March
17, 2003
THEY
HAVE BELIEVED THAT YOU SENT ME
"I
have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me
out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and
they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things
which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to
them the words which You have given Me; and they have received
them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and
they have believed that You sent Me" (John 17:6-8, NKJV).
Jesus
had revealed to His disciples many times the intimate and
close relationship between Himself and His Father. He had
"manifested" the Father to them, "He
who has seen Me has seen the Father... Do you not believe
that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that
I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the
Father who dwells in Me does the works" (John
14:9, 10). Jesus throughout His earthly sojourn had manifested
and glorified the Father through His words and His works.
"They
have known that all things which You have given Me are from
You."
When Lazarus was raised from the dead, "Jesus lifted
up His eyes and said, 'Father, I thank
You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear
Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this,
that they may believe that You sent Me.' Now when He
had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, 'Lazarus,
come forth!' And he who had died came out bound hand
and foot with graveclothes" (John 11:41-44). The source
of Christ's miracles was the power of God working through
Him.
Jesus
was dependent on the Father. "I
am not myself the source of the words I speak to you; it is
the Father who dwells in Me" (John 14:10, NEB).
"God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself"
(2 Corinthians 5:19, NKJV). And the disciples came to recognize
and understand that the Father was in everything that Jesus
did or performed. "I shall not
talk much longer with you, for the Prince of this world approaches.
He has no rights over me; but the world must be shown that
I love the Father, and do exactly as He commands"
(John 14:30, 31). Jesus did not act independent from the Father.
Everything He did was in union with the Father.
The disciples
believed from many evidences that Jesus was the Messiah, the
sent of God; from the testimonies of John the Baptist, from
many miraculous events - walking on the water, calming the
storm, healing many diseases and ailments, feeding thousands
from a few loaves and small fish, raising from the dead Jairus'
daughter (Mark 5:22-42), the widow of Nain's son (Luke 7:11-15)
and Lazarus (John 11:41-44). Had you witnessed these events,
would you not have believed?
"For
I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and
they have received them, and have known surely that I came
forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me"
(John 17:8).
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