“I have glorified thee on earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”
The terrible agony of the cross was still before him when our Saviour spoke these words. The awful experience which made him cry out — “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" still hung over his head, but he looked beyond and spoke as though all were already finished.
Sinful man had sought to drag God down into the moving cauldron of chance. Man had sought to make God over in his own image, thereby as it were sealing his own doom. But God sent forth his Son into the world that whosoever should believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Upholding all things by the word of his power, Christ came to save his people from their sin. Now he has accomplished his work. "For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou dids't send me.”
A finished work Christ came to do on earth — a finished work for his people, and a finished work within the hearts of his people he came to perform. Nor did he refer only to those who walked and talked with him on earth when he uttered this memorable prayer. Would others, besides the disciples, believe in him? When he, the gracious and loving Saviour, the sinless one, had returned to heaven, would others still receive his words? Would poor, benighted sinful men such as the disciples were, be able to persuade other men, equally sinful with themselves, to receive his words as they had received them from his own lips? Never fear! "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word…” They to whom Christ manifested the Father's name will in turn manifest his name among men. And through the prayer of their intercessor in heaven men shall believe in this name.
Nor shall they who believe in his name be long separated from him. He came to save them to the uttermost. "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 lovest me before the foundation of the world.”
You must declare his Name.
You then are called to manifest the name of Christ among men. And as you declare his name he through you is declaring the Father's name: “And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it…” And all this is to be done "that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”
It is for your ability to fulfill this task assigned you, this task of declaring the name of Christ to the world, in order that the world might believe, that the Saviour offered this his high priestly prayer. And his prayer is certain to be heard. For he prays for them whom the Father has given him. "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me: and they have kept thy word.”
Is all then to be easy for you?
If then the Father has given to Christ those for whom he prays and if he has finished the work of saving them in the world, and if he prays for those who through their word shall believe on him, is not all to be easy for you? Are not things bound to happen as Christ wants them to happen?
Easy for you, did I say? Easy, with Satan seeking as a roaring lion those whom he may devour? Easy for you did I say? With a world of unbelief like to that of the Pharisees and Sadducees round about you seeking to destroy the name of Christ from off the face of the earth? Easy for you, with the emissaries of the anti-Christ pretending to speak in the name of Christ sitting in high places, in that which they call the church of Christ? Easy for you? In a world whose wisdom, though made foolishness with God, has great allurements for such sinners as you are?
Easy for you, did I say? It is impossible for you. It is impossible for you unless, through the prayer of Christ in heaven you learn to pray for yourselves what he prays for you. What did he and what does he pray for you? I mean what does the Saviour continue to pray for you that you may proclaim his name in the world, that the world may believe?
1. He prays that you may be kept in the world. He prays that you may not be engulfed by the world. He knows that Satan's fury has only increased through his defeat accomplished through the cross. He knows that if it were possible Satan would deceive the very elect of God. He knows that the blandishments of the world and its wisdom would be too much for you. He knows you would sink unless his prayers should moment by moment hold you up.
2. He prays that you may be sanctified through the word. He prays that you may be sanctified through his word which is truth. Satan would like to have you present the word of Christ — since he cannot altogether prevent its presentation — apologetically. He would like to have you appeal to sinful men as rightful judges of the truth. He would like to have you present the name of Christ as though it will only probably save. And therefore he would like to have you present God's name as only probably present among men. He would like to have you do what false teachers in the church are doing, — say that God is still wholly hidden even when he is revealed in Jesus the Christ. For then Christ's prayer would not be answered. Then his name was not and cannot be declared among men.
Over against all this Christ prays that you may be sanctified through the truth. He would have you see the truth as truth. He would have you see that the Son of God has come into the world, that he actually defeated Satan there; that all this is true. He would have you teach that all this is accomplished, finished fact. He would have you say with Paul: "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
3. Above all he prays that ye may all be one. He is not here praying the prayer of the modern ecumenicist. He is not praying that all men, those who love the lie as well as those who love the truth, may be one. He prays that those who are being kept from the lie because they love the truth, that those who are sanctified through the truth, may be fully one with him as he is one with the Father. "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.”
Look to what seemingly impossible heights the Christ lifts you through his prayer. He wants to make you "perfect in one" even as he has perfect love for the Father, and the Father has perfect love for him.
How else but through this perfect love for God the Father and for God the Son through the Spirit who is sent to you by both the Father and the Son, can you so present the name of God "that the world may believe.”
How else but by being sanctified through the truth of the Father and how else but by being kept, upheld by his everlasting arms, can you present Christ to the world?
Pray earnestly then that prayer which your Saviour prays for you in heaven, for union, the union of perfect love to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, for keeping and sanctifying grace.
Then you will be able to do that which, without such prayer it would be impossible for you to do — present the name of God through Christ to the world, that the world might believe that God has sent Him.