Thursday, 7 March 2024

The Upper Room Discourse 77

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John 17:14-15 I have given them Your word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one.

Here is Yeshua's fifth and final thought in these two verses... John 17:15b ... but that You keep them from the evil one. Yeshua comes to the point in His prayer for us. He is asking the Father to "keep" us from the evil one. In Hebrew, what we translate as "keep" is Shomair" (like the name of our congregation).

Rabbi Trail: It is also the first Hebrew word of the 4th Commandment. Deuteronomy 5:12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. KJV (Rabbi's note: I had to use the KJV here because both the TLV and AMP mistranslate Shamor as "observe." Biblical "keeping" is to "protect, defend, stand guard over and watch over."

Additional note: The 10 Commandments are repeated from their first mention in Exodus to their second mention in Deuteronomy. They are almost identical - word for word - but the first word of the 4th Commandment is different. In Exodus it says to "remember or memorialize" the Sabbath Day. End RT.

Yeshua is praying that the Father will protect us from the evil one. Here's my question, "Do we trust Yeshua's prayer is effective?" Does it mean we will be kept free from harm? Certainly not! But it does mean that we will have the power of His presence in our lives to withstand the traps and schemes of the evil one. Psalm 91 describes this quite well.

Psalm 91:2,7,10-11 I will say of Adonai, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." ... A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you ... so no evil will befall you nor any plague come near your tent. For He will give His angels charge over you, to guard you in all your ways.

When we pray from Psalm 23, The Lord is my Shepherd, we should have this in mind. He is the protector of the sheep. John 10:9 I am the gate! If anyone comes in through Me, he will be saved. He will come and go and find pasture. +The thief comes only to steal, slaughter, and destroy. I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly! I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

Time for the "bottom line." Here it is! Take comfort, the Good Shepherd has prayed for you. And what's better than that? He has risen and taken up His throne at the right hand of the Father.