Kept in His name

 

9)  “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.”

It may be shocking for us to hear Him say “I pray not for the world”, since we are enjoined to pray for all men for their salvation.  However this is Deity addressing Deity, in full knowledge that the term “the world” describes unbelievers and Divine beings know who they will be.  These are the Christ rejecters; in that sense He will not pray for those He knows will reject Him.  We pray for them, for we do not know.  He prays for the believers for He knows they will need assistance in the service for Him.  As the Father has given them to the Son, so the Son shares them with the Father.  Association with these men will bring Him glory and many others will follow them.  The Father is glorified when the disciples bear much fruit, and Christ is glorified in them.  He is glorified in their salvation, He will also be glorified in the Spirit’s ongoing revelation of Him-16v15. 

10-12)  “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.  When 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.” 

He prays for their preservation.  The key word is “keep”-v11, v12; He prays for the Father to keep them, while He is absent from them; when He was with them He kept them in the name of the Father, now He asks the Father to keep them.  They have been loyal to Him-“…they have kept thy word (v6); I kept them all and lost none save the son of perdition, but it was written this would be so.  These men who responded to my call those years ago are still with me and still loyal to us.  Please keep them, He pleads, while I am separated from them.  The word “keep” is terao which is to watch over, to protect.  It does have military connotations and can be translated as “keep as with a military guard.”  Some say it is “keep as a fortress”; we know what this means in earthly military terms, how much more when we think of it in heavenly terms.  This is a major biblical theme and is repeated throughout the New Testament.  Those whom God saves He keeps with mighty power. 1^st Peter 1v5 “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.”  ; Romans 8v38-39 “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities or powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  C.S. Lewis spoke of faith as “the power to go on believing, not in the teeth of reason, but in the teeth of lust and terror and jealousy and boredom and indifference.”  The preserving power of God can enable us to overcome all these things, for it is awesome, greater than any other power in existence, and will keep us forever.  We only need faith and trust in Him to be in the practical good of it.  The particular aspect of preservation He prayed for was their unity one with the other, just as Divine beings are one in purpose and attitude and in actions.  It is not natural for human beings to display such unity, but it is possible with God working in us.