Our Lord's High Priestly Prayer, Part VII, John 17:22-26

You may recall in the middle of last week’s lesson I stuttered and stammered after going down a rabbit trail when I should have been hunting for a fox. 

Gaining my composure left me in a state of confusion as to why I went down that trail but with older folks rabbit trails are a common occurrence so I guess we ought to expect some diversions to come from time to time for the mind does tend to wander being retired and all.

But it came to me that afternoon why I proceeded in that direction and it referred to games we had played in elementary school where we were told a phrase secretly and then told to pass it on to the next person in our row who would then pass it on to the next and the next until everyone in the room had a turn to hear the secret message.

The outcome was usually hilarious for the ending message was far afield from the beginning message for it was very hard to pass along the original when each ear and each mouth had opportunity to alter the message, purposeful by some, in ignorance by others.

But this diversion resulted from our lesson where Jesus prayed for all that would believe on Him through their word, that they all may be one. 

In other words his word was given to his disciples and he expected them to pass it on and then for those to pass it on and so on and so on.

And as expected just like in our classroom exercise the word as passed on and passed on through the centuries, unless holding to a strict adherence to the written word of God would end up with a corrupted and confused message such as we see in the world today, a world of compromise and confusion, a world where God’s Word has been corrupted by man’s opinion. 

The lesson to us if we desire to pass truth on to the next generation is to strictly hold up and adhere to the written word of God, paying no attention to the voices of change who wish to make Christianity relevant to the modern world and its culture.

We are to be people of the book, not people of the culture!

This is a world governed by Satan and his desire is to turn God’s good news into bad news and to turn those who tell the good news into enemies of the culture. 

The world desires it be loved, but we are to love not the world, neither the things of the world.

So we are to be armed with that which God gives, the word of God, the whole armor of God.  

And in that light we continue in John 17:22 where Jesus prays, And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

This glory that Jesus Christ herein speaks is a glory that the Father had given him for his perfect work as the incarnate Son of God. 

This is the glory of his perfect and sinless humanity as he revealed the Father to man.

This glory is the reward for his perfect work here on Earth.

Isaiah spoke of this glory when in Isaiah 53:12 he wrote: 

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: ....

The writer of Hebrews 1:2,3 recalled the glory that the Father had given him for his work: 

The father:  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Or Lord Jesus Christ tells the Father that this glory he received for his work of redemption is to be shared with his own. 

He voices this to His Father so that you and I and the disciples will know that we are heirs to the glory that Christ received. 

Paul in: Romans 8:17 amplifies this:   And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint‑heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

And again in Romans 8:30, Paul writes about this glorification of the believer: Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

The body of Christ will bask in the glory of the head of the body who is Jesus Christ.

"that they may be one, even as we are one:"

This oneness of the Father and Son and the believer will only be fully realized in the life to come. 

It is begun at the new birth, encouraged and nurtured by the word of God through this life and realized when the believer is glorified in his new body. 

This is no man-made unity, this is a God-made unity and only a unity of believers, a unity of the body of Christ.

And Jesus Christ perfects this in John 17:23, 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.

This is a prayer for the spiritual growth of the believer. 

This is a prayer that God as the husbandman continue his work in those he has given to the Son, those who are the branches of the vine. 

That they may be made perfect in one means that they may be conformed to the Son. 

Perfect means complete or finished. 

This is a prayer that the believer continue in the finishing school of the Father. 

This is the school of God whose mission is to bring all in attendance to a conformance to Jesus Christ. 

"That they may be one" is not about our standing with God, but about our state with God. 

Our standing with God is assured in Jesus Christ. 

The Holy Spirit of God, the headmaster of God's finishing school, continues the perfecting process or the finishing process and he will continue this process until we receive our new bodies, until we are glorified.

Our state is not yet equal to our standing with God.

But if you are a believer you are on the upward way and at the rapture, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye your state will be brought up to your standing instantly and eternally.

And the prayer "that they may be one" will be fully realized.

As Paul writes in Ephesians 4:13, Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:

The stature of the fullness of Jesus Christ is the measuring stick by which all believers are judged. 

The Husbandman will prune the branch till it fits the vine.

And John continues in verse 23.... and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

The world will know that Jesus Christ was sent by the Father!

The world will have a clear demonstration of the unity of the faith, the perfection in one, when Christ comes with the saints, when he comes with his bride to take control of this earth in his kingdom.

As Colossians 3:4 says, When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. 

I in them and thou in me will be fully seen at Christ's coming in power and glory.

As Paul relates in 2 Thessalonians 1:10, When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe...in that day.

Jesus continues in John 17:24, 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.

This is the climax of this wonderful prayer of Jesus Christ to the Father. 

Will the Father refuse the petition of one who only asks according to the Father's will? 

He will not give his son a stone if he asks for a fish.

Jesus Christ says, I will.  He expresses a word of authority!

We are given here the will of Jesus Christ.

And all who the Father has given him are included in the will.

If you are his you are named in his Will. 

Father my will is for those that you have given me to come to where I will be that they may partake of the glory that you have given me. 

I desire that they behold my glory. 

I desire that they be joint heirs with me. 

I desire that they may be where I am.

He includes all that the Father had given and includes no other.

None of his own lost, all saved to behold his glory, to be the recipient of his benefits, his blessings. 

He said in John 14:3. I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

Where Jesus Christ is, is where his own ought to be. 

And his will is just that. I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.  

As that is the will of Jesus Christ you can be sure that that will, will be fulfilled.

for (He says) thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

Can't we expect that great love to guarantee that the will of Jesus Christ will be honored by the Father?

Jesus Christ continues in John 17:25, O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

Jesus Christ had revealed his will to the Father that those whom the Father had given him would be with him so that they could see his glory. 

Now in this verse he calls upon the righteousness of the Father to reveal that sinful humanity cannot see God.   

Those that the Father had given Jesus Christ would see his glory but those of the world would not see his glory. 

Jesus Christ called the Father "Holy Father" when he prayed for his people's sanctification but here he calls the Father "Righteous Father" when he prays for their glorification. 

God is righteous when he chooses to glorify his people who are righteous in his Son and when he chooses to exercise his justice upon those of the world.    

Those of the world are without excuse and choose by their rejection of Jesus Christ the justice of God.

As Rom 1:19,20 reads,  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them.  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Jesus Christ declares that the world does not know the Father but he was faithful in that the little band in whose midst he prayed knew that Jesus Christ was sent from the Father.

By this knowledge they had passed from being children of the world to children of God and thereby were in the beginning stages of knowing the righteousness of God.

Their journey was beginning and when their journey was complete they were to be brought into the presence of Jesus Christ and they were to see his glory.

And in conclusion John records in John 17:26, 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.

Jesus Christ concludes his prayer to the Father by summing up what he had done and would continue to do for his disciples and for all who would believe on Him. 

He had made known the Father and would continue to make known the Father through the Holy Spirit. 

Then he states why he is a declarer of the Father's name. 

He desires that the love that he enjoys from the Father may also be enjoyed by those whom the Father had given him. 

This is what being one with the Father and the Son means. 

That each has a consciousness of God's love.

He ends the prayer with the words "and I in them." 

The love of the Father only dwells in us through the mediation of the Son. 

Summary:  So He has prayed that the Father preserve them through his name. 

He has prayed that they might have his joy fulfilled in them. 

He has prayed that the Father keep them from evil. 

He has prayed that He sanctify them, set them apart.

And He prays here that they be one, that they be unified in the same pattern that Jesus Christ and the Father are unified. 

This is a prayer for the spiritual growth of the believer. 

He prays that his own may behold his glory and know the love of the Father as he knows the love of the Father.