Keep Them

I am not praying that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

John 17:15 CSB

JESUS prays fervently in an upper room in Jerusalem. He intercedes for disciples of every era, not for everyone but only for those the Father has given to Him for eternal life. Protect them.

Are you one of these?

For I have kept ^H8104 the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

A Psalm of David 18:21 KJV

The Lord confirms the praises and prophecy of scripture interceding as priest for His own.

a Benediction

“… You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.

John 17:6b CSB – the prayer of Jesus

This last formal prayer of Jesus feels like a benediction – a good-bye to His disciples ‘until we meet again.’

Jesus prays, “They have kept Thy word [KJV].”

He is leaving them unguarded in the flesh and asks our Father God, ‘please accept them into Your keeping and protect them.” Our sinless High Priest confirms to the Father that these are worthy of eternal life!

Benediction:

ben-e-dik’-shun: From the earliest times the records bear testimony that pronouncing the benediction or giving the blessing was a common practice. In the temple service, this duty was assigned to the Aaronites and was made an impressive part of the service. The form of the benediction used is given in Numbers 6:22-27. source: BlueLetterBible

יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהוָה וְיִשְׁמְרֶֽךָ׃ ס

יָאֵר יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִֽיחֻנֶּֽךָּ׃ ס

יִשָּׂא יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלֹֽום׃ ס

Numbers 6:24-26 Masoretic text – Command of the LORD to Moses for the benediction of the priests.

How encouraging to know that the Lord will bless us, and keep us, to make His face to shine upon us, and give us peace.

You, beloved believer, have likely heard priestly benedictions with some frequency. Jesus, no doubt, must certainly have blessed the multitudes many times as they returned to their homes from His preaching.

After Christ’s resurrection and ascension the Apostles boldly preached the Gospel from town to town. They too would bless the church, often distant from their presence but near in their prayers:

• The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. – benediction of Paul’s letter 2 Corinthians 13:14
• You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. – benediction of Peter’s letter 2 Peter 3:17-18
• Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. – benediction of leter of Jude 24:24-25

John 17:

Jesus, now departing from His Disciples to His suffering prior to the Cross, prays for the earthly flock; these His beloved friends and soon-to-be anointed shepherds of His flocks and keepers of the New Covenant.

11 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, ..”

Our Lord and priestly intercessor now prays:

“… protect them by your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one.

12 While I was with them, I was protecting them by your name that you have given me.

I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction…”

He refers to Judas Iscariot, of course; who not only is absent from this worship before the Father, but who will very soon betray His Master and Lord Jesus to the evil rulers of this world.

And Jesus continues by pointing to the purpose of His Sacrifice,

“… so that the Scripture may be fulfilled.”

Fulfillment of Scripture, a turning point between Covenants

Genesis 3 excerpt:

• Now the serpent … said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” – 3:1
  • The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! – v.4
  • For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” -v.5
• The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this Cursed are you more than all… v.6
  • … And between your seed [offspring of the serpent]
  • and her seed [sons of adam]
  • He shall bruise you on the head,
  • And you shall bruise him on the heel.” – v.15

By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”

Genesis 3:19 NASB

YES, Jesus the Son of Man will die and so will you and I.

Yet why would our King and High Priest Redeemer pray that He will suffer for us?

Romans 5: NASB

• Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— v.5
• For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. v.19
• ..as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. –v.21

The Enemy

From before Jesus was born as a son of man, He turned back all opposition of man’s great enemy the serpent Satan, the spirit of evil opposing all righteousness.

• The evil one could not kill the child born of the virgin in Bethlehem by the hand of Herod.
• Satan could not tempt Jesus in the wilderness or from a vantage point above the whole world.
• The great deceiver could not manage through corrupted Jewish leaders of false faith to push Jesus off a cliff.
• The serpent and ruler of this world was about to have his day by the hand of Judas, the betrayer not present as Jesus prays to the Father.

Yet by His Sacrifice for sin Jesus will crush the head of the evil one.

John 17:

King James Version - an appropriate kingly honor and 
glory of Jesus, our High Priest 
as He stands before the LORD our Father
praying for us.

Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Believer, do you hear Jesus as He prays?

Though we were not in the room where Jesus became the servant washing our feet as He did for the Disciples, the perfect High Priest now prays for not only the eleven, but for those the Father has given to Him from every era until these last days are completed.

Are you one of these?

For if you have by God’s grace come to the Lord Jesus you, like Him, are no longer of the world.

Yet because the evil one opposes Christ Jesus, you have chosen Him over the world and Satan will seek your soul if you fall away.

Jesus will continue praying for us as our High Priest before the Father. The Lord has yet more encouragement to keep you in the days ahead.

To be continued...