Preservation and Protection with Intimacy!
Preservation and Protection with Intimacy!
Jesus’ friendship and love are so superior that He protected all that His Father has given Him by offering His own life for it.
The Father’s Gift!
Jesus mentioned His disciples as His Father’s gift to Him: “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may 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 amplified Greek renders that we are a “love gift” from the Heavenly Father: “Father, I desire that they also whom You have entrusted to Me [as Your gift to Me] may be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory, which You have given Me [Your love gift to Me]; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24, Amplified).
The Father’s Will!
Jesus mentioned the decree of the Father that He should not lose anything: “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day” (John 6:38-39).
Jesus’ Protection!
Jesus kept all that the Father had given Him as He mentioned it in His prayer to the Father exclusively for His disciples whom He loved to the very end: “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name (in Your Name You gave Me). Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost (destroyed) except the son of perdition (destruction), that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12).
When the mob came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus preserved His loved ones from the mob: “Then (Jesus) asked them again, ‘Whom are you seeking?’ And they said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus answered, ‘I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way,’ that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, ‘Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none’” (John 18:7-9).
Jesus Never Lost Anything!
Jesus lost nothing that was given to Him! In both miracles of feeding the multitudes, Jesus told His disciples to save the leftovers. They saved 12 basketfuls and 7 in both miracles.
In the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and the lost son, once again, Jesus emphasized that those who were lost were redeemed!
The lost sheep: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing…I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just (upright) persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:4-5, 7).
The lost coin: “Or what woman, having ten silver coins (valuable coin, often worn as a 10-piece garland by a married woman), if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:8-10).
The lost son: “And (the Prodigal) arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring (quickly bring) out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry” (Luke 15:20-24).
Jesus is the Shepherd who does not lose a sheep from His fold but goes after it to redeem it.
The lost coin was the woman's inheritance, just as the church is Jesus’ inheritance from the Father. He saves it to keep it!
The parable of the lost son reveals the heart of the Heavenly Father who waits with compassion for the Prodigal to return. Jesus reveals the heart of His Father who decreed that Jesus Himself should not lose anything because it is our Father’s nature not to lose anything!
Jesus’ Love and Sacrifice!
How did Jesus protect and preserve His Father’s gift to Him?
By offering His life!
With greater love: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Jesus, the Good Shepherd: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
Giving Myself Totally in the Hands of Jesus!
Jesus not only saves but keeps that which He saves!
His Heavenly Father gifted him with “sons of God” who would receive Him and come to the Father through Him!
I am one of those who has chosen Jesus as “the way, truth, and the life,” bringing me to the Father!
The Father has additionally given me the gift of the Holy Spirit who dwells in me and glorifies Jesus in me!
I firmly realize that Jesus lost Himself to save me and preserve me!
I am determined not to lose anything my Heavenly Father has gifted me – My Jesus, My Salvation, and all that my Father has placed in My hands!
I know the ONLY WAY I can save and secure all that I am gifted with!
It is by committing all that I have into the hands of Jesus!
Apostle Paul did just that: “I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason, I also suffer these things; nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (II Timothy 1:11-12).
Paul also felt no separation from the love of Christ: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39).
Love protects and preserves what has been given to us by God!
The Church is God’s gift to Jesus!
Jesus is the Church’s gift from the Father!
Intimacy with God honors, respects, and loves God!
Intimacy with God keeps us bound as ONE with Jesus as Jesus is ONE with the Father!
WE ARE PRESERVED FOREVER!
Prayer
“Heavenly Father, I love You and adore You and bow down before You. What a Precious Gift You are in my life! How great is Your salvation through Your Beloved and Faithful Son, Jesus! I want to offer my life into Your hands to preserve me and protect me and help me to preserve and protect all that You have given me. In the most wonderful and Precious Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen! Amen!”
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John Jeyaseelan
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