Jesus had been in harmony with the Father from the beginning, never failing to receive His instructions from Him and carrying them out with meticulous obedience. He expected no less from His disciples but, without the Father’s intervention through the Holy Spirit, there was every possibility that they would fail in their basic relationship with Him and with one another.

What was His prayer for them? “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name . . .” God’s name was far more than a handle by which He was known. The very name of God was powerful. Jesus would have been aware of the words of Proverbs 18: 10:

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

To call on the name of the Lord was to invoke everything that He was. Jesus entrusted them to the name of the Father.

While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. (John 17: 12)

Jesus lost one. Not even He was able to save Judas from the consequences of his own choices. He had to let him go, knowing that the Father would work everything out perfectly to fulfil His purpose to offer salvation to the whole world through the death of His Son. Judas had a part to play, an unsavoury set of choices which would doom him to eternal loss, but even that was woven into God’s plan of redemption.

  • Protected by the power of Jesus’s joy

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. (John 17: 13)

The disciples were facing the most terrifying experience of their lives. Not only were they about to witness the execution of their Master at the hands of the Roman government, but they could also possibly be implicated in the charges against Him. Jesus spoke about them being filled with joy? His joy? What kind of joy would fill the heart of a man who was about to be crucified? This sounds crazy!

It is crazy if we look at it from a human perspective, but Jesus never viewed life in the same way as we do. The writer to the Hebrews understood Him.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the throne of God. (Heb. 12: 2)

What was disaster at that moment would be viewed with the full measure of His joy when they saw the big picture. The suffering of the cross was the process. Redemption was the goal. In the days to come the disciples would follow their Master down the pathway of suffering but, like Him, they would learn to fix their eyes on the goal. The suffering was temporary – the goal eternal. Although Paul was not part of the Twelve, as an apostle he also learned the lesson and could write:

Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is sees, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor. 4: 16-18)

Jesus’s joy will immunise us from the effects of pain and sorrow. His joy will condition us for the future when we can put behind us the effects of Adam’s sin on the world and focus on what is to come. This was His legacy to His disciples and to those who follow in their footsteps, bearing witness to the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit within.

People with this kind of mind-set are invincible. If they are hated, persecuted, and even killed, they are protected by an indestructible joy because it is anchored in an indestructible hope founded on the victory Jesus won at the cross.

  • Protected by the power of God’s Word

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. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself so that they may be truly sanctified. (John 17: 14-19)

The original Greek word ponos (meaning “anguish”) and its derivative poneros (here translated “evil one”) does not refer to the evil one but to the anguish that comes from the influence and effect of that which is evil. What is Jesus saying? His prayer has two possible meanings; either that the Father protect them from the anguish caused by the evil people of the world, or the pain the disciples would bring on themselves if they lived outside of the protection of God’s Word.

The second interpretation is more likely because Jesus has already prayed that they would be fortified against suffering by the power of His joy. People might inflict suffering on them as they did on Him, but the joy of knowing the outcome would protect them against emotional pain and enable them to be overcomers.

Paul knew this joy when he wrote:

No, in all these things (trouble, hardship, persecution, nakedness, danger or sword – verse 35b) we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that (nothing – author’s note) will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8: 37, 39)

Jesus understood that the most potent enemy man has is within himself. The only way the disciples would be protected from the suffering they could bring on themselves was to follow Jesus by walking in the light of God’s Word.

They had already received God’s Word as Jesus had faithfully given it to them. It was up to them now to live by that Word so they could be set free from consequences of sin as they walked in the truth. Jesus had shown them the way. He had faithfully taught them how to be true sons by living by the spirit of Torah, bybeing gracious and forgiving and extending mercy to all who needed it.

They had chosen to walk in God’s way, and with that choice came the inevitable clash of light and darkness. How easy it would be for them to falter when the heat was on! Only as they remained true to the Word, fastened their eyes on the goal and not on their circumstances, and allowed the truth to set them apart from the world, would they enjoy the power of God’s Word to protect them from the ravages of their old sinful nature. 

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.