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| Beliefs - Bible Studies The Longest Prayer |
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The passage for our study today, John 17, is often referred to as the "Holy of
Holies" of the New Testament. This wonderful prayer of our Lord closes the
Upper Room Discourse and precedes his agony in the shadows of Gethsemane,
the betrayal by Judas the traitor, his arrest and the beginning of his trials. This
could be called "The Longest Prayer" for two reasons: First, it is indeed the
longest recorded prayer of our Lord.
In it we can discern the inner thoughts of his mind and learn much of his
relationship with his Father. But this prayer is also the longest in the scope of
time that it covers. It stretches across twenty centuries and includes us as well
as the apostles. John never forgot the scene in which this prayer was uttered.
Our Lord had left the Upper Room with his disciples and had passed through the
vineyards that surrounded Jerusalem.
As he paused somewhere along that route, in all likelihood he picked up a vine
and taught them, saying, "I am the vine and you are the branches." Then in the
vineyard or elsewhere along the way, in the bright Passover moonlight "he lifted
up his face unto heaven," and prayed aloud in the hearing of the disciples. Our
Lord prays essentially about three matters. First, he prays for himself that he
may be glorified, then he prays for the eleven apostles, that they may be
protected and sanctified, and, finally, he prays for the whole church down
through the centuries, that they all may be unified. The first eight verses of the
prayer constitute his prayer for himself:
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:
17:2": As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him.
17:3": And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
17:4": I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou
gavest me to do.
17:5": And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which
I had with thee before the world was.
17:6": 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.
17:7": Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of
thee.
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.
Twice Jesus asks to be glorified, in two different ways, and for two different
reasons:
First, he asks to be glorified in and by means of the cross.
17:1": These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,
Father, the hour is come;
What does he mean by these words. "The hour has come." All through the
gospel we have seen Jesus moving toward this hour which he has long
anticipated, the hour of crisis when he confronts, deliberately and personally,
the massed powers of darkness. Thus in the cross, with its agony, blood, grief
and loneliness he is asking to be glorified. It is not a selfish prayer because look
what he immediately adds
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:
By Jesus’ death he will glorify the Father. We must understand what this term
"glorified" means. How is someone "glorified"? The word means to make
manifest hidden values, hidden riches. The sun is a glory because the gases
that make it up are being consumed and manifested in brilliant light. Jesus
himself is glorified that way.
John began his gospel by saying, "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, ... and we beheld his glory," {John 1:14a, 1:14b }. What glory? "Full
of grace and truth," {John 1:14b ). All his inner qualities of grace and truth
became visible. Here our Lord is praying that by means of the cross something
that is hidden to the world will be manifested. We do not have to guess what that
is because he tells us.
17:2": As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him.
It is, first, that God has given him "power over all flesh," i.e., he
has Lordship, sovereignty, the right to rule over all the nations of the earth. How
does this come - It will come by means of the cross. How truly this is confirmed
by the epistles.
Phil 2:8, 9
9.) wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is
above every name.
10.) That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and
things in earth, and things under the earth.
Paul writes here that because Jesus became obedient unto death, God the
Father "highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, ... and every tongue
confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father," Thus by means of
that exaltation following the cross, God the Father is glorified. At the close of the
gospel of Matthew our Lord stands in resurrection glory beside the Sea of
Galilee and look at what He says to his disciples.
Matthew 28:19 “and Jesus came and spake unto them, saying "All power power
is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Does that encourage you? What an encouraging word for all believers!
The One we follow holds in his hands the reins of the nations and all the forces
at work on the earth even the powers of darkness.
Colossians 2:15 “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show
of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
This is talking about what Jesus did on the cross, the apostle says that on the
cross Jesus "disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example
or them, triumphing over them in it," So this prayer has been fully answered. In
the cross Jesus was glorified and his Lordship was revealed. But more than
that, Verse 17B
17:2": As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him.
Jesus states that through the cross he will gain the right to give eternal life to all
whom the Father brings to him. Verse 3
17:3": And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Look how He defines eternal life as "knowing God." That is really living. Coming
to know the Father and Jesus will fill life to the fullest. eternal life for which
everyone longs deep in his heart. Jesus says that is what he gives -- his
redemptive life -- to those who come to him. Thus the cross reveals both his
Lordship and his Saviorhood.
He is the source of life to all who come to him. No wonder we sing in one of the
great hymns,
In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o'er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.
That is Jesus' first reason for asking to be glorified -- not only because it will
bring glory to the Father, but, as he goes on to say, it will complete his work on
earth: All that he has done finds its completion in the cross.
17:4": I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou
gavest me to do.
Jesus having accomplished the work which he now sees as completed,
anticipating the cross, "the work which thou gavest me to do." This death he
awaits is the capstone of that work.
17:5": And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which
I had with thee before the world was.
Jesus prays to be glorified by returning to heaven: Surely this is his creative
glory. Before he came to earth he was not the Redeemer, he was the Creator,
the One behind the mysteries of nature, the One who invented all the marvels of
the universe. Several passages in Hebrews and Colossians make that
declaration. Now he is to return to that glory so, as Hebrews tells us,
Heb. 1:3 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, and sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
Jesus now "upholds all things by the word of his power."
He asks now to take up again the manifestation of his creative glory, because
his redemptive work is finished.
He summarizes it in Verses 6, 7 and 8:
17:6": 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.
17:7": Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of
thee.
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.
That work is now concluded, so he prays that he may he permitted to resume
the glory which he had before. Verses 9-19 constitute the beautiful prayer of our
Lord for these eleven men. It divides into three sections. First, he prays for
them because they belong to him: then he prays that they may be kept from the
enemy, from the world and the devil; and finally he prays that they may be
sanctified. It opens with words of tender concern:
17:9": I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me; for they are thine.
17:10": And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
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 gives two reasons for this prayer. First, because these disciples are his:
they are a gift from the Father. He has spent 3-1/2 years with them. He knows
them intimately and they are very precious to him. That is how we, too, pray.
We pray first for those we love.
Perhaps you have heard the minimal prayer of the man who said he prayed for
his wife, and himself, his son John and his wife -- "us four and no more." Some
of us, perhaps, may pray that way. This is surely our Lord's feeling here. He
sees the apostles as a gift from the Father and therefore precious to himself.
Look back at verse 9
17:9": I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me; for they are thine
This is what he means when he says he "does not pray for the world." The
world, i.e., secular society, has not been given to him in this intimate fashion by
the Father. But these men are so given, and thus he makes this distinction. This
does not mean, of course, that Jesus had no concern for the world. It was for the
world that he was to die.
It was the world that drew him from heaven to earth. If you wish to hear him pray
for the world, listen to his words from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do," {Luke 23:34}.
Jesus also is conscious that he is leaving these men behind, and he is
concerned for them.
Knowing that he must leave these men behind, Jesus commends them to the
Father's care for it was in the Father's name that they were kept when he was
with them.
Look at (17:11b-13 RSV}
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.
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.
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.
First, he desires them to be guarded and kept by the Father's authority and by
his activity.
"Keep them," he prays, "in thine own name." The name, of course, stands for all
God's resources, power, and ability. He is asking God to assume responsibility
now for these men directly so that while he is personally absent from them they
may be kept by wholly adequate resources.
Notice to what end they are to be kept:
17:11 that they may be one, as we are.
First, to an unbroken unity. "Keep them that they may be one even as we are
one." "
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.
While I was with them." he says, "I kept them in thy name," i.e., Jesus was
conscious that the Father was at work with him and was able to supply through
him the power to keep.
This is the way we can guard others in a consciousness that it is God who must
keep them. We must pray for them as Jesus prayed for his disciples! And he
says he fully succeeded: LOOK verse 12 last part
17:12 .........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.
"Not one of them is lost except the son of perdition," That was the one whom the
Scripture had said would never belong to that group that would be kept. He is
referring to the traitor, Judas, who never was truly a member of the apostolic
band. Outwardly he was, but I don’t think inwardly his heart never yielded to the
grace, love and mercy of God. He retained his fancied independence, the
deadly force by which men are still kept from the Kingdom of God. Further, the
Lord points out that they were kept by his word and his gift of inner joy:
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.
"These things I speak in the world" What is that (the revelation of truth which he
came to give), "that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves." That is what
kept these men. He told them the truth, and as they believed it they found it
worked and led them to joy.
But what is it they are to be kept from? It is the world's hatred and the devil's
enmity.
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.
17:15": I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from the evil.
17:16": They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
{John 17:14-16}
Jesus clearly saw the terrible danger these men faced. He understood that the
world would hate them, fight them, and undermine them every way it could.
Why? Because he had given them the Father's word. It is the Scripture, the
Word of God, that is the primary object of the enemy's hatred. If he cannot
destroy it, he seeks to dilute its impact.
I was reading about a pastors' conference where one pastor asked,
"What should I do when I have analyzed a passage of Scripture, learned what it
means, and found that I do not agree with it?"
The leader, "I'll tell you what I would do, I would ask myself, 'What is wrong with
me that I do not agree with this passage?'" The problem is never in the Word,
but in our limitation, our foolish, unreasonable resistance to truth, and our
feeling that we know everything. That feeling is the work of the enemy, part of
his subtle attack upon the Word. Jesus reveals that the apostles will be hated
because they speak the truth.
He prays then that they will be kept in the midst of the world.
This is very important.
For centuries Christians have read the Scriptures as indicating that, because
the world is a dangerous place, we ought to keep as far from it as we can, we
ought to put up walls around our family, our home, to keep the world out. Do not
go to places where worldly people go. Do not have contact with non-Christians,
do not make friends among them.
Some families would remove their children from any contact with the world by
sending them only to Christian schools. Now there is a good reason for that at
times, but one can go too far in that direction, We are clearly not to isolate
ourselves from the world.
When Jesus sent these men out to preach, Jesus had said. "Behold, I send you
forth as sheep in the midst of wolves," {Matt 10:16}.
No sensible shepherd would ever do that, for wolves are dangerous animals.
With one slash of their teeth they can rip a sheep's throat wide open. The world
can do that to believers too. We must never forget that it is a dangerous place.
The only safeguard is the provision the Shepherd has made to be with us, and
in us. Maintaining that loving relationship with him is what enables Christians to
be in the world, but not of the world -- to make contact with the world, to
establish friendships in the world, and yet to be kept from the terrible dangers of
the world.
Behind the world's hatred, Jesus sees the god of this world, the devil.
"I pray that they will be kept from the evil ." I believe that is talking about "The
evil one"
that monstrous being who is constantly seeking to physically and spiritually
destroy our race. Death is his weapon. Jesus called him "a murderer." He
invents a million ways to kill people. What is Satan’s favorite tactic His favorite
tactic is to deceive them.
Thus drug abuse ends in death, and despair ends in suicide. Even to give
ourselves to pleasure -- automobile driving, for instance -- ends in traffic
accidents and death.
That is why quarreling ends in killing and murder, and differences between
nations end in bloody wars that involve terrible slaughter. It is from this evil one
that the Lord prays that his people be kept. He assures them that the devil really
has no claim on them, they do not have to follow him:
Look at verse 16
17:16": They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Our Lord's second request for these men is that they may be sanctified:
17:17": Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
17:18": As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into
the world.
17:19": And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth.
Consecrate" and "sanctify" are the same word in Greek, so that this whole
section is talking about sanctification. Many misconstrue that word. It is a
religious, a theological, word. Some think of it as involving a kind of a religious
fumigation where all evil is somehow washed away. Some have actually believed
that after they have gone through what they call "sanctification," by means of
prayer or dedication, that they now were incapable of sinning. That is a very
distressing situation, quite akin to living with people who don't take a bath
because they never think they need to be cleansed.
But what does "sanctification" mean? It means to separate, or set apart, to a
specific purpose; to put to an intended use. You are sanctifying those pews at
this moment as you sit on them. You sanctified your car as you drove here this
evening.. (It did not make it run better but it was put to the proper use!) I sanctify
my comb when I comb my hair -- I use it for its intended purpose. And what are
we intended for? What purpose did God have in mind in making man?
That he might use him as the instrument of his working and to manifest his
character.
That he might be the instrument of God. When you become that, you are
sanctified.
In this context it includes a sense of personal agreement with that, a
determination, a willingness, to do it. Thus we could use the word "commitment."
Our Lord is praying that these men be personally, willingly committed to the work
of being used of God.
He models this himself.
17:18": As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into
the world.
You see what Jesus is saying?? Just as he was God's instrument, living among
people right where they were (he did not hide from them but ministered to the
weak, the hurting, and the broken), so he sends us to do the same. We are sent
to the same task, and you know what we are sent with the same resource, So
therefore we are continuing the work of Jesus in the world. That is
sanctification. Further, he prays, this will be made possible by his death on the
cross:
Verse 19 "For their sakes I sanctify myself." ........
Love was willingly determined to go to the cross. Here’s another reason
Verse 19B ..“That they also might be sanctified through the truth.”
As the outcome of that death of Jesus on our behalf we are granted the power
of the Spirit by which we may be useful instruments in the Kingdom of God.
In the last section of his prayer Jesus prays in words which reach out to the
whole of the church, and encompass all believers of all time, including all of us.
This section is also in three divisions: He prays for the unity of the church, for its
ultimate destiny, and for its present intimacy.
17:20": Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on
me through their word;
17:21": 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.
17:22": And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be
one, even as we are one:
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.
Notice the inclusiveness of his words. He says,
17:20": Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on
me through their word;
There is a sentence that extends clear across the running centuries of time.
Jesus is praying for all the millions of people who have come to believe through
the apostolic word.
"I pray for these ... and them." Do you know what those words add up to? they
add up to the word "all."
21.) “That they all may be one,”
So the first element of his prayer is that all Christians may share with the
apostles in the apostolic faith. The apostles have given us the Word, the truth.
The church is to rest upon the apostles' witness. We do not need modern
apostles. A woman who had been for years a member of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints, which claims to have modern apostles. She said,
"Where does it say in the Scriptures that there are only twelve apostles." She
was referred her to the book of Revelation to the great city that God is building
and the statement "the foundations of the city have upon them the names of the
twelve apostles." We are linked with them. The only errorless faith is the
apostolic faith.
The Jesus that we must worship is the Jesus presented by the apostles.
Thus, there is a oneness of faith throughout the church. But more than that,
there is a spiritual unity. Notice the nature of it:
verse 21 second part “That they also may be one in us: that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me.”
Just as the Father and the Son share life, so all believers share the same life:
the life of the Son in us. That is what makes us brothers and sisters wherever we
are in the world.
That is the unity for which our Lord prays. He is not speaking of outward union.
There have been many attempts to bring all churches together in one great
outward organization, but it has never succeeded and cannot succeed. Our
Lord never intended that to be. There is divisiveness that is totally wrong within
the body of Christ.
But when we meet together, regardless of what our local label may be, we
belong to one another because we share the same life together. That is the life
the world will recognize as true. Notice the means by which this is produced. It is
the inner glory of love:
17:22": And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be
one, even as we are one:
What was that? It was love. The Father loved the Son. That was the Son's glory.
He strengthened himself by that. Jesus says that same love "I have given to
them, Next part of verse 22 that they may be one."
That is why we are to love one another as our Lord has bade, because it
creates the oneness he desires. Next Jesus prays for the church's ultimate
destiny.
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.
Here is the prayer that the church will be with him. That is the promise of
Scripture.
Paul speaks of this in First Thessalonians: 4:16, 17
16.) "For The Lord himself shall descend with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ rise first
17.) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
To be with him, that is heaven -- and that is our ultimate destiny. The purpose of
that, he says, is "to behold my glory." That sounds as though we are all to sit
around for all eternity staring at him. But that is not what he means. Other
Scriptures interpret this.
It means that we shall be like him: "When we see him we shall be like him," {1 Jn
3:2}. And his glory which we behold is something that we are actually
experiencing.
We become part of the glory. Thus everything we do is a beholding of his glory.
What a marvelous fate awaits us! Our Lord concludes his prayer with a prayer
for the present intimacy of the church:
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.
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.
Intimacy with the living God is the key to vitality and fruitfulness. It begins with
the recognition of Jesus as "sent from God." It develops as awareness grows of
the Father's power and love, and finds its deepest expression in a growing
consciousness of the presence within of Jesus himself. The saints of all time
have borne witness to the reality of this. Thus, love is the hallmark of the true
church.
The church must be a loving community if it desires the world to believe that we
have been with Jesus! Let us pray that this wonderful prayer of Jesus will be fully
experienced by each of us who claim to follow him.
- Roy Patterson
References & Excerpts
used in this Study
Ray Stedman
Dr. J. Vernon McGhee
Holies" of the New Testament. This wonderful prayer of our Lord closes the
Upper Room Discourse and precedes his agony in the shadows of Gethsemane,
the betrayal by Judas the traitor, his arrest and the beginning of his trials. This
could be called "The Longest Prayer" for two reasons: First, it is indeed the
longest recorded prayer of our Lord.
In it we can discern the inner thoughts of his mind and learn much of his
relationship with his Father. But this prayer is also the longest in the scope of
time that it covers. It stretches across twenty centuries and includes us as well
as the apostles. John never forgot the scene in which this prayer was uttered.
Our Lord had left the Upper Room with his disciples and had passed through the
vineyards that surrounded Jerusalem.
As he paused somewhere along that route, in all likelihood he picked up a vine
and taught them, saying, "I am the vine and you are the branches." Then in the
vineyard or elsewhere along the way, in the bright Passover moonlight "he lifted
up his face unto heaven," and prayed aloud in the hearing of the disciples. Our
Lord prays essentially about three matters. First, he prays for himself that he
may be glorified, then he prays for the eleven apostles, that they may be
protected and sanctified, and, finally, he prays for the whole church down
through the centuries, that they all may be unified. The first eight verses of the
prayer constitute his prayer for himself:
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:
17:2": As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him.
17:3": And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
17:4": I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou
gavest me to do.
17:5": And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which
I had with thee before the world was.
17:6": 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.
17:7": Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of
thee.
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.
Twice Jesus asks to be glorified, in two different ways, and for two different
reasons:
First, he asks to be glorified in and by means of the cross.
17:1": These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,
Father, the hour is come;
What does he mean by these words. "The hour has come." All through the
gospel we have seen Jesus moving toward this hour which he has long
anticipated, the hour of crisis when he confronts, deliberately and personally,
the massed powers of darkness. Thus in the cross, with its agony, blood, grief
and loneliness he is asking to be glorified. It is not a selfish prayer because look
what he immediately adds
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:
By Jesus’ death he will glorify the Father. We must understand what this term
"glorified" means. How is someone "glorified"? The word means to make
manifest hidden values, hidden riches. The sun is a glory because the gases
that make it up are being consumed and manifested in brilliant light. Jesus
himself is glorified that way.
John began his gospel by saying, "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, ... and we beheld his glory," {John 1:14a, 1:14b }. What glory? "Full
of grace and truth," {John 1:14b ). All his inner qualities of grace and truth
became visible. Here our Lord is praying that by means of the cross something
that is hidden to the world will be manifested. We do not have to guess what that
is because he tells us.
17:2": As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him.
It is, first, that God has given him "power over all flesh," i.e., he
has Lordship, sovereignty, the right to rule over all the nations of the earth. How
does this come - It will come by means of the cross. How truly this is confirmed
by the epistles.
Phil 2:8, 9
9.) wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is
above every name.
10.) That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and
things in earth, and things under the earth.
Paul writes here that because Jesus became obedient unto death, God the
Father "highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, ... and every tongue
confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father," Thus by means of
that exaltation following the cross, God the Father is glorified. At the close of the
gospel of Matthew our Lord stands in resurrection glory beside the Sea of
Galilee and look at what He says to his disciples.
Matthew 28:19 “and Jesus came and spake unto them, saying "All power power
is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Does that encourage you? What an encouraging word for all believers!
The One we follow holds in his hands the reins of the nations and all the forces
at work on the earth even the powers of darkness.
Colossians 2:15 “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show
of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
This is talking about what Jesus did on the cross, the apostle says that on the
cross Jesus "disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example
or them, triumphing over them in it," So this prayer has been fully answered. In
the cross Jesus was glorified and his Lordship was revealed. But more than
that, Verse 17B
17:2": As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him.
Jesus states that through the cross he will gain the right to give eternal life to all
whom the Father brings to him. Verse 3
17:3": And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Look how He defines eternal life as "knowing God." That is really living. Coming
to know the Father and Jesus will fill life to the fullest. eternal life for which
everyone longs deep in his heart. Jesus says that is what he gives -- his
redemptive life -- to those who come to him. Thus the cross reveals both his
Lordship and his Saviorhood.
He is the source of life to all who come to him. No wonder we sing in one of the
great hymns,
In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o'er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.
That is Jesus' first reason for asking to be glorified -- not only because it will
bring glory to the Father, but, as he goes on to say, it will complete his work on
earth: All that he has done finds its completion in the cross.
17:4": I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou
gavest me to do.
Jesus having accomplished the work which he now sees as completed,
anticipating the cross, "the work which thou gavest me to do." This death he
awaits is the capstone of that work.
17:5": And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which
I had with thee before the world was.
Jesus prays to be glorified by returning to heaven: Surely this is his creative
glory. Before he came to earth he was not the Redeemer, he was the Creator,
the One behind the mysteries of nature, the One who invented all the marvels of
the universe. Several passages in Hebrews and Colossians make that
declaration. Now he is to return to that glory so, as Hebrews tells us,
Heb. 1:3 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, and sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
Jesus now "upholds all things by the word of his power."
He asks now to take up again the manifestation of his creative glory, because
his redemptive work is finished.
He summarizes it in Verses 6, 7 and 8:
17:6": 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.
17:7": Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of
thee.
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.
That work is now concluded, so he prays that he may he permitted to resume
the glory which he had before. Verses 9-19 constitute the beautiful prayer of our
Lord for these eleven men. It divides into three sections. First, he prays for
them because they belong to him: then he prays that they may be kept from the
enemy, from the world and the devil; and finally he prays that they may be
sanctified. It opens with words of tender concern:
17:9": I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me; for they are thine.
17:10": And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
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 gives two reasons for this prayer. First, because these disciples are his:
they are a gift from the Father. He has spent 3-1/2 years with them. He knows
them intimately and they are very precious to him. That is how we, too, pray.
We pray first for those we love.
Perhaps you have heard the minimal prayer of the man who said he prayed for
his wife, and himself, his son John and his wife -- "us four and no more." Some
of us, perhaps, may pray that way. This is surely our Lord's feeling here. He
sees the apostles as a gift from the Father and therefore precious to himself.
Look back at verse 9
17:9": I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me; for they are thine
This is what he means when he says he "does not pray for the world." The
world, i.e., secular society, has not been given to him in this intimate fashion by
the Father. But these men are so given, and thus he makes this distinction. This
does not mean, of course, that Jesus had no concern for the world. It was for the
world that he was to die.
It was the world that drew him from heaven to earth. If you wish to hear him pray
for the world, listen to his words from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do," {Luke 23:34}.
Jesus also is conscious that he is leaving these men behind, and he is
concerned for them.
Knowing that he must leave these men behind, Jesus commends them to the
Father's care for it was in the Father's name that they were kept when he was
with them.
Look at (17:11b-13 RSV}
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.
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.
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.
First, he desires them to be guarded and kept by the Father's authority and by
his activity.
"Keep them," he prays, "in thine own name." The name, of course, stands for all
God's resources, power, and ability. He is asking God to assume responsibility
now for these men directly so that while he is personally absent from them they
may be kept by wholly adequate resources.
Notice to what end they are to be kept:
17:11 that they may be one, as we are.
First, to an unbroken unity. "Keep them that they may be one even as we are
one." "
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.
While I was with them." he says, "I kept them in thy name," i.e., Jesus was
conscious that the Father was at work with him and was able to supply through
him the power to keep.
This is the way we can guard others in a consciousness that it is God who must
keep them. We must pray for them as Jesus prayed for his disciples! And he
says he fully succeeded: LOOK verse 12 last part
17:12 .........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.
"Not one of them is lost except the son of perdition," That was the one whom the
Scripture had said would never belong to that group that would be kept. He is
referring to the traitor, Judas, who never was truly a member of the apostolic
band. Outwardly he was, but I don’t think inwardly his heart never yielded to the
grace, love and mercy of God. He retained his fancied independence, the
deadly force by which men are still kept from the Kingdom of God. Further, the
Lord points out that they were kept by his word and his gift of inner joy:
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.
"These things I speak in the world" What is that (the revelation of truth which he
came to give), "that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves." That is what
kept these men. He told them the truth, and as they believed it they found it
worked and led them to joy.
But what is it they are to be kept from? It is the world's hatred and the devil's
enmity.
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.
17:15": I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from the evil.
17:16": They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
{John 17:14-16}
Jesus clearly saw the terrible danger these men faced. He understood that the
world would hate them, fight them, and undermine them every way it could.
Why? Because he had given them the Father's word. It is the Scripture, the
Word of God, that is the primary object of the enemy's hatred. If he cannot
destroy it, he seeks to dilute its impact.
I was reading about a pastors' conference where one pastor asked,
"What should I do when I have analyzed a passage of Scripture, learned what it
means, and found that I do not agree with it?"
The leader, "I'll tell you what I would do, I would ask myself, 'What is wrong with
me that I do not agree with this passage?'" The problem is never in the Word,
but in our limitation, our foolish, unreasonable resistance to truth, and our
feeling that we know everything. That feeling is the work of the enemy, part of
his subtle attack upon the Word. Jesus reveals that the apostles will be hated
because they speak the truth.
He prays then that they will be kept in the midst of the world.
This is very important.
For centuries Christians have read the Scriptures as indicating that, because
the world is a dangerous place, we ought to keep as far from it as we can, we
ought to put up walls around our family, our home, to keep the world out. Do not
go to places where worldly people go. Do not have contact with non-Christians,
do not make friends among them.
Some families would remove their children from any contact with the world by
sending them only to Christian schools. Now there is a good reason for that at
times, but one can go too far in that direction, We are clearly not to isolate
ourselves from the world.
When Jesus sent these men out to preach, Jesus had said. "Behold, I send you
forth as sheep in the midst of wolves," {Matt 10:16}.
No sensible shepherd would ever do that, for wolves are dangerous animals.
With one slash of their teeth they can rip a sheep's throat wide open. The world
can do that to believers too. We must never forget that it is a dangerous place.
The only safeguard is the provision the Shepherd has made to be with us, and
in us. Maintaining that loving relationship with him is what enables Christians to
be in the world, but not of the world -- to make contact with the world, to
establish friendships in the world, and yet to be kept from the terrible dangers of
the world.
Behind the world's hatred, Jesus sees the god of this world, the devil.
"I pray that they will be kept from the evil ." I believe that is talking about "The
evil one"
that monstrous being who is constantly seeking to physically and spiritually
destroy our race. Death is his weapon. Jesus called him "a murderer." He
invents a million ways to kill people. What is Satan’s favorite tactic His favorite
tactic is to deceive them.
Thus drug abuse ends in death, and despair ends in suicide. Even to give
ourselves to pleasure -- automobile driving, for instance -- ends in traffic
accidents and death.
That is why quarreling ends in killing and murder, and differences between
nations end in bloody wars that involve terrible slaughter. It is from this evil one
that the Lord prays that his people be kept. He assures them that the devil really
has no claim on them, they do not have to follow him:
Look at verse 16
17:16": They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Our Lord's second request for these men is that they may be sanctified:
17:17": Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
17:18": As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into
the world.
17:19": And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth.
Consecrate" and "sanctify" are the same word in Greek, so that this whole
section is talking about sanctification. Many misconstrue that word. It is a
religious, a theological, word. Some think of it as involving a kind of a religious
fumigation where all evil is somehow washed away. Some have actually believed
that after they have gone through what they call "sanctification," by means of
prayer or dedication, that they now were incapable of sinning. That is a very
distressing situation, quite akin to living with people who don't take a bath
because they never think they need to be cleansed.
But what does "sanctification" mean? It means to separate, or set apart, to a
specific purpose; to put to an intended use. You are sanctifying those pews at
this moment as you sit on them. You sanctified your car as you drove here this
evening.. (It did not make it run better but it was put to the proper use!) I sanctify
my comb when I comb my hair -- I use it for its intended purpose. And what are
we intended for? What purpose did God have in mind in making man?
That he might use him as the instrument of his working and to manifest his
character.
That he might be the instrument of God. When you become that, you are
sanctified.
In this context it includes a sense of personal agreement with that, a
determination, a willingness, to do it. Thus we could use the word "commitment."
Our Lord is praying that these men be personally, willingly committed to the work
of being used of God.
He models this himself.
17:18": As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into
the world.
You see what Jesus is saying?? Just as he was God's instrument, living among
people right where they were (he did not hide from them but ministered to the
weak, the hurting, and the broken), so he sends us to do the same. We are sent
to the same task, and you know what we are sent with the same resource, So
therefore we are continuing the work of Jesus in the world. That is
sanctification. Further, he prays, this will be made possible by his death on the
cross:
Verse 19 "For their sakes I sanctify myself." ........
Love was willingly determined to go to the cross. Here’s another reason
Verse 19B ..“That they also might be sanctified through the truth.”
As the outcome of that death of Jesus on our behalf we are granted the power
of the Spirit by which we may be useful instruments in the Kingdom of God.
In the last section of his prayer Jesus prays in words which reach out to the
whole of the church, and encompass all believers of all time, including all of us.
This section is also in three divisions: He prays for the unity of the church, for its
ultimate destiny, and for its present intimacy.
17:20": Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on
me through their word;
17:21": 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.
17:22": And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be
one, even as we are one:
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.
Notice the inclusiveness of his words. He says,
17:20": Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on
me through their word;
There is a sentence that extends clear across the running centuries of time.
Jesus is praying for all the millions of people who have come to believe through
the apostolic word.
"I pray for these ... and them." Do you know what those words add up to? they
add up to the word "all."
21.) “That they all may be one,”
So the first element of his prayer is that all Christians may share with the
apostles in the apostolic faith. The apostles have given us the Word, the truth.
The church is to rest upon the apostles' witness. We do not need modern
apostles. A woman who had been for years a member of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints, which claims to have modern apostles. She said,
"Where does it say in the Scriptures that there are only twelve apostles." She
was referred her to the book of Revelation to the great city that God is building
and the statement "the foundations of the city have upon them the names of the
twelve apostles." We are linked with them. The only errorless faith is the
apostolic faith.
The Jesus that we must worship is the Jesus presented by the apostles.
Thus, there is a oneness of faith throughout the church. But more than that,
there is a spiritual unity. Notice the nature of it:
verse 21 second part “That they also may be one in us: that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me.”
Just as the Father and the Son share life, so all believers share the same life:
the life of the Son in us. That is what makes us brothers and sisters wherever we
are in the world.
That is the unity for which our Lord prays. He is not speaking of outward union.
There have been many attempts to bring all churches together in one great
outward organization, but it has never succeeded and cannot succeed. Our
Lord never intended that to be. There is divisiveness that is totally wrong within
the body of Christ.
But when we meet together, regardless of what our local label may be, we
belong to one another because we share the same life together. That is the life
the world will recognize as true. Notice the means by which this is produced. It is
the inner glory of love:
17:22": And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be
one, even as we are one:
What was that? It was love. The Father loved the Son. That was the Son's glory.
He strengthened himself by that. Jesus says that same love "I have given to
them, Next part of verse 22 that they may be one."
That is why we are to love one another as our Lord has bade, because it
creates the oneness he desires. Next Jesus prays for the church's ultimate
destiny.
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.
Here is the prayer that the church will be with him. That is the promise of
Scripture.
Paul speaks of this in First Thessalonians: 4:16, 17
16.) "For The Lord himself shall descend with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ rise first
17.) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
To be with him, that is heaven -- and that is our ultimate destiny. The purpose of
that, he says, is "to behold my glory." That sounds as though we are all to sit
around for all eternity staring at him. But that is not what he means. Other
Scriptures interpret this.
It means that we shall be like him: "When we see him we shall be like him," {1 Jn
3:2}. And his glory which we behold is something that we are actually
experiencing.
We become part of the glory. Thus everything we do is a beholding of his glory.
What a marvelous fate awaits us! Our Lord concludes his prayer with a prayer
for the present intimacy of the church:
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.
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.
Intimacy with the living God is the key to vitality and fruitfulness. It begins with
the recognition of Jesus as "sent from God." It develops as awareness grows of
the Father's power and love, and finds its deepest expression in a growing
consciousness of the presence within of Jesus himself. The saints of all time
have borne witness to the reality of this. Thus, love is the hallmark of the true
church.
The church must be a loving community if it desires the world to believe that we
have been with Jesus! Let us pray that this wonderful prayer of Jesus will be fully
experienced by each of us who claim to follow him.
- Roy Patterson
References & Excerpts
used in this Study
Ray Stedman
Dr. J. Vernon McGhee