John 17:25 “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.”

On Holy Saturday, the Light of the World was extinguished. 

Jesus’ body was dead. 

Cold.  In a grave.

A dead Christ was the greatest expression of the love the Father has for us.  Not because we deserve it, but expressly because we didn’t.  Not because there’s something romantic about dying for love, but because it was in His death that God did battle and reclaimed His image bearers from the grips of mortality.

Christ’s death was not the end for us. 

His death was the beginning.

Death was the battlefield and Jesus went immediately from dying on a Cross to a grave in accordance with the dust you are and to dust you will return of all humanity.  After all, the wages of sin is death and someone had to pay for our sin.  This Someone, Jesus, had no sin of His own for which to pay.

But the tomb is also the place in which Jesus’ perfection (as both Son of God and Son of Perfect Man) did battle in the spiritual realm and secured the hope that would be ours as a supreme expression of God’s love for us.

The Easter morning empty tomb and the Resurrection weren’t the battle.  They were the celebration proving the battle was over.  Better yet, the battle was won.  Jesus secured victory over death in the heavenly realms and reclaimed God’s image from the brink of hell.  Death was plundered of all its claims.  “These image-bearers belong to Me!” says God “Bought and paid for!”

Death stands empty-handed and totally defeated.

In our Scripture passage today, Jesus concludes His High Priestly Prayer and has given His final instruction to His disciples before His Crucifixion.  Final words on Love Revealed.  Very soon, however, it will be lost in the smoke of the Light of the World extinguished.  The disciples will be frightened and confused by the rapidity of the horrific events from now until He’s buried.

And now on Holy Saturday, all we can see is a tomb with a big stone blocking the way.  But God—with His perfect knowledge and x-ray vision—smiles upon the victory being won.  He smiles at the testimony of His perfect love and justice, mercy and wrath, and punishment and forgiveness—all achieved and wrapped up in one Perfect Jesus, God’s Love Revealed!

The devil and the world could never have imagined such a perfect plan or a sure defeat for them.  They thought mankind was hopelessly lost in sin and death.  And we were.  They thought man had no future as anything but a sinner deserving of wrath.  They thought man had totally blown it with God!  But they hadn’t counted on Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Thinking the darkness is winning.

Put it On for Lent: Trust that God is at work even when we can’t see and we don’t know.

For further thought:

• Lots of men were crucified.  That couldn’t possibly have been the whole of the wrath of God against all sin.  How often do we view the events of the Crucifixion as the worst of it?  What might be some reasons we think that?
• Read Luke 12:4 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” 
• Now read Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”  What does this say about physical death versus spiritual demise?
• What happened as a consequence of Jesus’ saying  “‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’  When he had said this, he breathed his last.” (Luke 23:46)?  What happened next?  What do you think Jesus was doing in the spiritual realm while His body was dead on the Cross and later, cold in the grave?

* * *

Thank you for joining me for the 40 day Lenten devotional series With Christ in the Upper Room.  The posts are archived in the February through April 2015 sidebar location, if you want to review them.  If you are on the email distribution list, you will continue to receive sermons and new devotionals as they appear.  The next devotions will be on the topic of Spiritual Formation and will begin later this spring.  Happy Easter!

John 17:24 “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.

Today is Good Friday on the Church calendar.  It’s the day Jesus died on the Cross.  It was a dark day indeed.

How did Jesus endure the betrayal, the abandonment, the beatings, the scoffing, the false accusations, the ridicule, and the agony of being nailed to a Cross to die a slow horrific death?

He set His mind on hope. 

And not some sort of superficial hope. 

A fully grounded eternal hope of eternal love and eternal glory.

I love how Jesus concludes His High Priestly Prayer.  His focus is on the sure hope of fellowship of God and man, of glory, and of love—possible only because of what He was about to suffer.  Jesus was looking forward to going home even if it would be through the pain and the shame of the Cross.  His eternal hope was set before Him in heaven with His Father.

Today, against the dark backdrop of the Cross, enter into the mind and heart of Christ to see this hope.  Ponder how greatly Jesus desired to be at home again with His Father.  It would be a sweet reunion like no other.  The work of God would be done, once for all time.  All that’s left is the fellowship, eternal love, and the glory to come.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Placing your hope on anything earthly

Put it On for Lent: The sure hope grounded in eternity because of Jesus’ willing sacrifice

For further thought:

• Jesus wants us to be with Him in heaven and for us to see His glory.  Remember back to a time when you had something special to share with someone, maybe the return from military service, the birth of a baby, a present, a car, or a grade on a test.  What kind of feelings accompanied waiting to share something wonderful with those you love?
• When Jesus came to the earth, He didn’t bring is full glory with Him.  Scripture says that He emptied Himself.  Read Philippians 2: 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
• In what ways would Jesus be looking forward to the reunion with the Father and the restoration of His glory?  Allow yourself to imagine what that’s like.

John 17:20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Now Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer shifts beyond the original disciples for whom Jesus has already been praying.  They were His immediate concern.  Now Jesus extends the prayer to us.

Isn’t it interesting that as Jesus Christ prepares to conclude His final words to us, He looks to the distant future and declares that His Gospel goes on and on to future generations?  We were on His mind even back then.

While we, as Jesus’ modern disciples, have never once seen Him in person, yet we can know Him because His message continues. His Word lives on.  His presence endures as His Holy Spirit comes upon disciples and makes His home with us.  We carry on the legacy, the traditions, and the faith of our fathers and the beautiful Spirit of Christ binds us together and empowers our faith.

We ought to have unity among brothers today on earth even as the unity we have in the spiritual realm with Jesus Christ and all the saints who have gone before us.

With Christ in the Upper Room, we can see that Jesus was thinking not only about the handful of disciples who would hide in fear at His arrest and Crucifixion, but who they’d be after they were gathered back.  They would shepherd a movement that has been in process for nearly 2000 years after His birth.  This tiny band of followers—these ordinary men–would have a powerful and lasting legacy.

* * *

Give It Up for Lent: Thinking that this is just some ancient religion with superstitious beliefs.

Put it On for Lent: The heritage of the saints and the unity of mind and purpose.

For further thought:

• As Christians today, we are part of this historic movement.  A historic faith of our fathers has been entrusted to us by no one less than Christ Himself.  How should this knowledge impact our role in guarding it?  If you’ve ever played the game “telephone” how does the message change?  Is it always intentional?
• Jesus prays that we would be brought to complete unity.  That would be an awesome sight to behold: every Christian man, woman, and child standing shoulder to shoulder…affirming the Lordship of Jesus Christ…and praising God with one voice.  Allow yourself to dream the dream that will be reality someday.

* * *

Holy Week is the final week for 2015 Lenten devotionals which you can receive in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  There’s still time to meet With Christ in the Upper Room.  After Lent, sermons and additional devotionals will be posted and arrive in your email.  I hope you will continue to be blessed beyond Lent as other devotional series unfold.

John 17:13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

OK, I’ll admit it: Sometimes I wish Jesus would just take us out of this world and be done with it.

Compassion fatigue. Stress. Discouragement.  Rejection. Frustration with hard, unteachable hearts. Annoyance with hypocrisy. So-called Christians who laud the gods of race and politics far above Christ—ones who willingly chew apart their Christian brothers and sisters for having the audacity to think that the blood of Christ ought to be thicker than the blood of skin color or voting records.  These hypocrites may not really like this truth, but there won’t be a check for political affiliation to get into heaven.

There will be one thing only: do we confess Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior as evidenced by our actions?

Sometimes I find myself wondering if those people hell-bent on destroying our own are those Jesus talks about who call “Lord, Lord,” but do not do what He says.

It’s less what’s on our lips than what’s in our hearts that determines whether we belong to the world or not.  I’m not popular.  Big whoop.  I try to obey Christ every chance I get.  That’s the best I know how to do and if I’m unpopular for it, well, Jesus wasn’t too popular either.  Best efforts at holiness will beat successful popularity every day of the week and twice on Sundays.  Separation from the cultural expectations is difficult to achieve, but separation is what holiness is.  It is being made separate in a godly way and letting the Spirit of God have full reign in our lives.

We are not made holy by our voting records or our political affiliation. 

We’re sanctified, made holy, by the truth.  God’s Word is truth.  And the Truth is worth holding onto as tightly as one can because it has all the power of God.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Attacking Christian brothers and sisters over politics.

Put it On for Lent: The Truth of God that makes us holy.

For further thought:

• Read this Scripture, this word of Christ, several times and let the truth of this sink in.  Luke 6:46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
• Now read it again and after “what I say” add the political causes our culture cares about.  Ask God to reveal to you what His sanctifying truth says about those causes either explicitly or by guiding principle since the Bible is remarkably silent on many cultural issues of our day.
• Now read Matthew 7:15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” 28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
• What is the outcome of a person doing what Jesus says?  What is the outcome of a person who does not do what Jesus says?
• Many people claim to want spiritual formation but have no intention of letting the Bible be the manual and the Holy Spirit doing the formation.  Why do people dislike the Bible so much?

* * *

Holy Week is the final week for 2015 Lenten devotionals which you can receive in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  There’s still time to meet With Christ in the Upper Room.  After Lent, sermons and additional devotionals will be posted and arrive in your email.  I hope you will continue to be blessed beyond Lent as other devotional series unfold.

John 17:9 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.

In today’s passage With Christ in the Upper Room, Jesus is praying aloud and reveals some beautiful things that are easily missed!

First, He prays for His disciples, those who belonged to Him.  He’s not just giving some generic lick and a prayer for all humanity and toasting to world peace like that scene from the movie Groundhog Day.  Rather, Jesus was specifically praying for those believers in Him.

Next, He’s telling the Father how proud He is of His disciples.  Glory has come to Him through those who believed He is who He says He is.  They brought Him glory by believing.  That’s a very special piece of information for us to cherish, too!

But then, there’s something reassuring about Jesus praying for the disciples and their protection.  While they would no longer know His physical protection, His prayer for their protection is sufficient because He is showing the full extent of His love.  He’s asking the Father and the Father is faithful to protect them.

Fast forward to us: We do not need His actual presence since one Jesus of Nazareth doesn’t stretch very far.  It’d be like a crowd of fans trying to catch a glimpse of a superstar.  Only a few could be near enough to have Him reach out to touch us.  Most of us couldn’t see Jesus for all the crowds.  So Jesus leaves this earth and sends the Holy Spirit whose presence as God is as close as the nearest believer’s heart.

Jesus doesn’t take any of us out of a world of trouble, but He does protect us from becoming part of that troubled world.  That’s what His Name and His prayer does.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Feeling alone in this world

Put it On for Lent: Confidence that the Father is protecting us by the power of His Name.

For further thought:

• Does it seem unfair to you that Jesus is not praying for unbelievers here?
• What are some reasons why we might prefer Jesus’ physical presence to His invisible presence?
• Can you remember a time when someone or something sheltered you from everything going on around you (a parent, a sibling, an umbrella, a storm cellar, etc.)?   What were some of your sensations?  What kind of sensations should accompany our being protected by the Name of the Father?

* * *

Holy Week is the final week for 2015 Lenten devotionals which you can receive in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  There’s still time to meet With Christ in the Upper Room.  After Lent, sermons and additional devotionals will be posted and arrive in your email.  I hope you will continue to be blessed beyond Lent as other devotional series unfold.

With Christ in the Upper Room, the disciples are privileged to witness Jesus’ prayer life as final preparation for His departure.  This third section of the Upper Room Discourse is often called the “High Priestly Prayer.”  Jesus is praying as our High Priest before He goes to offer sacrifice on our behalf—with Himself as our perfect sacrifice!

The completed work of preparation, of Jesus’ planting the faith, is now outlined.  Jesus reports back to the Father what He did:

• He revealed the Father perfectly to those God gave to Him from within the world.
• They belonged first to the Father and they now belong to Christ as part of the completion.
• The disciples accepted the words of Christ and the Word of God.
• The disciples believe—completely (albeit in a shallow sense at the present) that Jesus came from the Father.
• The disciples know enough to obey God’s Word.

The Church in America is appallingly weak in this idea of obedience to the Word of God.  As Jesus is praying, He says

John 17:6 “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.”

We treat God’s Word like a cafeteria. 

We take a little of this that we like and take a pass on all the stuff we don’t like.  We like love.  We hate judgment.  In that respect, who is God?  Which one of us, the Father, or you and me?

God has every reason to be disgusted with us.

Jesus says the mark of discipleship is accepting everything that comes from the mouth of God as truth.  That’s how we are known by Him as disciples.  The world knows we are disciples by our unity, but Christ knows we are disciples by our obedience.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Thinking we can pick and choose through God’s Word.

Put it On for Lent: Full, unconditional obedience.

For further thought:

• Note how much giving is going on.  Jesus reveals the Father to the disciples God has given.  The Father gave them and they obeyed.  Everything has been given by the Father to Christ and He gave these teachings to us.  Some theologians see a case to be made here that God alone grants salvation to individuals by His sovereign choice.  All we can do is accept God’s choice as final.  Grace is like that.  Others see a call and response in which God gives but we obey, accept, and believe.  What do you think?
• Have you accepted the full Word of God?  Do you obey it?
• Read Hebrews 7:26-8:2; 9:11-15, and 10:1-24.  How does the title “High Priestly Prayer” fit?

* * *

Holy Week is the final week for 2015 Lenten devotionals which you can receive in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  There’s still time to meet With Christ in the Upper Room.  After Lent, sermons and additional devotionals will be posted and arrive in your email.  I hope you will continue to be blessed beyond Lent as other devotional series unfold.

John 17:1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

The disciples have been With Christ in the Upper Room, hearing His words at the Last Supper, continuing in a second section of the post-dinner walk, and now they get a rare glimpse into the prayer life of their Lord.

We are not privileged to enter Jesus’ prayer life very often, but after offering all this reassurance to the disciples regarding their grief and confusion, and that someday soon their sadness will be behind them, Jesus prays aloud.  And what a prayer!

Knowing what we know that the disciples did not, we must try to hear it as the disciples might have in that moment.

• Jesus looked toward heaven.  We can too.  That’s where the Father is.  Upward is close enough to realizing He’s not of this earth.
• The time has come.  What time?  The time Jesus has been talking about.  He’s about to go away for a little while.
• Father, glorify your Son.  Jesus isn’t just a teacher.  He isn’t just a Rabbi.  He’s the Son of God as well as His self-designation, the Son of Man.
• The Father granted Him authority over all people…for a purpose: so that He could give them eternal life. Eternal life, something He gives to those people He has been given. What’s eternal life?
• Eternal life defined, that we may know God the Father, the only true God and Jesus Christ, the sent One.
• Jesus brought glory to God by completing the work the Father gave Him.  To the disciples, this meant that Jesus was going away.  But for us, we wonder because the Cross is yet to come!  How could Jesus have completed it if it wasn’t actually done yet?
• Look at how Father and Son dominate these verses.  It’s all about relationship!
• Glorify me in your presence…with the glory I had with you before the world began.  How would Jesus have been with the Father unless it’s true that He’d been sent?  How would Jesus know what anything was before the world began unless He’s God?

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: An ineffective prayer life focused on you or other people

Put it On for Lent: Prayer that is focused on relationship with God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and on bringing glory to Him.

For further thought:

• First ponder what the Son’s glory before the world began must have been like.  That’s what’s been restored to Him.
• What does it mean that Jesus brought glory to God by completing the work the Father gave Him?  Even with the Cross yet to come!  How could Jesus have completed it if it wasn’t actually done yet?
• Consider a seed that is planted by a farmer.  The farmer’s work is to plant the seed.  God’s work is to make it grow.  Jesus has done everything He needed to do in order to prepare the disciples, teach them, and help them up until now.  Planting is done.
• Read John 12:24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
• Now it’s just time until God does His work of unfolding His plan with sinful man condemning Jesus to death.  This plan in which God punishes sin upon Jesus on the Cross. The only thing Jesus could yet do is to interfere with the Father’s work.  Read John 12:27 “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.” What does this say about Jesus?  How does this bring glory to the Father and glory to the Son?

* * *

Holy Week is the final week for 2015 Lenten devotionals which you can receive in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  There’s still time to meet With Christ in the Upper Room.  After Lent, sermons and additional devotionals will be posted and arrive in your email.  I hope you will continue to be blessed beyond Lent as other devotional series unfold.

John 16:32 “But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. 33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

The problem with faith-of-little-depth is that it’s easily shattered and scattered.  Jesus knows this is where the disciples are headed.  He knows the path to the Cross will be a lonely one.  The very ones who need Him to go to the Cross will desert Him.  Right now, they’re With Christ in the Upper Room.  Soon they’ll want to be anywhere… but… to be seen with Him.

Only the One who sent Him to save the world would be with Him to the end.

Scripture will be fulfilled.  He has foretold this scattering so that when it happens, they won’t lose heart or have their fragile faith be broken beyond recovery.  Jesus says,

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Just at the time when Jesus might have wanted their reassurance of friendship and encouragement, He gives it to them instead.  He continues to show them the full extent of His love.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Being embarrassed of Christ

Put it On for Lent: A cheerful heart that sees His victory

For further thought:

Read Matthew 10:24 “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household! 26 “So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. 34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law– 36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 37 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

• How do we reconcile everyone falling away at the Crucifixion, but Jesus’ sure promise of His peace and overcoming even before that happens?  In what way does this anticipate their return to faith in Him?
• What’s the difference between denying as Peter would do and the disowning Jesus speaks of in Matthew 10:32-33 (immediately above)?

* * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.