The World

THE term " world " occurs in Matthew's Gospel nine times; in Mark's three; in Luke's three; and in John's seventy-eight times.

In chapter 27. alone, it occurs nineteen times. This chapter presents us with Jesus Christ, when in principle the world had rejected Him, and was about to crucify Him,-His eyes lifted up to Heaven, and His soul pouring out to His Father His thoughts and feelings in prayer concerning His own whom He was about to leave. He had come unto Jerusalem, to the people who were to be His nation; but they received Him not; but as many as received Him, to them gave he power to become sons of God. Israel was about to crucify Him-these believing sons of God were for heaven and not for earth, and connection with God's eternity was to be their mark even in time. Let me just trace out these three subjects so far as this chapter presents them. " Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said:-

THE LORD.

Ver. 1. "Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee."

The Son of the Father, knowing all the times and counsels of God, asked to be glorified by the Father, that He, the Son, might glorify Him. Serving as " the sent one to Israel," they would not have Him; He was then free to take up another service, and remove from earth to heaven to set forth the glory of the Father.

2. " As thou hag given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him."

The power was His; yet as Messiah, the sphere of its exercise was limited to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But there were some given to Him-unto -ETERNAL LIFE; this eternal life He would communicate to them. What this was He knew right well; not the knowledge of Moses or of things down here; but-

3. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

4. "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

5. " And now, 0 Father, glorify thou me with time own self with the glory which I had with thee."

The Father, He knew; and knew that none could present Him to man save Himself, Jesus Christ the Sent one; He knew, too, how he had made manifest the moral glory of the Father upon 'earth; He was it; His work was done, He would return thither whence he came, even to the eternal, divine glory.

THE WORLD.

But note, here, that at the close of 10: 5 He brings in the world: "the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." He had in his days of humiliation been faithful to God and to Israel, God's people for the earth, whose portion was to be in this world. But to Him there was a " before the world was" too.

6. " I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me. out of the world."

HIS DISCIPLES.

In' the power of the glory which was His in person' with the Father before the world was, He had when in!' the world ' (Himself the despised by Israel) thought of men given to Him by the Father out of the world: of them he could say,

" Thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word."

The gift of the Father to the Son, from among the

"Men Of the World-the Father's own and His gift to the Son; keepers of the word. And not only so, but-

7. " Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee."

So far did their knowledge go as to things. As to Himself it went further:

8. "For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me."

In the ninth verse the (to Israel awful, yet to us blessed) truth comes out: " I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me."

They that slave to Him had a place in His heart; they honored His Father. "I pray for them," and this because He had taken them up at the Father's hand: " them that thou hast given me." To His eye there was an inestimable preciousness about them:-" For they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them."

The savor of His Father's love upon them, the consciousness through them, that there was perfect community between Him and the Father, that the display of His glory was at stake in them I What blessed privilege. But then came the expression:-

11. " And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none; of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves" (12, 13).

In these verses we have, 1st, our position marked for us: " in the world"; and, 2nd, what our alone preservation, while here, can be; the Holy Father keeping us, and the instrumental means of its being so, our knowledge of the Father and of the glory peculiar to Him; 3rd, the gracious love of the Son of God in speaking these things, that His own joy might be fulfilled in us. He had had the joy of known fellowship with the Father, amid all the sorrows of His humiliation.

Then (ver. 14) comes responsibility, and the conflict, and. consequent thereon, the joy of the knowledge of their origin. "I have given them thy word, and the world bath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." Then as girding up the loins to patience, and strengthening the soul against the notion of escape from the furnace:,

15. " I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." Their origin is again adverted to, and honored as being associated with (not with creature things, but) with Himself, the Son of God, the Truth, the Word. Their mission into the world, recalling His own mission by the Father, follows.

16. " They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. As thou host sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." (17 and 18).

Next we have (in ver. 19) the grand means of the making good, now openly, of this entire separation to the Father of sons down here in this world. Himself, the Son, would sit down as Son of man upon the Father's throne, and His people down here should know Him in the Father and themselves in Him, and His spirit in them.

19." And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." And this was not only for them then present, but for all that should believe through their word

20. " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." The contrasts between the world and these sons of God which follow are of a different kind from those noted before; 1st, such a manifested union, in life, by the spirit all-pervading was to be theirs, that the world should believe in the Son's mission-by the Father. This was fulfilled, perhaps, in one sense, at Pentecost; another and a fuller accomplishment may yet be hoped for hereafter.

21. " That they all may be one, as thou, Father,

art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." Then follows the blessed outshining of more of the Son of God's heart toward these adopted sons of God. How He understands and acts out the blessed truth, " God giveth liberally."

22, And the glory which thou gavest me I have

given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; in them, and thou in me, that they, may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me." (v. 23).

He that gave Himself, how should He keep back the sharing of His glory from these sons? The expectation of this realized, manifested fellowship leads to unity; and when the glory is come, then we shall realize the full revelation in Him of the Father, and His glory outshining will perfect the fellowship of those among whom it shines; and then the world shall own both the mission: the Son and the Divine heavenly love bestowed on those who left the world to follow Him.

The last three verses put the contrast between these sons by adoption and the world, if possible, even more markedly still. 1st, He has a will, as Son, delighting in the Father's love and gifts to Him, and that will is that these should be let into the presence chamber; should behold His glory as given to Him as the one loved before the foundation of the world; 2ndly, He appeals to the righteous dealings of His Father as to these that have known and owned Him as the sent one; 3rdly, To them the Father's name and character (which was his joy) had been set forth, and should be set forth. All the Father's love to Him should rest on them, and Himself be in them.

" Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they. may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 0, righteous Father, the world path not known thee; but. I have known thee, and these have known that thou 'hast sent me; and I have declared unto them thy name; and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."

I desire to put it home to my own soul, and to the soul of him that reads, whether these things are so as to our own selves; and whether our outward life and ways bear witness to a present and entire separation between us and the present evil world, through our owning, by faith, that we belong to an earth-rejected, but God-honored Lord.

ASSOCIATED WITH CHRIST.

A FRAGMENT.

WHAT wondrous terms does the Holy Ghost apply to the Believer in Scripture! to the Believer since the day of Pentecost!

1. Co-plant in His death and life (Rom. 6:6⁶Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (Romans 6:6)).

2. Co-heir with Him of suffering and glory (Rom. 8:17¹⁷And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17)).

3. Conformed to Him in humiliation (Phil. 3:10¹⁰That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Philippians 3:10)) and in glory (Rom. 8:17¹⁷And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17); Phil. 3:20²⁰For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: (Philippians 3:20)).

4. Crucified together with (Rom. 6:6⁶Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (Romans 6:6)).

5. Dead together with (2 Tim. 2:11¹¹It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: (2 Timothy 2:11)).

6. Buried together with (Rom. 6:4⁴Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4); Col. 2:12¹²Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:12)).

7. Quickened together with (Eph. 2:3³Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (Ephesians 2:3); Col. 2:13¹³And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; (Colossians 2:13)).

8. Made alive together with (Rom. 6:8⁸Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: (Romans 6:8); 2 Tim. 2:11¹¹It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: (2 Timothy 2:11)).

9. Raised up together with (Eph. 2:6⁶And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:6); Col. 2.12;1).

10. Seated together with. (Eph. 2:6⁶And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:6)).

11. Co-workers (1 Cor. 3:9⁹For we are laborers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. (1 Corinthians 3:9); 2 Cor. 6:1¹We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (2 Corinthians 6:1)).

12. Fellowcitizens with (of. Eph. 2:19¹⁹Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; (Ephesians 2:19), and Phil. 3:20²⁰For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: (Philippians 3:20)).

13. One body with (Eph. 1:22,23²²And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, ²³Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:22‑23), and 3. 6).

14. Partakers of the promises with (Eph. 3:6⁶That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: (Ephesians 3:6)).

15. All of them compacted (Eph. 4:16¹⁶From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:16)) or knit together (Col. 2:2,19²That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; (Colossians 2:2)
¹⁹And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. (Colossians 2:19)).

16. Fitly framed together (Eph. 2:21²¹In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: (Ephesians 2:21), and 4: 16). in the body of which He is head.

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