John 17:14

John 17:14. I have given them thy word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. The prayer for preservation is over: our Lord now speaks of the work of His disciples in the world. In John 17:8 He had said ‘the words (or sayings) which Thou gavest me I have given them,' and the statement had been immediately followed by a declaration of their personal faith. Here He says ‘I have given them Thy word,' and the statement is followed by a declaration that the world hated them. We see at once the advance of thought. The disciples have received the Father's word for utterance; and, as a natural consequence, the world, which might have known nothing of them had they only nourished their faith in secret, becomes their persecutor. How closely are they again identified by Jesus with Himself: they have not only His peace, His joy, but His work, the very peace, the very joy that filled His soul, the very work in which He died.