THE DESIRES OF THE SON OF GOD FOR HIS OWN
[p. 99] THE DESIRES OF THE SON OF GOD FOR HIS OWN
John 17:11; John 17:15; John 17:21; John 17:24
These verses bring before us what was in the heart of the Son of God as He went into death. These are some of His last words, they show what filled His heart as He went to the cross. It is impossible to say much on a scripture like this. There is something so great and sacred about the Son speaking to the Father at such a moment! But we are permitted to hear this outpouring of His desires with regard to His own, and He can make it speak to our hearts with divine power.
There are four great desires in the prayer. First, that His own might be kept in the Father’s name: “Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that they may be one as we”. The Son was here to declare the Father’s name. That name had been given to Him that He might make it known to men. This was the work which the Father had given Him to do. The thought of the Father’s name was the last thing before Him ere He went to the cross (verse 26), and it was the first thing before Him as the risen One, John 20: 17. The Father gave His name to the Son that He might reveal it. The depths of infinite divine grace and love and holiness — for it is “Holy Father” — are in that name, and all was given to the Son that He might make it known. In going into death the Lord had before Him the unspeakable suffering of that hour when sin must be dealt with according to divine holiness, but it was from the Father’s hand that He took the cup, and He took it that the glory of the Father’s name might appear. His great thought was, “Father, glorify thy name” John 12: 28. Sin was to be put away, reconciliation effected; but, above and beyond all, the Father’s name was to come out in its glory of grace. This was the supreme thought in the heart of the Son of God as He drew near to death. Do we think enough of this, beloved brethren?
The Son of God went into death that we might know the blessedness of the Father’s name. The goodness, grace, love, and glory of that name are all told out, and the One who made it known is the One who can instruct our hearts in it. His desire is that we should be kept in the Father’s name. How wonderful and blessed to think of being kept in that name!
[p. 100] What rest, what peace, what joy! An Old Testament saint could speak of being hidden in Jehovah’s pavilion, and in the secret of His tabernacle (Psalm 27:5), but our pavilion is the Father’s name! The Son would have us enclosed in all the blessedness of the Father’s name, kept in the grace of that name, kept in the love of which it speaks! That is our “secret place”. The apostles were kept in the Father’s name, and hence in perfect unity of testimony.
Then as to the world the desire of the Son of God is, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil”, verse 15. How does the Father keep us out of evil? I am assured that it is by filling us with what is supremely good. “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth”. The truth is in a living Person, and the Father would make that Person to our hearts the embodiment of everything worth knowing. The taint of evil is upon the best things in the world, but good in absolute perfection — even the perfect setting forth of the blessed God — is in Christ. There is preservative power in the knowledge of Him to keep us out of all the evil here.
“And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth”. He was ever morally separate from the evil of the world, but now He has taken a place, as the risen and glorified One, entirely apart from it. His death, in that sense, was the moment of His entire separation from the scene and circumstances where sin was. He is wholly apart from all that is evil, and He is in that holy sanctification at God’s right hand that the knowledge of Himself there may keep us out of all the evil here.
Then in verse 21 there is a third desire: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”. I trust we may know more of that blessed unity in the divine nature in which the Son of God would have all His own to be. These are feeble days, and the practical realisation of unity is much hindered, but there is unity in the divine nature. In every bit of true knowledge of the Father and the Son there must be unity. It is “that they also may be one in us”. If believers know the Father and the Son they come into this unity, for wherever the knowledge of the Father and the Son is there must be unity of a profoundly real nature. It is the knowledge of divine Persons that brings [p. 101] about unity, for it gives saints a common portion of joy and blessedness in which there is no element of discord.
“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world”, verse 24. In the first desire of the Son of God the prominent thing is the Father’s name, in the second it is preservation from the evil of the world, in the third it is unity amongst saints, but in the fourth it is the Son of God Himself. He desires His own to be with Him where He is, that they may behold His glory. Think of the glory that has been given to the Son by the Father! It has been given to Him to bring to pass every purpose of love and blessing that was in the Father’s heart from eternity. This is His peculiar and distinctive glory. He will give effect to all the Father’s purpose. In the midst of a universe of bliss where every thought of “the Father of glory” will be accomplished we shall behold the glory of the Son. If not one trace of evil is to be found in that blessed and holy universe it is because the Son has removed it all in redemption. If every element of divine perfection and joy pervades the whole of that vast scene of glory it is because the Son has brought it in and established it on an immutable basis. The Father of glory will be known as the source of all, but the Son will be known as the accomplisher of all. This place the Father’s eternal love has given Him; it will be His distinctive glory for ever.
He will have His saints with Him where He is to behold His glory. As we behold it eternal rapture and praise will surely fill our hearts.
I cannot say more. How infinitely great are these blessed things! May the Son of God give us understanding of these desires of His heart as He went into death! It is good for us to have before our hearts what was before His. May we cherish these great and holy thoughts, that they may be expanded in our souls, and take more effective possession of our hearts!