The Word This Week
John 17:6…
We remember in His final instruction to His disciples Jesus had told them, “In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
Then He tuned to His Father in prayer, and He allowed them to hear His prayer, in order to assure them Who was in control of events – even in the midst of any and all the tribulation this world brings.
Tribulation is inevitable because sin exists in this world because mankind lives in a fallen state. His disciples don’t know it yet, but the sin condition of the world is about to be defeated by Jesus overcoming sin when nailed to the cross.
With eternal life assured for His disciples and all His future followers, the world has indeed been overcome and can have no power ultimately over any born-again follower of Christ. The worst anyone can do to any true follower of Christ is to kill them – as Jesus is about to be killed. His resurrection will prove death no longer has power over Jesus, and it no longer has power over His followers.
This is the understanding Jesus prays for His disciples – and eventually His Church - to possess. The fact He allows them to hear Jesus pray the Father for them in this regard is meant to instill the kind of spiritual confidence which will be necessary for them to accomplish the call of God in Christ for their lives.
It is HIS WORD which will hold them in place once Jesus has ascended into heaven, and He desires they understand that as well. It is His WORD which has brought them, it is HIS WORD which has informed them, and it is HIS WORD that will sustain them always through thick and thin.
The same is true for us, as revealed by Jesus’ prayer for those who will believe in Christ because of THEIR WORD.
Pastor Bill
We remember in His final instruction to His disciples Jesus had told them, “In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
Then He tuned to His Father in prayer, and He allowed them to hear His prayer, in order to assure them Who was in control of events – even in the midst of any and all the tribulation this world brings.
Tribulation is inevitable because sin exists in this world because mankind lives in a fallen state. His disciples don’t know it yet, but the sin condition of the world is about to be defeated by Jesus overcoming sin when nailed to the cross.
With eternal life assured for His disciples and all His future followers, the world has indeed been overcome and can have no power ultimately over any born-again follower of Christ. The worst anyone can do to any true follower of Christ is to kill them – as Jesus is about to be killed. His resurrection will prove death no longer has power over Jesus, and it no longer has power over His followers.
This is the understanding Jesus prays for His disciples – and eventually His Church - to possess. The fact He allows them to hear Jesus pray the Father for them in this regard is meant to instill the kind of spiritual confidence which will be necessary for them to accomplish the call of God in Christ for their lives.
It is HIS WORD which will hold them in place once Jesus has ascended into heaven, and He desires they understand that as well. It is His WORD which has brought them, it is HIS WORD which has informed them, and it is HIS WORD that will sustain them always through thick and thin.
The same is true for us, as revealed by Jesus’ prayer for those who will believe in Christ because of THEIR WORD.
Pastor Bill