John 17:1-26 - Intercession by our Great High Priest

Well, one of the scenes in this book depicts the world we live in like a fair filled with shops and goods that tend to distract pilgrims from their journey.

In the book, this place is called Vanity Faire because all of these distractions are vanity, pointless, useless.

As the main character goes through Vanity Faire, the residents notice that he and his companion are very different from them and they don’t want the distracting goods they have to sell, so they start making a fuss and end up arresting them.

Their arrest, trial, and conviction were meant to discourage these pilgrims from continuing their journey.

We live in a fallen world, just like Vanity Faire, that’s bent on distracting us and discouraging us from our mission.

And because we’re battling against the distraction and discouragement of the world…

Jesus shows us in John chapter 17 exactly how he is interceding for us to have divine power for our focus and courage to keep pursuing our mission.

This intercession by Jesus is a foretaste of how he is interceding right now at the Father’s right hand as our Great High Priest as we read earlier in Hebrews.

And it shows us what’s really important to Jesus.

It shows his heart for us.

In this chapter, Jesus prays for a lot of specific things about our mission, but all of them can be put into three categories.

And Jesus prays through these categories one at a time.

He prays for his glory to be restored, his disciples to be sanctified, and his future disciples to be unified.

We’re going to address each category as Jesus prays through them.

And first up, we’re going to see how Jesus prays for his glory in verses 1-5.

John 17:1–2 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.

John 17:3–5 ESV

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

Here, as our Great High Priest, Jesus prays for…

The Restoration of His Glory (1-5)

After Jesus finished teaching his disciples, which John recorded in chapters 13 through 16…

Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and prayed to the Father.

And the contents of this prayer reinforce his previous teaching.

But his prayer also impresses on us the need for God’s help as we pursue our mission.

We need God’s help to have the courage and focus needed to pursue the mission Jesus gave to us…

The same mission the Father gave Jesus in the first place.

Jesus begins his prayer by saying that the time had come for the Father to glorify him and that he would, in turn, glorify the Father.

Jesus is referring here to his death, resurrection, and return to the Father.

The Father glorifies Jesus by sending him to save the world, and Jesus glorifies the Father by obeying and actually saving the world according to the Father’s plan!

He explains this in verse 2.

He says that the glory between Jesus and the Father is seen in the gospel.

The Father has glorified Jesus by giving him authority over all mankind.

Authority to take our place on the cross.

Authority over our eternal life by virtue of his own eternal life.

Authority to intercede for us and to ultimately judge the world at the Father’s right hand.

And Jesus glorifies the Father by granting eternal life to all who the Father had given him.

Obediently going to the cross to afford eternal life to all who would believe in him.

Rising from the dead by the life the Father had granted him to have in himself.

Going back to the Father and both of them sending the Holy Spirit who gives us spiritual life.

Jesus granting us eternal life is the culmination of the gospel.

It’s the final piece of the Father’s redemption plan which glorifies the Father because it’s his plan!

And then Jesus explains exactly what it means to have eternal life in verse 3.

Eternal life is knowing the Father and knowing Jesus Christ who the Father sent.

Eternal life is given to those who have gained an intimate knowledge of God the Father as Jesus has revealed him.

When you hear about God’s love in sending his Son to die in your place and then to rise again so that you can live with him forever…

That’s the intimate knowledge that you’ve got to know and believe in order to be saved from sin and death, in order to have eternal life.

You’ve got to know the Father through the gospel message and believe it…

Believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, sent from the Father to take your sin and punishment and give you his righteousness and forgiveness of your sin.

And when you know and believe that intimate knowledge of the Father, you’re given eternal life.

Eternal life is also forever increasing our intimate knowledge of the Father and Jesus Christ.

Gaining that infinite intimate knowledge is what we will be joyfully doing for the rest of eternity.

Eternal life is based on an intimate knowledge of the Father revealed in Jesus, and we will spend our eternal life gaining more and more of that intimate knowledge of the Father and Jesus in their loving presence in heaven forever.

In verses 4 and 5 Jesus compares his work of glorifying the Father on the earth with his request to return to the glory in heaven that he had before the world existed.

Jesus glorified the Father on the earth by accomplishing the loving work that the Father gave him to do while he was on the earth.

He revealed the Father.

He preached the gospel.

He perfectly fulfilled the Law.

He died for the sins of the world.

He defeated sin and death by rising from the dead.

He perpetuated all of this in love by commissioning his disciples to make more disciples.

And then Jesus asks that the Father restore to him the glory he had before with the Father because this glory is the next stage of his work.

When he became a man, he added humanity to his divinity.

And when he did that his glory was diminished by the limits and frailty of being human.

But he’s about to die and rise again with a glorified body that will transcend those limits and frailty.

And with that glorified body he will be able to have his previous glory restored to him.

But his previous glory will actually be more glorious for his added humanity and the redemption he accomplished in it.

Right now, Jesus is more glorious than he was before the world existed because he added humanity to himself, died in our place, rose again with a glorified human body, and he is now seated at the right hand of the Father interceding as the perfect mediator between God and man because he is both God and man.

And Jesus is going to go on throughout the rest of this prayer to give us a glimpse of how he intercedes for us as our Great High Priest.

So, the first thing Jesus prayed for as our Great High Priest was the restoration of his glory.

Next, we’re going to see how Jesus prayed for his disciples in verses 6-19.

John 17:6–7 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.

John 17:8–9 ESV

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

John 17:10–11 ESV

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.

John 17:12–13 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.

John 17:14–15 ESV

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.

John 17:16–19 ESV

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.

Here, as our Great High Priest, Jesus prays for…

The Sanctification of His Disciples (6-19)

This sanctification has two aspects, passive and active.

And the active aspect has two sides, defensive and offensive.

The first aspect, the passive aspect of sanctification, means that Jesus’ disciples were separated from the world by God…

Set apart by him, chosen by him, predestined to belong to him.

Jesus says in verse 6 that he manifested the Father’s name to those the Father had given him out of the world.

Those who already belonged to the Father because he chose them before the foundation of the world, and who he gave to Jesus, and who keep or obey God’s Word.

Paul explains this very well in Romans 8:30 “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

The Father predestined Jesus’ disciples and called them to belong to Jesus, and by virtue of Jesus’ death and resurrection on their behalf and their obedient faith in him, they have been justified before God and they will surely be glorified along with Jesus when he comes back.

In verses 7 and 8 Jesus explains the obedient faith his disciples have in him which is the outward sign of their position of being set apart from the world by the Father.

They know that everything Jesus has is from the Father, specifically everything Jesus has said.

They received the Father’s words spoken by Jesus believing that they truly were the Father’s words, and they believed that Jesus came from the Father as well.

Their faith is the result of being set apart by the Father.

And in verse 9 Jesus says that he is praying for his disciples and not the rest of the world because his disciples belong to God.

Yes, God owns everything and everyone as the sovereign creator of all things, but what Jesus is talking about here is a special belonging.

His disciples especially belong to God because they have been set apart for his purposes while the rest of the world has been given over to their sin.

In verse 10 Jesus states again the double ownership he and the Father have over the disciples, and Jesus says that he is glorified in them.

Jesus is glorified in his disciples because of their obedient faith in him.

And they have obedient faith in Jesus because they have been chosen out of the world by the Father.

And the whole reason the Father chose them out of the world unto obedient faith in Jesus was to glorify Jesus in this way.

So, that was all about the disciples’ passive sanctification, the fact that they had been specially chosen out of the world by God.

But Jesus also talks about their active sanctification.

And this active sanctification has two sides, defensive protection from falling away, and offensive progress toward God’s purpose.

Think of it like a football game.

God protects you from allowing the enemy to score by stopping their attempts at progressing sin in your life, by giving you the ability to withstand temptation.

And he progresses you down the field toward the goal of loving with Jesus’ love and telling the world about his love in the gospel by keeping your focus on Christ and advancing you closer and closer to the goal of perfectly loving like Jesus.

This is active sanctification because it’s the part of our separation from the world that we actively pursue with God’s power working in us.

Paul describes this beautifully in Philippians 2:12b–13 “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

We don’t need to fear our circumstances or tremble at the prospect of falling away because God keeps us secure.

But we ought to fear God and tremble as we work out our salvation, as we pursue our mission, because of his awesome power working in us and his wonderful purposes he has in store for us.

Keep fighting sin, keep loving each other with Jesus’ love, keep telling people about his love more and more.

Stay focused and take courage because it is God who is at work within you!

Well, Jesus prayed that his disciples would be protected from falling away in verses 11-16.

Jesus was about to leave his disciples, and he knew that they would need divine protection, and a reminder of that protection in his absence.

Jesus asks that the Holy Father keep them, or protect them, in his name.

I think Jesus called the Father holy here because that’s the aspect of the Father’s name, his identity, his character, that the disciples needed to be kept in.

Holiness, sanctification.

The Father is holy, and so we ought to be holy.

But it’s so easy to get caught up in the things of the world and not act as separate from the world as God has made us.

Jesus’ disciples needed protection from the Holy Father to remain holy themselves.

To keep acting as set apart from the world as the Father has sanctified them.

The Father’s holy name had been given to Jesus to reveal to his disciples, and they had received it and believed it.

And by receiving it and believing it they had been separated from the world.

And Jesus says that the purpose of being protected by the Father unto holiness is unity.

Unity among the disciples just like the unity between the Father and Jesus.

That is an amazing thing for Jesus to ask for.

Unity… like the unity in the Trinity?!?

This is the goal, not the reality.

The reality is that the disciples did not always behave in unity like this.

Jesus just said that they would be scattered each to his own home back in John 16:32.

But they could pursue this unity knowing that they have Jesus praying for it and the Father protecting them.

Then Jesus says that he had protected them while he was on the earth like he was asking the Father to do in his absence.

He protected all of them except Judas.

But the loss of Judas was part of the plan, not a failure of Jesus’ protection.

Remember Jesus said back in John 10:27–30 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.””

Jesus had protected, guarded, his disciples, but now he was going away, and he asks that the Father protect them the same way he had.

And he asks this in the hearing of his disciples so that they would have Jesus’ joy fill them up to overwhelm the sorrow of his departure.

Remember Jesus’ joy is joy over loving each other, repenting of sin, and being reconciled to God.

And all of those things need the protection of the Father to keep us from only loving ourselves in sin and being separated from God by our sin.

It’s very tempting to go back to being like the world like this, especially when the world hates those who are so different.

God’s Word changes us, just like it changed the disciples.

So much that the world now sees Jesus’ disciples as enemies.

They are hated because they look and act more like Jesus than they do the world.

And the answer to enduring this hate is not removal from the world, but protection from the evil one.

The world is where the temptation to fall back into sinful self-love exists.

Remember Vanity Faire?

But the evil one, the enemy, Satan, is the one who lies to us, telling us that our sinful self-love is worth it to stop the hate.

The mission is necessarily in the world to save people out of the world, so it would be counterproductive to remove them from the world.

So, Jesus asks that the Father protect them from the lies of the evil one so that they can escape their temptation.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

And Jesus reiterates in verse 16 the distinction between the disciples and the world just like the distinction between Jesus and the world.

This distinction is holiness, being set apart, separated from the rest of the world, sanctified.

And God protects those he has sanctified.

He protects them from falling back into sinful self-love.

Jesus goes on in verses 17-19 to pray for the other side of this active sanctification, the offense, progress toward God’s purposes, the forward pursuit of our mission.

He prays that the Father would use the truth of his Word to sanctify the disciples, to set them apart for his purposes.

And then he says that the purpose, the mission, the disciples are set apart for is the very same one that Jesus was sent into the world to accomplish.

To love with Jesus’ love and tell everyone about his love in the gospel.

To seek and save the lost.

And Jesus is so dedicated to this mission, so set apart, so laser-focused, that he would go to the cross and die for it.

Now Jesus isn’t dedicated to the idea of the mission, or the mission itself.

He’s dedicated to the Father and loving him by obediently going to the cross.

He is dedicated to us and loving us by willingly taking our place on the cross.

That’s his motivation, and that motivation of love caused him to be unwaveringly dedicated to this mission of loving sacrifice to reconcile us back to God.

That’s why Jesus says that he consecrated himself for his disciples.

He set himself apart from the rest of humanity to be the once-for-all sacrifice to afford forgiveness for all who would put their faith in him.

So that his disciples would also be set apart from the world by the truth of the gospel, the truth of Jesus’ love.

So, as our Great High Priest, Jesus prayed for the restoration of his glory and the sanctification of his disciples, both passive and active.

And last, but not least, we’re going to see how Jesus prayed for us, his future disciples in verses 20-26.

John 17:20–21 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.

John 17:22–23 ESV

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.

John 17:24 ESV

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.

John 17:25–26 ESV

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.”

Here, as our Great High Priest, Jesus prays for…

The Unity of His Future Disciples (20-26)

This is amazing, really, how in verse 20 Jesus takes everything he had prayed for his current disciples’ sanctification…

And he applies it to us.

He says that he is not asking for his current disciples only, but for all who would believe because of their word, their testimony.

Everything about their passive and active sanctification, Jesus prays for us, too.

We also have been predestined to belong to God like the disciples.

We also have God protecting us from falling away.

We also have God empowering us to pursue our mission of love in the world.

And just like Jesus prayed that the disciples would have unity like the Trinity back in verse 11…

Jesus also prays to that same end for us as well, but he ties it to his glory, the first thing he prayed for back in verses 1-5.

This is like a chain reaction.

Jesus’ glory results in our sanctification.

Our sanctification results in our unity with each other and with all three persons of the Trinity.

And our unity results in accomplishing the mission.

Glory, sanctification, unity, mission accomplished.

In verse 22 Jesus says that he has given us his glory that the Father had given to him.

This glory is the same thing that John mentioned back in chapter 1 verse 14

John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

This is the truth of the gracious gift of salvation through Jesus’ death and resurrection on our behalf.

Jesus’ glory full of grace and truth is the gospel.

And he gave us the glory of telling people about the gospel and loving people with his love.

And Jesus says that the purpose of giving us his glory is our unity.

We all together pursue our mission.

We all together set ourselves apart from the world.

We have all together been set apart by God to be united in him for the rest of eternity.

Jesus in us, and the Father in Jesus, so that we would experience perfect or complete unity.

And the goal of this unity, as Jesus said in verses 21 and 23 would be accomplishing the mission.

People from the world knowing and believing that the Father sent Jesus to be our savior, thus separating them from the world.

People from the world knowing about the Father’s love…

His love for his own in the world just like he loves Jesus.

But that goal of the accomplished mission would have it’s perfect result in eternity.

That’s what Jesus says in verse 24.

The ultimate accomplishment of the mission is that all of Jesus’ future disciples would be with him forever in heaven.

The mission is to make more disciples by loving people with Jesus’ love and telling them about his love in the gospel.

And the ultimate accomplishment of that mission is all of those disciples that were made being with Jesus and seeing his glory in person forever.

Right now we pursue the mission as we share Jesus’ love in the gospel and see new disciples made.

Only in eternity with Jesus will we be able to say together, “mission accomplished.”

Well, the last thing Jesus mentions in his prayer here is his massively significant role in perpetuating this unity with both his current and future disciples in verses 25 and 26.

Remember, this is unity based on the glory of knowing the Father through Jesus who makes him known in the gospel.

The world doesn’t know the Father, but Jesus does, and he has made him known to his disciples.

And Jesus also continues to make the Father known through the disciples’ witness.

Making the Father known results in love because God is love as John wrote in 1 John 4:7–8 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Jesus making the Father’s name known to us results in the same love the Father has for Jesus being in us and Jesus himself being in us as we love with his love.

The basis for our unity is our shared love for Jesus, our shared love by Jesus, and our shared love source in Jesus.

We’re unified as he continually makes the love of the Father known in our loving interactions with each other as an extension of his love, and as we lovingly tell others about his love in the gospel.

Conclusion

This is what Jesus, your Great High Priest, prayed for just before he offered his own life as the perfect sacrifice to afford you forgiveness and reconciliation back to God.

And this is a glimpse of how he is interceding for you right now.

This shows what Jesus thinks is important for you and your life.

It’s important that you worship him in his glory.

It’s important that you pursue your sanctification in his power recognizing that you have already been set apart by God.

It’s important that you be united with Christ and with each other in his love.

It’s important that you understand these things to have the focus and the courage to keep pursuing your mission.

Jesus, your Great High Priest, is praying for you, interceding for you!

You have divine power to do the impossible!

To love with his love as the world hates you.

And to see people in the world find new life in Christ as you share with them the love of Christ in the gospel.

Are you encouraged?!

Are you focused?!

You have your marching orders of love and proclaiming God’s love in the gospel.

Stay focused on that.

And you have assurance that it’s God who is working in and through you, as Jesus intercedes for you.

Be encouraged in that.

Now, if you are still “of the world” because you haven’t put your faith in Jesus yet, then consider the truth of the gospel.

Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who was sent by God the Father to become human and die in your place.

He had to die because death is the just penalty for your sin against almighty infinite God.

He was perfectly sinless, so his death was not for his own sin because he had none.

His death was for your sin, in your place.

But after he died for your sin, he didn’t stay dead.

He rose from the dead after three days, and that’s significant because it secures your eternal life based on his eternal life.

And all you need to do to be forgiven and have eternal life is believe.

Believe it with every fiber of your being, so that Jesus changes you, separates you from the world, from what you used to be.

Believe it so that instead of wanting to sinfully love only yourself, you want to obediently love Jesus and others.

And as you believe, you can be sure that right now Jesus is at the right hand of the Father in heaven interceding for you.

Praying…

That you would experience his glory.

That you would be set apart from the world by the Father.

That you would be protected and empowered to work out your salvation and pursue your mission.

That you would be united with him and with other believers in your love and in the truth of God’s love in Jesus, and ultimately united in Jesus’ loving presence for eternity.

Pray

Father, this prayer that Jesus offered on our behalf is staggering.

I pray that you would use it to keep us focused and encouraged in our pursuit of our mission.

I pray that you would remind us of these truths often… every day, every moment.

Remind us of Jesus’ glory.

Remind us of our sanctification, our distinction from the world because of Jesus’ love in us.

Protect us from falling to temptation, and help us to keep pursuing our mission of love in the gospel.

Remind us of our union with Christ and the hope we have of all of us being reunited with him forever.

And help us to remind each other of these truths as we pursue our mission together.

Father, these are the things Jesus prayed for us, and I believe they are the things he continues to pray for us.

So, I can confidently say that we pray all of these things in the name of our Great High Priest, Jesus. Amen.

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