LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Protected
The enemy wounds from behind
John 17:11-12, 15.
The Lord Jesus Christ’s prayer in John 17 contains three petitions that the Lord made to the Father in favor of his disciples. In this chapter we will develop the first, and in the successive chapters, the other two.
Mentioned three times
–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. (v.11b)
–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. (v.12)
–My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. (v.15)
This first request appears in three verses of this chapter, which confers on it supreme importance. On each occasion, it appears with some variants, which makes it more interesting still. In the first, it is mentioned in association with the world; in the second, it is related with the Lord’s ministry in favor of His disciples, and in the third, with the necessity of being kept from the enemy.
In summary, the necessity that we have of being kept from the world and from the enemy is clearly demonstrated here. This matter is so important that Christ requests the Father to protect them. While He was on the earth, he had looked after His disciples: now they would need the Father's care.
The danger of the world
One of the most difficult things for a teacher of the Word is to convince God’s people that the world poses a great danger to them. To speak against the world seems an untimely thing; characteristic of old frustrated individuals that can no longer enjoy its delights.
The world is clothed with such finery, with such an attractiveness that is almost impossible to know its true nature, unless the Father reveals it to us. In the world, as is usually said, there is “more love than hate”, there is “more light than darkness”; the world appears mutually binding, and possesses a natural kindness that often astonishes. Its arts, philanthropy, education, humanism, etc., seem to be things so evidently good that we would find it difficult to find some dark edge in them.
However, the Word of God is clear and conclusive in this respect. It says, for example: “Now the prince of this world will be driven out" (John 12:31)." In the world you will have affliction" (Reina Valera 1960, John 16:33), “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” (John 15:18-19). "... when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient..." (Ephesians 2:2). " Don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to become a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God " (Santiago 4:4). "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. " (1 John 2:15). "The whole world is under the control of the evil one." (1 John 5:19).
The diagnosis that the Word gives us of the world is at the same time lapidary and overwhelming. Not to see this is voluntary blindness. The greatest danger consists in not seeing the danger of the world, because that makes us confident, even to the point of making us enthusiastic about it.
It seems such an innocuous thing to listen a good musical piece, to watch a good movie (that highlights “healthy values”), or to attend a sporting event. We don’t find anything suspicious in that. But is it really innocuous? Or is there something more behind it? What is the origin of the things of the world? Is it spirit or is it flesh? When we dedicate time and energy to it, are we sowing for the spirit or for the flesh? Does it give us peace or does it take it away?
A great harvest of death is permanently brought on by Christians, without them even knowing which bad seed caused it, because they have forgotten the divine sentence: “the one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life" (Galatians 6:8). The eyes don't seem to be sufficiently open as to see this.
The deceit of wanting to improve the world
Another deceit into which God’s children usually fall is in filling themselves with a redeeming desire, and seeking to improve the world with elements of the world itself. They embark on educational, social or philanthropic projects, and create institutions that, although being good, do not complete God’s objectives. Jesus' severe expression: “Let the dead bury their own dead" (Matthew 8:22) must be enough for us because it has its full application here.
If the Lord’s intention for Christians had been to undertake works of this type, he would have given precise instructions with regards to this. However, there is nothing in his words that endorses this. Expressions such as “My Kingdom is not of this world”, or “ You will always have the poor among you", clearly discard that those be the true priorities of the gospel.
Therefore, the Lord’s prayer here in John 17 goes beyond what one might at first think. To be kept from the world implies not only to be kept from its wickedness, but from the world’s entire system, including what is seemingly good. This especially refers to the humanist philosophies that reign in the world which pay a disproportionate attention to the creation before the Creator.
Many Christian atmospheres are dangerously altering their priorities, until they become institutions of social welfare, before becoming a spiritual body that spiritually impacts the world that surrounds them.
A mind behind the scene
There is an important truth in this respect that we must attend to: The visible world is directed by the invisible. Behind the system of the world there is a mind and a will that is opposed to God. "The whole world is under the control of the evil one." This is Satan, the devil, the one who is in the world, (1 John 4:4) who is the “prince of this world”, and who “leads the whole world astray" (Rev.12:9). His purpose is to set down foundations and create the conditions for the antichrist's reign. If we examine the world’s progress, we will notice that everything points to that. Globalization, with its unified economic-political-judicial system will be the devil's principle work, prior to the antichrist's appearance.
For that reason, the commandment is clear: the Christian must “keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (Santiago 1:27).
"I protected them"
The task that Lord Jesus completed didn't only consist in choosing disciples in whom He could form apostles to spread the gospel, but also in protecting them. What Adam didn't know how to do in the garden of Eden, when God commanded him to take care of it (insinuating that there was an enemy that watched), Jesus completed with his disciples. None of them was lost, “except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”
The task of preaching and healing was doubly burdened by this additional concern. There was a danger that hung over them. If Satan was able to destroy them when they were still budding, the propagation of the gospel would have been prematurely aborted. They didn't still know how to protect themselves. They were not under conditions to sustain a spiritual battle, nor even a defensive, with Satan.
The example is given for all Christians that have responsibility over other Christians. The mature must take care of the immature, and exercise an effective priesthood in favor of them before God. In this way, when Satan requests to sift them like wheat, he won't be able to destroy them, because there will be one who prays for them. (Luke 22:31-32).
The Evil one wounds from behind
"My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” (John 17:15). The evil one operates in a traitorous form; and therefore, God’s children must be kept by God Himself. A great enemy has to be resisted by no-one other than the Almighty.
God told the serpent in the Garden of Eden that the woman's seed would crush his head, and that the serpent would strike him on his heel. (Genesis 3:15). From then on, Satan became accustomed to wounding from behind. He did so with the Lord, and likewise, he will want to do the same to you.
It will be difficult for a Christian to lose a battle against Satan when they have prepared for him. Satan doesn't conquer the Christian when he is in the pulpit or when he goes to face him with spiritual weapons. Satan has centuries, even millennia of experience in cunning and will patiently wait for the favorable occasion, when he finds the Christian unaware. This will probably be after one has experienced a resonant victory, and will be enjoying the sweet flavor of victory. Or it will be when one is resting. Christians don't suffer defeats in battles but in rest.
Many Christians who yesterday boasted of their powers, of their sanctity, of their anointing, and that are carried away by the enthusiasm of the moment when they threatened Satan and made fun of him, are, today, embarrassed and disabled. They were knowingly silenced by Satan when they were wounded from behind, far from the battle field.
If the Lord Jesus mentions this matter three times in his prayer in John 17, it is necessary to give it due importance.
Lead us not into temptation
The prayer to the Father here is to protect His children from temptation. When Satan tempts, he is always searching for an ally with the flesh or with the world. He tried to do this when he tempted the Lord in the desert. First, serving a physical necessity; then seeking to wake up a vanity within of being adored, and then the vainglory of having the world at His feet.
These temptations were based on legitimate arguments, because he was the Son of God, and had, in His hand, the power to transform stones into bread, and the rights to receive the praise of mankind and the kingdoms of the world. However, what is legitimate in itself is not legitimate if it doesn't come from God, and in the precise moment chosen by Him to receive it.
Temptation comes in the moment of our extreme necessity, it appeals to our legitimate rights, and they imply a violation to the will of God.
We will not escape from it with our own cunning (Satan is more so), but only by being anchored in the Word of God, to have the heart bowed toward God, and to want to please him.
Deliver us from evil
In the Lord’s Prayer, he also taught us to ask the Father: –Deliver us from evil (1).
This petition must be part of the Christian’s daily request. The Father not only has to protect us through Christ’s petition, but rather he has to protect us through ours.
The Father permanently has this prayer before Him in our favor, by reason of our insolvency, and of our extreme necessity.
If we request God to deliver us, it is because we cannot do it ourselves. In fact, when requesting it, we are recognizing this.
Let us not be slow in proceeding to possess the way that has been outlined here, so that we may experience victories without setbacks, and so that we will not fall at the first corner. Let us not under-estimate this teaching, so that we may avoid being left behind in these days.
(1) Evil here is better translated Evil One.