May
5th John
17 The Lord Prays
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: 2: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3: And
this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4: I have glorified thee on
the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5:
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was. 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. 7: Now
they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of
thee. 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. 9: I pray
for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast
given me; for they are thine. 10: And all mine are thine, and thine
are mine; and I am glorified in them. 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. 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. 13: And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in
the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 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. 15: I pray not
that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from the evil. 16: They are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world. 17: Sanctify them through thy truth:
thy word is truth. 18: As thou hast sent me into the world, even so
have I also sent them into the world. 19: And for their sakes I
sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the
truth. 20: Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which
shall believe on me through their word; 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. 22: And the
glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one,
even as we are one: 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. 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. 25: O righteous Father, the
world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have
known that thou hast sent me. 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.
Now
the Lord turns from teaching to prayer. He prays in the presence of
his disciples and of course John records it for our edification. And
what a prayer it is. First Christ prays for the Glory of the Father
and the Son. The Lord asks that the Father will glorify him in the
redemptive work that he is about to do. Gods Character and ways are
going to be revealed to the world once and forever in the ultimate
ministry of Christ upon the Cross. All that God is will be revealed
his love, his justice, his holiness, his grace. Everything will be
displayed for those who have eyes to see. This will be done even as
the Father has given to his Son authority to give eternal life to
those that the Father has given to the Son. Believers are the Fathers
Love gift to the Son. And what is Eternal life? It is the personal
experience of fellowship which the believer experiences and it is an
eternal relationship. Christ’s ministry as a Prophet has been
completed now he takes up the ministry of the priest. Now he is going
to offer up an eternal sacrifice, himself. Now Christ asks the Father
to glorify him with the Glory he had before the world was. Christ
never laid aside his glory but now he asks that the glory might be
revealed. Next Christ prays about the men that God has given him. He
prays that the word that he has given them might remain in them. He
says l am no longer in the world but they are in the world. Christ
prays for the well being of the disciples in the world. he prays that
the Father will keep them through his own name those that have been
given him. That they might be one. He prays for the unity of the
disciples. He says the world hates them but l do not pray that they
might be taken out of the world but that they might be kept from the
evil one. They do not belong to the world just as l do not belong to
the world. Set them apart, he says, through your truth. Then Christ
turns his attention on the Church Universal. Who are these people?
And what links the Apostles to the Church Universal? They believe on
me through their word. What links us today to the apostles is a
common faith based on the common word of God which the Apostles
wrote. Christ prays that they ALL might be one. Christian unity does
not just have width it has length. We are united today to the
apostles of the first days. And the glory that Christ gives is to ALL
believers in the Church Universal. And why does he do this? That the
world may know that Christ was sent of the Father. And that the world
may know that the Father loves them in the same way as the Son is
loved of the Father. Lastly he prays that the church Universal might
eventually come to be with Christ where he is, so that they might
behold his glory. His ultimate purpose is the love of the Father
might be in them and Christ in them. What a prayer, what heights of
blessing are described. May we lift our eyes from this world to see
the Lord of glory.
- In what way would Christ be glorified?
- What does Christ ask for – for the disciples?
- What does Christ ask for – for us today?
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