John 17:1-5
This is known as Jesus' High Priestly Prayer. We will begin to study this prayer.
(v. 1) Father, the hour has come.
It's time.
Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You.
"Lift Me up and exalt Me, so that I will be able to lift You up and exalt You, Father."
(v. 2) For You granted Him (Me) authority over all people
"All people" means everybody, every person who has ever or will ever live. He has ownership authority over all of us, both by Creation and by purchase with His Blood on Calvary.
that He (I) might give eternal life to all those You have given Him (Me).
With the ownership authority Jesus has over us all, the Father can now give Him anyone He wants to give Him out of all people. So everyone God the Father chooses out of all people everywhere will come to Him, will seek Him out, will search for the Truth which is Jesus, and each one will realize and understand that He is their Savior, Who took their death on the Cross for them. And by this faith, this trusting in Him, they will receive that real life, the spiritual eternal life to live forever.
(v.3) Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You have sent.
Jesus said that real life is spiritual (John 6:63) because life itself comes from God and He is Spirit. So to "know" God Himself is to believe and trust Him to be Who He says He is and to do what He says He has done and will do. The way we can learn about Him is through language, communication, words; and His Word is the body of Truth that He has communicated to us, the Bible.
(v.4) I have brought You glory on Earth by finishing the work You gave Me to do.
Jesus has given the Father all the credit for everything He said and did while He walked on this Earth: teaching people Who God is, and how God has designed this world to work. And proving that He spoke the Truth by doing all the miracles He did, demonstrating His authority over all Creation to manipulate matter and beings in ways that do not conform to the way things always normally work.
(V. 5) And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began.
Now that Jesus is going back to Heaven, He will again enjoy the state of Being that the Triune God had before He began to create. This is the original Glory with which God has been and will be eternally glorified.
Jesus left this Glory for a time to come to this Earth as a Human Man, in order to accomplish the legal requirements on our behalf to enable us to spend eternity with Him. This was excruciatingly painful for Him (see especially Luke 22:41-44, saying the same prayer 3 specific times), but His love for us had Him do it anyway. That's how much He loves us.
We will continue to study through this chapter.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Strange Signs
Luke 21:25-28
And there will be strange signs in the Sun, Moon and Stars. And here on the Earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the Earth, for the powers in the Heavens will be shaken. Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and great glory. So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near.
I will be looking for the strange signs in the Sun, Moon and Stars; Nations are already noticing the environmental problems, and, not wanting to acknowledge God, are blaming Mankind. I wonder how they will be able to connect human responsibility to the celestial happenings?! Everything is coming together for the revealing of the Man of Sin (the anti-Christ) and the coming of the Lord our King.
May we all be ready.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
And there will be strange signs in the Sun, Moon and Stars. And here on the Earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the Earth, for the powers in the Heavens will be shaken. Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and great glory. So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near.
I will be looking for the strange signs in the Sun, Moon and Stars; Nations are already noticing the environmental problems, and, not wanting to acknowledge God, are blaming Mankind. I wonder how they will be able to connect human responsibility to the celestial happenings?! Everything is coming together for the revealing of the Man of Sin (the anti-Christ) and the coming of the Lord our King.
May we all be ready.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, October 31, 2016
Dreams Come True
Proverbs 13: 19
It is pleasant to see dreams come true, but fools refuse to turn from evil to attain them.
It is very foolish to hang on to a bad habit or an illicit relationship and still think that God will help you fulfill your dreams. We must--MUST--turn from our wicked and evil ways and turn toward God, embracing His righteous ways and attitudes, and abandoning all that is contrary to Him no matter how much we feel we must cling to them.
He will give us the power and ability to turn our lives around when we repent and walk away from whatever is keeping us away from Him. His plans for us are so much better than anything we can dream up for ourselves, and He wants to enable us to take hold of those good things He made us for.
Then we can ask Him for what He wants for us, and He will answer us!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
It is pleasant to see dreams come true, but fools refuse to turn from evil to attain them.
It is very foolish to hang on to a bad habit or an illicit relationship and still think that God will help you fulfill your dreams. We must--MUST--turn from our wicked and evil ways and turn toward God, embracing His righteous ways and attitudes, and abandoning all that is contrary to Him no matter how much we feel we must cling to them.
He will give us the power and ability to turn our lives around when we repent and walk away from whatever is keeping us away from Him. His plans for us are so much better than anything we can dream up for ourselves, and He wants to enable us to take hold of those good things He made us for.
Then we can ask Him for what He wants for us, and He will answer us!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, October 30, 2016
God's Faithfulness
Psalm 89: 30-33
But if [David's] descendants forsake My instructions and fail to obey My regulations, if they do not obey My decrees and fail to keep My commandments; then I will punish their sin with the rod, and their disobedience with beating. But I will never stop loving him nor fail to keep My promise to him.
Even though David's descendants today for the most part do not know God, God will never forget or negate His promise to David; He will one Day save "all Israel in a day," when Jesus returns.
Even when we are unfaithful, God is still faithful. His love endures and will never fail or diminish, for either us Christians or David's descendants. When we pull away and turn to the Right or to the Left away from His righteous plans for us, He will discipline us with the rod and beatings, but His love will still stay just as strong as it always was, and He will draw us back to Himself.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
But if [David's] descendants forsake My instructions and fail to obey My regulations, if they do not obey My decrees and fail to keep My commandments; then I will punish their sin with the rod, and their disobedience with beating. But I will never stop loving him nor fail to keep My promise to him.
Even though David's descendants today for the most part do not know God, God will never forget or negate His promise to David; He will one Day save "all Israel in a day," when Jesus returns.
Even when we are unfaithful, God is still faithful. His love endures and will never fail or diminish, for either us Christians or David's descendants. When we pull away and turn to the Right or to the Left away from His righteous plans for us, He will discipline us with the rod and beatings, but His love will still stay just as strong as it always was, and He will draw us back to Himself.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, October 29, 2016
Glory, Faith And Love
John 17: 22, 23
"I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one, as We are. ... Then the world will know that You sent Me. ..."
Jesus has just prayed in verse 10 that those the Father has given Him are His glory, that we are His glory. Now He gives us the glory He received from the Father, to the intent that we be united as one in Him as He is in the Father.
When we are one in Him, that's when the world will understand that Jesus really did come in the flesh from the Father in heaven.
Oh, that we would be one in faith and love, to believe the Truth and display it in our lives by loving God and showing that love for God by loving our fellow man, our brothers and sisters and the world.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
"I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one, as We are. ... Then the world will know that You sent Me. ..."
Jesus has just prayed in verse 10 that those the Father has given Him are His glory, that we are His glory. Now He gives us the glory He received from the Father, to the intent that we be united as one in Him as He is in the Father.
When we are one in Him, that's when the world will understand that Jesus really did come in the flesh from the Father in heaven.
Oh, that we would be one in faith and love, to believe the Truth and display it in our lives by loving God and showing that love for God by loving our fellow man, our brothers and sisters and the world.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, October 28, 2016
Citizens Of Jerusalem
Psalm 87:4-6
I will count Egypt and Babylon among those who know Me--also Philistia and Tyre, and even distant Ethiopia. They have all become citizens of Jerusalem! Regarding Jerusalem it will be said, "Everyone enjoys the rights of citizenship there." And the Most High will personally bless this city. When the Lord registers the nations, He will say, "They have all become citizens of Jerusalem."
Yes, the day will come when all nations will know the Lord; when Jesus Himself reigns over all the world from Jerusalem, all nations will come to Him and bow before Him as King and Savior.
But not until then. Other nations today try to lay claim to Jerusalem, but without any faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So they have no Divine Right to any of that land, as the nation Israel has. So there will be turmoil in the Middle East until the Lord comes.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I will count Egypt and Babylon among those who know Me--also Philistia and Tyre, and even distant Ethiopia. They have all become citizens of Jerusalem! Regarding Jerusalem it will be said, "Everyone enjoys the rights of citizenship there." And the Most High will personally bless this city. When the Lord registers the nations, He will say, "They have all become citizens of Jerusalem."
Yes, the day will come when all nations will know the Lord; when Jesus Himself reigns over all the world from Jerusalem, all nations will come to Him and bow before Him as King and Savior.
But not until then. Other nations today try to lay claim to Jerusalem, but without any faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So they have no Divine Right to any of that land, as the nation Israel has. So there will be turmoil in the Middle East until the Lord comes.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, October 27, 2016
To Forgive
Luke 17:3-4
So watch yourselves! If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.
So if they wrong me, I am to let them know how they have offended me; and if I wrong them, I am to ask their forgiveness. Even if I am offended by their constant or repeated, "I'm sorry!" for the same repeated offense, I am to still forgive.
I do not forgive for their sake, because they asked forgiveness; I am to forgive for my own heart's healing, even if they don't ask for forgiveness. To forgive is not to trust--trust regained must be earned. But I must not keep beating myself up for their offences, I must forgive, and let it go.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
So watch yourselves! If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.
So if they wrong me, I am to let them know how they have offended me; and if I wrong them, I am to ask their forgiveness. Even if I am offended by their constant or repeated, "I'm sorry!" for the same repeated offense, I am to still forgive.
I do not forgive for their sake, because they asked forgiveness; I am to forgive for my own heart's healing, even if they don't ask for forgiveness. To forgive is not to trust--trust regained must be earned. But I must not keep beating myself up for their offences, I must forgive, and let it go.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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