Prayer for Disciples
This is a prayer for disciples of Jesus. He prayed for His disciples throughout the ages. And for Christians today, which includes you and me.
This is a Bible Study. Have your own Bible handy to look up the references mentioned.
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6. Jesus has told His disciples about His Father. These men (and women) were the Fathers’ who gave them to Jesus, and they have kept thy word.
What about you? Who do you belong to?
“‘I have manifested thy name ‘means ‘I have revealed the nature of God.’ One of the ministries of the Son was to declare the Father (John 1:18.” (Wiersbe, Warren W, The Bible Exposition Commentary New Testament Volume 1 Matthew-Galatians. [Colorado Springs: David C Cook, 2004], 369)
7-8. “The Lord had given them the Words of the Father. That is important. He had not given them property or money or an automobile, but the Words of the Father. Jesus testifies here that these disciples believed that He came from the Father. They knew who He was.” (McGee, J. Vernon, Thru the Bible: Volume IV: [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983], 479)
“Believers are gifts from the Father to the Son. All people belong to the Father by creation, but those who trust in the Son and relate to him by faith become God’s children by redemption.” [Max Anders and Kenneth O. Gangel (2012). HNTC Vol. 04: John. B&H Publishing Group. Retrieved from https://read.lifeway.com]
Protection
9. Jesus does not pray for the world.
Jesus is praying for those who have accepted Him!
Do you want to accept Jesus, too.
Jesus “has sent the Holy Spirit into the world to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Jesus Christ prays for His own.” (McGee, 480)
10. Those who have accepted Jesus as Savior also belong to God the Father.
“Our security rests in another fact: we are here to glorify Him. With all their failures and faults, the disciples sill receive this word of commendation: ‘I am glorified in them.’” (Wiersbe, 369)
11. “So sure was Jesus’ death and departure back to the Father that Jesus treated His departure as an already accomplished fact. He prayed here for His disciples because they would have to face the world’s temptation and hatred without His immediate presence and protection (15:18-16:4).” (MacArthur, John, The MacArthur Bible Commentary. [Nashville, Thomas Nelson Inc., 2005], 1412)
“The Holy Spirit takes all true believers and baptizes them into the body of Christ, identifies them in the body of Christ. The disgrace of it all is that down here the believers are pretty well divided. But there is only one true church, and every believer in Jesus Christ is a member of that church. It is called the body of Christ.” (McGee, 480)
12. “Believers are secure forever because they are held by Christ and by God.
Son of perdition [NKJV]. This identifies Judas by pointing to his destiny, i.e., eternal damnation (Matthew 7:13; Acts 8:20; Romans 9:22; Philippians 1:28; 3:19; 1 Timothy 6:9; Hebrews 10:39; 2 Peter 2:1; 3:7; Revelation 17:8,11). The defection of Judas was not a failure on Jesus’ part, but was foreseen and foreordained in Scripture (Psalm 41:9; 109:8; cf 13:18)” (MacArthur, 1413)
In the World
13. Jesus was “a person of deep abiding joy. John 17:13 is the very heart of this prayer, and its theme is joy!” (Wiersbe, 370)
“Friend, God does not want us to be long-faced solemn Christians. He came that our lives might be filled joy—His joy.” (McGee, 480)
14. “The Word is divine in origin, a precious gift from heaven. We must never take God’s Word for granted, for those who are overcomers know the Word and how to use it in daily life.” (Wiersbe, 370)
“The Word of God causes problems in the world today. The Bible is the most revolutionary Book in the World. It is revolutionary to teach that you cannot save yourself, that only Christ can save you…The problem is that the pollution is in the human heart.” (McGee, 480)
15. “We are in the world but of the world, and we must not live like the world…Wherever we go, we take our own sinful self with us, and the powers of darkness will follow us.” (Wiersbe, 370)
“Jesus prays that we should not be taken out of the world, but that we should be kept from the evil one, Satan.” (McGee, 481)
Matthew 6:13 1 John 2:13-14; 3:12; 5:18-19 1 Peter 5:8 Luke 22:31-32 Ephesians 6:12 John 12:31; 16:11; cf. Psalm 27:1-3; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Jude 24-25
16. Remember this is a prayer Jesus is praying for His disciples and Christians throughout the ages, which includes you and me.
“The measure in which we as believers realize this, the more completely we fulfill His will and accomplish His purpose.” (McGee, 481)
Sanctification
17. “The idea of sanctification is the setting apart of something for a particular use. Accordingly, believers are set apart by God for His purposes alone so that the believer does only what God wants and hates all that God hates (Leviticus 11:44-45; 1 Peter 1:16). (MacArthur, 1413)
“The believer is set apart by the Word of God. That is, the Word reveals the mind of God…We can serve Him only as we know His Word and are obedient to it. (McGee, 481)
18. “It is not enough to merely to study the Bible and learn a great deal of doctrinal truth. We must also love Jesus Christ more as we learn all that He is and all He had done for us. Learning and loving should lead to living, allowing the Spirit of God to enable us to obey His Word. This is how we glorify Him in this present evil world.” (Wiersbe, 371)
“We have been sent out into the world to bear a witness. He sets Himself apart to be identified with us, and we ought to be identified with Him in this world.” (McGee, 481)
19. I sanctify myself “Meaning only that He was totally set apart for the Father’s will (cf. 4:34; 5:19; 6:38; 7:16; 9:4). Jesus did that in order that believers might be set apart to God by the truth He brought.” (MacArthur, 1414)
“How can we be overcome by the world when we have the Word of God to enlighten us, enable us, and encourage us?” (Wiersbe, 371)
References
Amplified Bible (AMP)
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
In this article Scripture quotations taken from KJV.
Borchert, Gerald L., The New American Commentary Volume 25B, John 12-21. Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2002
Max Anders and Kenneth O. Gangel (2012). HNTC Vol. 04: John. B&H Publishing Group. Retrieved from https://read.lifeway.com
McGee, J. Vernon, Thru the Bible: Volume IV: Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983
MacArthur, John, The MacArthur Bible Commentary. Nashville, Thomas Nelson Inc., 2005
Wiersbe, Warren W, The Bible Exposition Commentary New Testament Volume 1 Matthew-Galatians. Colorado Springs: David C Cook, 2004