A
Forward-Thinking Man
Pastor
Ricky Kurth
Recently,
Fox News told of a 13-year-old girl who got in trouble at school for
wearing a shirt that said, “Virginity Rocks!” The back of her shirt was
equally delightful and showed that she was one very forward-thinking young
lady. It read, “I’m loving my husband, and I haven’t even met him yet!”
This
sweet girl’s wonderful testimony reminded me of how the Lord Jesus showed
that He was one very forward-thinking Man when He prayed to God about His
eleven disciples:
“Neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me
through their word” (John 17:20).
Most Bible commentaries maintain that the Lord was talking
about you and me, and all of the other members of the Body of Christ who
had not yet believed on Him at that time. The problem with this view
is that you and I didn’t believe on Christ through the words of the
twelve apostles. We believed on Him through the words of the Apostle
Paul! Paul is the only biblical writer who presents salvation by grace
through faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 3:25). If
someone introduced you to Christ using the words of the twelve apostles,
they had to read Paul’s gospel into their words, for he is the only
biblical writer to preach the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ as
the gospel that must be believed in order to be saved (I Corinthians
15:1-4).
So
who were those who were saved through the word of the apostles? Well, the
twelve preached their word at Pentecost, which tells us that those who
believed through their word were all Jews, for they were the only people
that Peter addressed on that day (Acts 2:14,22,36). So in praying for
“them also which shall believe through their word,” the Lord was praying
for future Jewish believers. Of course, this means that He had only Jewish
believers in mind when He went on to pray for these future saints.
“That
they all may be one…that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me”
(John 17:21).
But
we’ve already seen that this couldn’t be what the Lord had in mind, since
those who believed on Him through the word of the apostles were all Jews.
So why was He praying that the Jews might be made one?
Well,
if you know your Bible, you know that there came a time in Israel’s
history when the ten northern tribes broke away from the two southern
tribes and formed their own kingdom (I Kings 12). While God allowed this,
He had no intention of letting His people be divided forever! To
illustrate this, God instructed Ezekiel to take a stick and write “Israel”
on it to represent the ten northern tribes, and then to take another stick
and write “Judah” on it to represent the two southern tribes, then to join
them together and “make them one stick” (Ezekiel 37:15-19). He was told to do
all this to illustrate God’s plan to take Israel and Judah and “make them
one nation” (v. 22). This, then, is the oneness for which the Lord prayed
in our text.
Was
His prayer answered? You know it was! At Pentecost, “there were dwelling
at Jerusalem Jews…out of every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5). “And all
that believed…were together…continuing daily with one
accord…with…singleness of heart” (Acts 2:41-46).
Of
course, the Lord had a purpose in mind for praying for the reunion of
Israel’s two houses. It was, as He said, “that the world may believe that
Thou hast sent Me”; and when the reuniting of Israel’s two houses
continues in the millennial kingdom, their oneness will cause the world to
believe on
Recovery Of
Truth - O'Hair - YouTube
(A 10 Minute Video)
Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
(A 10 Minute Video)
Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
E-mail this BIBLE STUDY to all your friends
No comments:
Post a Comment