John 17:1-2 "These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: (2) As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him."
This scene has always struck me as being most beautiful. Jesus had opened
His heart to His disciples and now He prays for them and for us. I
picture Him as going to His knees for this prayer. "Father, the hour
is come." If you remember during this trip through the book of John,
there had been times when those who hated Jesus had tried to kill Him. We
read, more than once, that His hour had not yet come. We must see the
Sovereignty of God in our study of the life of Jesus. "But when the
fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son..." (Galatians 4:4)
Jesus was born according to God's time schedule and now He will lay down
His life only when it is according to the Father's timing. "Glorify
thy Son." We know Jesus was not asking this in a selfish manner for
He immediately stated His reasoning. "Glorify thy Son, THAT thy Son also
may glorify thee."
I ask each one to pay particular attention to verse two. "As thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him." (John 17:2) I realize people who read
these devotions (especially those who read them on Facebook) have different
beliefs concerning the effectiveness of the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
So, I will use only the Word of God to express what I believe concerning
redemption. I go back to earlier in the book of John to chapter 6.
"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. (38) For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. (39) And
this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given
me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."
(John 6:37-39) These are the words of Jesus, Himself. He came to do
the will of the Father. What was the Father's will? All that were given
to Christ in the covenant of grace would be covered by the work of Jesus Christ
and not one would be lost.
There are other passages, but for space, I will go from John chapter 6 to
today's text. Jesus had declared the will of the Father in chapter 6 and
now He is praying for the will of the Father to be accomplished. How
would that be accomplished? "That He (Christ) should give eternal life to
as many as thou (the Father) hast given him." We can see it is God's
will for all that were given to Christ to be eternally saved and Jesus prayed
for glory to complete that work through His death, burial and resurrection. If
it is God's will, is there anything that can stop Him from accomplishing that
purpose? According to God's own Word, all that were given to Christ has
been bought by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Please pay close attention
to this and give great consideration: If one for whom Jesus died does not
make it into heaven, then the work of redemption was not complete. We
shall see Jesus declared His work to be finished. "It is finished."
Does this mean that only a few will be in heaven? God forbid! Let
us again look to God's Word. "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great
multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people,
and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white
robes, and palms in their hands; (10) And cried with a loud voice,
saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the
Lamb." (Revelation 7:9-10) We are plainly told that there will be
more in heaven than you or I could even number; yet, the Father knows each one
of us by name. Christ died for each one personally and His blood is that which
gains access into heaven's glory. Praise His Holy Name!