Daily Devotions
John
John 17 : 1 - 26 "A MEDITATIVE PRAYER"
Day 253 – John 17
A MEDITATIVE PRAYER
As we carefully study the prayer that Jesus offered to His Father, we realize that much of His prayer was uttered in meditative reflection! Consider this statement He made.
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
John 17:3
This manner of praying suggests that this prayer was not just a pouring out of the heart to the Father, but rather a carefully constructed prayer. We are surely reminded of the way the Psalmist David offered his prayers to God.
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of
my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and
My Redeemer.”
Psalm 19:14“When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches..”
Psalm 63:6“Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation…”
Psalm 64:1
Jesus must have been given to much meditation. His messages to both the multitudes and His Disciples indicated that He was a man who was given to reflection and meditation. That His prayer to His Father should reflect contemplation should not surprise us at all. A deep prayer will always reflect a quiet meditative spirit.
A REFLECTION ON THE MESSAGE PREACHED
Though Jesus preached on many themes, one major thought stood out. It was the subject of “eternal life”. Few topics were as important as this one! Jesus preached on the subject of eternal life in many different ways!
He spoke of it as “The kingdom of God” (Luke 4:43). He spoke about how a person must be “born again” (John 3:3). The crux of the message on eternal life revolved around the following elements.
1. “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God…”
Could one really say of possessing eternal life if he did not know God? This thought could be extended further. Could one really speak of having salvation, if he did not acknowledge that there was only One true God?
Though the Jews prided themselves as being monotheistic in their religion, their lifestyle, and their religious practices showed that they did not truly know God at all! They may claim that they knew God, but in reality they did not know Him at all.
We are reminded of the message that the Apostle Paul gave when he was ministering in Athens. He was invited to address an assembly of Athenians who loved nothing better than to “tell or to hear some new thing” (Acts 17:21).
“Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things
you are very religious;
for as I was passing through and considering the objects
of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing,
Him I proclaim to you…”
Acts 17:22-23
Being religious is good. However, only true knowledge of God would lead to salvation! With this thought in mind, Paul went on to proclaim that the God He served was the one true God (Acts 17:24-31).
2. “And Jesus Christ whom You have sent”
To have true knowledge of God would mean that there is acknowledgment that there is only ONE God! However, that alone is NOT enough. This knowledge must be balanced with believing in Jesus as the Christ (Messiah) of God as well!
This was the hard part as far as the Jews were concerned. They would have no problem accepting Jesus’ teaching on the subject of believing in only “One God”. However, they could not accept that they must also accept this teaching – that Jesus is the Christ of God!
Jesus once asked His Disciples about the opinions of the multitudes concerning “The Son of Man.” The Disciples replied,
“Some say (that you are) John the Baptist, some Elijah,
and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
Matthew 16:14
He then went on to ask His Disciples what they thought of Him, after having been with Him for so long. Swiftly, Peter replied.
“You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
Matthew 16:16
For three hard years, Jesus did everything He could to help the multitudes correct their wrong views of God. Many had not given much thought of eternal matters. Few took the matter of faith very seriously. All they wanted was a miracle or two so that they could love better on earth! They wanted to be healed. They wanted to be fed. But not many showed interest even in such an important matter as “eternal life”.
Even fewer bothered to dwell on who Jesus really was! To many, it was enough to regard Him as a holy man of sorts! Many lived in sin, because their knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ remained shallow and worse, incorrect! This was a theme that occupied the mind of Jesus as He spoke to His Father in prayer! What depth of prayer!