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Scripture Reading: John 17:16-19
Today I am going to focus on verse 19, which says that the Lord sanctified Himself for the disciples' sake. The verses we read today are somewhat peculiar. The Lord's desire that His disciples be sanctified required Him to first sanctify Himself for their sake. Why was this so? Many people have a problem when they read these verses. Is He not holy? Is not His nature holy? Why did He have to sanctify Himself? Today I will again speak briefly on the Lord's conduct while He was on the earth.
Our Lord is holy in His nature. He never knew sin. He is also God and has the power of God. In regard to Himself, He can do many things, and He can do them at will without contradicting His holy nature. In regard to His power, He is able to do many things. He has His independent power and can do things without waiting for God. Yet our Lord never spoke or acted in such a way. In everything, He was under the control of the will of God. He even said, "I can do nothing from Myself" (John 5:30). Why? What does this mean? If the Lord acted according to His own will and power, would His acts have been counted as sin like ours? No, a thousand times no! Why then did He not act according to His own will and by His own power? He was sanctifying Himself for His disciples' sake. When He could have been free, He chose not to be free; when He could have exercised power, He chose not to exercise power, in order to set a good example for His disciples. He is holy, and He could have followed His own will and exercised His own power. But if His disciples followed their own will and exercised their own power that would have been sin.
The Lord had His freedom and could have done many things. But for the disciples' sake, He was glad to be restricted. In other words, for the sake of the disciples, the Lord gave up His own freedom. He laid aside many of His rights and gave up a great deal of His personal freedom, in order to show His disciples that they should not act freely before God or exercise their own power. If He did not act or exercise freely, should not we do the same? Brothers and sisters, have you ever considered the Lord's life on earth? His entire life on earth was altogether under restriction. He is God, yet He became a man. He could have lived without eating and drinking, yet like all other men He hungered and thirsted. He is God, yet He became a baby. He is absolutely great, yet He grew up according to man's stature. He is such a glorious God, yet He was put into an earthen vessel.
Our Lord must have labored on earth more than any other person. Once the Lord told the Jews, "Your father Abraham exulted that he would see My day, and he saw it and rejoiced." The Jews said, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" (John 8:56-57). O friends, do you know why the Jews spoke such a word? They purposely wanted to reduce the Lord's age by a few years. I truly believe the words in Isaiah 52:14 and 53:2, "His appearance was marred more than that of any man, / And His form more than that of the sons of men." "He has no attracting form nor majesty that we should look upon Him. / Nor beautiful appearance that we should desire Him." At that time the Lord was only thirty years old. The Jews purposely wanted to lower His age; yet they said He was close to fifty years old! This shows how old the Lord's countenance appeared. He indeed was a man that had fully experienced the sufferings of human life. You could see this from His face. Let me tell you that this was only a restriction that He faced in His physical body. We do not know the sufferings he experienced due to spiritual restrictions.
Our Lord is truly holy and without lusts. Although He had the liberty to do many things, He did not do them. He acted in this way for the sake of His disciples. Once a man came to Peter and said, "Does not your Teacher pay the temple tax?" Peter said, "Yes." The Lord did not have to pay the temple tax, but in order not to offend them, He said to Peter, "Go to the sea and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. And when you open its mouth, you will find a stater; take that and give it to them for Me and you" (Matt. 17:24-27). Peter should have paid the temple tax; the Lord should not have paid the temple tax. But for Peter's sake, the Lord sanctified Himself. The Lord wanted Peter to know that he should submit to governmental authority; therefore, He paid the temple tax. For Peter's sake, the Lord restricted Himself.
When the Lord was seized as He came out of the garden of Gethsemane, Peter stretched out his hand, drew his sword, and struck the servant of the high priest. What did the Lord say? He said, "Do you think that I cannot beseech My Father, and He will provide Me at once with more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matt 26:53). But why did the Lord not do this? For the sake of His disciples, the Lord sanctified Himself. The Lord was concerned about what the disciples would do in the future if He beseeched the Father to provide Him with twelve legions of angels. They might, for example, order fire to come down from heaven to consume the Samaritans. The Lord could beseech the Father to provide twelve legions of angels, but His disciples could not order fire to come down from heaven. Therefore, for the sake of His disciples, the Lord did not do this; He sanctified Himself. He was restricted by the disciples.
Once in the wilderness, there were four thousand people following Jesus, not including women and children, and it was late in the day. What did the Lord say to the disciples? He said, "I am moved with compassion for the crowd, because for three days now they have remained with Me and they do not have anything to eat" (Matt. 15:32). What does "and" indicate? It indicates that the Lord had not eaten for three days either. This is why it says "and they do not have anything to eat." It would have been very legitimate for the Lord to send His disciples to buy food when He had nothing to eat. But He was more concerned about their not having eaten for three days than He was about His not having eaten for three days. If the Lord had cared for His own eating, then at Pentecost there would have been a few more Ananiases and Sapphiras who would have withheld certain portions for themselves. For the sake of His disciples, the Lord sanctified Himself. He was restricted not only in His physical body, but He was restricted also spiritually. How He suffered!
Likewise, brothers who are more advanced in the Lord and who have learned more lessons, have had more experiences, have a keener conscience, and know God more clearly, will not do many things that they would otherwise have the liberty to do. Although these things are altogether lawful and not sinful, they would not do them for the sake of the younger brothers. For example, many times I have felt this suffering when I stayed with young brothers. One may need more rest because of his physical weakness. Fearing that this may lead others to become lazy, he does not rest as much as necessary. When he loses sleep at night, he should be able to rise up a little later. But for the sake of the weaker brothers who would also rise up late and miss their morning prayer and Scripture reading, he suffers and rises up early. He may have a stomach problem and should be more selective in his eating. But in so doing it may cause the younger ones to be choosy in what they eat. As a result, he does not eat as he should. This kind of sanctifying for the sake of others is very important.
There was a mother with four sons. All of her four sons loved to drink and they almost exhausted the family's money. One day the mother told a preacher about this matter and he asked her, "Do you drink?" She said, "I always drink a little wine during each meal but never to the extent of getting drunk. My husband also drinks a little." The preacher said, "If you cannot give up your drinking, you should not expect your sons to give up theirs." Indeed, if parents have just a little craving, their children's craving will be many times stronger. If parents smoke cigarettes, the children will smoke opium. If parents watch movies, the children may possibly become movie stars.
The Lord wants His disciples to be sanctified. For this reason He sanctified Himself. He left a pattern for us to follow. We need to follow His footsteps. He did not need to be restricted, yet He was restricted. For the sake of His disciples, He sanctified Himself. Do you realize how much the Lord suffered and how much He was restricted when He was living with His disciples? He was tired more than His disciples. He was hungry more than His disciples. He needed rest more than His disciples. Yet He never left them except when He was alone on the mountain praying. He was the same as the disciples in everything. At the very end, His disciples could not point out any flaw in Him. All His disciples testified that He was without sin. Peter said that He was without blemish and spot, that no guile was found in His mouth, and that He committed no sin. Those who lived with Him knew His heart the best, and this was the testimony of one who had lived with Him.
The Lord is holy. But for the sake of His disciples, He sanctified Himself. We should also be the same at home, in school, and among the brothers and the sisters. God has put us here in order that we may be a shining light in darkness. We must pass through strippings and bondages. Otherwise, we cannot expect others to be sanctified. We must sanctify ourselves for the sake of others. Today we have seen the Lord and the excellency of His footsteps. Let us follow His footsteps.
