Because Jesus is God we can know that he is able to save. But we are encouraged not just that Christ is able to save, but in knowing that he has actually exercised his ability to save us.

In other words, to say that God is able to save isn’t exactly the good news, because God is able to do many things that he nevertheless chooses not to do. Whenever he says “no” to one of our prayers, for instance, we should not construe him to mean that he’s saying “I can’t.” (Unless we’re asking him to sin or otherwise act against his nature.)

I’m thinking along the lines of the old Carl Henry saying: “It’s only good news if it gets there in time.”

That Christ is able to save is no benefit to those who do not find themselves taking refuge in him!

Well, Christ is an able Savior and because he’s always on time—indeed, he has authored time itself— he’s an unconquerable Savior.

Look, for instance, at John 17:9-19, where in his “high priestly prayer” Jesus turns from praying for himself to praying for his friends. Christ’s interceding on the sinner’s behalf is GOOD NEWS, and here it rises to the surface of his prayer in wonderful relief:

I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

He has given us the only kind of life he has within himself – ETERNAL LIFE.

The primary facet of eternal life on display in vv.9-18 is the eternality of it, the forever protection Christians have by Christ himself. Review from the passage, for instance:

v.10 = all yours are mine and mine are yours, meaning we belong to God

v.11 = the Father is keeping us

v.12 = he has guarded us, and not one of them has been lost

v.15 = keep them from the evil one

vv.16-17 = sanctify them (or set them apart)

All of this points us the safety we have in Jesus!

Even the loss of the “son of destruction,” a reference to Judas, in v.12 is not an indication of  Christ’s unconquerability, since he notes that Judas’s destruction was according to the divine plan (“that the Scripture be fulfilled”). In other words, Judas didn’t slip through the cracks. Jesus isn’t a pretty good Savior, about to finish 11 out of 12. No, he kept all that were given to him. None of them was lost. Nobody slips through the cracks. If you are saved, you are unconquerably saved.

The obvious doctrinal connections here are to eternal security and the perseverance of the saints. But there are shades here of what’s more explicit in John 17:21-22, where we get a glimpse into the doctrine of mystical union with Christ.

…that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them…

The gospel gem of union with Christ is perhaps the major facet of the gospel uniting the whole of the New Testament. It is implicitly proclaimed every time we see phrases like “in him” or “in Christ” or “with him” – to be found in Christ, to be raised with Christ, to move and live and have our being “in Christ,” to be crucified with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly places, to be hidden with Christ in God.

In John 15, Jesus tells his disciples that they are the branches and he is the vine, and that they must “remain in him” or “abide in him.” This is all doctrine of union talk.

And in John 17 the picture being displayed shows us that Christ doesn’t just advocate for us as a defense attorney – though he does that too – but that he actually grafts us into himself. But further: by faith, the sinner saved by grace is spiritually inextricable from Jesus. His Spirit indwells us. And we are said to dwell in him.

How is this? That he would be, spiritually speaking, inside of us. And we would also be, spiritually speaking, inside of him?

Well, think of the temple in the ancient days. The holiest of holies was the place where God’s presence specially dwelled. But it would not be accurate to say God’s wholeness was solely located in that physical space. God is omnipresent. He can’t not be omnipresent. So God was outside the temple and everywhere. But also he dwelled specially in the temple. This is a corollary to the indwelling presence of Christ in believers. We are in him. But he is also specially in us.

Think of a Martryoshka doll. You know, those Russian nesting dolls, where you open it up and there’s an increasingly smaller doll inside? Well, picture just three. The middle one is us. We are inside Christ, so that when you open him up, you find us. And when you open us up, you find him again.

We belong to God. The Father is keeping us. He has guarded us and not one of us will be lost. He is keeping us from the evil one. He has sanctified us.

Speaking of Russia: Recently, as Russian invaders entered Ukrainian soil, I saw a photo online said to be of a group of Ukrainian Christians in a circle in Kharviv Square joined in prayer. And I was struck by two things in contemplating that photo. The first thing I was struck by was the sheer vulnerability of them. For seven or eight human beings armed with nothing but winter coats are no match for small arms fire, much less heavy artillery. But the second thing I was struck by was the sheer power of them. For Christians – to be found in Christ, to be guarded and kept by him is — in all the ways that ultimately and eternally matter — to be unconquerable

Richard Sibbes says, “The Christian is an impregnable fortress. The Christian is a man who cannot be conquered.”

Oh, we can be killed. But we cannot be conquered.

As Paul says in Colossians 3:3, “our life is hidden with Christ in God.” If we are hidden with Christ in God, we are as secure as Christ is. Now, how secure do you think Christ is?

Jesus says, “I have guarded them! (v.12)”

Now, of course we need to be sober-minded. We will endure hardship in this life. In v.15, Jesus plainly says, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world,” only that we be “kept from the evil one.”

Nobody gets out of here alive. Even the Christian must die. But dying isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you. Dying after you die is the worst thing that can happen to you. But for those who are united to Christ by faith – we have unconquerable, eternal life.