The Chosen Ones

When asked as to whether I am a Calvinist or Arminian, I usually like to reply by stating that I try to be a Biblicist.  Then asked whether or not I believe that salvation is all of God, my response is always yes.  Then someone will ask if humanity has a choice, my response is also yes.

The Bible clearly teaches that salvation is all of God.  The Bible also clearly teaches that we are responsible for the decision to surrender to Christ or rebel against Christ.  It is not a neat, tidy package which we can wrap our minds around and fully explain.  John MacArthur states:  Believers will praise God for all eternity because He graciously chose them and redeemed them through the work of the Son. They did nothing to earn their salvation, and therefore all the glory goes to God. But those who reject the gospel and are condemned to hell will have no one to blame but themselves. Having willfully suppressed the truth in unrighteousness, they will receive the penalty they rightly deserve for their rebellion.

The largest portion of this prayer is seen by Jesus interceding for His disciples.  Today’s passage deals with the confidence Jesus has in knowing that His Heavenly Father would honor what Jesus was going to ask.  Next time, we’ll be looking at some of the specific requests that Jesus will make in relation to His disciples. Today, we’ll focus on God’s call to salvation.

When a person responds positively to God’s call to salvation, God is glorified by our salvation and the resulting works.

Revelation Leads to Salvation. - 17:6

I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.

This verse is almost like a segue or transition into this section.  Jesus has just finished praying about His glory and that of the Father.  Now, he’s going into the section dealing with the disciples.  

Even here, we see the two sides of salvation; God’s side and the human’s side.  He begins by stating that Jesus had manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world.  The word manifested simply means, revealing, making known, unfold, or showing.  The tense of the verb is also aorist which shows that it was done and completed.  

What exactly was manifested?  God’s name is what was made known.  But what exactly does that mean?  God’s Name is a description of everything that God is: His character, His nature, and all His attributes.  In the Bible, name means nature.  The Old Testament Jew knew his God as “Jehovah,” the great I AM (Ex. 3:11–14).  

But how did Jesus make God’s Name and all that He is known?  Jesus took this sacred name “I AM” and made it meaningful to His disciples.  He spoke of Himself in various ways:  “I am the Bread of Life;” “I am the Light of the world;” “I am the Good Shepherd.”  Jesus made known God’s Name by means of Himself; Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.  Several times Jesus stated that if they saw Him, they had seen the Father.  What God was, in all that He was, could be understood and seen by means of Jesus Christ Himself.  In fact, this is what enraged the Jewish religious leaders to the point they sought to kill Him.  He claimed to be God.  

Now, we already know that the men whom You gave Me out of the world were actually the disciples; here, seen as the 11 remaining.  We also remember that the world is referring to the evil, satanically ruled system of thinking that sets itself up against God and includes all who are unsaved.  According to other places in the Bible, we recall that if a person is saved, we are no longer part of the world.  

As we come to the next part of this verse, we are met with a bit of a head-scratcher.  Jesus stated that they were Yours and You gave them to Me.  This is blatantly stating that even before the disciples actually believed, they belonged to God.  Throughout many parts of the New Testament, this teaching is presented over and over.  God has elected and chosen people for salvation in eternity past.  We are special and precious to Jesus, not because of anything we are, but because we were chosen and promised by the Father to Jesus.  

Then, there’s the opposite side of the coin presented by Jesus comment: and they have kept Your word.  As a result of genuine salvation, there is the picture of obedience.  Interestingly, in the New Testament, obedience and faith are seen as synonymous; they are linked together.

Because the Father had been revealed to them and they were chosen before time began, they responded in obedient faith and were saved.

Knowing Leads to Believing. - 17:7-8

Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.

The disciples had been with Jesus over three years, yet Jesus states that now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You.  They still did not fully comprehend all that Jesus’ purpose was.  In fact, it would be after Jesus rose from the dead that they would start understanding why Jesus had to die on the cross.  Then it would become even clearer at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to indwell them permanently and do the work which He had assigned them to do.  

Though they didn’t understand everything, they believed that which Jesus spoke that they did understand.  But what exactly was it that they understood?  It is seen in this first statement Jesus spoke:  everything You have given Me is from You.  They understood that everything Jesus said and did was at the command of the Father.  His works were done by the power of God.  They had observed the multiple miracles and knew that this was done in accordance with the Father’s will.  They had listened to the many sermons and could attest to the fact that Jesus spoke with divine authority.  They had observed Jesus being right in the midst of sinners, yet showing love and compassion and never sinning Himself.  They knew that Jesus didn’t just talk about prayer or pray to be seen by others; they had witnessed Jesus in prayer on many occasions and for long periods of time.  In other words, these disciples knew that Jesus had come from God and fully believed in Him with a willingness to follow Him wherever He took them.  

They also knew that Christ’s Words came from the Father and were truth.  Those words which the Father gave Jesus, He gave to the disciples and they received them.  The idea of receiving them carries with it the concept of acceptance and affirmation of the words and then following up by living out the words.  

In addition, they understood that Jesus came forth from [the Father], plus that fact that the Father sent Jesus.  He was not simply a natural born person who had great charisma.  He was not just a phenomenal speaker.  He was not one who was an incredible illusionist. The disciples understood that Jesus and the Father were One.  They were beginning to grasp the miracle that God had indeed come in the flesh.  

Their grasping all of this caused them to experience belief that translated itself into faith-filled obedience.  They would not recant.  They would be willing to be killed for their obedient faith.  Their actions proved their election. James Montgomery Boice states:  How does one tell who are the elect of God? How do we judge who are Christians and who are not?… There is only one answer, the answer given by the Lord Jesus Christ of those who were truly his disciples. According to these verses, the only way to tell whether one is a Christian or not is to see whether he or she believes and continues in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

If we know God, we will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and our belief will be visible for all.

Our Story Brings God Glory. - John 17:9-10

I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.

Jesus is requesting of the Father on behalf of the disciples he was leaving behind in this world.  This request is not for those who are still in the world.  It is for those who belong to Him.  

We understand that God does have a love for all those in this world.  This is what theologians refer to as common grace.  That is why Jesus has not yet returned to take the church home.  He does not desire that any should perish, but that all should be saved.  He blesses the saved and the unsaved, the righteous and the unrighteous, the just and the unjust.  However, this prayer is not for the whole world.  His desire is that these disciples would be protected from the evils of the world, especially in the hours ahead when things would turn terribly dark.  

Though all of this, at this point, is directed to the disciples, the principles apply to believers of all times.  We know that we also belong to the Father, having been adopted into the family.  We also know that we belong to the Father and to the Son and nobody can remove us from Them.  We are sealed by means of the Holy Spirit.  We have been purchased for God by God.  The list goes on and on.  

Even by Jesus comment that all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, is a reminder that He is God.  Since the disciples (and all believers) belong to God and were chosen by Him before time began, then they also belong to Jesus.  Only God could make a comment such as this.  If anybody else dared to make such a statement, it would definitely be blasphemy.    Even Martin Luther, the great reformation leader stated:  Everyone may say this, that all we have is God’s. But this is much greater, that he turns it around and says, all that is thine is mine. This no creature is able to say before God.… The word: all that is thine is mine, leaves nothing whatever excluded. Are all things his, then the eternal deity is also his; otherwise he could not and dared not use the word at all.  

Then Jesus gives an interesting comment at the end of verse 10: and I have been glorified in them.  How is it possible that Jesus would have been glorified in the remaining 11 disciples?  I believe that it is seen by their faith and obedience in and to Him.  This is referenced back in the latter part of verse 6.  

Even today, Christ’s glory is seen in the lives of believers.  This should be every Christian’s lifelong pursuit to bring glory to Jesus Christ.  Paul states in 1 Corinthians 10:31: 

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 

Jesus stated in Matthew 5:16: 

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.  

Think about your own salvation.  Think about what God saved you from and who you are now.  That, my friends, brings glory to Jesus Christ.  Our lives tell a story.  If we live our lives for Jesus, then God gets the glory.

Considerations

In this section, we have been reminded that all believers were chosen by the Father before the world began.  All believers were given to the Son by the Father. We were also reminded that the believers’ faith and obedience show that we truly belong to God.  

We were also reminded that all who have been chosen and place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ will be saved.  Paul states this in Romans 10:9-10: 

that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.  

Listen to one of the 11 disciples, Peter, as he shares in 1 Peter 1:3-9, and as we think about Jesus’ prayer here to His Father: 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

We could spend a long time looking throughout the New Testament and being blessed by the multiple passages which speak of God’s protection over His saints and what that means.  However, here, with the disciples, Jesus knows He’s going to be unavailable to them for a little while as He bears the sins of the world; then later on when he ascends to the Father. Jesus is asking the Father to protect these 11 disciples while He is away.  We see here the absolute confidence and assuredness which Jesus has in His heavenly Father to do this.  Jesus confidence was not based on the disciples’ ability or perseverance.  It was based on the promises of God.

When a person responds positively to God’s call to salvation, God is glorified by our salvation and the resulting works.