International Conference on Missions
Columbus, Ohio
November 14, 2014
NIGHT VISION
WHAT CAN WE LEARN from the night that Jesus went vertical and prayed, “That they
all may be one … that the world may believe” (John 17:20-21).
When Jesus predicted that one of the Twelve would betray Him, Judas took the bread,
Satan entered him, and he went out. And John 13:30 says, “And it was night.”
It was night for Judas. He became, as Jude later so vividly put it, a blemish in the love
feast, a wild wave of the sea foaming up his shame, a wandering star to whom was
reserved the blackness of darkness forever (Jude 12-13). He went out and hung himself
from a twice-dead fruitless tree and it became endless night for him forever. One of the
most terrible things about hell will be the everlastingness of “outer darkness” where there
will be relentless remorse, the wrenching “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew
25:30).
Judas had no night vision. He was doomed and damned as a result. But Jesus, the Light of
the world, had night vision. As the Last Supper concluded, Jesus looked up to heaven and
prayed, “Father, the hour has come.” He then prayed for Himself to be glorified and for
His disciples to be sanctified. Then He looked down that long corridor we call “time” and
with supernatural night vision saw far into the future. 70 A.D. 312 A.D. 988 A.D. 1054
A.D. 1517 A.D. 1735 A.D. 1832 A.D. 1906 A.D. 2014 A.D. And He prayed fervently for
all believers in the future to be unified so that a lost world might believe and be saved.
My prayer is not for them alone, I also pray for those who will believe in me through
their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.
May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me (John 17:2021 NIV).
Jesus had night vision. He could see up to heaven. He could see far into the future.
What is night vision? It has been described as the ability to see in low light conditions.
Unlike nocturnal animals, humans have poor night vision. The human eye lacks
something called tapetum lucidum (literally, “eyeshine”), a layer of tissue behind the
retina that increases the light available to photoreceptors. So, for the military, police, and
even hunters, night vision products like goggles, monoculars, and rifle scopes have been
invented.
Jesus could see in “low light conditions.” Judas had betrayed Him. Peter would soon
deny Him. At the cross, only His mother and John would be there. The rest watched from
a safe distance. And then for three hours the sky drew dark with mystery and shame.
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The ancient prophecy came true: smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. He
was and they were. But still, Jesus, in His last hours on earth, exercised His night vision.
What vital lessons can we learn from the night that Jesus went vertical and prayed to His
father in heaven?
When I went to Poland for the first time (1990) I had a Jewish friend named Josef who
asked me to visit Auschwitz and say a prayer for his family. As he put it, “They all went
up the smokestack.” So when I arrived at Auschwitz on a cold, gray day, I, for the first
and only time in my life, prayed for the dead. I wept for the lost generations of the past.
But in this prayer, Jesus is praying for the lost generations of the future. “I pray for those
who will believe in me…” His night vision was such that He saw all peoples and endless
possibilities in the future. Notice 7 things about this prayer.
1. It is a generous prayer. “My prayer is not for them alone…” It was not limited to
His immediate disciples. It looked down the long corridor of time and saw others
to include in His circle of fellowship. It reminds of what Jesus said in John 10:16
(NKJV): “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must
bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one
shepherd.” He saw beyond Jews to the Gentiles. And aren’t you glad!
2. It is an optimistic prayer. It is a fountain of faith, an oracle of optimism. “I pray
for those who will believe…” Jesus was the original optimist. He prayed with
positive expectancy. He did not pray, “If it be Thy will.” Richard Foster said,
“Perhaps the most astonishing characteristic of Jesus’ praying is that when he
prayed for others, he never concluded by saying, ‘If it be Thy will.’” That’s what
night vision can do for your prayer life as well.
3. It is an exclusive prayer. He prayed for those who would believe in Him – “in
me.” Many people believe in God. Not nearly as many believe in Christ. Jesus
said, “You believe in God, believe also in Me…I am the way, the truth, and the
life, No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:2,6 NKJV). In the
rubble of the World Trade Center a “One Way” sign was seen – sticking straight
up! An old song says, “My hope is built on nothing less that Jesus’ blood and
righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” Walter Scott
said the Bible contains one truth that is the Sun to which all other Christian truths
are planets in the spiritual solar system. That truth is found in Matthew 16:16,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Night vision enables you to see
the Son!
4. It is validated prayer. “…for those who will believe in Me through their word”
(NKJV). The teaching of the Twelve validated the claims of Christ. The
“apostles’ doctrine” is not about themselves, but is about Christ. What God’s
Word says about Jesus, through the apostles’ teaching, is the final word. Don
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DeWelt once told me he was going to write a book and call it “AGREE WITH
ME OR GO TO HELL!” But then He realized that Someone had already written
the Book! Christian unity must be Christ-centered and Bible-based. Faith comes
by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17). Night vision sees Christ in every book of
the Bible.
5. It is an inclusive prayer. “That all of them may be one…” In Christ we are all
one body. Paul said, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all
of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There
is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in
Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28-28). Only in the church do we find the equality and
harmony the world only dreams about! Only in Christ have the walls come down.
Our sacred duty is to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the
bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). Night vision includes a vision of all that the Lord
saw in His future far-flung family.
6. It is a modeled prayer. “That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in
me and I am in you.” The divine model for unity is the relationship that exists
between the Father and the Son. There is no division between the two. They are
perfectly united – one in name, nature, and aim. My earthly father and I are one
in name, nature, and aim. But we also had (and have) many differences. And so it
is in the church. The key is being united with Christ (John 15:1-8). We are
“partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Christian unity is an expression of
the divine model. Night vision sees the perfect model for unity in the Father and
the Son.
7. It is a world prayer. “That the world may believe that you have sent me … to let
the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved
me.” Seventeen times in John 17 we find the word “world.” This should not
surprise us. The Golden Verse of the Bible says, “For God so loved the world…”
This was the testimony of the apostles. “And we have seen and testify that the
Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). The ultimate
design of our oneness in Christ is the positive effect it will have upon the world.
The world at its worst needs the church at her best! Night vision never takes its
eyes off the world that Jesus came to save.
Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you
must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love
one another” (John 13:34,35).
If you and I don’t love one another, the world will not recognize us as Christians or listen
to our message. It is said that Mohandas Ghandi did not become a Christian because he
observed that Christians could not get along with each other.
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But if we simply do what Jesus said – love each other as He loved us – then the world
will know, they will recognize us as legitimate bearers of the message, and they will
respond to the gospel, and all who do so, will be saved.
To add to David: “How good and pleasant – and necessary to evangelism – it is when
brothers live together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1).
Our forefathers had a saying that went like this:
• In essentials, unity.
• In opinions, liberty.
• In all things, love.
Two boys were sitting on a curb in front of a church. One said to the other, “And to what
abomination do you belong?” Division in the church is an abomination to God. Thomas
Campbell said, “Division among Christians is a horrid evil…it is anti-Christian, as it
destroys the visible unity of the body of Christ, as if He were divided against Himself,
excluding and excommunicating a part of Himself.” Walter Stram said, “Division in the
church is treason against Christ. It presents a tragic stumbling block to the nonChristian.”
Dear Lord, in the low light conditions that surround us today, give us the gift of night
vision – and the power to live it out in the words, love and deeds of Jesus Christ our
Lord.
A PRAYER FOR UNITY
By James DeForest Murch
Gracious God, our heavenly Father, we thank You for the church of Jesus Christ. We
thank You that You so loved us as to send Your only begotten Son into the world to give
His life a ransom for all men who believe on His name.
We thank You, our God that we have been purchased by His precious atoning blood,
born again and make a part of His glorious body the church. We thank You for the
blessed fellowship we have with You through Your dear Son – one flock, one fold, and
one Shepherd. We find in Jesus Christ our life, our hope, our all.
We thank You for Your holy Word and the Holy Spirit whereby we are grounded, upheld
and guided, and preserved in holy communion with You.
As we look upon the outward divisions of the church in the world, our hearts are pained.
God, forgive us our humanisms, our perversions, and our feverish ways that promote
divisions; which keep us from fellowship one with another and which hinder the
evangelization of the world. We long for the visible realization of the unity for which
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Christ prayed. We would surrender our wills completely to You that Your will may be
done in us to the unity of Your people and to Your everlasting glory.
We pray Your divine blessing upon all those movements and agencies which seek in
sincerity the true and ultimate unity of Your people in the earth. Guide them in Your truth
to do Your will. Bless especially, we pray, those earnest souls who have dedicated their
lives to the achievement of this holy purpose. Keep them in Your will and way. Deliver
them from presumptuous thoughts, precipitous acts, and shameful compromises.
Hinder and destroy, we pray, every device of men or of Satan that would mar the pattern
of the church which Jesus built and which His chosen apostles have revealed to us in
Your holy word.
Forbid, O God, that unity which would compromise Your eternal truth, condone evil,
dampen our zeal for lost souls, consent to barren profession, bear no spiritual fruit, take
pride in outward show, seek political power, and number in its company a people who
praise You with their lips but whose hearts are far from You. Fulfill the heartening
promise of our Lord that the gates of hell cannot prevail against Your church.
Help us to know the mind of Christ and His will for us in all things pertaining to His
church; that in His greatness we may rise above our littleness, in His strength we shall
lose our weaknesses, in His peace we may bury all discord, and that in His truth and
righteousness we may march – the united church militant accomplishing the Your you
have set for us in our day in time.
At last, we pray, enfold us in the one church triumphant, the family of God, to dwell with
You forever. And unto You we will ascribe all honor and glory through Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Amen.
From Christians Only (Standard Publishing, 1962). Revised by Victor Knowles for
Project 133 at the 2006 North American Christian Convention.
A workshop presented by Victor Knowles, November 14, 2014 at ICOM (International
Conference on Missions), Columbus, Ohio. Knowles is founder and president of POEM (Peace
on Earth Ministries), Joplin, Missouri. www.poeministries.org
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