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Our Lord’s High Priestly Prayer, Part I, John 17:1-3 John 17:1-26, These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. 6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. 7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. 8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. 9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. 20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. 24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. And so it ends without an Amen or the words “in Jesus name” for when Jesus speaks there is no need of such a valediction. This chapter of John, this prayer only included in the Gospel of John is the farewell prayer of Jesus Christ for His disciples.
It is his longest recorded prayer offered during his public ministry on Earth.
It is commonly called our Lord's High Priestly Prayer.
It was probably spoken after Christ and his band of disciples had left the room of the last supper and before they had crossed the valley of Kidron to the Mount of Olives.
It is a prayer of intercession and had three concerns, the needs of Jesus Christ himself, the needs of his disciples and the needs of future believers.
It is therefore a prayer for those of us in this Sunday School class who belong to Christ.
It is essentially an intercession for those who will form the body of Christ, the church.
It is the Sacerdotal (sas er do tal, meaning priestly) Prayer of our Lord because he here intercedes for his people approaching God as the High Priest in offering his own life as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world
It is a prayer of consecration for Jesus Christ as he prepares to sacrifice himself in behalf of all those whom the Father has given him.
It is a prayer of consecration for his disciples for whom the sacrifice is offered.
And Believers, it is a prayer for you.
Read it and take it personally for it is the pleadings of your Lord to His Father for you and for me.
John Knox on his death bed in 1572 asked his wife to read John 17 every day to him where he said, 'I cast my first anchor.'
Matthew Henry in reference to Chapters 14-16 of John said it was: The most remarkable prayer following the most full and consoling discourse ever uttered on earth.
Martin Luther said: "A prayer wherein he discovereth both unto us and to the Father, the abysses of His heart and poureth forth its treasures. Plain and simple in sound, it is yet so deep, rich and broad that no one can fathom it."
Bishop Ryle said about this prayer: "This chapter we have now begun is the most remarkable in the Bible. It stands alone and there is nothing like it."
Jesus Christ engaged in vocal and silent prayer regularly with the Father.
He was engaged in prayer at his baptism.
As he commenced his public ministry, "He rose up a great while before day, and went out, and departed into a solitary place and there prayed."
Prior to selecting the twelve apostles he went up into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God.
While he was praying he was transfigured and became radiant in glory.
And his last words were given in prayer.
Communication passed constantly between Jesus Christ the Son and God the Father.
But here he prays audibly so that the disciples would know that they were secure.
He prays audibly so that they might witness the intercessory ministry that Jesus Christ will never cease to have in their behalf and our behalf.
It is a model of the intercession that Jesus Christ makes in heaven before the Father as our great High Priest.
He expresses the desire of his heart in seeking the temporal, the spiritual and eternal welfare of those who are his own.
The chapter divides itself into three simple sections.
In the first five verses, it is Christ and his Father.
The great word there is "glory."
Jesus desires of his Father that he glorify him with the glory they shared from eternity.
Verses 6 through 19 concern Christ and his disciples.
The great word there is "kept."
Jesus asks the Father to preserve his disciples.
From verse 20 through verse 26 we have Christ and his Church.
The great word there is "one."
Jesus Christ desires for his Church to be in oneness with each other.
There are four great doctrines expressed in this prayer.
Christ expresses the doctrine of salvation in the first five verses.
He expresses the doctrine of preservation in verses 11 to 16, the doctrine of sanctification in verse 17 through verse 19 and the doctrine of glorification from there to the end of the chapter.
So let us begin to try to absorb the glories of this prayer of our Wonderful Lord for herein He prays for us.
John 17:1, These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
These words spake Jesus and he lifted up his eyes to heaven.
These words Jesus speaks of were the words of discourse previously spoken in chapters 14-16 that he had now completed.
They were the words given to the disciples which were designed to bear fruit in their lives.
He has concluded his teaching of his disciples but now he wants the Father's blessing upon those he has taught.
So He lifts up his eyes to heaven and engages in public prayer to the Father.
As he lifts up his eyes to heaven he shows that he seeks his home above, where his Father dwells.
He knows that heaven is the abode of the hearer of prayer and the giver of every good and perfect gift.
John describes this gesture of Jesus Christ to tell us that prayer is to be directed to the Father.
It is as if prayer were an arrow and the uplifted eyes gave it direction to the Father.
So there was no mistaking to whom the prayer was directed.
There was no mistaking that Jesus was in a posture of prayer.
His eyes were directed to heaven which showed the disciples the withdrawal of his thoughts and affections from earthly things.
The turning of his eyes toward God shows his recognition of God's majesty and excellence.
The lifting of his eyes shows his complete confidence in God.
David recognized this when in Psalm 121:1,2 he wrote: I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
Jesus prayed: the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Praise the Lord for the hour is come!
This is the seventh and last time that the Lord refers to this momentous hour.
It was to be the hour when Jesus Christ was to die. The good Friday was coming!
It was the hour when he was to be made sin for his people and to bear the wrath of a sin hating God.
It was the hour for fulfilling and accomplishing many prophecies, types and symbols.
It was the hour when the Serpent was permitted to bruise the woman's seed, when the sun refused to shine, when redemption of sinners took place.
All else in this prayer must follow the most important consideration of Jesus Christ.
His desire to glorify the Father.
Christ puts first things first. What is the purpose of life?
To glorify God. So he says: glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
For what was Jesus Christ praying?
Was he asking to return to the Father and take up the glory that he had left?
He knew he was facing the cross but he also knew that glory awaited him in his resurrection and his ascension to the Father for by this He would have redeemed His people.
Unless he was glorified he could not bestow eternal life.
Without his ascension the Holy Spirit would not come and without the Holy Spirit there would be no knowledge of the Father and his Son and therefore no eternal life.
Without completing His mission blindness would prevail.
So the cross must come first.
He must pass through death before that glory would be realized but he prayed for the Father to glorify him in spite of what that meant.
The Son was glorified but that glory was to be glory that would ultimately bring glory to the Father.
The Father was to be glorified by the completion of the work that he was sent to do.
To seek and to save that which was lost.
To have power over all flesh and to give eternal life to those whom the Father gave him.
He would be glorified by the coming of the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit.
He would be glorified by the establishment of the church and the proclamation of the Gospel.
The Father would be glorified in our salvation that Jesus Christ provided.
Will not the Father be glorified when he is finished with conforming you to the image of his Son?
Is not the Father glorified when you by faith accomplish something according to God's will?
Jesus continues to pray in John 17:2,3, As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Giving power to Jesus Christ over all flesh is for the ultimate purpose of glorifying God.
Giving eternal life to as many as the Father has given him is to bring glory to God.
To bestow eternal life on lost sinners is the glory of the Father.
And to be the means and channel for the bestowal of eternal life on lost sinners is the glory of the Son.
The Father was glorified in calling, appointing, and qualifying the Son to be the Savior of sinners.
The Son was glorified in undertaking, discharging and accomplishing this mission.
glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Giving power over all flesh that he may give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him is glorifying the Son.
Upon this unmoving foundation the believer stands!
All power over all flesh underlies his ability to give eternal life.
There is no power that can undo that gift.
All power insures that those who have eternal life are suited to eternal life.
All power provides the nature to enjoy eternal life, the right eyes and ears, the right affections and the right understandings.
Jesus Christ describes to his disciples of what eternal life consists.
The Father is the source of eternal life.
He is the fountainhead of eternal life.
Jesus Christ is the channel of eternal life.
Only though Jesus Christ is eternal life given.
The Holy Spirit is the Father's communicator of eternal life to the believer.
Faith is that which allows the soul to see, hear, taste, receive, know and enjoy God and Jesus Christ.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Knowledge of the Father and the Son is life eternal. |