8
Six
Now This Explains It
As You, Father, are in Me, and I in You (John 17:21).
The Submission of Life
Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin” (John 19:11).
We are not built for ourselves, but for God. Not for service for God, but for God. That explains the submissions of life.
“Then He went down with them . . . and was subject to them” (Luke 2:51). An amazing submission! For thirty years Jesus lived at home with brothers and sisters who did not believe in Him, and when He began His ministry they said He was mad. “As He is, so are we in this world.” We say, “When I was born again I thought it would be a time of great illumination and service, and instead of that I have had to stay at home with people who have criticized me and limited me on the right hand and on the left. I have been misunderstood and misrepresented.”
“A disciple is not above his teacher” (Matthew 10:24). Do we think our lot ought to be better than Jesus Christ’s? We can easily escape the submissions if we like, but if we do not submit, the Spirit of God will produce in us the most ghastly humiliation before long. Knowing that Jesus has prayed for us makes us submit.
God is not concerned about our aims. He does not say, “Do you want to go through this bereavement, this upset?” He allows these things for His own purpose. We may say what we like, but God does allow the devil, He does allow sin, He does allow bad men to triumph and tyrants to rule, and these things either make us fiends or they make us saints. It depends entirely on our relationship with God. If we say, “Your will be done,” we get the tremendous consolation of knowing that our Father is working everything according to His own wisdom. If we understand what God is after, we shall be saved from being mean[8] and cynical.
The things we are going through are either making us sweeter, better, nobler men and women, or they are making us more captious, more insistent on our own way. We are either getting more like our Father in heaven, or we are getting more mean and intensely selfish. How are we behaving ourselves in our circumstances? Do we understand the purpose of our life as never before? God does not exist to answer our prayers, but by our prayers we come to discern the mind of God, and that is declared in John 17:22: “That they may be one just as We are one.” Am I as close to Jesus as that? God will not leave me alone until I am. God has one prayer He must answer, and that is the prayer of Jesus Christ. It does not matter how imperfect or immature a disciple may be, if he will hang in, that prayer will be answered.
Solitary Places of Life
Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry (Luke 4:1–2).
There was nothing to mark our Lord from ordinary men except that He was insulated within. He did not choose the solitary places; He was driven by the Spirit of God into the wilderness. It is not good to be alone; evil will make a person want to be alone. Jesus Christ does not make religious hermits; He makes men and women fit for the world as it is (see John 17:15). We say, “I do wish Jesus did not expect so much of me.” He expects nothing less than absolute oneness with Himself as He was one with His Father. God does not expect us to work for Him, but to work with Him.
Every man carries his kingdom within, and no one knows what is taking place in another’s kingdom. “No one understands me!” Of course they don’t; each of us is a mystery. There is only One who understands us, and that is God. We must hand ourselves over to Him.
Are you being subjected in this internal kingdom to tremendous temptations? Jesus was tempted of the devil. Perhaps you are also, but no one guesses it. There is never any comrade for your soul when you are tempted. Temptation tests the things we hold dear. If we withhold things from God, those are the lines along which temptation will come. This explains it—Jesus has prayed, “that they may be one just as We are one.” Think of being one with Jesus, one in aim and purpose! Some of us are far off from this, and yet God will not leave us alone until we are one with Him, because Jesus has prayed that we may be. There is a risk in discipleship because God never shields us from the world, the flesh, and the devil. Christianity is character, not “show business.”
If you are going through a solitary way, read John 17. It will explain exactly why you are where you are. Now that you are a disciple you can never be as independent as you used to be. Jesus has prayed that you might be one with the Father as He is. Are you helping God answer His prayer, or have you another end for your life?
The Sublimity of Life
And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one (John 17:22).
“And the glory which You gave Me I have given them.” The glory of our Lord was the glory of a holy life, and that is what He gives to us. He gives us the gift of holiness. Are we exercising it?
“The hope of His calling” is revealed in John 17, and it is the great light on every problem. God grant me that we may remain true to that calling. “We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23), the triune God abiding with the saint. What else does a man need to care about after that!
O Lord, when I awake I am still with You. Quicken my mortal body with Your mighty resurrection life. Rouse me with a gracious flooding of Your Divine life for this day.
Lord, so much activity, so many things, so numberless the people, and yet You remain! Bless today with largeness of heart and beauty of character for Your glory.
O Lord, unto You do I look up. Enlighten me. Cause me to be radiant with Your countenance. I praise You for Your grace and for seeing a little of Your marvelous doings. Enable me more and more to manifest the life hidden with Christ in God.
Lord, through the dimness, come with dawning and drawing light. Breathe on me till I am in a pure, radiant frame of body and mind for Your work and for Your glory this day.