Jesus Prayed For His Followers

Jesus knew what it takes to live a godly life in this world, because as Hebrews 4:15 tells us, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”  He has experienced all the same temptations we experience, and was able to overcome them. 

Because he knows how strong the temptation can be, he prayed for those who believed in him to experience the same victory.  He had taught them what God said and understood that it was what God wanted.  Now he was going to leave them and he prayed that they would continue on in their faith, in John 17:6-13.  “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.  Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.  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 didst send me.

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.  And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.  And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.  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.  And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”

Christ’s servants were going to be hated by the world because of their different attitudes and ideas.  They would need God’s help to overcome the peer pressure and remain faithful, and Christ was asking God to give them the faith and confidence to remain true despite the pressure.  He was not asking that they escape the pressure, but that they become strong enough to resist it, in John 17:14-23.  “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  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.  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.  As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.  And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.  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 gavest 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.”

The name, “Christian” means a little Christ and refers to people being like Christ.  Jesus was asking that God make his followers to be like him in attitude and behavior, enabling the world to see what Christ is truly like.   In order to develop that kind of faith and strength, Christ asked that they would understand and experience the God’s love, in John 17:24-26.  “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.”

Without an understanding of God’s love, they would never be able to resist the hatred of the world.  Without a valid understanding of God’s love people today will not be able to make a strong stand for Christ either.   Many people believe that Christ did away with the Old Testament Law and that it does not apply in our day.   In Matthew 5:17-18,  Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” 

The Law teaches us how to love God and how to love other people, as Matthew 22:37-40 tells us.  “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”  Only when we begin to understand that the Law was meant to make things as good as possible for mankind can we truly understand God’s love for us.