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THE KING’S BUSINESS
thoughts of His disciples and their need— "having loved His own, which were in the world, He loved them unto the end." What a revelation this is of the character of His love for His own. It was a constant, untir ing, patient, indestructible, self-forgetting love, “unto the end.” Two little words marvelously describe our relation to Him, “HIS OWN.” There is an inexhaustible wealth of meaning in that phrase. We will get more out of it by meditating upon it than we will by an attempted explication of it. What a dignity it sets upon us, we are “His own.” How clear it makes our absolute security, we are “His own” (cf. ch. 17:12). How do I know to a certainty that I shall spend eternity with Him ? Because I am “His own.” Why am I sure that the mighty and subtle Satan will never prevail to get rile? Because I am “His own.” Why do I rise triumphant over the world and its ambitions and its allure ments and its blandishments ? Because I am “His own.” How do I know that He will lavish upon me all the infinite wealth of His love?- He must, I am “His own.” How did I become “His own?” By God giving me to Him (Jno. 17:2, 6 , 9; 6:37), and by His buying me with His own blood. I am His by both gift and purchase, I am “His own.” Note in passing the view of death that is given us in verse 3: it is. “departing out of this world unto the Father.” There is nothing therefore^ very frightful for the believer in what men call death (cf. ch. 14:28; Phil. 1:21, 23; 2 Cor. 5:8, R. V.). As we pass from verse 1 to verse 2 what a contrast we see: in verse 1 we have the Saviour’s unceasing love; in verse 2 the unceasing malignity of Satan incarnating itself in the human heart. Judas’ awful purpose, to betray his Lord came directly from the Devil. This was not the first thing the Devil had put into his heart. The devil began with lfttlej scarcely noticeable suggestions ■ covet ousness, envy, jealousy, self-seeking, and this seed had been allowed to stay and root, and grow. Doubtless if Judas had been told at the beginning of his opening his heart to Satan by the admission of cov-
sway of the prince of darkness, but when Jesus came into the world He came into it as a light (Jno. 1:9; 8:12). However dark the world may be, the one who believes in Jesus will npt “abide in the darkness,” for Jesus the light of the world will give him light. The words that Jesus spoke will either save or judge all who hear them: if they are accepted they- will save (cf. ch. 5:24)/. but if they are rejected they will judge, for they will convict the rejector of having deliberately chosen darkness rather than light, error rather than truth (cf. ch. 3:18, 19), Take careful heed what you do with the words of Jesus, for in the last great day your eternal destiny will depend upon what you have done'with those words. Those words, too, every one of them, are the words of God the Father Who sent Him. He gave to His Son a command ment what He should say and what He should speak, and every word that He said was the word that the Father commanded Him to say. God’s commandment is ever lasting life, i. e., to obey God’s command ment is to live; to disobey God’s command ment is to die. God’s whole commandment can be summed up in one single sentence, “believe on the name of my Son Jesus Christ, and love one another” (1 Jno. 3:23). Saturday, July ij. John 13 : 1 , 2 . The world had not appreciated Jesus, not even His own disciples had appreciated Him, and now He was about to depart to a world where He would be appreciated, where all the angels of God would worship Him (Heb. 1:6). We might naturally expect that He would have had'a feeling of relief at leaving those dull, unbelieving disciples, to go to realms of light and faith and glory, but in point of fact this was not His feeling. We might also expect that He would have been occupied with dread of the awful agonies through which He must pass preliminary to His going unto the Father, but He was not occupied with thoughts of His own suffering now-so near at hand, He was entirely occupied with
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