“While I was with them, I kept them in Your name, which You have given Me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”
(John 17:12)
Jesus the Savior keeps His people eternally safe and secure, for, He says, “I kept them in Your name.” Christ, our Redeemer, purchased us by His sacrifice and securely set us in the place of everlasting salvation. He is the Savior of His body. He will not allow any of His own to perish who were given to Him by the Father for He guards us by His grace. He dwells in us and strengthens us more and more such that the union we enjoy with Him in His Spirit can never be broken. Is this not the greatest blessing imaginable?
Paul confirms Jesus’ words, “God that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us, will give all things with Him,” (Rom. 8:32). Since God has given His people the greater, He cannot withhold the lesser. If He gave His Son to enemies (which is the greater), how will He not give perseverance to friends now reconciled (the lesser)?
Christ Himself testifies that this should be beyond all doubt for believers, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me; and him that comes to Me I will in no way cast out,” (John 6:37). “This is the Father’s will which has sent Me, that of all which He has given Me I should lose nothing,” (6:39). Further, the omnipotent deity of Christ guarantees the fulfillment of His promise.
Christ declares that He keeps those whom the Father gives Him and none of them is lost (John 17:12). Not one is lost because He joins them to Himself by the closest union, from which flows a fellowship of manifold blessings, not the least of which is eternal life through His Spirit. “Because I live,” He said, “you shall live also,” (John 14:19). Yes, He already lives in us (Gal. 2:20), those who believe in Him by faith. On this account, He is called by the writer of Hebrews, “the Author and Finisher of our faith,” (Heb. 12:2), for He will perfect and complete it with the crown of glory and immortality.
This wonderful union between Christ and His body of believers cannot be broken and therefore is of perpetual duration. Nothing can break that bond or separate us from Him (Rom. 8:38) because, “he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him,” (1 Cor. 6:17). From Jesus Christ we experience not only an influx of regenerating grace, but also a continual flow of preserving grace.
Augustine said, “No one is truly of the body of Christ who will not be with Him forever.” So, believers planted in Christ by true faith will not come into condemnation, nor will they perish forever (John 5:24; 10:28).
- Lord, You protect me in Your Son, and do not allow me to fall back into the world to be lost. I am no longer a slave to sin and the world or the flesh and the devil; instead, I am joined to You, kept by You. It is all of You.
- It is true, Lord, that Satan is restless in his endeavors to gain me back into his fold of destruction. He desires me to be obedient to him again. He never stops tempting and soliciting me to return. But I am kept by Your grace in Christ. He will not prevail with me (John 17:12) because You keep me and I believe and trust in You.
- Lord, I am so glad that I am “kept by Your mighty power, through faith to salvation,” (1 Pet.1:5). I am kept by the blood of Your Son. I am preserved in Christ Jesus. It is not my own grace that secures me, but Christ’s care and continual watchfulness. If I were left to secure my own salvation under my own power, I may as well be chained by weights that sink me to my own ruin at the bottom of the ocean. Thank You, Lord, that instead I am kept afloat by Christ. As You said in Jeremiah 32:4, “I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me.” Christ, as my wonderful Redeemer, preserves me.
Further References for John 17:12
John 6:39, 13:18; 2 Thess. 2:3; Acts 1:16; Ps. 41:9; John 10:28; Jude 1:24
