Jesus’ great Prayer continues in these four verses. Here we learn (again) that world will hate us Christians. This includes part of the “religious” world! In fact, the word “religion” is only found five times in the Bible, most of them in a bad sense! The noun is derived from the Latin verb “religare,” which means “to bind, to restrict, to tie up!” Yes, religion enslaves, but our Lord Christ Jesus sets us free!
Verse 13 speaks of Joy, our Lord’s very Joy in reality! I wanted to illustrate the concept of joy in class by using an example of God’s created world.
(Remember that Text in Job chapter 12:7-9! “But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the FOWLS OF THE AIR, and they shall tell thee: or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?”)
The little bird called the chickadee weighs less than half an ounce and must eat at least 10% of its body weight daily to survive! It does not migrate in the winter! It stays through all the bitter storms, longer hours of darkness and freezing cold! AND NEVER LOSES ITS SONG! It has joy (always chirping not moaning) throughout all the lean times of its life! It has become a symbol of joy in the avian area of creation. (But in class I forgot to tell you about this little miracle of God!)
By the way, this “Joy Verse,” verse 13 … is the numerical Center of John 17, which has 26 verses! This alone is amazing and may be instructive (didactic) as well!
Jesus sure did teach His disciples well prior to His Ascension back to Glory, forewarning them of coming persecution! Then again, Jesus is always truthful! Two verses here …
John 8:45 … “And because I TELL YOU THE TRUTH, ye believe me not.”
And the more familiar John 14:2 … “If it were not so, I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU.”
Please learn … we Christians then live between THE LOVE OF GOD and THE HATRED OF THE WORLD! No wonder we need God’s Wisdom every single day.
Look how Jesus keeps emphasizing the persecution that is coming to His disciples, mentioning these hard times in … John 15:18-27, John 16:1-4, John 16:20-23 and again in John 16:31-33! (Notice that all these Passages are located in the “Upper Room” Sermon! Read them if possible.)
Someone quipped long ago … “The hatred of the world is the very wardrobe of the saint of God.” If so, a lot of so-called Christians are spiritually naked! Paul the Apostle believed this! 2 Timothy 3:12 … “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
The three main components of the evil world are, according to 1st John 2:15-17 … (1) the lust of the flesh, (2) the lust of the eyes, and (3) the pride of life! (One Preacher taught that these are the only 3 weapons, implements, in the devil toolbox!)
Actually, the devil (serpent) lured Eve into sin, using these same three temptations, avenues into sin!
Lust of the flesh … the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Life was “food,” which could be “eaten!” (Have you even noticed how many times sin in the Bible is linked in some way to food, eating?)
Lust of the eyes … the tree being “pleasant to the eyes!” Genesis 3:6
The pride of life … eat of Tree and you will be elevated, magnified, popularized! “God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:5
Wow!
Have you watched the Lesson yet?
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
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