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Our Lord’s High Priestly Prayer, Part III, John 17:8-14
The hour is come.
The end of Jesus’ earthy ministry is imminent but the important task of redemption awaits for the blood of Christ still flows in his body but soon that blood will be forcibly released by cruel men who know not what they do.
But what they do will satisfy the Father for he has said: without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
One night is left but tomorrow his blood will flow and his blood will cover the sins of the world.
But today He prays to His Father in behalf of his small band of disciples also praying for those who will follow in their footsteps, those who will hear the good news of the Gospel proclaimed by His disciples and those who come after.
Many years ago in this very place I heard that good news from those who came after and the Father drew me unto Him.
Jesus knew of that day in my life for John records He looked unto the Father and prayed for me.
So again we join that prayer in John 17:8:
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.
Some wondered at the words of Christ, some even attributed his words to Satan.
But here Christ prays and tells the Father that the disciples know that the Father is the source of all that was given to the Son.
Of this knowledge the world is ignorant.
The world fails to recognize Jesus Christ as the revealer of the Father.
To the world Jesus Christ is simply a man speaking man's word.
But to the disciples Jesus Christ was God speaking God's word.
He says that he has given them the Father’s words, they have received them, they have known them, and they have believed them.
This believing is the "believing on" kind of believing.
It is an action believing, a doing believing.
It is a "trust in" kind of believing and it comes from receiving the word of God.
For Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
They believed that Jesus Christ's teaching came from God; that he himself had come from God as the Father's sent one.
They, by experience had learned the message of:
John 7:17, If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
If you do God's will you will know that Jesus Christ was sent from God!
He continues His prayer in John 17:9, I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
He says I pray for them whom the Father has given me.
I, who have taught them, they who have received the truth are those whom I pray for.
Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world but at this time he prays not for the world.
He prays not for mankind in general but He only prays for those who are about to carry the message of salvation to the world.
God the Father has decreed that the salvation of the world depends upon their witness of Jesus Christ.
It depends upon their faithful recording of the life, death and resurrection of Christ.
Some of these will write holy words upon which our faith stands.
So they are in need of the equipage of an under girding of prayer to the Father.
So he prays to the Father as the mediator, the great High Priest.
for they are thine, he says:
John 17:10, And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
What belonged to the Father belonged to the Son.
As the property of the Father they were also the property of the Son.
The interests of both cannot be separated for their interests are common.
This common interest is of great advantage to God's people in that Christ will insure that that which the Father owns will be cared for in the fullest.
That is you and I who are his.
Jesus Christ tells the Father that he is glorified in them.
He speaks with full knowledge of what lives the disciples will lead for him.
He speaks with full knowledge of what his grace will do in their lives to conform them to his image and he speaks that as if it has already occurred.
God knows you as if you are a finished product.
For that we cry Halleluiah!
He knows what his grace in you will produce and he speaks of that.
He knows that Jesus Christ will be glorified in you because you are predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son.
So too were the disciples and He was glorified in them.
The life of the vine is revealed in the branches so that the fruit of the branches is the glory of the vine as the vine provides life to the branches.
What a place for his disciples to be!
For they were subjects of the mutual affection of the Father and of the Son!
In this, the love of God, there is no safer relationship!
John 17:11, 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.
Jesus Christ reminds the Father that as far as the disciples are concerned a great change is taking place.
The disciples are not to have the personal presence of Jesus Christ.
By three o'clock of the next afternoon his salvation blood would flow and he would lay dead and the world would see him no more.
They are not to be in his personal care as being present with them and this will expose them to more of the world.
So he now commits the disciples to the care of the Father.
By no longer being present with the disciples and allowing the disciples to live by faith Jesus Christ expects that the Father will receive more glory.
Yes, the disciples will suffer for his name, yes his disciples will be tried, yes his disciples will die for him, yes the world will rage and ridicule them, but the Father will receive the glory by the fruit that is borne through them in the Spirit of Christ.
These things will all happen but Jesus Christ knows that they will be protected by the Father in the power of his name.
So he prays for his own, committing the name of the Father to their care.
What better protection is there than to have the Holy Father to care for the disciples of Christ.
Note the name that Jesus Christ calls the Father on our behalf. Holy Father!
This name is given to the disciples as the name for God Almighty.
It is not a name to be applied to a mere man as some do.
The preservation of the disciples by the Father is a work of God's holiness because it is involved in separating the disciples from the unholy world even while they are in the world.
So Jesus Christ uses that name of God, Holy Father, because he is praying for their preservation while in an unholy world.
Only an Holy Father can do that.
He continues in John 17:12, 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.
God the Father did not give Judas, the traitor to Christ.
He was lost that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Again we see God’s sovereignty displayed.
Again we see that no man cometh unto the Father unless the Father draw him and Judas was not drawn.
The presence of Judas was one of the many proofs that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah for his deception was foretold in scripture.
But all the other 11 were given to Christ and Christ kept them for the Father losing none of those he was given.
Christ was faithful in keeping his disciples and he continues to be faithful in keeping and preserving every believer from the world, the flesh and the devil.
The believer does not keep himself but Christ keeps the believer.
Eternal security then depends not on the believer but on Jesus Christ.
Continuing in John 17:13, And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Jesus Christ prays to the Father that the joy that he finds in the Father's love will be reproduced in the hearts of his disciples.
He had told the disciples in John 15:11, I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be fulfilled.
Here in his prayer to the Father he reports to the Father what he has said to them.
He desires that they follow his word, that they remember his word that they may have joy.
He goes to the Father for He says: And now come I to thee.
He has joy and he wants his disciples who are to represent him on Earth to continue in that joy.
Isn't it the Father's will that they be conformed to the image of his Son?
Did not the Son have joy in fellowship with the Father during all his time on Earth.
And this is how a believer is to have joy!
In fellowship with God and his word!
The joy of the LORD is his strength.
This is what the Savior craved for his own.
Because of the position they now had with the Father there was no reason not to have the same proportion of joy as Jesus Christ had with the same Father.
There is no hindrance to a believer having joy.
Every barrier against joy has been removed.
There are no “Thou shalt not have joy” commandments in the scriptures!
The word of Christ has been spoken and the word of God is designed that your joy may be full.
The believer has access into the holiest of holies through Jesus Christ and there is no reason not to have joy except hardness of heart in the believer.
Continuing is John 17:14, 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.
In giving the disciples the Father's word Jesus Christ gives more to them than just expounding the scriptures.
He had given them what he had been given as described in Isaiah 50:4:
The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.
He had given them what the Father was, he had given them the source of their joy.
As that joy was expressed they would discover that they are not of the world and the world would hate them for it.
A man or woman of joy, true joy, is not of the world and the world will hate that man or woman for it.
The world is filled with those who love what they see and taste and feel and anyone who does not share that love it hates.
The person of joy has new affections, new interests, and a new Master.
He has been separated from the world and in proportion as he follows Christ: he condemns the world and the world hates and plots against him, curses him, says all manner of evil against him, opposes him and rejoices when any evil befalls him.
He says about those whom the father has given: they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Like Son, like follower of Son!
Christ is the second man as Paul in 1 Cor 15:47 proclaims:
The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
He said in Hebrews 7:26, For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
Jesus declared to the Jews in John 8:23, .... Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.
Paul in 2 Cor 5:17 declared: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
And in Hebrews 3:1 Paul wrote, Wherefore, holy brethren, .....partakers of the heavenly calling, ....consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
Amplifying this partaking of the heavenly calling, Paul said in Phil 3:20, For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
So Jesus Christ in this High Priestly Prayer declares himself to be not of this world and if he is not of this world so shall also his disciples be.
We are to be heavenly minded!
Our conversation is in heaven.
This word conversation means community and citizenship.
We who are Christ's are of the community of heaven.
We who are saved are citizens of heaven.
We are strangers here journeying to our home to be with Christ. |