15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Jesus has been asking that the Father protect them in His name, giving them Jesus’ joy through the word. And Jesus continues to ask protection by not taking them out of the world with all its problems and tribulations, but by protecting them from the evil one, the devil. And how Jesus thinks about how we are protected from the evil one is through sanctification in verse 17, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
Jesus asks the Father to sanctify us through the truth of His Word. To be sanctified means to be made holy. And this is a continual process in the Christian life. God continually makes us holy by the Word and Spirit, conforming us more and more into the image of Jesus (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:18). And what is so amazing is that in the context, Jesus is asking God to do this in order to protect us. He gives us His word, and His Joy, and this shapes our lives to be more like Him. And this is how we are kept in the midst of the tribulations we face, and specifically, how we are protect from the evil one, Satan and his schemes.
Oh how this makes us long for God’s fresh work of sanctification in our lives. When we consider how we need God to protect us from the evil one, what that really means is that we need the Word of God to work in us, and sanctify us daily. Lord awaken our love for your word that your joy might be in us and our joy might be full. And this joy would so shape us to be more like our Lord Jesus. And His joy would sanctify us so that we would be protected from the evil one!
John 17:15-19
John 17:15–19
15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Jesus has been asking that the Father protect them in His name, giving them Jesus’ joy through the word. And Jesus continues to ask protection by not taking them out of the world with all its problems and tribulations, but by protecting them from the evil one, the devil. And how Jesus thinks about how we are protected from the evil one is through sanctification in verse 17, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
Jesus asks the Father to sanctify us through the truth of His Word. To be sanctified means to be made holy. And this is a continual process in the Christian life. God continually makes us holy by the Word and Spirit, conforming us more and more into the image of Jesus (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:18). And what is so amazing is that in the context, Jesus is asking God to do this in order to protect us. He gives us His word, and His Joy, and this shapes our lives to be more like Him. And this is how we are kept in the midst of the tribulations we face, and specifically, how we are protect from the evil one, Satan and his schemes.
Oh how this makes us long for God’s fresh work of sanctification in our lives. When we consider how we need God to protect us from the evil one, what that really means is that we need the Word of God to work in us, and sanctify us daily. Lord awaken our love for your word that your joy might be in us and our joy might be full. And this joy would so shape us to be more like our Lord Jesus. And His joy would sanctify us so that we would be protected from the evil one!