"9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them."
John 17:9-10
Having taught His disciples, our Lord prays for them. Christ manifests the Father's Name to His chosen ones through the operation of the Word on their souls bringing them to living faith and trust in Himself. Then - and this is the ultimate assurance - He prays for them, making constant intercession for them. The full meaning of these words for us lies in the reality of His continuing intercession for His people at the Father's right hand. This is the great stabilising factor in Christian experience 'We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous', says John in his first epistle (2:1), and the writer to the Hebrews adds 'He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them'. It is on the basis of the continuing intercession of the Son that continuing salvation is possible. If we have been saved today and kept in a saved condition, there is only one explanation that is adequate, and it is that the Son of God has prayed for us. Even when we say to one another (as we ought) 'I have been remembering you in my prayers', this is still true in the larger context, because our prayers have meaning and significance only in relation to the mighty intercession of the Son. Our prayers are fed so to speak into His intercession, and His Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26). In connection with our Lord's prevailing intercession we are reminded of the picture in Bunyan of Christian in the house of the Interpreter, being shown the fire on which the evil one kept pouring water to put it out. But in spite of all his efforts, the fire kept burning more brightly. And the reason was that behind the fire there stood the figure of the Lord pouring oil on it to make it burn. This is the constantly fed fire of grace that nothing is able to extinguish; Christ's intercession is all-prevailing.