Looking Backward
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
The seventeenth chapter of John contains the prayer which Jesus Christ uttered in the upper room after He had taken of the Passover and had broken the bread and poured forth the cup.
We all realize that this prayer was spoken just as Christ was about to go out to Gethsemane and on to the Cross. In such an hour it was natural for the Lord to pray. He sought the Father's face, the face of the One who was destined to leave Him alone during the three hours that He was to pass around the cycle of His suffering.
Christ's prayer presents one of the most marvelous arrays of diction to be found anywhere in Holy Writ. It falls into groups of sevens. There are seven things stated about the world. Seven times Christ speaks of those whom the Father had given Him. Seven times He speaks of what He had given them. Seven times He looks backward upon the past of His earth life.
It is the latter group of seven which we will here present. Each verse of this group presents one of these marvelous retrospective statements of Christ, statements which carry a review of His work and will among men.
All of them tell of things which have been accomplished by Christ during His earth life.
In speaking of the chapter as a whole, there are a few things we might suggest:
Christ only once referred to His death, although Gethsemane and Calvary were immediately before Him. The mention of the Cross is seen, by inference, in the first verse when Christ said, "Father, the hour is come." This statement is brief, and yet it is a statement full of meaning.
That the word "hour" refers to the Cross, we know. Christ had known of that hour, because we read, "When Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end."
When Judas came to betray Him, Christ said, "This is your hour, and the power of darkness." When the Greeks said, "We would see Jesus," Christ was troubled and said, "What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: * * Father, glorify Thy Name."
The Lord, as He prayed, frequently spoke of the Father, spoke of the saints, spoke of the glory, spoke of the Word, and spoke of the world, but only once did He speak of the Cross. He was looking beyond the Cross in anticipation at the glorious consummation of His life and in a blessed realization that He was soon to be with the Father.
He looked backward in review; He looked forward in expectation. The pivotal moment that lay between the retrospective and the perspective, the moment of His anguish, and substitutionary suffering, which He knew was upon Him, and of which He had just spoken to His disciples, was now set aside.
Let us follow with interest the backward look which the chapter gives us as we present the same.
I. I HAVE GLORIFIED THEE ON THE EARTH (John 17:4, f.c)
The Lord Jesus as He stood in prayer looked backward over His earth life, and, summing up all that He had done, in one brief expression said, "I have glorified Thee on the earth." There is something very striking about this. The Father glorified the Son, and the Son glorified the Father. Three different times God spoke out of the blue, giving glory to the Son, and saying, "This is My beloved Son"; "This is My Son, My Chosen," and, "I have both glorified, and will glorify again."
The Holy Spirit is now glorifying the Son. He speaks unto us of Christ. He takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto us.
It is not strange therefore that the Son glorified the Father. He spoke of the Father constantly throughout all of His ministry. He spoke with words which revealed the love and the compassion, the gentleness, and the graciousness of the Father.
That which comes before us is the review of our own lives. If, at the end, we expect to be able to say in truth that we have glorified the Father and glorified the Son, we must begin now to do all for the glory of God. Whether we eat or whether we drink or whatsoever we do must be to His honor and to His glory.
The Bible speaks of some who glorify themselves, of others who glory in men, and of some who even glory in the flesh. Let us glory in the Lord.
"Christ, by highest Heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin's womb;
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th' Incarnate Deity,
Pleased as Man with men to dwell,
Jesus our Immanuel!
Hark! the herald angels sing
'Glory to the newborn King.'
Hail, the heavenly Prince of Peace!
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings;
Mild, He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing
'Glory to the newborn King.'"
II. I HAVE FINISHED THE WORK (John 17:4, l.e.)
1. A specified work. When the Lord Jesus Christ came down to earth, He came with a specific task before Him. He said, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." Christ did not enter this world as a sightseer, or a casual visitor to move around as a guest whose steps are ordered by his host. He came with His life planned beforehand to its final detail. At twelve years of age, He said, "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?"
We wonder if we have realized that God has also planned our lives? We should seek to fulfill the good works which God hath afore prepared for us. We should know that the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord. We should consider that He goes before us, and we are sent forth by Him.
2. A work gladly done. Christ not only did the work that His father gave Him to do, but He did it gladly. In the volume of the book it is written of Him, "Lo, I come: * * I delight to do Thy will, O God." Even in Gethsemane Christ was ready to do the Father's will, for He said, "Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt."
Are we, too, ready to go, ready to stay, ready to do His will? Are we ready to do it with a note of praise. To say "Amen" is not enough, we should live with a big "Hallelujah" on our lips concerning all that God asks us to do.
3. A work completed to the last step. Christ said, "I have finished the work." All that was written in the Prophets was fulfilled this was God's revealed will. All that God had purposed, even though not prophesied was fulfilled. Christ did all the work.
Beloved, what greater boon could be ours than to know, when we come to leave this world, that we have done all that God wanted us to do. Not a step left to be taken, not a stone left to be turned.
May we not go before our task is a finished task.
"To the work! to the work! We are servants of God,
Let us follow the path that our Master has trod;
With the balm of His counsel our strength to renew,
Let us do with our might what our hands find to do.
To the work! to the work! There is labor for all,
For the kingdom of darkness and error shall fall;
And the Name of Jehovah exalted shall be
In the loud swelling chorus, 'Salvation is free.'
To the work! to the work! in the strength of the Lord,
And a robe and a crown shall our labor reward:
When the home of the faithful our dwelling shall be,
And we shout with the ransomed, 'Salvation is free.'"
III. "I HAVE MANIFESTED THY NAME" (John 17:6)
1. The Jehovah titles. Most of us are familiar with these wonderful names ascribed to the Lord in the Old Testament Scriptures. There is Jehovah-jireh, "The Lord will, provide." There is Jehovah-shammah, "The Lord is there." There is Jehovah-rapha, "I am the Lord that Healeth Thee." Again we have, Jehovah-tsidkenu, "The Lord our Righteousness"; and Jehovah-nissi, "The Lord our banner"; and Jehovah-shalom, "The Lord our peace."
The Lord Jesus manifested all of these names unto those whom God had given Him. He showed forth God as the Provider, the One who is enough; He had told forth God as the ever-present One, the One who is there; the all-omniscient One.
Christ manifested God as the healer of His people; He declared Him as the giver of peace, as the Shepherd of the sheep; as the giver of righteousness.
2. Other names of the Father. If God was Elohim, the creative God, Christ so manifested Hint, for He also was God the Creator; if God was the Almighty God, the God who was able for any and every emergency, Christ had so made Him known. There was no name of the Father, that Christ had not revealed to men. In fact, Christ said, "He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father." He said that He wrought the Father's works, did the Father's will and spoke the Father's words.
What we wonder is whether we are telling forth the names of the Lord. Bible names stand for character and worth and work; are we manifesting these names of our Lord in a faithful way?
We bear the name of our earthly parents, do we give them honor? We also bear the Name of our Lord, we are called "Christians," do we give Him the honor and glory which is its due?
"Join all the glorious names
Of wisdom, love, and power,
That mortals ever knew,
That angels ever bore:
All are too mean to speak His worth,
Too mean to set my Saviour forth.
Great Prophet of my God,
My tongue would bless Thy Name;
By Thee the joyful news
Of our salvation came:
The joyful news of sins forgiv'n,
Of hell subdued, and peace with Heav'n."
IV. I HAVE GIVEN THEM THY WORDS (John 17:8)
No man ever spake as Christ spake. His words were Spirit, and they were life. His words did not merely contain truth, they were Truth. Christ spoke from the Father, No man had ever heard the Father's voice, yet we have heard Him, in His Son.
Christ said, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."
Christ said. "I speak unto the world those things which I have heard of Him." Again He said, "As My Father hath taught Me, I speak those things." No wonder that Christ could say, "My record is true." He spoke what He had seen with the Father, and what He received from the Father.
The thing which concerns us is the bringing of this message to our own hearts. Are we not given words to speak? Words that are from God? Did not the Prophet say, "He that hath My Word, let him speak My Word faithfully"?
God said to Jonah, "Preach * * the preaching that I bid thee."
The Christian is not sent forth to preach visions of his own head. He is set forth to preach what God has given Him to preach.
"Preach the Word," is our commission.
God has said, My Word shall not return void, but "it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it," and "it shall accomplish that which I please."
Is there any message comparable to the Word of God? The unfathomable Word is a fountain of good things that never runs dry. The everlasting Word is a garden of evergreen life, that never grows old. The life-giving Word is the Bread from Heaven which brings salvation for evermore. The prophetic Word is a Lamb that lightens the pathway through the present darkness, and shines even unto the perfect day.
Is there anything that we could preach like unto the Word of God? It is a rock on which men may safely build, it is a covert into which men may run and be safe; it is seed which, when planted and nurtured by the Holy Spirit, springs up unto eternal life. It is a star that will remain undimmed throughout a long eternity.
The Word of God is all my stay,
I'll tell its story day by day;
I'll seek to live its message true,
And tell it forth in all I do.
V. I HAVE KEPT THEM (John 17:12)
Seven different times in this prayer Christ speaks of those whom the Father gave Him. Among those seven things is the one before us now, "Those that Thou gavest Me I have kept."
The security of the believer does not; depend upon his holding on to Christ, but on Christ's holding on to him. It is not that we have kept Him, but that He has kept us, that makes our eternal life secure. To Peter, Christ said, "Satan hath desired to have you,... but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not."
Where are we kept? In our key verse it says that we are kept in His Name. That is a wonderful environment for the believer. No place of shelter could be afforded us so delightful as His own Name. We have already heard in this study of Christ's statement, "I have manifested Thy Name," that Name we described as Jehovah-jireh, Jehovah-rapha, Jehovah-shammah, Jehovah-nissi. In these and the other Jehovah titles, we are safely housed.
There is another place where He has kept us. He has kept us in the hollow of His hand. In John 10:28 Christ said, "Neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." He also said, "My Father, which grave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand." What a wonderful double security is here!
But from what are we kept. First of all we are kept from the evil one. This was what Christ prayed, "I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil." Sometimes we sing", "Safe in the arms of Jesus," and thank God we are safe! Safe from the world's temptations; safe from the snares of Satan; safe, for ever, safe.
"Oh, safe to the Rock that is higher than I,
My soul in its conflicts and sorrows would fly;
So sinful, so weary, Thine, Thine would I be;
Thou blest 'Rock of Ages,' I'm hiding in Thee.
Hiding in Thee, hiding in Thee,
Thou blest 'Rock of Ages,' I'm hiding in Thee.
In the calm of the noontide, in sorrow's lone hour,
In times when temptation casts o'er me its power;
In the tempests of life, on its wide, heaving sea,
Thou blest 'Rock of Ages,' I'm hiding in Thee.
How oft in the conflict, when pressed by the foe,
I have fled to my Refuge and breathed out my woe;
How often when trials like sea-billows roll,
Have I hidden in Thee, O Thou Rock of my soul."
VI. I HAVE GIVEN THEM THE GLORY (John 17:22)
Could Christ give unto His own any gift comparable to the glory which the Lord gave to Him?
We should remember that the glory of Christ was first of all the glory which He had with the Father before the world was. Secondly, there was the glory which His Calvary work brought to Him.
The Lord Jesus is now exalted at the right hand of the Father, the Lord of Glory. Our hearts leap within us as in prophetic vision we hear the four living ones, the four and twenty elders, and ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands ascribing power and riches and wisdom and honor and strength and glory unto the Lamb who was slain. Our hearts leap again as every creature which is in Heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and such as are in the sea are heard saying, "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever."
In vision we are carried into the New Jerusalem which shall descend from Heaven. We read that that City will have the glory of God. In it will be the throne of God and of the Lamb; God is its light, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
Let us now gather up all of this glory the glory that Christ had with the Father, the glory that He now has exalted at the Father's right hand, the glory which is His when He comes in His Second Advent; let us add His glory in the Eternal City then, let us hear Him say, "The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them."
No gift could be more marvelous. Silver and gold, honor and fame, the world and all that is in it fade into nothingness when compared to this bequest which Christ has made to those whom the Father has given Him.
"I gave My life for thee;
My precious Blood I shed,
That thou might'st ransomed be,
And quickened from the dead.
I gave My life for thee:
What hast thou given for Me?
I spent long years for thee,
In weariness and woe,
That an eternity
Of joy thou mightest know.
I spent long years for thee:
Hast thou spent one for Me?"
VII. I HAVE KNOWN THEE (John 17:25)
As the Lord Jesus looked back reviewing His earth life, He spoke of seven things. Six of these have been brought before us. "I have glorified Thee," "I have finished the work," "I have manifested Thy Name," "I have given them Thy Word," "I have kept them," "I have given them Thy Glory." These six things sum up a marvel in the retrospective, which the Lord alone possessed.
We now come to the seventh and final statement, "I have known Thee." As the Lord Jesus moved among men, He moved in the actual presence of His Father. He said of the world, "The world hath not known Thee." It knew not the Father, because it knew Him not. When Christ said, "I have known Thee" He gave tremendous authority to all that He had said about the Father. He and the Father were one. Whatsoever the Father did in Heaven, He did on earth. Whatsoever the Father said in Heaven, He said on earth.
Jesus Christ could speak concerning the Father with all authority for He knew the Father. He could tell of what was in Heaven for He had come down from Heaven. He could describe that which awaits the believer, dwelling upon the many abiding places and mansions there, for He was a resident of the Glory.
The Lord Jesus had a sustained relationship with the Father. There never was a moment that so much as a shadow passed between them, until that last moment when Christ was made sin for us upon the Cross.
We wonder if there is not also an intimacy which is both hallowed and sacred which we may sustain with Christ and with the Father. Did Jesus not say that He and the Father would come in and take up their abode with us?
"Abide with me: fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide:
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me!
I need Thy presence every passing hour;
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power?
Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me!"
AN ILLUSTRATION
"IS FATHER ON DECK?"
Years ago, Captain D-------- commanded a vessel sailing from Liverpool to New York, and on one voyage he had all his family with him on board. One night, when all were asleep, there arose a sudden squall, which came sweeping over the waters until it struck the vessel, and threw her almost on her side, tumbling and crashing everything that was movable, and awaking the passengers to a consciousness that they were in imminent peril.
Everyone on board was alarmed; and some sprang from their berths and began to dress.
Captain D---- had a little girl on board, just eight years old, who of course awoke with the rest.
"What's the matter?" cried the frightened child.
They told her a squall had struck the ship.
"Is father on deck?" said she.
"Yes, father's on deck."
The little thing dropped herself on her pillow again without a fear, and in a few moments was fast asleep, in spite of winds or waves.
Child of God, shame to your doubts and fears, is not our Father on deck? Remember this when the next squall strikes your barque: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.