In November I attended the Jews for Jesus conference in Wisconsin, and I was privileged to hear Dr. Erwin Lutzer, a former professor of mine at Moody, and the current pastor of Moody Church. Dr. Lutzer taught on this same passage in John that we are studying today, and he had some great insights. I want you to know that I have borrowed quite a few of those insights.
Prayer was a very important part of the life of the King of Israel. We often read of Him going off and praying by Himself. Chapter 17 records one of Yeshua’s last prayers, and His longest prayer that is recorded for us in the Word of God. Through this prayer Yeshua is lifting the veil that hides the inner workings of the Three-In-One God. What a privilege to be able to listen in to the intimate communication that takes place between God the Father and God the Son!
Let’s pay close attention as Yeshua continues with this great prayer in verse 18. He tells us that we have a shared mission: As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. God the Father is the One who sent God the Son into the world. Yeshua told us that the Father sent the Son into the world to reveal the true God to the world, and to redeem humanity – to save those human beings who were chosen before the world was created.
The Three-In-One God is our role model, the example we are to follow. Just as the Father sent the Son into the world, so Messiah in turn sends us out into the world, and with the same mission: to tell them about the only true God, and about the Messiah, the Savior; like Yeshua, to tell them the good news about salvation; like Yeshua, to warn people about Heaven and Hell, sin and death; like Yeshua, to call men and women everywhere to turn to God, to turn away from their sins, to change their minds about the Lord; like Yeshua, to seek and save those who are lost, doing works of mercy and kindness, which reveals God’s good name to them.
As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. We have the same task that God gave to Yeshua. Is that your mission in life? Is this what is really important to you? If you get that better job, is it so that you can reach those people in that new place that you will be working with? If you are paid more, do you see it as God’s provision so that you can give more to help reach the world?
Next in this great prayer, Messiah talks to His Father about a shared sanctification – the need for sanctification, first, in His own life, and second, in the life of His followers: For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. Of course, the sinless and righteous Messiah kept Himself holy, pure, separate from all sin. Why? Not only was it not within His good and sinless nature to sin, but there is another reason. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
It was for our sakes. Yeshua kept Himself holy, He strove with all His might to keep Himself free from any contamination by sin, not just for Himself, but for our benefit. Sin is like sand getting thrown in the gears of a machine. Sin is like bad mutations getting added to our DNA.
Sin is like impurities getting added to pure salt, so that the salt loses its saltiness, and becomes useless. Sin is like someone added water to the gas in your tank. Sin ruins one’s ability to function the way one should. It lessens a human being’s usefulness.
By resisting sin, Yeshua knew He would remain completely useful for His mission, the work of saving humanity. By keeping Himself holy and pure, Yeshua knew that one day we would be like Him – sanctified, set apart from evil, holy and blameless before Him, dedicated to God, able to enjoyed God, and be enjoyed by Him, and fit to accomplish all the good and eternal purposes that God has for us.
As your rabbi, I really understand this. I feel the same way when I am tempted. One of the things that restrains me from giving into temptation is the thought, “What will this do for the people at the synagogue? If I sin, I know it will affect them. How can I sin and hurt the people that the Lord has entrusted to me? I’d better not. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. ”
How are we sanctified, made holy, set apart to fulfill God’s purposes for us? What preserves us from all the corruption and defilement and unholiness that there is in the world? It’s the truth. And, where do be find the truth? It’s contained in Holy Scriptures, this Book of Books. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. This special Book is the inspired Word of the only true God. It is His Word. God is true, and this supreme Book of books communicates the truth – the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. God’s word is truth – pure truth, without any errors mixed in. There is no lie, no error, in it. It is reliable. It is trustworthy. It accurately describes reality. It tells us the way things truly are.
The truth can set you free. The truth will give you the knowledge of God, Heaven, and the way to eternal life. Embracing the truth is like eating from the Tree of Life. The truth, when it is planted in you, can save your soul. The truth will make you wise so that you can obtain salvation. The truth will bless you. The truth will encourage you. The truth will comfort you. The truth will challenge you. It will restore your soul. It will bring you happiness. It will sustain you with peace. It will wash you. It will cleanse you. It will sanctify you. The truth, if practiced, it will make you holy. It will keep you on target, separated from evil.
Yeshua continues praying, not just for His eleven faithful disciples eating dinner with Him, but for all the Believers throughout the centuries who will believe in Him as well. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word. I love this. My King, my Messiah, my Rabbi, is praying for you. He is praying for me.
And He tells us how those, who may be far from Him in time, living in a distant century, far from Him in practice, living in another culture, far from Him in distance, living in another continent, may come to know Him and believe in Him.
It’s through the word of the apostles – these specially chosen Jewish men, who were with Yeshua during His life, who heard with their own ears His teachings, who saw with their own eyes His miracles, and witnessed His death, and who were privileged to see Him alive after His resurrection, they were then enabled by God to communicate to all the rest of us what it is that we need to know about Him.
When you read their word – which is contained in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and the other inspired books and letters that make up the Brit Chadasha, written by these special men, you are learning about the Messiah, and you will grow in your knowledge about the Messiah, and if you simply trust their word, you should grow in faith and belief and confidence in the Messiah.
Next the Messiah prays for unity – a shared unity: That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The unity that we should have as Believers, is the unity between the Father and the Son. What kind of unity is shared between the Father and the Son?
There is a unity of nature despite diversity of personality. God the Father is a distinct Person, as is God the Son. There is no question about that. But they are united in nature. God the Son is fully divine, all-knowing, eternal, infinite, all-powerful, with life in Himself, as is the Father.
God is a God of unity, and yet an astounding diversity. There is an amazing number of birds, with different sizes, colors, shapes. There is a tremendous diversity of different kinds of trees, and species of flowers. I remember as a boy going to the Field Museum and seeing their amazing butterfly collection, with the thousands of kinds of beautiful butterflies. He made the first dog, but from that dog came all the breeds from Jack Russell Terriers to Great Danes. Starting from one man and one woman, He made men and women into nations, language groups, with different colors, personalities, temperaments, interests, abilities, aspirations.
And among us, there is likewise to be unity of nature despite diversity of personality. There is one Body and one Spirit – just as we were called to one Hope when we were called – one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. By one Spirit we were all immersed into one body, which is composed of many different parts and members, yet it is one body, whether they are Jews or Gentiles, men or women, rich or poor, slaves or free people. We were all made to drink of that one same Spirit. We are all children of God, we are all destined to live in the New Jerusalem. Our unity can overcome racial diversity, economic diversity, and cultural diversity.
God the Father and God the Son share a unity of mind and will and purpose despite a diversity of positions. God the Father is the Supreme One in position, and God the Son is willingly submitted to Him. God the Father is on the throne, and the Son of God is seated on His throne at the Father’s His right hand. The Son is subordinated and submitted to the Father, but they are both working harmoniously together, unified in purpose, sharing the same mind, will and Spirit.
Likewise, we may have different positions; we have different roles, but we share a unity of essence. Wives are to be submitted to their husbands, the sheep are to be submitted to the shepherds among us. But all of us need to be united, with all the members of the community adding their gifts and talents and skills, working harmoniously together, loving each other and bringing the message of salvation to a disunified, broken, fragmented world.
The world can come together on the basis of having a common agenda, like being against international trade, or against big business, or for the ecology. The world can unite politically or economically, or even religiously, but we have a unity of nature that is unique. Our unity is stronger than race, than culture, than our Jewishness or our Gentileness. Our unity is stronger than the unity of the world!
So, Messiah prays that we all may be united to one another. This is not a unity of external Christian agendas, or an ecumenical unity around the least common denominator (we all believe in Jesus, so let’s unite – the demons believe in Yeshua too!) These is a unity for true Believers, and not unbelievers. This is not everyone united under the banner of a watered down or heretical Christianity. No! This is for those who know the only true God, know that He has sent the Messiah, who have followed, who have obeyed, who have believed His word, who are being sanctified by the truth, who have suffered for the sake of the Messiah. A line has to be drawn. We must separate over the heresy, false teaching, or corrupt practices. Better to be separated by the truth than united by error!
This is not the unity of Eastern religion, where all is god, and you are god and I am god, and the rocks and trees and flowers are god, and the birds and the bees are god. No, it’s a different kind of unity where there is still a distinction of personalities. The Father is still God, but He is still the Father. The Son is still God, but He remains the Son. The Spirit is God, but He remains the Person of the Holy Spirit. We are united to God, but we are still humans beings.
This is not the unity of the Dali Lama, who while he was in New York, went to a hot dog stand on the corner and asked the vendor, “make me one with everything.”
Unity among believers must be based on truth and holiness, and our unity with God the Father and God the Son. Yeshua also prays that they also may be in Us. God the Father was in Yeshua. Yeshua is one with His Father. We are joined to Messiah; and the Spirit of God, who is also the Spirit of the Messiah, lives in us, and dwells in us; and, in God we live and move and have our being!
It’s true that we have a great unity by nature, but it is also true that we must work at maintaining the unity of the Spirit and being at peace with one another. We must work at it, or we won’t be good representatives of the Three-In-One God this world. Our unity with one another, which is based on our unity with God and Messiah and the Spirit, demonstrates the reality of the one true God in the midst of a disorganized, fragmented world.
A shared mission, a shared sanctification, a shared unity, and now Messiah prays for a shared glory: The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one.
The word “glory” – kavod in Hebrew, is used in different senses. It can mean something that is heavy or weighty; it can mean something that is honored or esteemed, impressive and worthy of our respect; it can mean something that is beautiful.
The Scriptures speak a lot about the glory of God. God’s glory can refer to the beauty, the magnificence, the splendor of God, that He is supremely beautiful, supremely splendid and magnificent.
The glory of God can refer to the greatness of God. He is supremely weighty as far as His position. He is supremely great, supremely rich, supremely powerful, and therefor He is deserving of our honor, respect, attention, and obedience.
He is not only to be honored because of His position as sovereign head of the universe, but because of His great Name – His surpassing character: His righteousness, His faithfulness, His love, His justice, His mercy, His goodness.
Yeshua tells us that His glorious God and Father has given Him glory. God the Father has honored Him as His Son. He has allowed Him to be seated at His right hand, in the position of greatest honor, full of power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessings and dominion, surrounded by the Living Beings, worshiped by the Cherubim and Seraphim, and the millions of good angels, the Lord of the universe, ruling over all things, the Executor of the will of God, the Sustainer of the universe, the Redeemer of mankind, the only Savior of the world, the head the of Church, the Firstborn over all creation, the One who is to be preeminent in all things!
The glory which You have given Me I have given to them. A measure of that which belongs to the Son of God He will willingly share with us! But only a measure. We will never share the full glory of God, that is reserved for the Infinite Creator.
Before we come to a saving knowledge of God and Messiah, we don’t have much glory. We are dead in our sins, walking corpses, fallen and corrupt creatures, deserving the wrath of God. “All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades.”
But the Merciful One takes sinners, corrupt creatures, and will elevate them so high, making them a little lower than God! The one who overcomes will be allowed to sit down on Yeshua’s throne, as He overcame and sat down with His Father on His throne. The one who overcomes will be given the Morning Star (probably a reference to Messiah Himself.) Wow! To the one who overcomes Messiah will give authority over the nations, to rule them with a rod of iron, as He has received authority from His Father.
The one who overcomes will have his name confessed by the Son of God before His Father and before His angels. The one who overcomes will be have written on him the name of God, and the name of the Son of God, and the name of the New Jerusalem. The one who overcomes will be a son of God, an heir of God and a joint heir of Messiah Yeshua.
How else can you be an overcomer unless God gives you things to overcome? So let’s not complain when the Lord gives us things to overcome. Let’s have a good attitude regarding the things that God has given us to overcome, understanding that the light and momentary afflictions we experience are producing for us a weight of glory far beyond all comparison.
But we don’t have to wait until we are fully glorified in Heaven to be given glory by Messiah. This part of Messiah’s prayer is being answered even now! All of us, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory! As we peer into God’s word, keep ourselves separate from sin, and gaze at Messiah, we are being transformed. We are becoming more like Him. This prayer is already being answered and will be answered fully and completely one day.
The Father honors the Son. The Son honors God in every way possible. Does the Son of God ever upstage His Father? Is there ever a conflict as to who gets the credit for doing something? We must honor one another. Not lift ourselves up, not take credit away from others. Praise others for their accomplishments, be happy when they do well, succeed.
Sharing Messiah’s glory also comes from sharing Yeshua’s mission with Him, the task of redeeming men and women for God. By sharing Yeshua’s mission, we share in His glory, and are united with Him and with one another. God and Messiah, Messiah and us, are united together in bring the new creation into being. That they may be one, just as We are one. I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. The more true Christians and Messianic Jews are perfected in unity, of the same mind, agreed on good doctrine, loving one another, supporting each other, fulfilling the mission of world evangelism, the more the world will know that Yeshua is the Anointed Messiah, the Savior, and the coming King.
Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me. Yeshua prays for our safe arrival in Heaven (and all of Yeshua’s prayers will be answered). He wants us to see His glory, especially those who knew Him in His humility. Yeshua was loved , honored and gloried by God from eternity past, and He wants all of mankind to know that and that He will be loved, honored and glorified by God the Father for all eternity in the future.
Now, for most people, there will only be one way for this prayer to be answered, to see Yeshua’s glory, and that way goes through the valley of the shadow of death. Death is the door through which we must go to see our King in all His glory. And what a sight that will be!
Therefore we must not fear death. On a certain level, a saint should be able to look forward to his death, as did Rabbi Paul, who could say, “I prefer to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.” So when we die, in one sense God is answering Yeshua’s prayer that we might see His glory. We can try to put off death, but let’s not exert too many extraordinary efforts to put off death. It’s part of God’s plan. For the saint, death should not be seen as failure, but as victory!
A shared mission, a shared sanctification, a shared unity, a shared glory – and now Messiah prays for a shared love: For You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father (Everything that God does is right. He is totally incapable of doing anything wrong), although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; Yeshua alone knows the righteous God intimately and perfectly. He does not speculate about God like the other religious leaders and philosophers from the other world religions. And these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known –Yeshua was sent to bring the knowledge of God to the world of men. And, He will continue to teach us about God. He will forever be our teacher and rabbi, revealing the endless name of God to us.
So that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. A shared love. How has God loved the Messiah? What is the extent of the Father’s love? God deeply, fervently, intensely loved His Son.“This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” Yes, God loves the whole world, but He has a special, intense, approving love for His chosen ones. He must love us deeply to have His Son, who is so loved by Him, die for us. If He didn’t love us with a fervent, deep intense love, why have His Son suffer, be tormented and die for us?
How did the Father love the Son? Eternally. Before the foundation of the world. Before God made the sun, moon, stars, the Father deeply loved the Son. In the same way, we have been loved by God before the universe was made. God knew who you were, who your parents were, what your genetic structure and your DNA would be; He knew your personality, and your idiosyncracies, and all the little things that make you you; He loved not only the parts of you that are easy to love, but also he loved you, knowing that there are parts of you that are hard to love, parts that He will ultimately fix so that you are holy and blameless before Him.
Our responsibility is to show this great love and unity which is in us, to this fragmented, broken loveless world. The world can out-finance us, out-entertain us, out-organize us, but may it never be said that they can out love us! Our love for each other, and our love for the world, should attract the world to us, but we must also show holiness which should convict the world. Let’s dedicate ourselves to loving one another?
Let’s pray:
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and righteous Father, thank You for the privilege of sharing in the same mission that you entrusted to Your Son – the redemption of the world. Thank you that this makes our lives, and our work in this world, so meaningful. Help us to grasp hold of our mission, and be faithful to our task, and subordinate all else to get it accomplished, as did Messiah.
Help us to keep ourselves holy, so we are best able to accomplish our mission.
Thank you for this amazing unity that we have – our unity with You and Your Son and Your Holy Spirit, and our oneness with one another. Help us here at Shema to model that unity, the unity that the Holy Three-In-One God has. As a result, may the world come to know that You truly sent Yeshua to be the only Savior of the world!
And Lord, we bless Your for the glory that you are bestowing upon us now, and the even greater glory that is yet to come. We praise You that though Adam sinned our glory away, through Yeshua that glory is restored! We know that throughout eternity, as the sons and daughters of God are revealed in their glory, the question won’t be, who are the redeemed?, but who is the Redeemer?
Finally glorious God, may we truly learn to love one another. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit, which is shed abroad in our hearts, that enables us to love. Give us greater love for one another, is my prayer, b’shem Yeshua!