I ask on their behalf…those whom you have given Me…Holy Father, keep them in Your name…keep them from the evil one…I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word. 

John 17:9, 11, 15, 20 

“Keep them in Your name…keep them from the evil one” (John 17:11, 15). By themselves, only eleven simple words, but when prayed by Jesus, they assure the Christian’s eternal destiny—a prayer of protection that continues its effectual work ever since Christ first laid it before His Father’s throne of grace.1  

No request is more comforting. No greater care could be verbalized. No petition has ever been so needed.  

The Promise of Protection Explained 

Theologians call this doctrine the Perseverance of the Saints.2 In common vernacular, it is referred to as the believer’s eternal security. 

The promise is this: Union with Christ guarantees eternity with Christ. Though every believer sins—and sometimes sins grievously—saving grace will never be withdrawn, forgiveness will never be revoked, justification will never be rescinded, redemption will never be canceled, reconciliation will never be severed, adoption into God’s family will never be annulled. There is “no condemnation”—nor will there ever be condemnation—“for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). 

How Can I Be So Sure? 

Have you ever asked that question? Of course, you have, if you’ve considered your own spiritual weakness or felt how strong the pull of this world can be. The adage is true: If you could lose your salvation, you would lose your salvation. 

But the doctrine of eternal security promises that the hypothetical “if” clause can never be so. Salvation cannot be lost. Satan is powerless to reclaim those who were once his. Every believer will “persevere to the end…and be eternally saved.”3  

Why? Because the safety of our souls does not rest on our hold of Christ but on the securing work of each member of the Trinity—the Father’s sovereign election always accomplishing its design,4 the Spirit’s indwelling work guaranteeing our final redemption,5 and (as this post focuses on) the Son’s continual intercession praying us into glory.6 

Fragile Faith Calls for Urgent Prayer 

Having left the upper room with His apostles, only hours from betrayal and a rising sun from death, Jesus stopped just short of the Kidron Valley. What awaited Him on the other side was unimaginable horror. And He knew it.  

Jesus saw the Passover lambs’ blood still running down the ravine—a picture of His own slaughter to come.7 He recognized the route He was walking—the same route David took centuries ago when he, too, was betrayed by someone he loved and rejected by the nation.8 Jesus sensed the significance of Gethsemane—because of Adam’s failure in another garden.9  

And so, Christ stops. 

He knows what He must do. He must pray. But not only for Himself—though we would understand if that was what Jesus did. He needed to pray for His apostles, aware of how fragile their faith was, how intense their own temptations would soon be, and how vicious their enemy is. 

A Savage Enemy Requires a Praying Son 

Up to this point, the apostles have talked a good game. Peter had promised, “I will lay down my life for You” (John 13:37), a sentiment the rest of the apostles amened (Mark 14:31). Each man oblivious to the satanic battle they were about to face. 

Never before did these men have to worry about Satan’s evil schemes. Christ had been their constant shield. In fact, each time Jesus spoke of Satan to His apostles, it was always about Himself and His death.10 The apostles were never the target of Satan’s threats. 

But night had now fallen, and the Prince of Darkness would soon be let loose. No longer would Jesus be able to guard His apostles as He had done before. No longer would He be able to fend off the enemy on their behalf. His role of protector was about to end. Unbeknownst to the apostles, they were now in Satan’s sights. And his goal was ruthless: sift them like wheat11 and devour their faith.12 

No wonder Jesus stopped to pray for these men. No wonder He called Satan “the evil one”—the most ruthless enemy this world has ever known. No wonder Jesus asked His Father to “keep them”—to do what Jesus could not do once He was taken into custody. No wonder He prayed “for those also who believe in Me through their word”—since Satan’s attacks on God’s people will never cease until he is sentenced to the pit. 

The adversary was stalking. The ruler of this world was about to unleash his worst. The savage nature of the enemy necessitated every word of Jesus’ prayer. 

Praying the Father’s Will Back to the Father 

For three years, Jesus promised to protect these men’s souls. 

  • “Whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  
  • “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24). 
  • “Everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40). 
  • “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 11:25). 

And now, on the precipice of death, Jesus turned each of those promises into prayer. Not to twist His Father’s arm to do something He did not want to do, but because frustrating Satan’s schemes and preserving His people’s faith is always what His Father wants to do. As Jesus said, “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing…This is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life” (John 6:39-40). 

Our soul’s security is based upon the unity of will between the Father and the Son.13  

A Picture of Christ’s Protecting Power 

But can this prayer of protection be fulfilled? Is there an enemy too strong? A scheme too menacing? Jesus answered those questions later that night in a most vivid way. 

The scene was staggering. A cohort of 200 soldiers, a posse of religious leaders and their armed guards, and a Satan-indwelt Judas arrived in Gethsemane to arrest Jesus. But Jesus did not cower in fear or flee in terror as they expected Him to do. Instead, He spoke: “Whom do you seek?” A strange question since “Jesus [knew] all the things that were coming upon Him” (John 18:4). 

And yet, though strange on the surface, Jesus’ question was highly strategic—necessary to safeguard His apostles’ faith.  

First, His question allowed Him to claim “the mysterious and majestic name of God”14 for Himself. A confession that dropped each man to the ground like a defeated foe. Even a Satan-indwelt Judas had to recoil in fright. Martin Luther was right, “One little word can fell him.” 

Second, Jesus’ question forced the soldiers to identify the limit of their arrest warrant. “They said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth’” (John 18:7). They were there for only one man, not a group of men.  

And so, drawing on His divine authority just demonstrated and the legal limitations confining these soldiers, Jesus commanded the release of His apostles. “‘If you seek Me, let these go their way” (John 18:8). 

Remember, Satan wanted to sift Peter (and the rest of the apostles) like wheat. That’s one reason (maybe the reason) Satan was in this garden on this night. Couple that with the fragility of the apostles’ faith, and you realize why Jesus issued His directive. 

Jesus knew that if His men were taken into custody, the temptations they would face would be too strong for them to endure. Their faith would have faltered—permanently—and Satan would have won. But Jesus would not allow that to happen. Not on this night. Not ever! That’s why John includes his editorial explanation of Jesus’ command: it was to guarantee that “those You have given Me I lost none” (John 18:9). 

Here is a living picture of Christ’s protecting power for His own. A visible promise of the believer’s divine security and guaranteed perseverance. A graphic reminder that “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able” (1 Corinthians 10:13).  

How else can you explain the soldiers not taking the apostles into custody? How else can you explain the soldiers not arresting a sword-wielding Peter? How else can you explain Satan not devouring the apostles’ faith?    

The Capstone of Christ’s Redeeming Work 

And yet, Christ’s prayer of protection is not limited to this night. Christ continually prays His people into glory—with one significant difference. He no longer prays as a humiliated Savior. He now prays as the exalted Lord who sits at His Father’s right hand. In fact, this is the capstone of Christ’s redeeming work for His people, “since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). 

References

[1] Romans 8:33-34; Hebrews 7:25 

[2] Chapter 17 of The Westminster Confession of Faith is entitled, “Of the Perseverance of the Saints.” 

[3] Ibid. 

[4] Ephesians 1:4-5 

[5] Ephesians 1:13-14 

[6] John 17:9, 11, 15, 20; Luke 22:31-32; Romans 8:33-34; Hebrews 7:25 

[7] John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Peter 1:19; Revelation 5:8-9 

[8] 2 Samuel 15:12-14, 23 

[9] Romans 5:12, 14, 19. See also: Patrick Slyman, https://blog.tms.edu/christs-agony-and-our-imputed-sin (accessed January 29, 2025). 

[10] John 6:70; 8:44; 13:2, 27 and Colin Kruse, John, Tyndale New Testament Commentary (Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 339. 

[11] Luke 22:31 

[12] 1 Peter 5:8 

[13] Thomas Goodwin’s words are appropriate here: “Let us consider both the person interceding, namely Christ; and the person with whom Christ intercedes for this favour, which is God; the one the Son, the other the Father; and so the greatness of Christ with God, and the graciousness of God to Christ, together with the oneness of wills and unity of affections in them both: so that Christ will be sure to ask nothing which his father will deny, and his Father will not deny anything which he shall ask.” As quoted in Mark Jones, Knowing Christ (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2015), 177. 

[14] Wycliffe Bible Commentary, ed. Everett F. Harrison (Chicago: Moody Press, 1987).