John 17:1-26

Tonight we are looking what is called the High Priestly Prayer. This is a prayer Jesus makes in front of His disciples before He would be arrested and put to death. This prayer is jam packed with all kinds of wisdom to look at.

John 17:1 ESV

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,

Jesus acknowledges the time has come. He knows what is waiting for Him and He is ready to endure it. It is interesting to think through how the next couple hours would be able to glorify God. People would disgrace, mock, beat, spit on, and kill Jesus yet God would be glorified because of Jesus’ obedience. Through Jesus’ faithful obedience God was glorified and in the resurrection Jesus is glorified. This hour that has come is the hour that defines all of human history. This hour proves Jesus’ testimony to be true and demonstrates the power of God over sin, death, and the devil. This moment is what sets into motion the redemption of all things.

John 17:1–3 ESV

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Jesus says that the keys to eternity are in His hands. Jesus has all authority to give eternal life to all that the Father has given Him and He tells us, eternal life is through knowing God through belief in Jesus whom God has sent. Jesus is the key. He is the bread of life, the Light of the world, the gate to heaven, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, He is the vine. Our eternal destiny rests in Jesus who has the authority to give us new life by faith in Him.

John 17:4–5 ESV

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

Jesus was doing all that the Father had planned for Him to do and the time is now coming for Jesus to return to heaven and be restored to the glory He had before He was born in human flesh. John is making it very clear to us that Jesus wasn’t just a good teacher. He wasn’t a person who recieved the Holy Spirit and became God. He has always been God. He was with God before anything existed. He was equal with the Father and while for a time He humbled Himself and became submissive to the Father’s direction He is now ascended and glorified in equality with the Father again. Jesus took off His glory to be born as a man and because He was obedient from the cradle to the cross He has risen and has been glorified again.

Do you believe this?

The purpose of John’s writing is that we might believe Jesus is God and in doing so have eternal life and a relationship with God. And so the overarching question as we go through this is do you believe this? Are these truths just words on a page to you? Is this like studying Shakespeare in your English classes, where you read a story and move on? Is it like your history classes where you just remember the dates in case there’s a test but its all just information to remember? Or does this change your life? Does it flip your world view upside down? Does it overwhelm you with peace? Does it inspire you to love others? Does it make you hungry to do what is right? Has your belief moved you to surrender, not just part of yourself but your whole heart?

Jesus’ Prayer for His Disciples

Jesus continues His prayer and specifically Jesus begins to pray for His disciples. He goes through what He has done and what will soon happen to them.

John 17:6–8 ESV

“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

What does it mean that Jesus manifested?

This isn’t some new age mubo jumbo. Jesus didn’t manifest things in the way we see people doing it today. As Christians we don’t manifest because we trust in God’s sovereign will. Speaking things into existence or manifesting doesn’t do anything. God is the one who is working and we can go to Him in prayer any time. But ritualistically chanting or writing down your goals. All the magical numbers and crystals are all mumbo jumbo. There is no such thing as luck only God’s providence and His sovereign will.

When Jesus says he manifested He means that He has revealed or made clear who God is. When we look at Jesus and how He served and loved we are seeing the face of God.

Colossians 1:15 NASB95

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Hebrews 1:1–3 NASB95

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Jesus has revealed who God is to the disciples. They walked with Him. Ate meals with Him. They experienced Jesus in a way we never will until we get to heaven. The disciples received the very words of God from Jesus and thankfully through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Christians today thousands of years later get to read some of them in the Bible.

John 17:9–11 ESV

I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.

Jesus knows His time on earth is coming to a close and so He prays that His disciples will be faithful to continue living out the words that Jesus has spoken. That God will hold them fast and that they would be unified. We see this prayer answered in the book of Acts. Every one of the 11 disciples left after Judas’ death and Matthias who is brought in to replace him, live lives that are faithful to God and unified. You don’t see disciples breaking up over petty disagreements. You don’t see them compromising over the several heresies that would arise over the next century. What you see is a Church that is unified in purpose and doctrine. Acting in one accord, focused on making Jesus known to the nations.

John 17:12–19 ESV

While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Jesus knows that the world will hate the disciples because of Jesus. We talked about that the last two weeks. Because the world hated Jesus it will also hate those who follow Him. What is important is that Jesus knows that the best thing for the world is for the disciples to remain in the world and be lights in the darkness. Jesus prays that His disciples would remain in this world that hates them but that they would be protected from the evil one. Just as Jesus was sent He has sent out His disciples to speak the words they received from Jesus. To call people to repent of their sin and trust in Jesus for salvation.

We also see this prayer answered in the book of Acts. The disciples experience all kinds of persecution but they continue to proclaim with boldness the words of Jesus. Just as Jesus was set apart from the world the disciples live lives set apart from the world so that people might see their testimonies about Jesus and believe in Christ for salvation.

Jesus’ Prayer for Us

Jesus transitions from praying for His disciples to now praying for us, for people who would follow after the disciples in belief. Watching how Jesus prays for us helps us understand what we should be praying for ourselves to. If this is what Jesus wanted from us this is what we should want for ourselves also.

John 17:20–26 ESV

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Jesus prays that we would be unified with each other just as Jesus is unified with the Father.

Unity in the body means coming together in the essentials

Preference and tradition come second to Christ at the center. Jesus is the head of the Body. Everything we do comes from Him. He has established His church and He is what brings us all together.

We unify around Jesus and what He has revealed to us about Himself

The Trinity

Deity of Jesus

The virgin birth

Jesus lived a sinless life, died on the cross, and rose again on the third day. He ascended into heaven and is coming back again soon

Salvation by grace through faith in Jesus alone

The Bible as His inspired Word that reveals to us the Gospel and how to live a righteous life

We can disagree about small interpretations but there are some doctrines that are non-negotiable. We may have a vast difference in tradition but that is secondary to what is essential. That means my preferences, my comforts, my tastes come second to being unified around Jesus. I don’t break fellowship with someone because I don’t like the type of worship music they listen to. I don’t break fellowship because of the color the church decided to paint their walls. We will disagree over little things but let us be united in the big things.

Unity in the body means forgiving others and asking for forgiveness

Part of being in any group of people is dealing with conflict. Unity means being able to forgive and reconcile when it is possible and being willing to ask for forgiveness when we have hurt others. Nobody is perfect, we are all broken people and because of that there will be times when people say or do something stupid. But as people who have been forgiven much by their Savior we need to extend that forgiveness to others. That doesn’t mean we become best friends with the people who hurt us. What it means is that we show grace to others and forgive the way Jesus forgives.

What about big hurts? If someone does something illegal they should be held accountable for that. Forgiveness isn’t the absence of consequence but it is letting go hatred towards another person. It is choosing to not hold that action against a person in your heart. There needs to be legal action if someone does something that requires it and sometimes forgiveness takes time to give. But petty arguments and fights hinder the Gospel.

Unity in the body means using our gifts to build each other up

We have all been given spiritual gifts and talents to serve and build up the Body of Christ. We should look for ways to be generous, to inspire, to encourage, to exhort our fellow believers. Every good team does this. The best teams are the ones when everyone knows their roles and contributes to the best of their abilities.

Romans 12:4–5 NASB95

For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Do you live a life that seeks peace and unity amongst other believers?

Jesus prays that we would be unified with God.

Unity with God comes through the justifying work of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. This isn’t something we achieve. Jesus has made us righteous with God by what He did on the cross. The way we live unified with God is by walking in that or to steal a word from last week, abiding. Abide with Jesus so intently until Jesus is living His life through you.

Galatians 2:20 NASB95

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Do you live a life that is unified with God? His passions? His desires? His will?

Jesus prays that people might see the love of Jesus through us.

As followers of Jesus we are light in the darkness. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5

Matthew 5:16 NASB95

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

We should live our lives in such a way that people see the good things we do and give glory to God because of them. That means pointing people to God as the reason why you do the good things that you do not taking credit for them yourself. Everything we do and the way we do everything should point people to the love between the Father and the Son and the love Jesus has for us.

What do your behaviors and actions say about the God you worship to the lost world around you?

Jesus prays that we would be with Him to see His glory.

The end goal of Jesus ministry is that we would be in eternity with Him, that we would see His glory face to face, and that we would spend eternity worshipping Him. Jesus begins this prayer acknowleging believers that had never seen Him and ends with a prayer that they would spend all eternity with Him.

We saw Jesus’ prayer answered in the book of Acts and I know it will be answered in our generation too. Will you be a part of it?

Do you pray for the same things Jesus prayed for?

Are you living your life to be an answer to Jesus’ prayer?