GOD’S WORD FOR OCTOBER 16

We are using Charles Spurgeon book, “The Risen King.”  It’s a collection of well chosen excerpts from Spurgeon’s  “Easter” sermons in devotional form, put together by Jeff Medders.   Pastor Spurgeon lived from 1834 to 1892  in London, England, and had a unique gift of understanding and showing the depth of our faith.  Thus, his reverential title as the Prince of Preachers.   Even though we’re not in or near that season, every day is a good day to focus on Christ’s sacrifice and victory for us!

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JESUS PRAYS FOR US

John 17:24

 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

In this 17^th chapter of John, we have, as it were, the aroma of the Savior’s priestly prayer.  He prayed for the people for whom He was about to die; before He sprinkled them with His blood, He sanctified them with His supplications.  This prayer therefore stands preeminent in holy Scripture as the Lord’s prayer – the special prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Father.  If one part of Scripture can be dearer to the believer than any other, it must be this, which contains our Master’s last prayer before He entered through the torn veil of His own crucified body.

The first thing He prayed for is that which is heaven’s greatest joy:

“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am.”

 If you notice, every word in the sentence is necessary to its fullness.  He does not say:

“I pray that those, whom you have given Me, may be where I am,”  but He says, “with Me where I am.”

Not only does He pray that we might be with Him, but that we might be with Him in the same place where He is.  Notice that He did not say that He wished His people to be in heaven, but WITH HIM in heaven, because that makes heaven, heaven.  It is the very essence and arrow of heaven to be with Christ.  Heaven without Christ would be an empty place.  It would lose its happiness.  It would be a harp without strings.

Christ prayed that we might be with Him – that is our companionship.  To be with Him where He is  — that is our position.  He is showing us that heaven is both a condition and a location – In the company of Christ and in the place where Christ is.

The next prayer is for heaven’s sweetest employment:  “to see My glory that You have given Me.”  I do not doubt that there are many joys which will amplify the grand joy we will have in heaven.  I feel confident that the meeting of departed friends and the fellowship of apostles, prophets, priests, and martyrs will amplify the joy of the redeemed.  But the sun that will shine the greatest light on our joy will be the fact that we are with Jesus Christ and behold His face.  While there may be other employments in heaven, what is mentioned in the text is the chief one:  “to see My glory.”

Let us pass before our eyes the great scenes of glory which we shall behold after death.  The moment the soul departs from this body, we will behold the glory of Christ.  The glory of His person will be the first thing that will get our attention.  He will sit on the throne and our eyes will be caught with the glory of His appearance.  Perhaps we will be struck with astonishment.  Is this the One that was more marred than any other man?  Are these the hands that were once torn by iron?  Is that the head that once was crowned with thorns?  Is that the man who, scarred and bruised, was carried to His tomb?  Is that the man who, for our salvation, conquered the grave?  YES, YES,  YES!

Oh, how our admiration will rise to the very highest pitch, when we will see the King of kings and Lord of lords.  Christ prayed for you to see His glory, to be with Him where He is, and be assured – His prayer will be answered if He is your Lord and Savior.

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John 17:25-26

“O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.   And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

John 17:20-23

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;   that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.   And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:    I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

Matthew 16:19-20

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Romans 6:4

Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Romans 12:9

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

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