Standing in the Gap: The heart of the High Priestly Prayer
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Central Idea: Jesus stands as the Mediator between heaven and earth, surrendering to the Father's appointed hour, seeking the Father's glory through a finished work, and opening the way for sinners to know God and receive eternal life.
INTRODUCTION
There is no prayer like John 17. On the eve of the cross, Jesus lifts His eyes to heaven and prays, "Father, the hour has come" (John 17:1).
Long before, the Lord said through Ezekiel, "I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land... but I found none" (Ezekiel 22:30).
In John 17, that Man has come. Jesus Christ stands in the gap — the one Mediator between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5), the High Priest who "always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). In these first five verses, the heart of Christ is laid bare: the hour, the glory, and the gift.
I. The Hour: Jesus Faces the Appointed Work
I. The Hour: Jesus Faces the Appointed Work
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 is not prayer as one unsure or caught off guard.
He know that “the hour” is an appointed predetermined time.
He uses the language of submission - not surprise.
And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.
These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
Now, at last, the hour has come. It is the hour of His betrayal, His trial, His crucifixion — the hour in which He will be lifted up to draw all men to Himself
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
He does not ask the Father to remove the hour
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.
Jesus stands in the gap by surrendering to the Father’s timing rather than running form the Father’s will.
Practical Action Item:
Pray with surrender to God's timing and will, not merely for escape from difficulty.
II. The Glory: Jesus Seeks the Father's Honor
II. The Glory: Jesus Seeks the Father's Honor
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 does not seek His own glory in isolation. He seeks a glory that circles back to the Father.
When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
The work the Father gave Him — the work of redemption, of revelation, of obedience unto death — He completed!
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Jesus did not seek a new glory, but the glory he had with the Father from the Beginning
Practical Action Item:
Measure your life by whether it glorifies God and completes the work He gives you. Am I finishing the work God has assigned me — in my home, in the church, in my witness — or am I leaving it undone?
III. The Gift: Jesus Opens the Way to Eternal Life.
III. The Gift: Jesus Opens the Way to Eternal Life.
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 stands in the gap in order to give something away.
The Father has given the Son "authority over all flesh,"
the Son uses that authority not to dominate, but to give eternal life.
He is the gap-stander so that we might be life-receivers.
Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
In John 17:1-5 we see Jesus surrendering to the Father’s appointed time
He seeks the glory — not His own apart from the cross, but the Father's honor through a finished work.
And He gives the gift — eternal life, which is knowing the only true God through Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
