Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
1. This verse is shortly before Jesus was betrayed by Judas and brought before Annas, whose son in law was Caiaphas, the high priest. This would start the procession of Jesus before His accusers and those who would condemn Him, and eventually lead Him to His crucifixion.
2. Jesus is praying for His disciples who would be left in the world after His death. Jesus extends His prayer to all believers in verse 20 of this chapter. He prays, "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word."
3. To sanctify is to set apart and make holy. It is to purify or consecrate. When Jesus prayed that His followers would be sanctified, He was praying for their holiness for God's use. Besides their salvation he wanted them to be set apart for usefulness in the kingdom of God.
4. The truth we are set apart into is the Word of God. Nothing contains more truth than the Bible because it is complete truth. It is the compass by which we check all other things. It is our gauge to see if truth resides in something else. Heb 6:18 states, "so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie." The Bible is His Word. It must be therefore completely true. We can trust it.
Yet, besides it's truth it has power to sanctify us and set us apart for God's purposes.
5. In a world where much that we hear and see is not true, we can rest assured that God's Word is complete truth.
6. It is also comforting to note that Jesus cares about us and that He would pray to the Father for us and on our behalf.
7. It is safe to say that we cannot ever give God our full service until we embrace the fact that His Word sanctifies us and makes us useable.
1. This verse is shortly before Jesus was betrayed by Judas and brought before Annas, whose son in law was Caiaphas, the high priest. This would start the procession of Jesus before His accusers and those who would condemn Him, and eventually lead Him to His crucifixion.
2. Jesus is praying for His disciples who would be left in the world after His death. Jesus extends His prayer to all believers in verse 20 of this chapter. He prays, "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word."
3. To sanctify is to set apart and make holy. It is to purify or consecrate. When Jesus prayed that His followers would be sanctified, He was praying for their holiness for God's use. Besides their salvation he wanted them to be set apart for usefulness in the kingdom of God.
4. The truth we are set apart into is the Word of God. Nothing contains more truth than the Bible because it is complete truth. It is the compass by which we check all other things. It is our gauge to see if truth resides in something else. Heb 6:18 states, "so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie." The Bible is His Word. It must be therefore completely true. We can trust it.
Yet, besides it's truth it has power to sanctify us and set us apart for God's purposes.
5. In a world where much that we hear and see is not true, we can rest assured that God's Word is complete truth.
6. It is also comforting to note that Jesus cares about us and that He would pray to the Father for us and on our behalf.
7. It is safe to say that we cannot ever give God our full service until we embrace the fact that His Word sanctifies us and makes us useable.