{"id":4502,"date":"2021-06-21T14:05:11","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T14:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/?p=4502"},"modified":"2021-06-21T14:05:11","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T14:05:11","slug":"jesus-prays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/jesus-prays\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus Prays"},"content":{"rendered":"

We embark this afternoon on a journey within a journey. Going through the Gospel of John is a journey we are on, and as we set out into chapter 17, it will be a journey of its own. There are so many great chapters in John, and to have one that is entirely a prayer of Jesus, it can\u2019t help but stand out, and deserve much of our time and attention. And as we stand ready to take this first step on our journey within a journey, it is daunting to know that I am not going to see everything that we should take time to awe at and glory in, in this great prayer of our Lord. Yet, that does not keep us from going ahead with our first step, because it is a comfort to know that though I won\u2019t see everything, what I do see will be of great spiritual and practical benefit to each one of Christ\u2019s sheep as we hear our master\u2019s voice being lifted up to the Father in this great hour of His life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What would we do if we had a record of a conversation or prayer between persons of the Trinity? That would be mind-blowing, would it not? That is precisely what we have here. The incarnate Son, the second person of the Trinity prays to the Father, the first person of the Trinity – and we can rightly assume He does so through the Spirit, or in the Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Whatever our thoughts are about John 17, they are not glorious enough. Maybe you love John 17 and you are just over the moon about it – well, even your thoughts come short of grasping the significance of what we have before us today. Maybe you don\u2019t understand what all the hype is about John 17 – well, you need to repent and ask God to give you new eyes to see Christ here. We have the great privilege and opportunity to read, study, and meditate upon the very words of Christ, to His Father in prayer, right before He was arrested to be crucified! But you know what\u2019s amazing? This is not the only inter-trinitarian prayer that we have recorded for us in Scripture. We have an entire book that is filled with inter-trinitarian prayers. The Psalms are filled with the prayers of Christ. There is inter-trinitarian conversation in the Psalms. And in fact, in the coming weeks we will see in different ways how this prayer contains language and prayers from the Psalms. But this prayer of Jesus in John 17 stands out as a most extensive and detailed prayer. It contains specific things the incarnate Christ petitioned the Father for.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Context of the Prayer<\/b><\/p>\n

Consider the context of this prayer. As great as this prayer is, it is not freestanding. It is greatly connected to the context in which it is found. In many ways, this prayer is a summary of this fourth gospel. Really everything we see in the prayer, are themes that have been discussed to some degree in early parts of the gospel. In this way, the entire gospel account stands for us as what Jesus prayed about. It seems that it could be quite possible that the apostle John thematically structures his gospel based upon this prayer. John shows the ministry and teaching of Jesus as fulfillment of what is prayed for in this prayer. Everything that Jesus says He has done in this prayer, John has shown us in his gospel. This shows us the truthfulness and effectiveness of Christ\u2019s prayer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Consider as well, at what point in Jesus\u2019 life this prayer comes to us. In chapters 14-16 Jesus has just given what is called the \u201cfarewell discourse\u201d to His disciples, a discourse filled with great comfort for the future of the disciples. Jesus has sought to adequately prepare His disciples for His coming departure and the persecution that they will face; and upon doing so, Jesus promptly turns to interceding for His disciples. Simply telling the disciples things that were to come was not enough for Jesus, He was not done until He had prayed and poured out His heart to the Father on their behalf. Then we find in chapter 18, Jesus is arrested. So to put it all in context: in chapter 13 the disciples are preparing to celebrate the Feast of the Passover, and they are having supper together. This is where Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, and Judas departs from them as Jesus prophesied His betrayal by one of the twelve. Then the farewell discourse in chapters 14-16, then this prayer, which is prayed in this same context of supper in the upper room. Then in chapter 18, they go out into the garden, where Jesus is subsequently arrested. All of that to show that this prayer comes at the height of the cliff, when the hour of His suffering is right upon them. This prayer is not whispered in the comfort of some earlier time like the wedding at Cana. This prayer is spoken in the presence of His disciples when the hour is upon them, and the great suffering for which Jesus came is weighing heavy upon Him. In that moment, when Jesus knows exactly what stands imminently in front of Him – this prayer is what comes out of Him. It is concern for His disciples that is weighing heavily upon His heart in this hour, and He gives up to His Father, and places it in His Hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

Old Testament Themes<\/b><\/p>\n

One of the amazing things that we will find in this prayer, is that it is not only a great summary of the ministry of Christ spoken in a very important hour of His life, but this prayer is built upon many Old Testament themes, which we will see much of as we go through this prayer. The significance of this is that it shows us how the goal of redemptive history is culminating in Jesus Christ. Again, Jesus\u2019 prayer does not come to us by itself, but in the context of redemptive history all moving toward His death, resurrection, and ascension. And there are some amazing things that we will see in the coming weeks. There were many great types and foreshadows of Christ in the Old Testament, and there were many great prayers of hope, looking to Yahweh for salvation in the Old Testament, and Jesus Christ comes along as the satisfaction of all those longings, promises, and types.<\/span><\/p>\n

This prayer is most famously labeled as the High Priestly Prayer, the man-made heading inserted in your Bibles probably calls it that. I believe that that indeed is a good description of this prayer. It may not jump out immediately at us as to how this prayer is priestly, but that we will unfold in the coming weeks. But for now I will just say this: one of the things that I have recently learned about John\u2019s gospel is that throughout the gospel, we see Jesus fulfilling the typology of the temple, which is obviously quite priestly. John\u2019s gospel begins in chapter one saying that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, or literally, tabernacled among us. Jesus is called the tabernacle there, which was the transportable temple before the temple. Then in chapter 2 Jesus says destroy this temple and in three days I\u2019ll raise it up again, referring to His own body. Jesus is the true temple. We see reference on multiple occasions of water, Jesus is the living water. In John 2 He transforms the pots of water for purification into wine. And of course Jesus\u2019 baptism was a priestly rite, a priestly ritual washing and enrobing, as He prepared for His ministry. We also see in chapter six that Jesus is the bread of life, the bread of heaven. As we talked about then, this is mainly a fulfillment of the wilderness manna typology. But also they kept manna in the ark of the covenant, so there is also a temple\/priestly theme. If we want to stretch the temple\/priestly typology further, the temple contained the showbread, which Jesus is the fulfillment of. Jesus is also called the light of the world. In the temple, there were also candlesticks that were part of the setup, which Jesus fulfills. There are other things we could point to, but then we get to John 17 and in the High Priestly Prayer, we see Jesus as the fulfillment of the altar of incense, offering prayer to God, which we will consider in greater detail next Lord\u2019s Day, Lord willing. So among other things, we see the apostle John structuring His account of our Lord as the fulfillment of the temple structure. Now, just as John shows more than only Jesus\u2019 priestly ministry, so this prayer is not strictly priestly. There are more themes we will see in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who is this Prayer for? Jesus Prays for Us<\/b><\/p>\n

The other thing that we will need to keep in mind as we go throughout this prayer is who this prayer is for. Who is this prayer for? Well we know that Jesus is praying for the disciples here; but is He only praying for the disciples? It is quite glorious: no He is not only praying for His disciples, and Jesus explicitly tells us so, we don\u2019t have to simply infer it. In verse 20 Jesus prays, \u201cI do not ask for these only [the disciples], but also for those who will believe in me through their word\u2026\u201d That is every believer that would ever be! The apostolic word has come to us, and we have believed in Jesus, and Jesus says that if that is us, that is who He prayed for there, when His hour was upon Him, in His life during His ministry on earth. That is an amazingly comforting thought. So as we move throughout this prayer, we ought to apprehend the promises herein by faith. That is to say, as we see Jesus praying here, we ought to appropriate by faith this prayer for us, because Jesus said it was for those who will believe in Him. So we don\u2019t need to fear that we are inappropriately applying something to ourselves that was meant for the disciples only, we can confidently say Jesus prayed for me here in John 17. At the beginning of this section in his commentary on John, A. W. Pink says, \u201cThe prayer that we are now about to meditate upon is a standing monument of Christ’s affection for the church.\u201d Faith reads and hears this prayer as Christ\u2019s heart toward His Church. So let us hear with ears of faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

This Prayer Stands Effective<\/b><\/p>\n

Being that this is a prayer Christ prays for His Church, we believe this prayer stands effectual to this day. This means we are not observing a relic of the past, we are reading a prayer that stands as a present petition from the Son to the Father. Again A. W. Pink says, \u201cThis prayer did not pass away as soon as its words were uttered, or when Christ ascended to heaven, but retains a perpetual efficacy.\u201d The Bible says that the Word of God does not pass away, it does not wither like the grass and the flowers of the field, but it endures forever and it does not return void. What Jesus has prayed stands as actively effectual until it is brought to completion. This means that what we see prayed from the lips of Christ, will come to pass. His prayer will be answered, it is answered. Thomas Manton says, \u201c…this prayer of Christ retains its force, as if but newly spoken.\u201d Indeed through the body of Christ, the Church on Earth, this prayer has continually been spoken throughout every age. Through His Church Christ continues to pray this prayer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Comfort This Prayer should bring to us<\/b><\/p>\n

These things and more show us that this prayer should bring us great comfort that we need for our Christian life. What could lift the believer up more from the pits of despair than the prayer of Christ for them, and their knowledge thereof? Robert Murray M\u2019Cheyne famously said, \u201cIf I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.\u201d A glorious thought indeed. Yet, we need not wonder about the content of Christ\u2019s prayers for us, when we indeed have a record of a prayer He has prayed for us that stands active and effectual for us. I believe that Jesus prayed this prayer audibly in the presence of His disciples, for that is how we have it recorded for us in the Scripture. And there is a reason that Jesus prayed this prayer audibly. It is not for our mere amusement, but for our great spiritual encouragement and comfort. Remember how down the disciples have been in learning of the immanence of the departure of Christ. Do you not think that would have received great comfort in hearing their Lord pray for them right then and there as they were struggling with these things? Likewise it stands for this similar purpose in us. Let us use it as such in our lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed this prayer has done just that for many Christians down through the ages. This prayer was very dear to John Knox, the great Scottish reformer. John Knox was very ill in the final days of his life, and some accounts tell us that Knox would have John 17 read to him every day as he lay on his sickbed. We are told that on the last evening of His life, Knox\u2019s wife asked him what he would like her to read to him. He said he wanted her to read his beloved \u201cfirst anchor\u201d – John 17. Year earlier, when Knox was coming out of Roman Catholicism, John 17 was the first chapter that brought him peace and where he says he cast his first anchor. After reading it, Knox said, \u201cIs that not a comfortable chapter?\u201d Death came later that night. Before he died that night, his household had their usual prayers and Psalm-singing. They were not sure if Knox could hear them, it seemed as if he was asleep. But the doctor asked Knox if he had heard their prayers and Psalm-singing, and Knox replied, \u201cI would to God that you and all men heard them as I have heard them; and I praise God of that heavenly sound.\u201d Just a short time later that night, one of Knox\u2019s best friends was sitting at his bedside and he observed that Knox was moments away from dying, and he asked Knox to give the signal to show that he still believed in Christ\u2019s promises. Knox raised his hand showing that he did, and passed away.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All the rest of that I couldn\u2019t help but tell since I brought it up, but it is just to show one example of how comforting John 17 has been to Christians, and has been so in dying hours. Perhaps it may be a passage that is dear to us in some of our final hours.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What does this Teach us about prayer?<\/b><\/p>\n

What does this prayer of Jesus teach us about prayer?<\/span><\/p>\n

For one it teaches us the high importance of prayer. Jesus prayed often, but He prayed this prayer with the weight of the cross bearing down upon him, and His prayer largely consists of prayer for His disciples. How is it that as Jesus is imminently facing the greatest suffering ever known and betrayal by one of His own twelve, He prays, and His prayer is mainly a prayer for His disciples and His church?? It is simply stunning. And I think more than it teaches us about prayer, it teaches us about Christ – about who He is and what He came to do. It shows us His heart toward His people. He was not wallowing in self-pity or self-concern, He was praying for His Church – that\u2019s who he was concerned about – people who had not yet even believed He was praying for; people who had not even been born yet, Christ was praying for. Do you ever doubt Christ\u2019s love for you, look at His prayer for you, and just when this prayer is uttered.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This shows us that Jesus was at this point very self-conscious about His mission from the Father that He was sent to accomplish. His whole mission was to do the works that His Father gave Him to do, and that mission was to purchase and redeem His people for Himself. And as that hour approaches where He will be laid out on the altar to be the sacrifice for His people, on His lips are prayers for those people for whom He is about to suffer and shed His precious blood.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How often is it the case when we are facing great trials and suffering and difficulties that our prayers are very narrowly focused? Our prayers are often simple and desperate: \u201csave me God,\u201d \u201chelp me God,\u201d \u201cbe with me God,\u201d – things like that. And that is good and precious. And Jesus even of course prayed a more intense prayer in the garden, sweating great drops of blood, asking if there be another way then let this cup pass, but not my will, but thine be done. Nevertheless, in this same timeframe, He also prays, pouring His heart out to His Father, and when Christ pours out His heart to His Father, out comes love and prayer for His people, for His disciples, for His Church. As the contents of Christ\u2019s heart are poured out for all to see, it is intercession and love for His Church. Does this not stir your own heart within you? On the precipice of suffering, Jesus was bearing His heart before God, and it was filled with love and care for His people.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is what Jesus did on the precipice of His great hour of suffering. What do you think He does when you are in your great hour of suffering, if you are a believer? Though our suffering may indeed be great, it is nothing compared to His. Do we think that He will cease to care and pray for us in our greatest hour of suffering, if He didn\u2019t even cease to in His greatest hour? No, there is great comfort for the believer to be had in that Christ prayed for us, when He was about to suffer, how much more does He stand ready to supply us with comfort and prayer when we are about to suffer in this life? We may know suffering, pain, and hardship quite well; but Jesus knows it far more intimately than we ever will; and we have Him ministering to us, in His suffering. He does not simply minister to us in our pain, but He ministers to us in His pain and suffering. He makes use of His agony for the good encouragement of His people. He can make good use of yours.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So how do we make use of this great comforting prayer of Jesus for us in our lives? We do so by faith, by believing upon the Lord Jesus. If you do not believe in Jesus, you can make no use of this prayer, it does nothing for you, it does not belong to you, you have no right to make use of it. But if you would but believe in Him, it is yours, and all that is in Christ is yours.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For every single one of us who are Christians here today. We obviously were not yet Christians when Christ prayed this prayer. We were yet to be enemies of God and of His Christ for a time. We were yet to rage and seethe against Him for a time. Yet Jesus prays for us even then, saying, I pray not only for these, but also those who will believe in me. Jesus prayed for those who yet to be His enemies and those who would persecute Him and His Church, but who were destined to be His. If you are a Christian, Jesus prayed and asked for your conversion. And the Father answered that prayer because in eternity past, the Father gave you to the Son. How His prayer was effective over against your rebellion and your unbelief and your sin! How comforting, Jesus\u2019 prayers are more powerful and effective than our sin and unbelief. James says that the prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Jesus is that righteous man. Jesus is that righteous man without any sin. How powerful and effective His prayers are.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I pray that we will come to find great comfort in this prayer and that our affections for Jesus are greatly moved to greater obedience, and that none here would resist Christ, and would come and avail themselves of the great comfort that is to be had in Him alone. He prays for us as none other can, as none other will. Let us worship Him alone.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Click HERE for sermon audio.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We embark this afternoon on a journey within a journey. Going through the Gospel of John is a journey we are on, and as we set out into chapter 17, it will be a journey of its own. There are so many great chapters in John, and to have one that is entirely a prayer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":685,"featured_media":4503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,25,27,30,32],"tags":[44,274,382,483,557,562,1559,678,679,687,699,765,969,1558,1560,1161,1172],"class_list":{"0":"post-4502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-commentary","8":"category-faith","9":"category-gospel","10":"category-preaching","11":"category-theology","12":"tag-44","13":"tag-christ","14":"tag-disciples","15":"tag-father","16":"tag-god","17":"tag-gospel","18":"tag-high","19":"tag-jenkins","20":"tag-jesus","21":"tag-john","22":"tag-joshua","23":"tag-lord","24":"tag-prayer","25":"tag-prays","26":"tag-priestly","27":"tag-son","28":"tag-spirit","29":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/upper-room.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4516,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/covenantal-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":4502,"position":0},"title":"Covenantal Prayer","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"July 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Introduction This afternoon, we will be looking at a few sections of verses at a time, so we will read them as we come to them. This High Priestly Prayer of our Lord is not a rambling disconnected assortment of thoughts that randomly come to Jesus\u2019 mind as He prays.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/commentary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/07\/David.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/07\/David.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/07\/David.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/07\/David.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/07\/David.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4559,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/made-one-in-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":4502,"position":1},"title":"Made one in Christ","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"September 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"20\u00a0\u201cI do not\u00a0ask for these only, but also for those\u00a0who will believe in me through their word,\u00a021\u00a0that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that\u00a0they also may be in\u00a0us, so that the world\u00a0may believe that you have sent me.\u00a022\u00a0The glory that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/faith\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/09\/church.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4511,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/what-does-jesus-see\/","url_meta":{"origin":4502,"position":2},"title":"What Does Jesus See?","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"July 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"When Jesus had spoken these words,\u00a0he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,\u00a0\u201cFather, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, (John 17:1) Introduction For those of us who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and have come to love Him, there is nothing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/commentary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/07\/Abram.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4505,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/the-altar-of-incense-the-smell-god-likes\/","url_meta":{"origin":4502,"position":3},"title":"The Altar of Incense: The Smell God Likes","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"June 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Introduction The Bible can sometimes be difficult to understand if we only read and try to understand a single passage by itself. The modern evangelical approach to Bible reading is designed to be very simple and easy. Many Bible reading plans or devotionals will pick out the nice sounding easy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/commentary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/altar-of-incense.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/altar-of-incense.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/altar-of-incense.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/altar-of-incense.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4536,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/kept-by-god-in-christ-election-and-preservation\/","url_meta":{"origin":4502,"position":4},"title":"Kept by God in Christ: Election and Preservation","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"July 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cFather,\u00a0the hour has come;\u00a0glorify your Son that the Son may\u00a0glorify you,\u00a02\u00a0since\u00a0you have given him authority over all flesh,\u00a0to give eternal life to all\u00a0whom you have given him. \u201cI have manifested your name to the people\u00a0whom you gave me out of the world.\u00a0Yours they were, and you gave them to me,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/commentary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/07\/BelemTower-597b3f919abed500108e2ad8-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/07\/BelemTower-597b3f919abed500108e2ad8-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/07\/BelemTower-597b3f919abed500108e2ad8-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/07\/BelemTower-597b3f919abed500108e2ad8-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/07\/BelemTower-597b3f919abed500108e2ad8-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/07\/BelemTower-597b3f919abed500108e2ad8-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1216,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/the-means-of-sovereignty\/","url_meta":{"origin":4502,"position":5},"title":"The Means of Sovereignty","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"November 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cWhen he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, \u2018The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Gospel"","block_context":{"text":"Gospel","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/gospel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/685"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}