¹² “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.”

Keeping and guarding His disciples, even when they were unaware that was a concern, was a big part of Jesus’ ministry on earth. Out of the multitude, He weeded out the curious onlookers, the self-righteous and the comfort seekers. He spoke of total commitment to Him (John 6:32-58). But what really riled His detractors was His concluding statement: “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father” (John 6:65). He was clearly separating the wolves from sheep!

His teaching caused a great disturbance among the vast majority of people. “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore” (John 6:66). Talk about disciple-reduction! Even then, He gave the twelve an easy out, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” (John 6:67). They could have left at that time, the door was open; Jesus wasn’t going to coerce them to stay, or drop the standard.

Jesus was not about gaining a large crowd of followers; He was looking for highly committed disciples, those who would leave all to follow Him. And from the multitude, there were twelve. Peter expressed their commitment well, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

For many today, that would be considered ministry failure, to go from 5,000 to 12 in one day! That’s over minus 400% growth, ending up with 0.2% attendance at the Jesus discipleship meetings. God is like that, though. He began a nation with a single man, Abraham. He whittled down the armed forces of Gideon to 300 (Judges 7). Jesus wanted to launch His worldwide enterprise, the Church, with just a few highly committed men.

It was these men that Jesus kept and guarded. They had given up all to follow Him; He would take care of His own. He protected them from the Pharisees’ criticism, for example, when He defended their eating grain as they walked along the fields on a Sabbath day (Luke 6:1-5). He protected them from temptation of Satan (Luke 22:31). They just may have been the subject of much of His prayer time on earth.

Finally, the Lord protects His disciples by praying for them. This Upper Room prayer is emblematic of Jesus’ intercessory role (Rom 8:34) and His advocacy for us (1 John 2:1). Yes, He continues to protect His own against the accusations of Satan.

Lord, I praise You for protecting me and keeping me as Your own.