Isn’t it amazing that as Jesus faces the agony of the cross, He stops and looks ahead down at least 2 millennia to pray for all who will believe in Him. Are you a believer? Then our Lord Jesus has prayed for you!
Psalm 88 gives us a window into the suffering Jesus was facing as He would be forsaken by God the Father, as darkness became his closest friend, and yet as he faced this, he prayed for us.
What did he pray? It must have been important for him to make this a priority. He prays for himself (v1-5), the disciples (v6-19), and then for all believers (v20-26). Three times Jesus prays that all his followers will be one. Do you see how important the unity of the church is to Jesus? No wonder Satan ravages against the church, but Jesus has prayed for us. He longs that we show the world the difference that He makes as barriers between race, sex, age are broken down. The local church is an amazing place, where else do you find such diversity and yet unity!
But what about all the disagreements? Notice that this is not unity at all costs. Jesus is praying for all who will believe on the basis of the apostles’ teaching. We cannot have unity with anyone who claims to be a Christian, but only with those who believe what the apostles taught (v20). This means our unity is a historical unity, going back 2000 years, it is a unity with all those throughout that time, and right up to the present, with those who believe what the apostles taught about Jesus. We can only have unity with those who believe Jesus to be the eternal Son of God, whose sacrificial death and resurrection is the only way that we can made right with God.
It is not a sham unity, nor is it a unity that we need to create, it is a unity created by Jesus and we need to give expression to it. It’s a unity that is so important because Jesus died to create it! When you see another believer, you are to see Christ in them. That’s the incredible thing Jesus prays for in v23 “I in them and you in me.” Jesus is living inside every true believer by His Spirit. When you shake hands with another believer, it’s as if you’re shaking hands with Christ himself! Our unity shows the world the difference that Jesus makes. It shows the world that Jesus was sent into the world by God the Father, and that Jesus loves us as the Father loves the Son (v23)!
Here’s something for us to join Jesus in praying for, that our local church and that God’s universal church will show the world that Jesus has been sent by God to create this truly united body of people, who love God and love one another.
Light and Momentary Troubles 
Leave a comment