Protected by His Name

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

PROTECTED BY HIS NAME

John 17:6-12

6 "I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name — the name you gave me — so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

NIV

As we continue with the prayer of Jesus, he is praying for his disciples, as well as all who would believe in his name. Again we could get a little Calvinistic in thinking when Jesus is praying for those who the Father gave him, along with his mention of Judas, the one doomed to destruction. It appears God chose eleven to save and one to be doomed. Jesus said he did not lose any, except the one doomed to destruction so the scripture would be fulfilled. Jesus handpicked Judas from the start and from other accounts we know Judas was a thief, helping himself to money for the support of the whole group. This is a man who was never truly a believer in the first place, he was always doomed from the start. Now that sounds like the once saved always saved theology, and if a person backslides, they were never saved in the first place. But neither of those ideas are true. This is just the way it has to be in order for everything to happen the way it has to happen in order for God to reconcile his creation. All people can come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ if they choose to. His disciples believe now. Jesus has revealed the Father to them. But we too have had the Father revealed to us throughout the whole of his word. This is why we are included in this prayer. We know Jesus came from heaven and we know he returned to heaven and continually intercedes, prays, for us. God gave us to Jesus as well. This goes to the fact God gives every man a measure of faith, so we can believe. Some choose to ignore that faith, but for those who use their faith to believe, Jesus could say that the Father gave us to him. Also, we would have to believe those who reject that faith or suppress that faith by their evil deeds are doomed to destruction. Judas was one of those who rejected the faith, but Jesus brought him alone so the scripture might be fulfilled. That is not to say there are people like Judas in the church today, those who pretend to be followers to get the money from the purse of others. However, as believers, we have to also believe we are under the protection of Jesus. He keeps us safe from the enemy of our souls. We are under protection by the name of Jesus. We do not belong to the world, but we belong to God, we are his and he is ours. We are one who the Father as the Father is one with us, in fact, the Spirit dwells within us. We could not be closer to God than that. We are living not just in the presence of God, but we are living with God within our presence. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. We are in the Spirit and the Spirit is in us. We came out of the world, no longer it citizen, for we are in Christ and our citizenship is in heaven. We live in the protection of his Holy Name.