CHRIST’S HIGHPRIESTLY PRAYER I
John 17:1–19
No discussion of prayer would be complete without a treatment of perhaps the most beautiful prayer ever uttered, and that by our Savior. It is difficult to make any divisions in this prayer because it is like the robe of Christ “without seam, woven from the top throughout,” but there is a division which can be made and therefore we will deal with this prayer in the last two lessons of this year’s series.
Jesus spoke this prayer in the hearing ofHis disciples while they were in the upper room together. There He had given the discourses contained in John 14–16. This highpriestly prayer now forms a fitting climax to all that which He had taught them in the three previous chapters. The teaching He had given in these chapters was deep. They did not understand very much of what He had taught them. Later many of these things became clearer to them. Christ now prayed to His Father to implant the teaching of the previous chapters in their hearts.
To The Father
This prayer could not have been uttered by anyone else. The real and true Highpriest was approaching the throne of His Father. What a blessing it is that these words were spoken in the hearing of His followers and that they have been revealed to us! He calls His God “Father” just as He taught His disciples to do in the Lord’s Prayer. The term receives even richer meaning when it is spoken by Him. The Father and the Son stand in a relation to each other which is duplicated nowhere else. The Father was His Father from all eternity. He says: “The Hour is come.” For this hour all history had waited. For this Christ had waited. Time and again He told His disciples and the people of His day that His hour had not yet come. Everything waited for the clock to strike this hour. Who can say that the hour has finally come? Only He who has complete control over everything which He has come to do. Because the hour bas finally come, “glorify Thy Son so that the Son may glorify Thee.” The kind of a life which the Christ had lived for the last 33 years was not normal. He had left the glory which was rightfully His and assumed our nature with all its attending weaknesses. Now the hour has come in which this “abnormal” existence must cease. The glory of the past must be restored. Even though He has glorified the Father in all that He did here as Mediator, He must be returned to the Father’s presence so that He may glorify the Father completely as in the past. The expected hour has come because He has been faithful in carrying out the Father‘s will and He has completed His task. Completed it? Do not the cross, the resurrection and the ascension still lie in the future? The hour has come—it is as though all has already been completed-so sure is it that He will accomplish all.
The Son has been given authority over all flesh. All authority in both heaven and earth is His and therefore He can also send His disciples into the whole world and tell them to turn it upside down! He has authority over all flesh and He gives eternal life to those who have been given to Him. It is amazing how often our Savior refers to the election of God in this prayer. He gives these elect people eternal life and now also tells us what is meant by this “eternal life.” Eternal life is here defined simply as the knowledge of the Father and the knowledge of the Son. Those who receive this life must stand in a relationship to Father and Son wherein they have a “heart knowledge” of both. They must believe in both from the heart.
Christ has glorified the Father while He was here on earth. He came to save sinners by doing the Father’s will. Psalm 40 had already spoken of this fact. The will of the Father is His delight and it is also His own will. Again He speaks of the work as already accomplished—so surely will all be completed, even though some things must still be done.
There is also a strong desire in the heart of Christ to receive the glory which was His before the creation came into being. He desires to be in the presence of the Father again. He seeks to “be near unto God” (Cf. Ps 73). How He opens His heart to the Father in these first five verses! The One who has taught His people to pray is here “pouring out His heart” in prayer. We receive a glimpse of the unique, intimate relationship between the Father and the Son. If we may paraphrase: “I love Thee, Father, and it is my greatest joy to be in Thy presence again. Thou lovest Me and these 33 years and the cross which still waits do not dim that love. The work had to be done. I did it because thy will is my delight!”
For His People
From verse six there is a slight change in emphasis. Until now He has been praying especially for Himself; now the emphasis shifts toward His people. He has manifested the name of the Father to those who have been given to Him. He has declared the Father to them. In Himself they have had a vision of the Father. This the Christ has done for all those who have been given Him, but especially for the twelve disciples. These are the ones who, although imperfectly, have kept God’s word. These had the knowledge and faith that the word of the Father was life. They have, and will in the future still more, give their lives for that word. These disciples realized that Jesus was indeed the Son ofGod. They realized that everything He gave them was from the Father. These were the very words of God which they had learned from the lips of Jesus Christ. The things so necessary unto salvation–that they believe that Jesus has indeed come from the Father-are present with these disciples. Those who would not believe this are antichrists! (Cf. I John 4.)
For Their Protection
In verse 9 Jesus utters a practical truth that is often misunderstood. He tells the Father that He is praying for those whom the Father has given Him. These belong to the Father and therefore He prays for them! He does not pray for the world. Does this mean that His people may also not pray for the world? The Scriptures are clear enough that we must pray for the world. There are also examples of this given in the Scriptures. Abraham prays for Sodom. However, this prayer of Jesus Christ is of a particular nature. The following verses clarify it. All that which belongs to the Christ also belongs to the Father and vice versa. They are One! One in essence and also one in property. Both Father and Son are deeply interested in those for whom He is here praying. They are the fruit of His work! He is glorified in them. That is, He is glorified in the salvation of His people!
The reason why He prays so earnestly for them is because He will no longer be with them! He is leaving the world and ascending to the Father. Since these are still in the world, what will become of them? They are in real danger. That danger is described in Rev. 12. When the Man-child has escaped from the dragon, the dragon pursues the woman, that is, the church. Jesus here prays “Holy Father keep them in thy name.” They will be safe if Kept in the name of God! Surrounded by His revelation they will be safe.
Jesus adds the words which have been quoted more than any other from this prayer: “that they may be one even as we are.” Does this refer to the unity of the church? Indeed it does, but not the kind of unity of which men often speak. It is not a unity of numbers only regardless of the truth. He makes that clear later. We must remember that the unity of the church is an article of faith! He prays that they may stand together, united against a common foe , speaking the same word as Christ and the Father speak the same word.
Christ tells the Father that He has safeguarded them while He was in the world. He did it in the same way He now asks the Father to do it. “Keep them in thy name!” This was so successful that not one of them perished. Those whom the Father has given to the Son are in good hands. He takes good care of those entrusted to him. The only one who did perish was “the son of perdition.” He had never belonged to the Father and had never been given to the Son. Hence, the truth still stands: “of those whom Thou hast given me I have lost no one!”
Now the Christ is going to the Father. He puts the truth into words which His own may hear as He is praying to the Father, in order that “their joy may be full.” He is instructing them by means of this highpriestly prayer. How happy they should bel Instead , they do not understand . Their temptation to unbelief will become powerful this corning night and tomorrow!
Christ has given them the word of God. By this possession they are distinguished from all other men. That word is a treasure entrusted to them with which they will have to work. It will change their hearts and their whole manner of life. Therefore the world will hate them. They have become foreigners to the world just as Christ was. Now it would seem to be the easiest for them if they would be taken out of the world. But Christ does not pray for that. The time for that has not yet come. Jesus prays, “Keep them from the evil one.” With this protection they will be safe and will be able to accomplish their mission.
In verse 16 there is a repetition of the thought expressed earlier. Neither the Christ nor His people are “of the world.” In fact, they have so little in common with the world that the world can’t stand either of them.
Equipped With and For God’s Word
Christ’s people are not only protected from the evil one; they are also equipped to do the task that is awaiting them. Therefore the prayer continues, “Father, sanctify them (set them apart) in the truth.” Let them be filled with the truth of God. “Thy word is truth.” Thy word is the infallible guide. That is the word whereby they must be governed and that is the word which they have to proclaim to the whole world. That word comes from the Father. Woe to those who would twist that word! When they do that they are in the clutches of the evil one!
As the Father sent His Son into the world, so the Son sends His people into the same world. Although they each have a different mission to perform, they come with the same truth. Christ gave His life and thereby is essentially different from His people. But, Christ brought the word of the Father, and that is the same word which His followers must also bring.
Jesus has “sanctified” Himself for them. He has “set Himself apart” for them. In this Jesus refers to His atoning work. His people will then also be “consecrated”—set apart for a task. They will be ready to give their lives for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This prayer for Himself and for His disciples is surpassingly beautiful. It gives us an insight into the heart of the Savior. How He loves His Father! How He loves His people! What a purpose He holds before them! Wh at a Savior!
Questions for discussion:
1. Does this Highpriestly prayer of Christ give us an indication of the priestly work He is carrying on for us in heaven?
2. What do we really mean when we confess the unity of the church? Will this ever be realized on this earth? 3. Throughout this prayer our Lord refers to those who have been given to Him. What does this say to His people today? Does this harmonize with question one of the Heidelberg Catechism? 4. How could the joy of His people be “made full?” Is this different from the way we usually think of this joy of the believer? 5. Who was the “son of perdition?” Did he never “have a chance?” Explain. 6. Why does our Lord lay such a strong emphasis upon the word of God in relation to His disciples? What must they do with that word?
Lesson 16
CHRIST’S HIGHPRIESTLY PRA YEA II
John 17:20–26
The verses listed above form the last division in the Highpriestly Prayer of our Savior. In the previous verses He had spoken mainly concerning His own relationship to the Father and the relationship of the present believers to Him and to one another. In this last section He will emphasize more the relation of those who are not yet believers, or who are not yet born, to their God and to their fellow believers. This division is not sharp. He has spoken of those who will believe in the future also in the previous verses, but there is now a greater emphasis on this group. Although the division is not even sharp enough to warrant a new paragraph, there is a shift, and we do not do violence to this prayer by dividing it between the first 19 verses and the last seven. The eleven disciples had been one of the main foci in the previous verses and those from outside of Israel are included in the final verses of this prayer.
Future Believers
Our Lord makes the distinction clear when He says that He not only prays for the eleven and the others who are now already believers, but that He also prays for those who will believe in the future. These will make their faith in Him evident through their word. They will make confession of the name of Jesus Christ. That is the way in which all believers come to Him. In their confession they repeat the words which God had first spoken. True profession of the name of Jesus Christ is “to say so,” that is, to repeat the words which God had spoken (Cf. 1 John 5:9, 10). There is nothing mysterious or mystical about it—let the people of God say so.
Christian Unity
One of the recurring themes of the Highpriestly Prayer is that all God’s people may be one. So Jesus now speaks of the people of His day who have believed on His name and those who are still to be brought to the faith. He speaks of the unity of the church of all the ages. That is a unity despite differences of time, language and culture. There is no other institution in the world, nor at any other time, which can boast of such a unity. It must be realized that He does not speak of an external unity but of a spiritual unity! This distinction is important. Only the Spirit ofGod can unite people of all nations and climes and tongues. This is a unity patterned after the unity of the Father and the Son. These two are, of course, never separated. The Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. So must the believers also be in Him. This is the theme which Paul often strikes in his epistle to the Ephesians. The believers are to be “in Christ.” Although this means that He is also in them, the emphasis here falls on the former. The believers are to love one another. This is an evidence of being “in Him!” By this love, the like of which the world doesn’t know, it will become evident to men that they have indeed been with Jesus! The foundation of the unity of the church is found in the unity in the Trinity. There truth and love reign supreme. Never may the church sacrifice truth for a seeming unity. This would destroy the unity which is required. If there is that unity among believers and there is therefore that true love for one another, the world will recognize that the Father has sent the Son into this world. The world will see the effect of the work of Jesus Christ. So will both Father and Son be glorified in the world.
This unity of believers is still an article of faith! The reality has eluded us thus far. When there is all manner of division among believers, the world taunts. Its contempt then goes beyond the contempt for the members of the church and even reaches to the God and the Savior these people profess!
A Unity in God
Christ has given the glory which was His as a gift of the Father to His people. He has bestowed on them the riches which He had received. He is in them and they are in Him. This is the closest bond which anyone could ever imagine. Because of the closeness of the relationship between Christ and the believers, these believers become in the words of the Apostle Peter “partakers of the divine nature” (II Peter 1:4). Are they children by adoption? Of course. But, much more. No adopting parent can give his own nature to the child he has adopted. This glory the Christ has given to His people in order that they may be one. Theirs becomes a oneness of life. They form “His body” in this present world. Again He repeats the words of previous verses stating that it is a unity which is born of the unity of the Godhead. There is this addition. By their unity it will become apparent to the world that the Father loves them with the same love wherewith He has loved the Son. His people are so the objects of the love of God that the Lord makes no distinction between the Father‘s love for His only begotten Son and those who believe on Him through their word!
Confidence of God’s Revealed Will
Verse 24 of this beautiful chapter is of the greatest significance to every child of God. In this verse our Savior comes with His demands to the Father. Is this not completely out of character with the way in which He usually comes into His Father’s presence? His approach to the Father is a beautiful example of the way in which we should approach our God in prayer. Christ prays in Gethsemane, “Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my, but Thy will be done.” We have also been taught to pray so that we leave all things to the will of our God, which alone is good. However, we are also taught to pray for the forgiveness of our sins. Never do we then add the words “if it be Thy will!” We know that this is the will of God. He will indeed forgive those who come to Him in penitence. To understand this verse we must also realize that the will of which Jesus now speaks is the same will as that of His Father. How different is His approach now from that of a few hours later when He will be lying face down on the ground in Gethsemane! Here He prays in the fullest confidence of His oneness with the Father; there He prays as the One who is the sin-bearer of His people.
The will which He expresses in this verse is that those whom the Father has given Him may be with Him wherever He is. He has bought them—He now claims His purchase! “They are mine!” “Thou hast given them to me.” Here is no room for the addition: “If it be Thy will.” What a blessed assurance when we stand at the open grave of a child of God. Christ has said concerning this departed one: “I want him to be with me where I am!”
A Certain Future
Not only does Jesus want His people with Him now, but the emphasis is placed on the future. “That they may behold my glory.” He is about to be glorified. He still anticipates Good Friday, Easter and the Ascension, but He can already speak of these as though they had already arrived—so sure is He that this work which still remains, will be completed. Then He will again enjoy the glory which was His before the world began. Now, I want these, whom Thou hast given me, to behold the glory which will then again be mine. Then they must be in His presence! Here they have known Jesus in the state of humiliation—and they loved him. Just imagine what it will be to see Him in His glorification!
Christ speaks of His own glory. It is a glory which has been given Him by the Father. The glory which He had received and which He will again receive in the not too diStant future is because of the love which the Father has for the Son. He wants His people to behold that glory and therewith behold the Father‘s love for the Son. It is indeed something which no ear has heard, which no eye has seen and which has never even entered into the heart of man.
The Lord is coming to the close of His prayer. He acknowledges that the world did not know the Father. That which God had made did not even know the Creator! Sin has so blinded the eyes of men. This is a loving Father but He is also a righteous Father. What would happen to this world which doesn’t even know Him if Someone had not intervened? The Son, of course, knew the Father and knew Him from all eternity. He has made the Father known. God had given Him some out of this world which did not know Him and these have actually now known that the Father had sent His Son into the world. What a change has been wrought by the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. They were blind in their ignorance, and now the truth is seen by them. They were groping about in stygian darkness and now have the glorious light. They had seen no glory and will now, in a short time, behold the glory of the Son of God!
Christ says that He has made the Father’s name known to them. That did it! That was all that was necessary. That name stands for the whole revelation of God. Christ has made the revelation of God known to His people. This effected did change which can now be seen in them. He has made that name known to them and He will continue to do so. The revelation of God was not yet complete in the time in which Jesus utters this prayer. The Apostles must still come with their glorious interpretation of the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. The church must grow and see the realization of the things for which He has prayed this highpriestly prayer. John must still come with his mighty Apocalypse! “I have made known Thy name as no one has ever done before and will continue that work when the Spirit is poured out.”
Often the people of God have embraced the word which He has spoken, they will realize how great is the love wherewith the Father has loved them. They will be filled with the same love wherewith the Father has loved the Son. The relationship between the Son of God and His people is so close that He can call that people “His body.” He has stayed as the great Highpriest. He bears on His breastplate the names of all those whom the Father has given Him. This “Priest’s” sacrifice will be sufficient and it will be “once for all.”
So ends our treatment of the subject of “Prayer.” It is a subject which is worthy of much more space. His people must learn to pray. Unceasing prayer should arise from every heart and from every home for the “body” of Christ here in this world. Pray without ceasing!
Questions for discussion:
1. How can the unity of believers be attained? Must we work and pray for this unity? What must be the basis of this unity? 2. Will those who believe later than the disciples and the people of their day be at a disadvantage? 3. What is the relation of Christ to His people? How can the world know that the Father sent His Son into the world? 4. Christ demands that His people will be with Him. Is this truth honored enough in the church today? What could give more comfort? 5. Christ made the word of God known as no one else ever could. How important is it that we do all in our power to make that word known? Is there anything else necessary? What is the error of those who stress experience at the expense of the word? 6. This high priestly prayer ofChrist gives us a glimpse into His mediatorial heart. Of what further profit is this prayer for us?