Advent Day 9 John 17:6-8

 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.” (John 17:6-8 ESV)

This Advent, a season of profound significance, as we celebrate the coming of the Savior, let us remember not only the fulfillment of scripture but also the words of the Gospels that reflect the incarnation and its meaning. Today’s verses are from the Gospel of John, which happens to be my favorite, mainly because John proclaims the deity of Christ from the beginning to the end of his gospel.

If we examine what is often referred to as the prologue of John's Gospel, chapter 1, verses 1-5, John tells us specifically who Jesus is and why He is God. John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” 

Jesus is eternal, He is the Word of God incarnate, and was with God before the beginning of Creation. Through Jesus, God made creation. Speaking creation into existence as Jesus created or manifested Creation according to the Words of God the Father. Jesus is life; His life is a light that calls all of God’s elect to Him like a moth to a flame. In this world that is in control of the evil one, Satan, the light of Christ overcomes the darkness of evil.

In today’s verse, Jesus is praying a prayer that is the entirety of chapter 17. In this, Jesus prays for His disciples who unwaveringly believe that He is the Son of God. The child born in Bethlehem, who is the fulfillment of God’s promise of the everlasting line of David, and is the Messiah. (2 Samuel 7:12-14) You see, His disciples received Him as just that, the King of Israel, the Messiah. They believed that God had sent Jesus and that He was the Christ and the Son of God and that He alone holds the Words of eternal salvation. (Matthew 13:13-20, John 6:38) Their steadfast faith in Jesus as the Savior is their anchor, assuring them that God sent Jesus into the world to save it from condemnation.

This Advent, let us remember that this prayer is not only for those who stood before Christ in the first century, but for all those who believe in Him as the risen Son of God, through whom one receives salvation and eternal life by grace through faith in Christ alone. Jesus is our only mediator with the Father, and the Holy Spirit prays on our behalf, interceding for us with 'groans too deep for words' (Romans 8:26), expressing our deepest needs and desires to God when we are unable to articulate them ourselves. That is our living God, three in being, one in person. Amen!

Advent Prayer Day 9

Merciful Father,

We worship and glorify You as You continually work on our behalf.

We thank the Holy Spirit for praying on our behalf when we have no words to pray in our times of trouble.

Lord Jesus, we give you praise and glorify you, our only mediator with the Father.

We praise and thank You for Your mercy and love to which You sacrificed Yourself, bearing our sins and imputing Your righteousness upon us.

We celebrate Your birth as the Word that became flesh and started Your path towards the salvation of humanity.

In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, Amen.