 |  |
This is but continuing the key note given in chapter 13: 3, "Jesus knowing . . . . . that
He was come from God and went to God". The first occurrence of the word "sent" in
John 17: is in verse 3:--
"And this is life eternal, that they may know Thee the only true god, and Jesus Christ
Whom Thou hast sent."
This is the great covering reference, the six remaining occurrences dealing with the
fact of the Lord being Sent One, and its relation to the believer and the world.
"Sent" in John 17:
A | 3. Life by believing.
a | 8. The disciples believe.
b | 18. As the Lord.
| 18. So the disciples.
b | 21. Unity--world believe.
| 23. Unity--world know.
a | 25. The disciples knew.
If we doubted the importance of the fact that the Lord was the Sent One before, the
place that it occupies in this solemn prayer must surely convince us. He could not be a
Redeemer or a Priest apart from being a partaker of flesh and blood, and to partake of
flesh and blood He must be the Sent One. We cannot leave this subject without a glance
at John's first Epistle. There, in chapter 4:, the sending of the Son is the great
manifestation of the love of God:--
"In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent His only
begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him . . . . . He loved us, and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins . . . . . we have seen and do testify that the
Father sent the son to be the Saviour of the world" (verses 9-14).
Here are life, propitiation, and salvation arising out of love, and manifested in the sending
of the Son.
In conclusion let us ask ourselves, What wait we for? Setting aside the fact that the
hope of the Church of the One body differs in detail from the hope of Israel, it is one with
all the redeemed of whatever calling in that it is centred in the coming, or the revelation,
or the manifestation of the Lord Himself. He was sent to be King, but He was rejected.
God in His grace condescends to send Him the second time. "Repent ye therefore . . . . .
and He shall send Jesus Christ" (Acts 3: 19, 20) may well summarize the position of all
with regard to the realization of our hope. Blessed be God, He did not withdraw His
mercy because of the rejection of His Son. He who was sent once to suffer and to die,
shall be sent again. He who went back to God with no crown but that of thorns shall as a
result of the second sending gather up all crowns, dominions, and thrones into one
universal kingdom, that it may be laid at the feet of the Father, in order "that God may be
all in all".
"Wherefore . . . . . consider the Apostle, . . . . . of our profession."