I haven't updated this in a while. Sorry 'bout that. The two classes that I'm in are winding down which means the tests are harder and there's more to study and more to read and I have two papers due in the next two weeks. Bare with me, I'm almost done! One more class!!!!!!
(sidenote: I had a dream last week that I was at graduation and I was a complete wreck and forgetting everything, but I made it...but I also remember thinking that I shouldn't be there because I still had more school to do...oh goodness)
Well, ashamedly, I fell asleep in the service this morning, so I'm not gonna give you a recap. (I'm sorry) That's the last time I go to bed at mid-night on a Saturday. Plus, I was sitting in the way back, like the second row in, and that usually makes me fall asleep. I need to be up close so I can pay attention more. Oi.
But I will be listening to it on podcast though! But tonight, I decided to go over that passage for my devotions. And can I just say, what a sweet and wonderful and much needed time with the Lord it was. Let me just encourage you too...before you go into God's Word, stop and pray and ask for his help in understanding the Scriptures. It's truly a gift from the Lord to have the Spirit guiding you and instructing you as you walk with him in the Word. This was an encouragement from my accountability/discipleship partner.
So anyway, as I was reading, I came down to verse 24 and there were many things that struck me so I decided to camp out there for a bit and disect that verse and do it inductively.
Here's the verse:
"Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world."
So what I did was, I went through the verse and I circled all the personal references such as "I" "me"...all the references that Jesus is talking about himself. Then I went through and boxed all the references where he refers to "they". Then I underlined the references concerning God, the Father like "you" and "father".
So here, we see that Jesus is talking to his Father. He then goes on to state his desire. What's his desire for? His desire is for those to be with him. Well, what does desire mean? I immediately thought of Paul's references when he writes to the many churches and how he says that his desire to to be with them. So, who does Jesus want with him? Answer: whom you have given me. This indicates that the "whom you have given me" are those who have been called upon to receive the gift of repentance and faith in Christ...so the Christians, the believers, the saints, God's children. You (if you are indeed a believer) and me. Really? Me? He wants me, the chief of sinners with him? This was his desire? I mean, Christ could have come up with a better desire than that, but this was it.
Next we find out where he is going. Well, this his prayer right before he went to the cross. Could he be talking about going with him to the Cross? No, because our blood wouldn't be enough to pay for sins, but he is talking about where he is going after the Cross. His ascension into heaven. He wants us with him there! Heaven isn't heaven with out Jesus. There would be no sense to it. But that's not all folks. Not only does he want us there, but he wants us to see his glory! As Matthew Henry notes, this is the glory at which the angels would cover their faces. This is the glory that Moses couldn't see because it would have killed him at the mountain. We do notice that God was the one who gave Jesus the glory and we also see the reason... because he loved him. This seemed to be a sort of privilege to be had. But notice too, God loved him before the foundation of the world. This is was struck me the most... God loved Christ before the foundation of the world. Wasn't Christ with him before the foundation of the world? I thought it was interesting that it didn't say that God loved US before the foundation of the world. But God loved Christ before the foundation of the world. This clearly shows the intimacy the Father and Son had before the foundation of the world.
Does this make sense?
♥
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