John 17:13-26: “Jesus’ High
Priestly Prayer: Part #2”
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study we looked at verses 1-12 of chapter 17.
1.1.1.
We observed that Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer is the
greatest prayer that has ever been recorded.
1.1.2.
This prayer was prayed at the conclusion of Jesus’
teaching His disciples on that last evening before His crucifixion, at the end
of Jesus’ Upper Room Discourse which takes up John chapter 13 to 16.
1.1.3. We saw that
this prayer should be called “The Lord’s prayer,” rather than the other
prayer in which Jesus’ sought to teach His disciples to pray. The combination
of both prayers teach us much about prayer.
1.1.4.
In the gospels we see that Jesus is seen to be praying
at least nineteen times. He prayed
before the big decisions He made as well as the small things in life. His prayer life was the result of the constant
and intimate fellowship with the Father.
1.1.5.
Matthew
Henry wrote about this prayer saying, “The most remarkable prayer followed
the most full and consoling discourse ever uttered on earth.”
1.1.6.
Melanchthon,
one of the Reformers, once said, “There is no voice which has ever been
heard, either in heaven or in earth, more exalted, more holy, more fruitful,
more sublime, than the prayer offer up by the Son to God Himself.”
1.1.7.
Theologian
John Brown has written, “The seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John, is,
without doubt, the most remarkable portion of the most remarkable book in the
world…It is the utterance of the mind and heart of the Godman, in the very
crisis of His great undertaking, in the immediate prospect of completing, by
the sacrifice of Himself, the work which had been given Him to do, and for the
accomplishment of which He had become incarnate…How ‘full of grace,’ how ‘full
of truth.’ How condensed, and yet how
clear the thoughts, -- how deep, yet how calm, the feelings which are here, so
far as the capabilities of human language permit, worthily expressed! All is natural and simple in thought and
expression—nothing intricate or elaborate, but there is a width in the
conceptions which the human understanding cannot measure—a depth which it cannot
fathom.”
1.1.8.
Warren Wiersbe has written in “Prayer: Basic Training,” which is a book on
prayer based upon Jesus’ prayer in John 17, that this prayer of Jesus is
remarkable for four reasons :
1.1.8.1.Because of the Person who prayed the prayer.
1.1.8.2.Because of the occasion that demanded the
prayer.
1.1.8.3.Because of the petitions in the prayer.
1.1.8.4.Because of the victory it can give us today.
1.1.9.
We saw that in this
prayer Jesus prays for:
1.1.9.1.Himself:
1.1.9.1.1.To be glorified since His hour has now come.
1.1.9.2.The disciples:
1.1.9.2.1.Protect and keep them from the Evil One--vs 15.
1.1.9.2.2.Sanctify or keep them in the truth of God’s word--vs
17.
1.1.9.2.3.Holiness, or sanctification--vs 15,17.
1.1.9.2.4.For their mission--vs 18.
1.1.9.3.All disciples present, past, and future:
1.1.9.3.1.For their unity--vs 22-23.
1.1.9.3.2.That they might be with Him--vs 24.
1.1.10.We talked about how that this prayer by Jesus is still
being answered today in His people as well as the fact that it is a sample of
how the Lord is continually interceding for His people before the Father as the
book of Hebrews tells us (Hebrews 7:24-25, “24 but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues
forever, holds His priesthood permanently. 25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw
near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”).
1.1.11.We talked about how that prayer is such
a key to a Christian’s life as well as the life of the church.
1.2.
In our
study today, we are going to look at verses 13-26 of chapter 17.
1.2.1.
We are going
to finish looking at Jesus’ high priestly prayer that He prayed with His
disciples on the evening just before His arrest and crucifixion.
1.2.2.
In Jesus’
prayer for the church which encompasses verses 9-26, we see the following in
His prayer (from The Life Of Christ-M.S. Mills) :
1.2.2.1.The basis for this prayer-God’s glorification, vs
9–10.
1.2.2.2.A prayer for unity in the Church, vs 11–12.
1.2.2.3.A prayer for joy, vs 13.
1.2.2.4.A prayer for protection from Satan, vs 14–16.
1.2.2.5.A prayer for sanctification for the Church’s evangelistic
mission, vs 17–19.
1.2.2.6.A prayer for unity with the Godhead, vs 20–21.
1.2.2.7.A prayer for glorification of the Church, vs
22–24.
1.2.2.8.A prayer for the love of God to pervade the Church, vs
26.
1.2.3.
In our
previous study covering the first part of Jesus’ high priestly prayer we
observed Him praying first for Himself.
We noted that the key word in this prayer is “glory” which was
mentioned five times, and we saw also that Jesus’ prayer for Himself was that
He might be glorified having now accomplished all of the things that the Father
had given Him to do when He came to the earth.
In Philippians 2:6-11 we read about the fact that Jesus
was in fact glorified because of His being faithful unto death upon the cross
as a sin sacrifice for a fallen mankind, “6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not
regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and
being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by
becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and
bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth
and under the earth, 11 and that
every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.”
1.2.4.
In The Life Of Christ by
M.S. Mills, he has written the following about glorifying God, “One
cannot overlook the recurring theme of glory which runs through this prayer; it
is so strong that we must consider this aspect carefully. Jesus had completed
the earthly task assigned Him by His heavenly Father, and for this task He knew
He would be glorified, so the reward for service to the Father is glory. Glory,
then, is an integral part of eternal life, and it is indeed the only permanent,
lasting value for which any individual can strive. In fact, we recognize this
even on this earth, for it is relatively common for a man who has vast wealth to
embark on a search for honor”
1.2.5.
Warren
Wiersbe, in his commentary on Nehemiah has written the following about
glorifying God in our lives as believers, “The purpose of all ministry is the
glory of God and not the aggrandizement of religious leaders or organizations
(1 Cor. 10:31; 2 Cor. 4:5). The words of Jesus in His high priestly prayer
ought to be the motivating force in all Christian ministry: “I have glorified
Thee on the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do” (John
17:4). God has a special task for each of His children (Eph. 2:10); and in the
humble, faithful doing of that task, we glorify His name.” We read the following in another of his
commentaries that Wiersbe has written, “We need to remember that the
ultimate goal of God’s great plan of salvation is not the good of people but
the glory of God (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14).”
1.2.6.
In our
previous study we began looking at Jesus’ prayer for His remaining 11
disciples, and in our study today we will begin to look at His prayer for all of
those down through the centuries who will come to believe in Him. However, we must realize that there is not
one prayer that was prayed for the 11 and another for the rest of us. Jesus’ prayer for the rest of the disciples
who will ever come to believe in Him is really just an extension of that prayer
that He prayed for the 11. The prayer
Jesus prayed for the 11 is meant for all of Jesus’ disciples.
1.2.7.
We will
see Jesus praying that the Father will love each of us just as He loved Him.
2.
VS 17:13 - “‘But
now I come to Thee; and these things I
speak in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves’.” - Jesus tell the Father that He is coming to
Him and that He is speaking these things in the world that they might have His
joy made full in themselves
2.1.
Jesus again emphasizes how that faith in Him which
comes through believing in His word, will produce fullness of joy in His
disciples. It was Jesus’ motive and
desire throughout for His disciples, that they have His ‘joy.’
2.2.
Previously in 14:27 Jesus had told His disciples that
He was giving them the gift of His peace, and now He is saying that His motive
and desire for them was that they have His joy.
2.3.
We Christians would do well to keep in mind what a
blessing it is that Jesus’ motive and desire for us is to have His joy, and
that that is “fullness of joy” !
2.4.
In the next verse we read that Jesus next tells His
Father in prayer that He had given His disciples the Father’s word, and it is
the Word of God that produces in the
believer’s life the joy of Christ. The
joy of the Lord is our strength as God’s people (Neh. 8:10) and it gives us the
strength to overcome. Jesus was a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief, as Isaiah 53:3 tells us, but He also had more of the joy of the
Lord in His life than anyone who ever lived, as Heb. 1:9 tells us, “9
“You
have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your
God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness above Your companions.”” He gives us that joy as we abide in Him
through the Holy Spirit.
2.5.
The Bible
Knowledge Commentary states the following about the life of Jesus Christ, “We must
never picture Jesus going around with a long face and a melancholy disposition.
He was a man of joy and He revealed that joy to others. His joy was not the
fleeting levity of a sinful world but the abiding enjoyment of the Father and
the Word. He did not depend on outward circumstances but on inward spiritual
resources that were hidden from the world. This is the kind of joy He wants us
to have, and we can have it through His Word. “Thy word was unto me the joy and
rejoicing of mine heart” (Jer. 15:16). “I have rejoiced in the way of Thy
testimonies, as much as in all riches” (Ps. 119:14). “I rejoice at Thy word, as
one that findeth great spoil” (Ps. 119:162).”
2.5.1.
The joy
that the Lord places in our lives is not the giddiness that the people of this
world experience but rather is a deep and abiding contentment.
2.6.
Previously
in this gospel Jesus had already mentioned that He would give His disciples His
joy:
2.6.1.
He had spoken to them and taught them so that His joy
would be in them and be made full.
2.6.1.1.John 15:11,
“11 “These things I have
spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be
made full.”
2.6.2.
Using the illustration of
a woman after she has given birth to a child Jesus told them that after His
crucifixion that they would have sorrow but that their sorrow would be turned
into joy.
2.6.2.1.John
16:20-22, “20 “Truly,
truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice;
you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. 21 “Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but
when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because
of the joy that a child has been born into the world. 22 “Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart
will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”
2.6.3.
Jesus taught them about
how that answered prayer brings His joy into their lives.
2.6.3.1.John
16:23-24, “23 “In that day
you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask
the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. 24 “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive,
so that your joy may be made full.”
2.7.
A joyless
Christian is one who is out of fellowship with the Lord and needs to repent of
his sins and put Jesus back on the throne of his life. Are you filled with the joy of the Lord?
3.
VS 17:14 - “‘I
have given them Thy word; and the world
has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world’.” - Jesus tells the Father that
He has given His disciples the Father’s word and that ‘the world’ has hated
them because they are not of ‘the world,’ just as He is not of ‘the world’
3.1.
The Word
of God is an incredible divine gift given to us by the Lord. The Father first gave the words to Jesus
(John 17:8), then Jesus gave the words to His disciples (John 17:14), and then
the apostles wrote them down for us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
(2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21).
3.1.1.
We
Christians must never take God’s word for granted, but rather we must people
who read and study it daily so that we can rightly divide and understand it and
apply it to all areas of our life.
3.2.
Jesus tells the Father in prayer that what He had told
His disciples would happen, has in fact happened. Namely, just as the world has hated Jesus, it
has also hated His disciples. The
connection is clear. The world hates us
because God has given us His Word and they refuse to live by and accept that
Word and thus feel condemned by the Word.
3.3.
Jesus’ disciples are not of this evil world in
rebellion against God just as He is not of it, and for this reason the world
has hated them.
4.
VS 17:15 - “‘I
do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one’.” -
Jesus tells the Father that in His intercession for His disciples that
He does not ask that the disciples be taken out of the world but rather that
they be kept from the evil one
4.1.
In this verse, Jesus prays to the Father that He would
not take His disciples away from the presence of evil and this evil world, but
rather that He would keep them from the Devil and the temptations and harm that
the Devil would desire to befall them.
4.2.
In essence Jesus prays for protection for His
disciples as well as for them to overcome in their temptations.
4.3.
I just want to mention here that it is not the
Father’s will for us to be tempted in this world. In fact, James wrote, “Let no one say when
He is tempted that He is being tempted by God for God tempts no man…”
4.4.
The Lord allows us as His people to undergo testings
but does not desire that we be hit with temptations, though these do occur to an
extant no matter how hard you try to “flee temptation,” just as the
scripture teaches us to do.
4.5.
We Christians are to be in the world as bold and
effective witnesses of the good news, but we are not to be of the world
following its rebellious and corrupt ways.
We are able to be overwhelming conquerors in all things that we face in
this life through Christ, as the latter part of Romans chapter 8 tells us.
5.
VS
17:16 - “‘They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world’.”
- Jesus repeats to the Father the fact
that His disciples are not of ‘the world’ just as He is not of ‘the world’
5.1.
Jesus reiterates in His prayer that His disciples are
not of this wicked and rebellious world even as He is not of it.
5.2.
Jesus has already said that the world will hate us
just as it hated Him. Our very lives
lived for Christ condemns the people of this sinful world.
6.
VS
17:17 - “‘Sanctify them in the truth;
Thy word is truth’.” - Jesus asks
the Father to ‘sanctify’ His disciples in the truth, for the Father’s word ‘is’
truth
6.1.
Jesus prays for sanctification for His disciples in
this verse, sanctification in ‘the truth.’ The Greek word translated ‘sanctify’
used here means “to set apart a holy thing unto God.” The priesthood in
6.2.
In a few
hours when Jesus is arrested and brought before Pilate to determine if charges
are warranted for Him, we will see that Pilate asks Jesus, “What is truth?” Jesus tells His disciples the answer to that
question ahead of time. God’s ‘word
is truth.’ God’s word is not “a
truth,” rather it is the only “absolute truth” that mankind can know
in this world. Being sanctified unto
the Lord comes through living in obedience to God’s word. Therefore, Jesus requests in prayer to the
Father that we be sanctified in the truth, and His word is the truth.
6.3.
Jesus prays that each of His disciples be set apart
for God’s service in a special way, by and in God’s word, for it is truth. They shall now live and dwell in God’s word
as delivered and interpreted by Jesus Himself.
6.4.
In the first
part of Jesus’ prayer for His disciples He was concerned about their security
and thus He prayed that the Father would keep us in His word. Now, He is praying for our holiness and
commitment to be obedient and faithful to the Lord, as His word reveals that we
should live and act.
6.5.
We Christians have the responsibility to live in God’s
truth as He has delivered it unto us. We
need to be into His word daily, as we live in His word daily as doers of
it. D.L. Moody once wrote in the margin
of his Bible, “This is book is going to keep you from sin, or sin is going
to keep you from this book.”
6.6.
The Bible Exposition Commentary states, “We are in
the world but not of the world, and we must not live like the
world. Sometimes we think it would be easier if we were “out of the world,” but
this is not true. Wherever we go, we take our own sinful self with us, and the
powers of darkness will follow us. I have met people who have gone into
“spiritual isolation” in order to become more holy, only to discover that it
does not always work.”
7.
VS
17:18 - “‘As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into
the world’.” - Jesus tells
the Father that He is sending His disciples into the world just as the Father
sent Him into the world
7.1.
As Jesus is praying to the Father, He declares to the
Father that just as the Father sent Him into the evil rebellious world upon His
mission, Jesus has sent (past tense) His disciples into the world for their
mission and ministry!
7.2.
We Christians have a mission and ministry to this evil
rebellious word which Jesus has appointed and called us to perform. We need to take this calling seriously and
discipline ourselves for fulfilling that calling however!
7.3.
Bible
Knowledge Commentary states the following about how that the Lord has sent us
as believers out into the world, “Jesus is the model for every believer. He
was in the world but He was not of the world (vv. 14b, 16b). He was sent . . .
into the world on a mission by His Father. So believers are sent . . . into the
world on a mission by the Son, to make the Father known (cf. 20:21). Inasmuch
as Jesus’ prayer for the disciples was not limited to the immediate apostles
(cf. 17:20), this passage is similar to the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20).
Each Christian should view himself as a missionary whose task is to communicate
God’s truth to others.”
8.
VS
17:19 - “‘And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also
may be sanctified in truth’.” - Jesus tells
the Father that for His disciples sake He is sanctifying Himself that they
might be sanctified in truth
8.1.
Jesus is praying to the Father in these verses, but we
can see that in a large way what He is saying is for the sake of His disciples
as later they will reflect upon His words.
8.2.
Jesus prays in this verse telling the Father that He
is sanctifying Himself that His disciples may be sanctified in truth. Christ’s deity is revealed in this prayer
since only one who is deity could ‘sanctify’ Himself.
8.3.
The Greek word that is translated ‘sanctify’
here again means “to set apart” a holy thing unto the Lord.
8.4.
When Jesus says here that He has ‘sanctified’
us (and sanctified Himself so that He might do so) He uses the “perfect tense” in the Greek for this word (hagiadzo)
which indicates action that has been completed in us. In other words, Jesus says that we who are
His people have been sanctified once and for all through Jesus Christ. We are and always will be set apart a holy
thing unto the Lord through Christ, just as Heb. 10:10 also tells us, “10
By this will we have been
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Acts 26:18 tells us that our
sanctification in Christ as believers happens at the moment we receive
salvation, “18 to open their
eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of
Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance
among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’”
8.5.
Being sanctified once for all (set apart a holy thing
by the Lord) is a positional truth for the Christ. Regardless of our response we are
positionally seen to be sanctified by the Lord.
There is another sense that we see sanctification used by the Lord concerning
the Christian and that is from an experiential point of view. We are being sanctified and made in our
experience to be holy by the Lord.
However, here Jesus is speaking of positional sanctification of the
believer, something that is always true of us simply because we are in
Christ.
9.
VS
17:20-21 - “‘I do not ask in behalf of these alone,
but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in
Thee, that they may be in Us; that the
world may believe that Thou didst send Me’.” - Jesus tells the Father that He is also
interceding in prayer for all of those who will come to believe in Jesus
throughout the church age, that they all may be one just as Jesus is one with
the Father, and this so that the world my believe that the Father sent Jesus
9.1.
In these two verses, Jesus prays that all present and
future Christians may be in unity with the Father and in Jesus the Son, just as
Jesus was in unity with the Father, so that the world may believe that the
Father sent Jesus.
9.2.
Jesus also prays for all who are to be Christians down
through the ages, that they may exist and function together in unity. Unity is possible for the Christian
throughout the ages through the new birth and the indwelling and filling of the
Holy Spirit.
9.3.
Jesus knows that the evangelization of the world can
only occur as His disciples are brought into relationship with Him personally
and as they are one in mind, purpose and accord.
9.4.
We Christians need to abide continually in Christ as
the vine, abide continually in His love, and determine in our minds that as far
as is possible and profitable for godly means we will not let anything keep us
from being in unity with the Body of Christ.
10.
VS
17:22 - “‘And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one;’”
- Jesus tells the Father that the glory
that the Father has given to Him, He has now given to those who will believe in
Him, that they may be one just as He and the Father are one
10.1.
Jesus prays for His disciples that they in heaven may
receive the same glorification which He was to receive after being raised from
the dead. Because of His love for His
disciples, He prays that they may share all that He has, even to being
glorified in the likeness of His glorified body.
10.2.
There are several scriptures in the New Testament that
reveal that all who are believers in Christ in this life shall be glorified
with the same type of glorified body as the Lord Jesus Christ has, including:
10.2.1.Romans 8:29-30, “29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to
become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn
among many brethren; 30 and these
whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also
justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
10.2.2.1 John 3:2, “2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not
appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like
Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”
10.2.3.See also 1 Cor. chapter 15.
10.3.
Jesus also prays that His disciples may be ‘one’
even as the godhead is ‘one.’
Glorification shall bring about oneness amongst His disciples, as the presence
of evil is removed from them.
10.4.
When we Christians dwell upon the fact that Christ is
planning to share His glory with us for eternity, we ought to be humbled before
God and desire to praise Him for all eternity.
After all, we are unworthy to receive anything that the Lord does for
us!
10.5.
Unfortunately some Christians get the idea that they
are worthy of some of what the Lord has done for them, worthy of that glory.
11.
VS
17:23 - “‘I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity,
that the world may know that Thou didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me’.”
- Jesus prays that His disciples might
be ‘perfected in unity’ that the world might know that the Father loved them
even as He loved Jesus
11.1.
Now in His prayer, Jesus describes how the disciples ‘unity’
will be accomplished, by His being in them just as the Father was in
Jesus. Not only is that how the unity
will be accomplished, Jesus says that as a result of Him being in them they
will be ‘perfected in unity.’
11.2.
Next, incredibly Jesus states in His prayer that as a
result of the ‘unity’ that will exist amongst His disciples, the
unbelieving world shall be brought to realize that the Father loves them with
the same type and degree of love that the Father loved Jesus. This truth is almost too wonderful to
conceive. The Lord loves us as much as
He loves Jesus, and, then in that respect too as adopted sons and daughters of
God, co-heirs of all that Christ has, we are in this world like He was.
11.3.
What a testimony it would be to non-believers if all
of us who are Christians were to be in unity as Jesus prayed we would be!
11.4.
M.S. Mills in The Life Of Christ writes the following
about what brings about and results from disunity in the body of Christ, “If
Christ is glorified in our unity (vv.22–23), then axiomatically we dishonor and
insult Him when we are divided. If we understood and lived by our purpose of
glorifying Christ we could not be concerned for our own pleasure, pride,
gratification or satisfaction, and we would strive for unity so that He could
be glorified more. Much disunity can readily be attributed to the fact that
church members have ignored the Church’s purpose of glorifying Christ. It is
then that jealousies and pettiness creep in, and we unthinkingly despise the
unity Christ desires so passionately, invariably out of selfish independence
(which often evidences itself in pride). Disunity despises Christ’s glory,
preferring instead man’s pettiness.”
11.5.
Jesus requests here in prayer for all of us who are
and will be His disciples that the Father would love us just as much as He
loves Jesus. How much do you think that
the Father loves Jesus? I don’t know
that I can truly fathom how much that might be myself, but I know it is a
lot. In Ephesians 3:16-19, Paul prayed
for the Ephesian church that they might know the height, width, and depth of
the love of God, “16 that He would grant you,
according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His
Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that
Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being
rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,
that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”
11.6.
When my kids were little
I used to play a game with them asking them, “How much do you love daddy?” They would throw their arms out full wide
when I would ask them as they were indicating that they loved daddy as much as
they could fathom. That is the way I
feel about God’s love for us, its as great as my finite mind can imagine.
12.
VS
17:24 - “‘Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with
Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast give
Me; for Thou didst love Me before the
foundation of the world’.” - Jesus tells
the Father that it is His desire that all who believe in Him may be with Him
where He is in order that they might behold His glory
12.1.
Because of His great love for all of His followers (of
all time), Jesus prays in this verse that the Father will grant that His
followers will in the afterlife spend eternity with Him where they will be able
to behold His glory. In the last clause
of this verse, Jesus speaks of His preexistence from all eternity in which He
was glorified and knew the Father and the Holy Spirit’s love.
12.2.
Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 5:8 about the fact that for the
believer in Christ that to be absent in the body is to be present with the
Lord.
13.
VS
17:25 - “‘O righteous Father, although the world has not known Thee, yet I
have known Thee; and these have known
that Thou didst send Me;’” - Jesus tells
the Father that although the world has not known Him that He has known the Father,
and, that Jesus’ disciples have known that Jesus came from the Father
13.1.
Jesus says that the wicked world in rebellion against
God has not come to know the Father, but Jesus has known the Father (actually
from all eternity), and His disciples know that Jesus came forth from the
Father, for they have believed His word to them.
13.2.
This verse again disproves the doctrine of
Universalism that states that because of what Christ did on the cross that
everyone is now going to heaven, for He states here that ‘the world has not
know Thee.’ As we saw in our last
study, this prayer is not for the people of this world in rebellion against the
Lord but is for us, those who have saving faith in Christ.
14.
VS
17:26 - “‘and I have made Thy name known to them, and will make it
known; that the love wherewith Thou
didst love Me may be in them, and I in them’.” - Jesus tells the Father that He has made the
Father’s Name known to His disciples and will continue to do so, and this that
the love that that the Father loved Jesus with may be in them, and Jesus be in
them
14.1.
Jesus ends His prayer for His disciples by saying that
He will continue to make the Father’s name known to His disciples in order that
the same love that the Father loves Jesus would also be in them, and Jesus Himself
after He is resurrected will also be in them.
14.2.
If we Christians will spend time with the Lord, and
thus get to know His name, Jesus and His agape love will dwell in us and rule
our lives!
14.3.
Arthur
Pink has written, “Wondrous is the position we occupy, the place which is
ours—the same place of blessing which Christ enjoyed when He was here. It is true that we are blest through Christ,
but that is not all the truth, nor by any means the most striking part of it: we are also blest with Him. The love wherewith the Father had loved the
Son, should be in the disciples. They
should enter into the consciousness of it, and thus would His joy be fulfilled
in them. It is this that we are called
to, the enjoyment in this world of the love which Christ knew here below: His Father’s love. What was His delight? Was it from the world? Surely not.
He was in the world, but never of it;
His joy was from and in the Father.
And He has communicated to us the means which ministers to this
joy: “I have given unto them the worlds
which Thou gavest me” (17:8).”
14.4.
In John 13:35 Jesus stated that it would be by our
love that all men would know that we are His disciples, “35 “By this all men will know that you are My
disciples, if you have love for one another.”” When people
of the world see us as Christians loving each other and walking in unity, then
they will be won to the Father. But,
when they see the church filled with divisions and strife they reject the
gospel.
15.
CONCLUSIONS:
15.1.
Have you
noticed how when you place glorifying Christ in your life as your top priority,
as Christ intimates in this prayer that we should do, how that everything else
in your spiritual walk falls into place?
Humility is the result and produces its own fruit, and God backs you up
and uses you maximally for His purposes and kingdom.
15.2.
Seeing how
that Jesus makes unity such a priority in His prayer, lets make it a central
concern of ours to maintain unity of mind and purpose in the body of Christ.
15.3.
Rather than
trying to test the limits of our freedom that we have in Christ, lets make it
our concern to allow the Holy Spirit to perform the work of sanctification and
holiness in our lives that will glorify our Lord.
15.4.
Jesus
prayed that we might be loved even as the Father loves us, so lets make it our
commitment to love others and do everything that we do in the love of God,
allowing nothing outside the love of God to issue from our life.