Join us as we read the scriptures and a daily devotion written by Don Crisp. We pray these messages will bless us all at this time.
Day 27 – John 17:11-14
Categories: Don’s Daily Devotions
Read John 17:11-14:
V11: Now Jesus will leave the world, but they remain in it – the hostile world He has spoken of in John 15:18-21. So He prays that the Father will “keep them” – protect them and preserve them, NOT primarily from physical harm, almost all of these first disciples would die a martyr’s death, but that God would bring them safe to glory, keeping them safe ” in Christ”, despite all that the world and the devil would do. And again, to keep them in the bonds of love for one another, love as complete as that between Father and Son.
V12: In His life and time with them, Jesus has kept them Himself – the only one lost is Judas, solemnly called ” the son of destruction” ( other versions, “perdition”). He was never saved, but though this is a mystery, his betrayal was still the wilful act of his own sinful heart.
V13: All that He says to them in these chapters is that they may know the joy of the Lord, the joy which is to be the believers’ strength ( Nehemiah 8:10.) This joy is through knowing Jesus as Saviour and Lord, and being right with God through His sin-bearing death. Do we know this joy?
V14: God’s Word to His people, through Jesus, is the source of this joy. But those who know it in Jesus no longer “belong” to this rebellious world, so the world hates them, just as it did their Master – again, John 15:18.