THE KING’ S BUSINESS
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tenderness o f His affection toward us by telling the Father that it is His will that where He is there we may be also. In other words Jesus says that heaven itself would be a lonesome place for Him with out us (cf. Eph. 5:31, 32). And certainly earth ought to be a lonesome place for us without Jesus, and it is. Nothing that this world can give us, and no blessing that the Father Himself can give us Can com pensate us for not having Jesus Himself, and some day we shall have H im self-(Acts 1:11; 1 Thess. 4:16). The world did not know God, neither does the world know Him yet, but Jesus knew Him and the believer knows Him. W e know Him because Jesus has made Him known to us. He has made known His name; He lias revealed His character, and His person, and He is still making it known,“ and the result o f His making known the Father’s name to us is that the love wherewith the Father loved Him He also loves us. Monday, August 19. John 18 :1-3. Jesus longed to meet the Father in prayer. The awful weight o f agony was crushing Him (Matt. 26:38) and He must strengthen the disciples and fortify them against the coming trial, and this He attended to first. But now that this work was done, and the necessary words had been spoken, and the wondrous prayer had been offered and their safety thus secured, Jesus goes forth to the garden where He shall meet the Father “in prayer and get the strength needed to insure Him victory in His last great conflict. This garden was a place o f frequent resort for our Lord. It was a chosen sanctuary where He met the Father. Those who knew Him best knew that this chosen place o f prayer was the likeliest place to find Him at that time o f night (vs. 2, 3). Judas had often been there: in that hallowed garden beneath the old olive trees he had often seen Jesus interceding with God. But his heart had become so hardened b y .covetousness that the sacred sight had made little impression upon it. His principal' thought seems to
fore there can be no real unity between those who believe in Jesus as God manifest in the flesh, and those who deny His Deity. It is true there can be external, formal unity, such as exists in the Roman Catholic church for example, but not real living unity, “unity o f the Spirit.” Through the unity o f believers the world was to be brought to believe that God had sent Jesus. A church really one is an unanswerable argument for the Divine origin o f Jesus. Another o f the amazing statements that Jesus made we find in verse 22, viz., that He has given to us who believe in Him the glory that the Father had given to Him. It is wonderful that we should have Christ’s peace that we are told we have in chapter 14:27, and Christ’s joy as we are told in chapter 5:11, R. V., but that we should have Christ’s, glory, that passes all believing, but it is true; Jesus Himself said it. But this glory is bestowed upon us for a purpose, viz .,1 that we may be one, “ ONE,” Christ will have us at any cost. Sunday, August 18. John 17:23-26. Verse 23 shows us how we are to be brought into perfect unity. It is through Christ in us and God in Christ: the In dwelling Christ is the secret o f the real union o f believers. And now we come upon another amazing statement, , viz., that God loves us who are in Christ just as He loves Christ Himself. Stop and ponder those stupendous words, “ Thou lovest them even as thou lovest me.” Oh, to think of it, that God loves me with all my vile past and imperfect present, just as He loves that all-perfect Son o f whom He said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Or as the couplet puts it : “ Near so very near to God, nearer I can not be; For in the person o f His Son I ’m just as ' near as He. Dear so very dear to God, dearer I can not be; For in the person o f His Son, I ’m just as dear as He.” And now Jesus gives utterance to the
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