John 17 records one of the most beautiful scenes in the Bible. Here we are given a glimpse of Jesus’s heart as he prays for the people for whom he was sent. We can see the immutable bond between the Father and Son, as Jesus pleads for every single human being who will ever believe in him to share in their sacrosanct unity.
Close your eyes and picture it. Jesus is looking up toward Heaven. He begins to pray for himself, asking the Father to glorify him as he has accomplished the work the Father had given him to do.
I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. (John 17:6-8)
Then, eyes still raised toward his beloved Father, he begins to pray for his disciples, those dedicated, albeit sometimes thick, fellows who left everything and hung on to every word and mile Jesus led them through. (Think about the power that prayer yielded. After Jesus had returned to heaven, those followers of his were transformed from “uneducated, common men” (Acts 4:13) to bold, articulate, world changing purveyors of the gospel!)
But Jesus doesn’t stop there, because his finished work is not just for his current followers. He continues his prayer, interceding for us. He looks down the corridor of time and prays for every single believer who would pass through history. Listen to the Savior’s heart:
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. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me. 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 17:20-23)
Gazing on His Bride
Joel DeVinney, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Millersville, PA, said in a sermon something I’d never considered. We believers look forward to a time when we will be assembled before Christ, as the Church is consummated. We try to picture it, barely able to imagine what it will be like to be in Christ’s presence as his Bride, along with every believer who has ever lived. We have no capacity to grasp it.
But have you ever considered Christ’s perspective? What will it be like for him to stand before his consummated Bride?
Here will be his finished work, the remnant of Israel and the full number of Gentiles, all complete, all praising him in perfect unity; what he had prayed, suffered, and died for. Satan will be vanquished and we will be together in the all-encompassing light of the Creator, falling at the feet of Jesus as he looks on in immeasurable, profound, incessant love. Imagine what that will be like for him! It makes me want to work for him, to love him, even more!
One Purpose
As always, Paul emulates Christ, working tirelessly to perpetuate the longings of our Savior. In Romans 15:5-7 he writes,
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
Paul laid down his life because he wanted what Christ wants, and nothing else. In Romans 15:18, he says: “ For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed.” His only goal, his only thought, was Christ.
Romans chapter 16 suggests that the Christ followers of the early church were the same way. Paul describes them as hard workers, life riskers, prison dwellers, caretakers, and house-openers, all living in unity for one purpose: Christ!
Christ’s Church will Prevail
Paul tells the faithful believers in Romans 16:20 that God will “crush Satan under (their) feet.” He is telling them that the Church will prevail!
God isn’t just going to defeat Satan while we stand by and watch. He is going to destroy Satan by the power of his Church. That’s us!
In Romans 16:19, Paul admonishes the church to “be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.” In the end of his letter to the Romans, Paul tells us how this wisdom and innocence is accomplished.
Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. (Romans 16:25-27)
The only way we can live a life like Paul and the believers of the early church is to be in constant contact with the Father through prayer and the revelation of his Word. Paul had a single focus: Christ!
Can we say the same? Are the longings of Paul and the prayers of Christ himself dulled because of time? Has Jesus changed in the last two millennia?
Without a constant, fervent, intentional connection to the unchanging Christ and his infallible Word, we run the risk of being counted among the naïve people who were deceived by the smooth talkers and flatterers Paul mentions in Romans 16:18. That is a terrifying thought.
Reflect
Look back over the previous installments of this study and record insights you have learned and areas where you have grown.
End your reflection with how you will go forward in order to say with Paul in Romans 15:17, “In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God.”
Pray
Dear Father, thank you for showing us your heart through your Word. Help us to be so tuned in to you that we fulfill the longings of Christ in our unity and knowledge of your will. Compel us toward your Word every day, and keep us from laziness and complacency. Help us to, with great joy, look forward to the day when we will be assembled before you as your complete Bride. Amen.