John 17:22-23 "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: (23) I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."
Revelation 1:5 "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the
earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own
blood"
2 Peter 1:16 "For we have not followed cunningly devised
fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty."
1 John 5:10 "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the
witness in himself"
In reading these three additional passages, I do not want us to lose connection
with our text for today, so I will copy them back here. "And the
glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we
are one: (23) I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast
loved them, as thou hast loved me." (John 17:22-23) How do all these
verses connect? Remember John 17 is Jesus' intercessory prayer for His
disciples and for you and me. I included the other verses to show the
connecting line from Jesus to us.
"That they may be made perfect in one." These eleven men had
walked with Jesus for three and a half years. They had seen the majesty of His
glory through His teaching, His healing, His daily walk, and interaction with
people who either loved or hated Him. They had seen His glory, the glory
given to Him by the Father. In the next three days following this prayer,
they would see His ultimate glory through His death, burial, and
resurrection. It was this glory that would make them perfect in ONE, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Just a quick review: the word, "perfect,"
means mature. These men would grow from the point of running away from
the Roman soldiers to standing bold in the face of imminent death. In other
words, they would mature (be made perfect) through the glory of Christ.
I included the other passages to let us know their accounts of the life of
Jesus and early church were resulting from that glory which they had seen. As
Peter said, they were "eyewitnesses of His majesty." As you and
I are blessed to read the Word of God and as the Holy Spirit begins to reveal
to us the very truth concerning His Word, we also "have the
witness" in ourselves. If we understand the Bible to be the very
inspired Word of God, with no error, then we also become eyewitnesses by faith.
Do you believe that Jesus is the very Son of God? Do you believe the
power that He exhibited while living on this earth? Do you believe He
died on the cross for your sins? Do you believe His lifeless body was placed in
that cold rock tomb? Do you believe He arose from the dead and showed Himself
alive to those witnesses? Do you believe He ascended back into heaven to
receive that very glory that He had with the Father from before the foundation
of the world? If so, then you have the witness to these things?
What is a witness supposed to do? Is it not share the truth of what has
been seen? Are we sharing our witness of Jesus Christ? or has that
witness been lost in all the "busy"ness of the world? Have we
become so caught up with the things of the world that we have forgotten the
very thing Jesus prayed for us to have? If you believe, then you have the
witness. Revelation 1:5 tells us Jesus is that witness within us. Jesus prayed
that we would be mature and stand bold to declare that witness. "I
in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the
world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved
me."