(tm) Day 16
Back to John Seventeen, Devotional
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. (John 17:15)
"I do not ask that You should take them out of the world but that You should keep them from the evil one."
The term keep contains the idea of guarding in protective custody. The word from, as employed in the King James, no doubt conveys the thought accurately: "keep them from [out of] the evil [one]."
Christ is praying, not that the Father would remove us from the world but that He would protect the elect from all the influences of Satan.
If it is true, as we maintain, that we are moving toward a Person rather than merely toward a place, is it true also that we are moving from a person rather than from a place?
Are we being redeemed from the earth or are we being redeemed from the image and power of Satan? Is God redeeming us from the land or from the enemy? Is our journey from earth to Heaven or is it from Satan to God?
There is an important difference between these two concepts. Our understanding of what we are being saved from, as well as the destination we are moving toward, directly affects the manner in which we apply ourselves to our discipleship.
The common understanding of the work of salvation is that we will be removed from the world of pain and fear and brought to a different world (Heaven) where there is no pain or fear.
The scriptural description of the work of salvation is that we are being removed from the person and power of Satan and brought into the Person and power of God in Christ. Whether we are in the world or in Heaven has little to do with the plan of salvation, with the work of redemption.
The common understanding of the Christian redemption is that our salvation primarily is a journey from this dark planet to the light and glory of Paradise. The scriptural description of redemption is that our salvation primarily is a transformation of our personality such that we become the Temple of God instead of the slave of Satan (John 8:34-36).
The first doctrine stresses movement from one place to another. The second doctrine emphasizes the transformation of all that we are and do and our absorption into the Divine Godhead.