Three Streams

“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.” John 17:6

This verse, and others like it, reveal a tremendous yet often overlooked truth.

Let me highlight what I mean.

1. Jesus revealed the Father to certain people (their faith was a consequence of ‘revelation’ not their own free will or choice
2. The ‘revelation’ was not given to all, but only those whom the Father had ‘given’ to the Son

It is absolutely clear that Jesus describes those who believe as those given to him by the Father. A truth that we do not often hear, if at all, is that before the creation of the world the Father and the Son made a covenant with each other. This covenant was the redemption of certain people from the world. This verse in John, along with others, makes it clear that the covenant was not to save every individual in the world. This is clear elsewhere in this discource of Jesus

‘I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.’ 17:9

In this verse Jesus is interceding for believers, however he distinguishes ‘the world’ from those that the father ‘gave’ him! Wow! Think about this, The Father has given the Son people ‘out of the world’. This is the covenant of grace, and this is why in an other place a NT writer says ‘all that were ordained to eternal life believed’.

Those who believe in Jesus do so because the Father chose them before the foundation of the world to be saved. Their election is not because they were more worthy than any others but simply because of the unmerited grace of God. The Son himself sealed this contract by his blood, that is, he willingly gave his life for the salvation of the elect. The covenant of grace is not just the offer of salvation to the elect but the securing of it! Those whom God elects he saves and he saves completely!

Romans 8: 28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

How can Paul say that all things work together for the good of those who are called by God and love Him? Simply because their destiny is secure! Those He calls he justifies (makes right with himself). Those he justifies he glorifies (this happens in the new heavens and earth).

If you are trully justified by faith it is because you have been predestined before the foundation of the world!

Eph 1: 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Romans makes clear that those who have been predestined are called. This happens when a person hears the Lord calling them through the gospel of his Son. They are aware of God speaking to their heart and convicting them and drawing them to faith and repentance.

Those who are called are justified through faith, which is the gift of God! Those who are justified are glorified! They may not yet be, but in Gods mind they do not have one without the other! God knows the end. He will ‘carry out the work he has started until it is brought to completion’! Many believers take encouragement from that verse, yet they could be even more encouraged if they understood it in the light by which it truly stands!

You are kept by a sovereign God, who loved you before you were born! He has chose to reveal his Son to you! Your faith is a gift, it is not of yourself. You are born again of the Holy Spirit who is a deposit and guarantee of that which is to come i.e the fulness of salvation! Are you resting in the covenant of grace? Or are you striving in the covenant of works? Perhaps you are like the Galatians who were decieved by the Judaisers. You think that it is faith in Jesus plus a bit of you i.e free will, right choice, keeping yourself right. This is the ancient Galatian herasy and it will keep you in bondage! Flee from it and run to the arms of Jesus, rest completely in the covenant of grace. Rest your soul in his sovereign care!

JC