“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.”
Did you know we are God’s gift to Jesus? As He prays to His Father the night before His death, this is what Jesus says – first of the immediate band of His disciples (John 17:6, 9), then to all of us who are His followers, even centuries later (verse 24). It’s not the first time Jesus has said this – back at the feeding of the five thousand, He spoke about all the people the Father gives Him (John 6:37).
Often in the Bible we are taught that God takes the initiative in our salvation, but this adds an extra layer. We for our part become disciples as we hear Jesus’ words and accept them (John 17:8), but standing behind this wonderful process in our lives is the Father giving us to the Son.
I have not heard this truth much mentioned or explored, and truly it is an amazing thought. The only example in day to day living of one human giving another away is at a wedding – but here is something more amazing and profound!
It is indeed profound, but it has a practical outcome. Consider for a moment just how Jesus relates to His Father: He loves Him, honours Him and seeks to do His will. If the Father is so precious to the Son, think how precious to Him must be the gift the Father has given Him!
We get a faint glimpse of this when we think of something we own which has been given to us by someone we love – we value the gift because we so value the giver.
This is why it makes such sense that in this great prayer, our Lord Jesus’ overriding concern is for the protection of His people – the very next thing He prays about. “Protect them by the power of your name”, He asks (John 17:11). He has made it His business on earth to protect them, and since they are now faced with a hostile world and the schemes of the devil, He prays that God would go on protecting them, enabling them to witness as His distinct people. He wants them protected because they are deeply precious to Him!
Our confidence in God’s keeping power is rightly based on many promises He makes; it should also be based on this remarkable fact: that Jesus is committed to the gift the Father has given Him.
A proud person might think of themselves as “God’s gift to the world”. We are not that! But – amazingly – if we belong to Jesus, we are God’s gift to Him!
