Christ's Intercessory Prayer

 Reprinted from The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom, February 15, 1925.

Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me,
that they may be one, as we are.—John 17:11

The savior in declaring his love for his followers said that as the good shepherd he was laying down his life for the sheep. This was confirmed by Paul’s statement subsequently, “Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it” (Ephesians 5:25).

Likewise the prayer uttered by the master on the eve of his death presents grand testimony as to his heartfelt love for those whom the Father had given him. In fact our Lord’s entire life furnishes an illustration of what the apostle commends to all the church in the words, “Pray without ceasing.” Our Lord’s constant attitude of prayer without ceasing did not hinder his more particular devotions when he turned aside from the affairs of life to speak to the Father in secret, sometimes briefly and sometimes spending a whole night in prayer in the mountain solitude. Though he loved his disciples, they were not yet begotten of the holy spirit and could not fully comprehend matters from his standpoint. The Father alone was able to comprehend the full situation, and hence the very isolation of our Lord from all human help drew him the nearer and the oftener to the Father in prayer. Similarly, at times we may find that our dear ones, either of earthly or spiritual relationship, are unable to sympathize with our experiences. But we may be profited by such a lack of earthly sympathy in that the experiences will send us the more frequently to the heavenly Comforter from whom we will derive the greater blessing and joy.

Unselfishness of Jesus’ Prayer

The occasion of a prayer has much to do with its substance and spirit, and this prayer was offered at a great critical moment: “The hour is come.” His first thought was “Father glorify thy son, that thy son may glorify thee.” The term “glory” in general means shining excellence, splendid beauty and power. Its most typical instance is the blazing sun that fills the heavens with its brilliance and is the most glorious object human eyes see. From this physical meaning the word is transferred to mental and moral and spiritual excellence, and stands for worthy and shining gifts of mind and character. Another has said that “the highest and truest glory of Christ is his moral and spiritual excellence, the purity of beauty and splendor of his character, which is the greatest expression of worth and stands as the praise of all the ages.”

The Savior’s prayer was not a selfish one. His prayer was not that his glory might be revealed for his own sake, but that it might be reflected back upon the Father, “that thy son also may glorify thee.” As has been said, “the highest glory never terminates upon the self after the manner of worldly glory, but is altruistic in its object and spirit.” Jesus acknowledged his mission that the Father had given him power over all flesh, that is, that he had committed to him the work of the world’s redemption; that in achieving this great thing he must ultimately impart the knowledge of God to all in order that they might know him, that “whosoever will” might be qualified to enter into endless life. The Master could truthfully say, “I have glorified thee on earth by accomplishing the work thou gavest me to do.”—John 17:4, Moffatt translation.

In the first part of his prayer, Jesus prays for himself, in the second part he prays for his immediate disciples, and then, in the third part he moves out into the wider circle of all believers—“for them which thou hast given me”; and for “them also which shall believe on me through their word.”

The Church and The World

The thrice repeated petition that his followers might all be one shows how closely this desire lay to the heart of the master, and how earnestly he prayed that it might be realized. From one point of view it appears that this part of our Lord’s petition has gone astray, as though it were forgotten of God, in that the long centuries since have witnessed multiplied and ever increasing divisions and even strifes amongst the professed followers. But we are to remember that Jesus was not praying for nominal professors merely. His words have to do with his true followers, for he said that he was praying not for the world, but for those that had been given him out of the world. A great loss is sustained by those who have not recognized the sharp line of distinction which Jesus draws between the church and the world. By discerning this difference we are greatly assisted in rightly dividing the word of truth. “God so loved the world.” Jesus “by the grace of God tasted death for every man,” and was a propitiation for the sins of the whole world, yet he is not of the world, and those who become his disciples are not of the world. “Ye are not of the world even as I am not of the world.” Losing the clear line of distinction between the church and the world has been a serious injury to true Christianity.

The world has appropriated some of the promises and customs and ceremonies which more or less resemble or counterfeit the graces of the church, and this is called civilization, and thus a large proportion of the world is today mistakenly recognized as part of the church. This is to their disadvantage, for not discerning that those who are of the church must be begotten again, that in the resurrection they may be born again, they are merely deceiving themselves. It is a disadvantage also to the true church, the true followers of the Lord, whose new natures must contend with the weaknesses of the flesh, and whose flesh seeks to justify itself by common custom, and to claim that to go much beyond the common standard is to be fanatical extremists. The Lord’s people need to remember that, judged from the standpoint of the world and the nominal church, they must be extremists if they would come up to the standards set for them by the Lord and the apostles, standards illustrated in the lives of Jesus and the apostles, in their self-denials even unto death.

The True Oneness of the Christ

Our Lord prayed not for the world, because the Lord’s time for dealing with the world had not yet come—would not come until after the selection of the church, the body of Christ. Altogether these who were to become his disciples unto the end of the age would be but a small class. Jesus represents his disciples as being a small minority in the world, hated of the world, opposed by the world, misunderstood by the world; not many great, not many wise, not many learned, not many rich, not many noble—chiefly the poor and altogether a “little flock.” The characteristics of the disciples who personally gathered were to be expected in all who should afterward be gathered to him as his true followers.

Notwithstanding the great array of Christian nations and Christian sects, the Lord “knoweth them that are his”; and in harmony with this prayer he has not during the age physically separated his people from the world, but left them in the world, merely separating them so far as the heart is concerned—“I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil.” We are not to say that the evil is good, we are not to say that the world has become saintly; it is still evil. Christendom is practically in the same condition today that Judaism was in when it crucified the Lord and persecuted his followers.

However, as respects his true followers, the Lord’s prayer, “That they all may be one,” has been fulfilled throughout the age. All who have been truly his have had a oneness of heart, a oneness of purpose, a oneness of spirit, with the Father and with the son—a fellowship divine which cannot be produced by earthly creeds and fetters. So it is today and so it has always been between those who are truly the Lord’s. They know each other not by outward passwords or grips or signs, but by the touch of faith and love which it gives and which each recognizes. “By this shall all know that ye are my disciples, in that ye have love one for another.” “We know we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.” True, we love all men and seek to serve all as we have opportunity, but, as the apostle explains, “especially the household of faith,” especially those who love the Lord and are trusting in the precious blood, and are fully consecrated to him, and, so far as they are able, doing his will and seeking to further know that will day by day.

This union between those who are the Lord’s people is evidently not the union of person. The Lord’s followers are not one in person but in spirit. And this is the illustration which the Lord gives of the oneness which exists between himself and the Father—they are not one in person but one in spirit, purpose, will; for our Lord declares that he always does the Father’s will, those things which are pleasing in the Father’s sight. And thus we abide in his love and abide in him by doing his will, which is the Father’s will, and thus Father and son and the church, the bride, are all one—in spirit and in truth.

“Kept by the Power of God”

The Master continues and prays that those whom the Father had given him might be kept and sustained in the midst of all of life’s perils and difficulties. This also has been fulfilled. They have been kept because they are not of the world, because they have taken a positive stand on the Lord’s side, because they have reckonedly died to the world and sin and been begotten again of the holy spirit to newness of life. They will be kept by the power of the truth in their hearts. The truth will sanctify or separate them. Not any truth, not all truth, but The Truth—the truth of the divine revelation respecting the divine character and the divine plan, and their relationship to these. Summing this all up the Lord declares, “Thy Word is Truth”—the truth which only sanctifies and separates my disciples from the world.

We are aware that “doctrine” has become very unpopular in every quarter of the world—and in the church nominal. No wonder! The doctrines, the creeds, of the various sects and parties of Christendom are so mingled with error, so offensive to the spiritual senses of the spiritual mind, that they could have no pleasure in partaking of such things from their tables. But The Truth, “Thy Word is Truth,” never becomes stale, never becomes rancid or offensive; it is still the bread from heaven, it is still the word of life; and all who are of the truth, all who have progressed from being merely babes in Christ, and by partaking of the meat of his word, have come to an appreciation of it. All who have been weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts, can say with the poet respecting the wonderful story of the Divine Plan, “It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.”

The truth has a sanctifying power in the heart because it fills the longings of the heart. Every heart has talents and appeals which demand operation, activity. Something must be supplied to meet the hungerings and thirstings of these various talents and qualities of the mind. If the exceeding great and precious promises of the Divine Word be not received into the heart to satisfy its cravings or longings, it will feed upon other things; and the world, the flesh, and the devil are all crowding upon it, offering various attractions, some of which will be received if the heart be not filled and kept filled. Thus our Lord’s parable represents a heart swept and garnished, with the devil cast out, and then that heart, still empty, is represented as being reentered by seven devils. Our hearts need not only to be cleansed from sin through justification of life through faith in Christ, but they need also to be filled with the Lord himself. Our Lord, who calls himself The Truth, furnishes to our hearts various truths as food, as nourishment, as filling our hearts and satisfying our cravings, and by thus filling he sanctifies those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, and thus separates them completely and keeps them separate from the world, its spirit, its hopes, its aims, its ambitions.

God’s Power in God’s Time

Have we love for righteousness? We cannot hope to find it in the world, nor hope to establish it here under present conditions. We are obliged to admit that nothing short of God’s promised kingdom can establish righteousness; hence our hearts return to the Lord as the center and fountain of righteousness. Have we a desire for peace and joy? Our past experience in the world convinces us that, while the whole world is seeking for happiness, it has not found it. We who have found the Lord have found the secret of happiness, the Christian’s secret of having every day a happy one. Do we long for power and influence that we may exercise them for good? The Word of Truth assures us that it is impossible to find them in present conditions, but we shall, if faithful, attain to the power and glory, honor, and immortality in the first resurrection, and then our grandest hopes and ideals will be realized in the kingdom blessings that will come to all the families of the earth. Do riches seem attractive to us? The Scriptures hold out the true riches, and assure us that in following the Lord all things are ours by faith now, and shall be actually ours by and by, when we become our master’s associates in the heavenly kingdom.