Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXIMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. John -- Commentaries
Here, in Christ's intercession, is the firm ground of our confidence
that we may be 'more than conquerors' in the life-long fight which we
have to wage. The sweet strong old psalm is valid in its assurances
to-day for every soul which puts itself under the shadow of Christ's
protecting intercession: 'The Lord shall keep thee from all evil, He
shall keep thy soul.' We have not 'to lift up our eyes unto the hills,'
for 'vainly is help hoped for from the multitude of the mountains,' but
'Our help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth.' Therefore
we may dwell at peace in the midst of an alien world, having the Father
for our Keeper, and the Son, who overcame the world, for our
Intercessor, our Pattern and our Hope.
The parallel between Christ and His people applies to their relations
to the present order of things: 'They are not of the world, even as I
am not of the world.' It applies to their mission here: 'As Thou didst
send Me into the world, even so sent I them into the world.' It applies
to the future: 'I am no more in the world, but these are in the world,
and I come to Thee,' and in that 'coming' lies the guarantee that His
servants will, each in his due time, come out from this alien world and
pass into the state which is home, because He is there. The prayer that
they might be kept from the evil, while remaining in the scene where
evil is rampant, is crowned by the prayer: 'I will that, where I am,
they also may be with Me, that they may behold My glory.'
THE HIGH PRIEST'S PRAYER
'Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe
on Me through their word; 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. And the glory which Thou
givest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
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. 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.
O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known
Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me. And I have declared
unto them Thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith Thou
hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.'--JOHN xvii. 20-26.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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