From the very beginning of His earthly ministry, Jesus Christ was pretty sure of the necessity of having disciples who would help him carry his message to the ends of the world. Having chosen them, he took time to take them to God in prayers. He also prayed for all Christians in general all over the world.
Since Jesus has accomplished all he set out to do during His lifetime, he also made sure that He passed God's message on to the world through His disciples. Now there remains only death and beyond it the glory He renounced to become man. But His followers will be left behind in a hostile world. So he prays that God will protect them, that their lives May be shaped by the truth of God's word, that they may display such unity among themselves that the world will be shaken of its disbelieve and that they may in the end, go to be with him and see His glory for themselves.
This is part of the fundamental teaching of the Christian massage as presented in the Bible
JESUS' PRAY FOR HIS FOLLOWERS.
The reception of the word of Christ has actually identified the disciples with Him and set them apart from the world. Despite the unity between Christ and his own, He could not pray that the father would take them out of the world. To do so would have frustrated the purpose of their call and training.
As they laboured and witnessed, they needed to be kept from the evil, otherwise their witness should have ceased to be pure. As regenerated men, the disciples no longer belonged to the world as a realm of spiritual evil, even though they resided in the world as a physical entity.
In verse 17, He prayed that God might sanctify Them through His truth. This is the second petition on behalf of the disciples. The word sanctify here means to set apart for God and His Holy purpose. And again to be sent into the world by Christ as he was sent by the father, is the highest dignity that can be bestowed on men. Christ didn't need to make himself holy, for He was that already, But did need devotion to His calling so that the disciples might follow His example.
The prayer reaches out to include those who will believe because of the testimony of these disciples. Here, faith is the necessary condition for enjoying the life of God. And therefore, of coming into that unity which is found first all in Christ, then in the church, the body of Christ. In verse 23 the word made perfect in one means to be accomplished not by human efforts but by the gracious extension of the unity of God the Father to those who belongs to Christ. This is not a mechanical unity. It's cement is the love of God bestowed on men, that same love which the Father has for the son.
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