Private Ministry: The High Priestly Prayer (17:1-26)

Introduction:

Last week if you remember, Jesus is giving His final points in His farewell discourse where He speaks hope into His disciples as he declares that Your Sorrow Will Turn to Joy (16:16-33). He uses the illustration of a woman about to give birth and though there is extreme pain during the birth process, afterwards, that same event brought great joy as she beholds her newborn child. In the same way, the disciple were experiencing intense sorrow at the thought of Jesus leaving and their upcoming persecution, however, that same event will produce eternal joy as God’s plan unfolds in their lives.

This morning, we will look at the apex of Jesus final discourses, but this time it was not to His disciples, but with His Father, on behalf of His disciples, in what has been called, The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus from John 17.

Text: John 17:1-26

John 17:1–26 ESV

1 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, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. 6 “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. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 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. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 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. 12 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. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 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. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 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. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 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. 24 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. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 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.”

Main Idea: Because Jesus is our great High Priest, we can know for certain that all that is planned for His Church will be fulfilled.

Note that Jesus prayer begins with God and His glory and ultimately His purpose!

I. Prayer for God’s Glory (1-5)

A. Glory of the Son (1-3)

1 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,

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven - Having left them with words of great victory (John 16:33 “33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”” ), Jesus now turns His attention from His Disciples and petitions His Father…

Father. This word occurs more than one hundred times in John’s gospel. In the prayer of ch. 17 it is found six times. It expresses the unique intimacy that the eternal Son has eternally enjoyed with the first person of the Trinity, a relationship that continues after the incarnation and throughout Christ’s work in redeeming His people, both in humiliation and in exaltation. Because of the redemptive work of Jesus the Son, believers also may speak of God as their Father through their union with Christ.

the hour has come. Jesus is fully conscious of what was going to happen, it’s time for His primary purpose to be fulfilled, His crucifixion, which ultimately will bring Him glory, see the note on John 12:23.

John 12:23 ESV

23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you. The perfect life of the Son in His incarnation gives glory to the Godhead. The Son is glorified in His crucifixion, resurrection, and enthronement at God’s right hand—these events are viewed as a composite unity in this gospel.

Note also the mutual glorification that takes place within the Godhead, when one is glorified, all our glorified!

2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

given. This verb is used sixteen times in this prayer.

authority over all flesh. Jesus possessed this universal authority even in the days of His humble service on earth (5:21–29; Matt. 11:27), which was a beginning fulfillment of the “Son of Man” prophecy from Dan. 7:13, 14. However, His exaltation in resurrection and ascension marks the escalated fulfillment of Daniel’s vision of the Son of Man who enters heaven to receive from the Ancient of Days everlasting dominion over all nations (Dan. 7:13, 14).

Daniel 7:13–14 ESV

13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

And what did that authority allow Him to do?

to give eternal life. Reminiscent of John 3:16.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

to all whom you have given him. God’s sovereign choice is emphasized in this expression.

3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

that they know you ... and Jesus Christ. Life consists in fellowship with God “who created us for Himself, so that our soul is restless unless it finds its rest in Him,” as Augustine expressed it. Knowledge, here as so often in Scripture, means more than mere intellectual grasp; it involves affection and commitment as well. By placing Himself and the Father together as the source of eternal life, Christ affirms His own deity.

B. Glory of the Father (4-5)

4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

I glorified you on earth - notice the mutual glory that the Father accomplishes in the Son, and the Son accomplishes in the Father…this is seen by how Jesus…

accomplished the work. This anticipates Jesus’ cry of victory from the cross: “It is finished” (19:30).

5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

glorify me ... with the glory.

Jesus affirms as part of His petition that His glory existed “before the world existed,” signifying that He was preexistent and uncreated (1:1–3).

Second, He refers to the kind of “glory” He enjoyed there. Throughout the Bible, this is the glory always associated with the true, living, and only God.

Having begun with the petition to God the Father and the appeal for both His and the Father’s glory, we see next the…

II. Prayer for Jesus’ Disciples (6-19)

Jesus begins this prayer with what He had accomplished for His disciples, as…

A. Jesus revealed to them the Father (6-8)

6 “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.

manifested your name. Here, “name” denotes God in the beauty of His perfection as revealed to humanity. The OT temple was the place where God “put his name” and made His habitation under the old covenant (Deut. 12:5).

Yours they were. Everything and everyone belongs to God by virtue of creation, but here possession by redemption is in view. God has given the elect to the Redeemer: “you gave me” (cf. Heb. 2:10–13).

you gave them to me. Jesus alludes to the pre-temporal covenant of redemption, in which the Father promised to reward the Son with a people and the Son committed to redeem His people through His perfect obedience and atoning death.

7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 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.

they know (ginosko [per, act, ind] - to know experientially) - We know God’s eternal covenant because God has chosen us in the past and we have come to know Him presently as a result.

For I have given them the words that you gave me - these words were the words of the eternal covenant

they have received them and have come to know (ginosko [aor, act, ind]) in truth - note that the knowing in truth is a direct result of receiving the truth.

that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. - the truth received and known, was therefore believed.

As a result of them believing the truth,…

B. Jesus asks for their protection and unity (9-14)

9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world. Jesus’ work of redemption has particular reference to the elect—those whom the Father has given Him (10:14, 15, 27–29). This verse strongly supports a doctrine of definite (or particular, sometimes called “limited atonement”) redemption: the prayer of Jesus before His sacrificial death specifies His purpose in dying.

10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

All mine are yours, and yours are mine - notice once again the mutual ownership of those of the particular atonement by the trinity…

I am glorified in them. It is surprising that God’s glory can be associated with the actions of human beings, who are so insignificant compared to the divine majesty. Yet Paul affirms the possibility of doing so via the most common activities of human beings, such as eating and drinking (1 Corinthians 10:31 “31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” ). Through the church, God displays His manifold wisdom to heavenly beings (Eph. 3:10) and gains glory for Himself (Eph. 3:21). We saw this also in John 15:8

John 15:8 ESV

8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

11 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.

Holy Father. This form of address is used only here in the NT.

keep them in your name. Having protected His disciples while He was with them (v. 12), Jesus entrusts them now to the Father’s care, administered (by implication) through the Holy Spirit and the Father’s “name”—the revelation of His divine glory and grace through the Father’s words that Jesus has given His disciples (v. 8).

But note, this is not just a protection from harm, but even more importantly…

that they may be one, even as we are one. Despite the radical difference between the infinite, mysteriously triune Creator and His finite human creatures, the unity of persons in the Trinity is the pattern for the unity of believers with one another through their union with Christ (14:10 note). There is a unity of purpose and essence in the invisible church, the body of Christ.

12 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.

While I was with them, I kept them in your name - Jesus while on earth protected His disciples, so that…

not one of them has been lost. Jesus’ guarding of the disciples (except Judas, whose betrayal was purposed by God and foretold in Scripture) is a specific instance of His power to hold His sheep so firmly that none can be removed from His hand (10:28).

the son of destruction. The same term, here plainly referring to Judas.

that the Scripture might be fulfilled - Judas’s betrayal is necessary for the fulfillment of many other passages that describe our Lord’s suffering. Jesus understands many Scriptures as containing prophetic announcements of various details of His messianic career (5:39, 46–47). He stresses that all these will be fulfilled because they are part of the Word of God.

13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

But now I am coming to you - the urgency of the prayer is that Jesus will no longer be here in the flesh to protect them.

these things I speak. Jesus wants His disciples to overhear His prayer on their behalf in order to sustain their joy, perhaps offering a hint of the themes of His ongoing intercession for believers as their eternal high priest at God’s right hand (Heb. 7:25).

14 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 have given them your word. This refers to Jesus’ teaching.

they are not of the world. The new birth implies a radical division in humanity. Believers continue to live in the world (v. 15, 18), but they do not truly belong to it (v. 16).

C. Jesus requests their sanctification (15-19)

15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

I do not ask that you take them out of the world - shows that that the glory of the Godhead is greater reveled in keeping His covenant people in the world.

keep them from the evil one. Jesus knows that the world will hate His disciples as it has hated Him, but He does not ask for the disciples to be protected from suffering; rather, He prays that they will be kept from the evil one. It is not the physical or social troubles of the world from which Jesus wishes His disciples to be “kept” but its moral corruption, by which Satan seeks to corrupt those who follow Christ and draw them back under the sway of sin. Similar to what is requested in the Lord’s prayer in Matt 6:13:

Matthew 6:13 ESV

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Those who believe in Christ are not of the world, meaning that they have an entirely different nature, including different heart desires, different fundamental goals, and ultimately a different God. The common saying that Christians are “in the world but not of the world” is taken from this passage.

17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

Sanctify them. Jesus does not pray for the temporal well-being of the disciples but for their sanctification, that they be set apart for God as holy, consecrated for their holy mission.

in the truth is the means by which holiness is attained. Error and deception are basic to evil, and truth is basic to godliness.

your word is truth. This testimony refers immediately to the OT that the disciples possess in the first century. It extends also to the teaching of Jesus, called God’s “word” (v. 14), and it comes to include the books of the NT canon. This is a powerful attestation of the authority and divine origin of Scripture.

So what are they being sanctified for?

18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

As you sent me ... so I have sent them. Compare 20:21. Jesus is the supreme pattern for Christian missions, and “apostle” (meaning “one sent with authority”) is applied to Him in Heb. 3:1.

Hebrews 3:1 ESV

1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,

Although the eleven apostles, Matthias (Judas’s replacement), and Paul had a unique calling as witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection and recipients of new covenant revelation, any true Christian is sent into the world to bear witness to Christ and to reach out to the lost where they may be found in order to lead them to the Savior. The Spirit who bears witness to the Son (15:26) indwells all who believe (Acts 5:32).

into the world. Note the prepositions: we can rightfully assume that believers are not “of” the world (vv. 14, 16), nor “out of” the world (v. 15), but are sent “into” the world and “in” the world (16:33). Note: the word for church (ekklesia) means “called out ones”.

19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

I consecrate myself. “Consecrate” represents the same Gk. word as “sanctify” in v. 17, and later in this same verse. Jesus, as our High Priest (Ex. 28:41), consecrates Himself—sets Himself apart—to His sacred task, especially His supreme sacrifice. Although believers’ “consecration” requires a subjective purification that Jesus Himself did not need, like Him they are separated from the world for the sake of a mission from God.

This is why we call chapter 17, Jesus High Priestly Prayer.

Finally, Jesus now concludes His High Priestly prayer with a…

III. Prayer for All Believers (20-26)

Note how Jesus begins, not with protection or the provision of needs, but…

A. Godlike unity of all true believers ( 20-23)

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

those who will believe in me. In a sublime turn of thought, the Lord now embraces in His prayer the whole body of believers, even those who will be born and come to faith in future ages. Every true Christian can be assured of being included in this prayer.

through their word - shows the means of their belief in which the apostles became the foundation of the invisible church. (Eph 2:19-20)

Ephesians 2:19–20 ESV

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,

21 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.

that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us - the unity of the invisible church is possible because of the unity of the Godhead and its position in it.

that the world may believe that you have sent me. This prayer for unity is not merely for a spiritual or invisible unity, but for a unity that is visible to the world, so that the world may believe.

Note: The unity of the visible church becomes a beacon, a showcase to the world to draw them to God. Peter tells us this in 1 Peter 2:9:

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,

Glory probably refers to the manifestation of the excellence of God’s entire character in Jesus’ life (see 1:14). Jesus has given this to all believers (see 17:20): his entire life revealed the glory of God and therefore he imparted it to his followers, and Christians now reflect God’s excellency in their own lives, in imitation of Christ. Thus the title “Christian” means, “One Like Christ”.

that they may be one even as we are one - in this Christlikeness, we are to emulate the unity of the Godhead!

23 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.

perfectly one. There is a pattern of unity that characterizes the eternal relationship of the Father and the Son, which is then reflected in the unity of the Son and the Christian. See note 14:10.

loved them even as you loved me. This statement brings to light the love of God the Father for the redeemed (3:16; 14:21, 23), sometimes overlooked because of emphasis on the love of Christ for them, although the Father’s love is a frequent theme in the NT (Rom. 5:5, 8; 8:39; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 2:4; 1 John 3:1).

even as (kathos [conjunction of comparison])- As we mentioned last week, the Father’s love for the believer is the same as His love for Jesus His Son!

This is reiterated again in…

B. God’s love for all true believers (24-26)

24 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.

I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory. Jesus does not request temporal prosperity for either the disciples or the church; rather, He prays for holiness and unity on earth and for the gathering of His saints in heaven. To be with Christ is the supreme yearning of the Christian (Phil. 1:23).

Philippians 1:23 ESV

23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. The

O righteous Father - The OT teaches that God is righteous and just (e.g., Ps. 116:5; 119:137; Jer. 12:1).

Although Jesus is about to give His life for His people, the innocent and righteous one for the guilty and unrighteous ones, he affirms the righteousness of God his Father in allowing and planning and implementation for this to happen.

26 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.”

The prayer ends by sounding again some of the notes heard throughout: unity, knowledge, mission, and love. This is a fitting climax to the teaching of Jesus in the whole gospel.

So What?

Do we understand that all things that exist and all that God has planned is for the purpose of His glory?

Do we understand that God has equip the apostles to be the foundation of our relationship with Him?

It is God’s purpose that we be sanctified and unified, this can only be done through a common source of truth, which is brought about by the Holy Spirit using the apostles as the foundation of this truth.

Do we understand that when we live in obedience to God and His commands we display God’s glory before a world steeped in darkness?