come to Thee from a world wliicti knows Thee not, and has re- fused to know Thee throughout my ministry. But in the midst of this world I have known Thee and steadily adhered to Thee. And these my disciples have acknowledged and con fessed that Thou didst send Me to be the Messiah."
It is not clear why our Lord uses the expression, " Righteous Father." It is one which stands alone. It may possibly be intended to bring out in strong contrast the wickedness of a world which " knew not the Word,'' when the Word was in it (see John i. 10), and the justice of God in punishing this world, which refused to know Christ while the disciples received Him.
The expression, " I have known Thee," seems to point to the veil of humiliation which covered our Lord during the whole period of His incarnation. " Even then," He seems to say, " I never ceased to know and honor Thee."
The high testimony borne to the disciples once more deserves notice. With all their infirmity, " they have known my Di- vine mission."
26. — [Ajid I have declared. ..declare it.] In this sentence our Lord briefly sums up what He had done, and was still doing for the disciples : " I have made known to them Thy name and charac- ter and attributes, as the sender of salvation to a lost world, and will continue to declare it after my ascension, by the Holy Spirit."
Here, as elsewhere, our Lord again declares that to make known the Father was one great object of His ministry.
The expression, " I will declare it," says George Newton, is a proof that " Jesus Christ will be continually making further declarations of His Father's name to other nations and other persons, to the end of the world. He will be ever teaching new scholars to spell it and understand it, in every generation, while the world eudureth."
[That...in them...l in them.'] Our Lord ends His prayer by expressing His wish that the Father's love may dwell in the hearts of His disciples, and that He Himself may dwell in their hearts. " My great desire is that they may know and feel the love wherewith Thou dost love Me, and that I may ever dwell in their hearts by faith."
Let us not forget that one great wish of St. Paul in his Epis- tle to the Ephesians, was that " Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith." (Eph. iii. 15.) He also tells the Romans *' The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts." (Rom. v. 5.)
The expression, " I will declare my love," is a difficult one. It can only mean, *' I will declare it personally during the in- terval between my resurrection and my ascension," or " I will continue to declare it by my Spirit's continual teaching after