Knowing Him

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

KNOWING HIM

John 17:24-26

24 "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." 

NIV

It would seem that it is the Father who gives Jesus those who are saved, which is what some believe shows predestination rather than our free will to choose God. But this is not the case as this simply shows that the Father has chosen Jesus to be the method by which people will be saved. The life application we derive from these last words of his prayer is that we will be where he is and we will see his glory. Because of all the imagines of Jesus that are available, we have a tendency to think of him as a Jewish man, good looking, long hair and a pleasant smile or personality. For the most part Hollywood uses fairly good looking men to act the part of Jesus in their movies so we have a preconceived notion of what Jesus would appear like. But here we are seeing that when we arrive at the place he is, we will see his glory, his magnificence, his majesty, his incredible holiness that he has been before the foundation of the world. What those men saw was a man, but what they have seen and what we will see is the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in all their Glory, a sight almost too holy to even look at. It is a wonderful sense to know the Righteous Father because we know he sent Jesus to the world to be the ultimate sacrifice for all sin for all time, so that we might be restored to our rightful relationship with the Father. If Jesus is in heaven at the right hand of the Father and has left the earth and has sent the Holy spirit, how does he continue to make the Father known to us?  Jesus told his disciples that he must go so he could send the Holy Spirit, and through him we are continually made known of the Father. The Spirit leads us into all truth and so we can sense the love of the Father and the presence of Jesus within us. Yet Jesus said he would be in us as well. He is in heaven, but he is also God who is omniscient and thus we can experience the presence of Jesus within us, as the Holy Spirit makes him known to us. Those who have refused the conviction of the Holy Spirit cannot sense the presence of Jesus for they may know of God, but they do not know God. What a joy life is because we know the love of the Father, for he loves us so much that he sent his only Son to earth to be a sacrifice for us. What greater love is there then to lay down life for another? Knowing Jesus, knowing the Spirit, knowing the Father and their love for us can only bring us hope, peace and joy in our lives. We have no need to worry, to fret, and to be anxious about anything, for God is with us. We only need to experience the love of God and we can because we know him.