The High Priestly Prayer: Part Two

Jesus lifts His eyes to heaven in the presence of His disciples but more so in the presence of His Father. Of all the prayers of Jesus, this one we are all privy to. At the eve of the cross, before He goes back to the Father, Christ will pray for Himself, His disciples, and the future disciples who have yet to be born or believe. Here He prays for His immediate disciples: the eleven men who have remained with Him this whole time. Christ revealed the Father's name to them and guarded them there and so as Jesus departs, He requests that they stay in the name, away from the evil one. The disciples have been chosen out of the world, plucked from it, protected from the evil one in it, and are being sent back now made holy and set apart for God to complete the mission Jesus has set before them. This they cannot do without being sanctified in the truth. This truth is all at once, God's Word but also Jesus Christ Himself. These are the foundation of truth. And since we too, are saved from the world but left in it to deliver the truth as ambassadors of Christ we must pursue holiness. What gains ground in the world for the kingdom of God is not assimilation or isolation but the holiness that God puts into His people. This, with the Gospel, are our tools for seeing many more saved from the world unto eternal life.