Pastor’s Corner: “The Answered Prayer of Jesus”
John 17:24 (ESV) – “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”
What does Jesus desire? He desires that His people be with Him. Jesus is completely happy and satisfied as He reigns from heaven, but according to His prayer in John 17, He still has a certain unfulfilled desire: that His people join him in the home He has already prepared for them (John 14:2–4).
When a loved one who is in the Faith dies, we should remember first and foremost that the Father has answered Jesus’s prayer. God is sovereign over our loved ones’ deaths, and he has purposes we may never understand (Deuteronomy 32:39; James 4:15), but we can hold on to the truth that Jesus has prayed for His Father to bring His people home. When a Christian dies, the Father is granting to His Son a request that He prayed nearly two thousand years ago on the night before He gave up His life for us.
We can at least say this much: When a loved one passes, Jesus gains a lot more than we have lost. Yes, we have lost. The magnitude of the loss is often beyond words. But the loss is never beyond Jesus’s words: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory.” Jesus knows He has a glory that is far beyond anything this world can offer. He knows that a true sight of Him is worth more than millions of worlds. He knows that the sight of his glory will leave no one unsatisfied. Jesus is eager for his precious saints to enter true, eternal happiness with Him. We are destined for unspeakable joy in His presence.
Death brings pain but it also brings connection. Heaven had always seemed far off. It was a sure thing but a someday thing, distant from the busy days of our lives. And then it wasn’t. I wish I could say I felt this kind of connection to heaven before, but the loss of Isaiah has made it immediate and tangible. It is like we have a deposit, waiting for us just after we meet Jesus. Because when you love someone in heaven, you carry part of heaven in your heart.
An Answer to Prayer: When we lose a loved one in the Faith to the Lord, we have undeniably lost — at least for now. But our loved one has gained, and so has Jesus. (Psalm 116:15) – “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints”. Jesus has suffered the grief of the cross so that we will never have to endure hopeless grief in the face of death. (1 Thessalonians 4:13 ) 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
Lord, thank you for Your Great Love and Care for us and thank you for answering Your Son’s prayer. We love you Lord!
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton