Jesus, the name that charms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’Tis life, and health, and peace.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. Open your words to my heart, I pray, that I may understand your truths and may apply them to my own life. In Jesus’ name I pray these things, amen. I read John 17:6-19:
Jesus Prays for His Disciples
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. 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.
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.
This is interesting, because one of the things I was talking with the Lord about tonight when I could not sleep is how his servants, his witnesses, and his true disciples are often hated for their testimony for Jesus Christ. I wondered if hate was too strong a word, and if perhaps there was another word to describe, other than hate, what drove people (even fellow believers) to reject, persecute, abandon, and kick to the curb, etc. the Lord’s servants. Then, the Lord put this song into my mind, and I believe he moved me to get up and to read his word and then to write what he teaches me through it.
Jesus was praying to the Father for His disciples. The Lord put it upon my heart to pray for a Christian woman tonight for her encouragement, strengthening, assurance of God’s presence with her, and for her to know that the Lord was there for her to fill all her deepest needs and longings with his love, his comfort, his listening ear, and his encouragement, etc. So, when I realized where I had left off reading last in John, and I knew that God had put it upon my heart to pray for this woman, I knew the Lord wanted to talk with me tonight about intercessory prayer for other believers in Jesus Christ who are walking in obedience to the Lord and to his word, who have stood the test of time in the face of great suffering but have been victorious, and who are being hated and persecuted for their testimony for Jesus and for their commitment to Godly living by those who are following the world and the world’s influences - even among the members of the family of God.
Jesus, after he had described to the Father those that the Father had given to him out of the world to be his disciples, prayed for their protection. He had protected them when he was on the earth, but now he would remain in the world no longer. He was going to the Father, yet his disciples would remain in the world, so that is why he prayed that the Father would protect them by the power of His name, the name He gave Jesus, so that they would be one as the Father and the Son were one. Jesus knew that the hatred that was aimed toward him would now be transferred to his disciples and that they would face the same or similar treatment as he had experienced and that he would now yet endure in going to the cross. They would need God’s divine protection over them so that they would have the strength to endure what they were yet to face, and this would be for the purpose of uniting them in the faith, in their love for God, in their desire for Him and for Him alone, in their commitment to be totally abandoned to him in service and in obedience, and I believe, as well, for the purpose of mutual encouragement, as was patterned to us by the relationship between the Father and the Son.
In John 13-16 Jesus and his disciples were eating the Passover feast together (The Last Supper). The devil had already prompted Judas to betray Jesus. Jesus knew the death he was about to face and that after that he would return to the Father. He got up from the meal, wrapped a towel around his waist (sign of a servant), and he proceeded to wash the disciples’ feet. He did this to set an example of servanthood to them. Then, he told them that one of them would betray him, which was disconcerting to them. He told Peter that he would deny his Lord three times. He told his disciples that they would all leave him and would be scattered. Then, he offered his disciples words of encouragement and hope. He told them about the Holy Spirit whom they would receive after Jesus left. He exhorted them to remain in him and in his words and he warned them that the world would hate them. He told them this ahead of time so that when that time came, they would not be led astray or discouraged. He told them that he was going to leave them and that they would have sorrow for a little while but that sorrow would turn to joy.
Then, Jesus prayed this prayer (chapter 17) in the presence of his disciples. He did this to encourage them and to give them hope and joy. Then, Jesus explained why the world would hate the disciples. Jesus gave them the Father’s word and the world hated them for it. This was more than just the written word (Old Testament), but this was personal. Jesus spoke to his disciples face to face and heart to heart, i.e. they had a close intimate relationship with him, they heard his voice, they followed him and they obeyed his truth, and that is why the world hated them. They were also hated because they were not of the world any more than Jesus was of the world. They were set apart to God for his service and to live holy lives. They were committed to following Jesus wherever he went and to learn at his feet. People of the world’s philosophies and practices, especially those espousing Christianity, don’t like to be around believers in Jesus who take their faith seriously and who are abandoned to God and to doing his will. Many of them want to take others down with them so that they don’t feel so guilty about their own spiritual condition. And, when God’s servants refuse to dance and sing with the world and to play their games, they are often hated for it.
Jesus’ prayer for protection thus involved two basic parts: 1) That, while in the world, the disciples would be protected from the evil one, and 2) That the Father would sanctify (make holy; set apart for God; consecrate for service; and purify) them by the truth, for God’s word is truth. Then, he said that just as the Father had sent him into the world, so he was sending his disciples into the world to do the work the Father had assigned for them to do and to face the possibility of much of the same kind of treatment as Jesus had received, as he did the work the Father had given him to complete while he was on the earth.
This song by Charles Wesley begins “O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise…” The writer is speaking here of our Lord’s servants and witnesses who are out telling people about Jesus, of what he did for us in dying on the cross for our sins, and in being raised from the dead and thus conquering death, hell, Satan and the control of sin over our lives and of the need of the sinner to repent (turn from sin) and turn to faith in Jesus Christ and to obedience to God’s commands. He is asking his Lord to assist him to proclaim the honors of God’s holy name through all the earth abroad – taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. It is the name of Jesus that is music in the sinner’s ear and that brings life, health and peace. He breaks the power of canceled sin over our lives, he sets the prisoner free, and the dead receive new life. Yet, this message of hope brought death to our Savior at the hands of those who hated him, and we, too, will be hated for this same message of the hope of freedom from the bondage to sin by those who do not want to truly be free. Yet, Jesus said: “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.”
O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing / Charles Wesley
O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!
My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name.
Jesus, the name that charms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’Tis life, and health, and peace.
He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.
He speaks, and, listening to His voice,
New life the dead receive,
The mournful, broken hearts rejoice,
The humble poor believe.
Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb,
Your loosened tongues employ;
Ye blind, behold your Savior come,
And leap, ye lame, for joy.
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