The will of Christ
By J. C. Philpot
In that most sublime and touching prayer which the Lord
Jesus Christ, as the great High Priest over the house of God, offered up to
his heavenly Father before he shed his precious blood on the cross, there is
one petition, or rather an expression of his holy will, which is full of
unspeakable blessedness. "Father, I will that they also, whom you
have given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which
you have given me; for you loved me before the foundation of the world."
(John 17:24.) The change from 'petitioning as a Priest' to 'willing as a
King' is very remarkable, and casts a gracious light on the nature of
Christ's mediatorial intercession at the right hand of God. On the footing
of his covenant engagements, atoning sacrifice, and finished work, as well
as from the perfect equality of his divine nature with that of the Father
and of the Holy Spirit, he utters the expression of that sovereign will
which was and is identically the same with the eternal will and fixed
decrees of his heavenly Father.
And O, how full and comprehensive, how gracious and
condescending is the will of Christ as thus expressed! How it embraces in
its firm and sovereign grasp all the members of his mystical body, all the
sheep of his pasture and the flock of his hand, all that the Father gave him
to be eternally his own! Yes; all the countless millions who before the
foundation of the world were given him as his joy and crown, as his eternal
inheritance, as the delight of his heart, and the promised reward of his
incarnation, sufferings, and death, were included in this expression of his
holy and unchanging will.
Whatever be their state and condition here below,
whatever sins and sorrows they may have to sigh and groan under, whatever
opposition they may encounter from earth or hell, this will of Christ
holds them up so that they cannot fall out of his hand, or be deprived of
their glorious inheritance.