The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus, Part 1

Transcript

GR 403
5/31/1981
The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus Part 1
John 17:1-5
Gil Rugh

John chapter 17 in your Bibles, John's gospel and the 17th chapter. We've come to what in many ways is the high point of the gospel of John to this point, the climax of the ministry of Jesus Christ to His disciples, which focuses in on the prayer that He offers up for them and fitting that His ministry here on earth before the crucifixion would close with this time of prayer. It's not a time of prayer that He enters into with the disciples in particular. But it's almost as if the disciples were there as observers, to listen in on this intimate conversation Jesus has with His Father asking on their behalf.& much of the prayer centers on His requests for them, the immediate disciples, the eleven who are here and also those who will come to believe in Him at a future time. It's called the high priestly prayer of Christ because there He does function as our high priest, does intercede on our behalf. Hebrews chapter 7 says that even today Jesus Christ intercedes at the right hand of the Father on our behalf. We see something of the character of this intercession on our behalf in John chapter 17 and as many have noted, this would really bear the title of Lord's prayer. We title the prayer that begins "Our Father who art in heaven" the Lord's prayer but that was really given as a model prayer for His disciples to pray not a prayer that Jesus Christ, Himself prayed, but here is the prayer that Jesus Christ offers up and is on behalf again of His disciples.

Remember the context, chapter 16 has closed the discussion that Christ had with His disciples and He has closed on a positive note. Note verse 33, "These things I have spoken to you, in order that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." Talking about peace, talking about victory, now that's in the context of tribulation, the context of anguish, of conflict but they have peace because He is the victor, He is the one who has overcome and this victory now will be seen in the prayer that He offers. And it flows right into chapter 17, because the end of chapter 16, "I have over come the world." Now, the climax of that victory, the focal point of that victory is the cross and His subsequent resurrection. And that's what He is going to refer to in the first 5 verses where He prays for Himself, in the first 5 verses, but not in a selfish sense. He prays for Himself, that He might be glorified in order that the Father might be glorified, in order that God's purposes might be realized in those who come to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior, so it just flows out of the end of chapter 16, the victory that Jesus Christ accomplishes for those who believe.

The chapter opens up, "These thing Jesus spoke; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said", you see He concludes His discussion with the disciples and evidently enters right into the conversation with His Father. We don't know exactly the location, exactly the details but as is characteristic posture of prayer in Scripture He lifts His eyes towards heaven and begins to address His Father, and you'll note the disciples are fully aware of what is going on. No one interrupts, no one has any comments, they stand listeners and I'm sure somewhat amazed at this conversation because they won't understand much of what is being said. "Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee". "The hour has come", we looked at the various places in John's gospel where this expression is used. Focusing in on the time of His crucifixion and emphasizing the fact, "this is the reason for My coming, the hour has come", you see something of God's sovereign control in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. That they have come to the very hour now, that God had determined and we'll see as we move through chapter 17 before He created the world that this hour would arrive. Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem it was so that His life might progress to this hour the precise time when He would be delivered over to sinful man for crucifixion. It's interesting that the prayer does not focus on what we might think of as the sorrowful aspects of what is to come but rather the victorious side of it. We talk about glory and glorification "glorify your Son", now He's talking about the coming crucifixion but as Christ talks about the coming crucifixion He is talking about coining glory. "Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify You". Look down at verse 5, "And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father with the glory which I ever had with Thee before the world was." Now there is a sense which Jesus Christ did glorify God the Father during His earthly life and did manifest His glory during that time. Now He prays that the Father will glorify Him but important to see that He has manifested glory during His earthly ministry. The gospel of John began on this note.

Look back in chapter 1 of John. Verse 14 "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory", so His glory was revealed during the entire time that He was dwelling as a man on earth. "The Word Jesus Christ became humanity and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." What is being emphasized here is that Jesus possessed all the attributes of deity even during His earthly ministry, He never ceased to be deity and all the glory of the attributes of deity resided in Him in His earthly body. Colossians puts it "all the fullness of deity dwelt in bodily form" and He was manifesting that glory during His earthly ministry.

Look over in chapter 2 of John, you see a specific example. The first miracle that Jesus Christ performed, you remember, the turning of the water to wine at the wedding feast at Cana. Verse 11 "This beginning of signs (or miracles) Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory". So you see when He performed miracles He was manifesting His glory, manifesting the glory of His person, the attributes that were His as the divine Son of God. But the full continuous, uninterrupted brilliance of His glory, the display of that glory was veiled during His earthly ministry. So even though glory is displayed and is seen the fullness of that glory and the continuous display of that glory did not take place during the earthly ministry. Many people, thousands of people in Palestine would have seen Jesus Christ but been blind to the glory that was His.

Now when we talk about the glory that Christ had with the Father before the world was that was a glory that was unveiled that all would behold. Back in Isaiah 6, we looked at the details of Isaiah 6 in connection with our study of John 12, but just turn back there for a reminder. We'll see something of the pattern that will flow. In Isaiah 6 we see something of the glory that Christ had with the Father before the world was. Now Isaiah 6 is writing obviously after the creation but this glory that is revealed in Isaiah 6 was Christ from eternity past and something of the splendor of it. Verse 1 "In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord", now John chapter 12, along about verse 41 tells us that Isaiah was writing about Jesus Christ. He had seen the glory of Jesus Christ in Isaiah 6, "I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory. And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke." You note, that there is no possibility of mistaking the glory of the Son of God on this occasion. That the glory that He had with the Father was an unveiled glory that no one who could confront Him would fail to be overwhelmed by that glory.

You come over to Philippians chapter 2 and you have a description of what took place when Jesus Christ left the glories of His Father's presence, left behind the fullness, the display of His glory and came to earth. And in verse 6 "although He (Christ) existed in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross." So what took place is that Jesus Christ voluntarily set aside the full display of His glory, took upon Himself the form of a man and became a human being. He did not cease to be deity because one of the attributes of deity is eternal so He could never cease being God but to His deity He added humanity and during that time of earthly existence the full glory of His deity was veiled and so that many could not perceive and comprehend it. That culminates in His exaltation again in Philippians 2 while we're here, God has highly exalted Him, restored Him, that is to the position He had which is fulfillment of the prayer in John 17, "the glory which I had with You before the world was".

Look in Ephesians, just before Philippians. Ephesians chapter 1, Paul is praying about glory, the glory that is ours as saints, believers in Jesus Christ. And He speaks in verse 18 "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet". So He has resumed that position of exalted glory in the presence of the Father.

Turn to Revelation chapter 1 and note the difference in impact upon those who behold Him with the fullness of glory with those who beheld Him while on earth. Men could behold Him on earth and ridicule Him, spit upon Him, curse Him. That is not so when they are confronted by the Lord with all His glory. When Isaiah confronted Him in Isaiah 6 He thought that He was a dead man overcome by the glory of God. Revelation chapter 1, John has a vision of the resurrected, glorified Christ and note the impact in verse 17 "And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man.", overwhelmed by the glory of Jesus Christ.

Look over in Revelation chapter 5. A picture of the throne room in heaven itself and Jesus Christ displayed here. Verse 6 "And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing (reference to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God), as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came, and He took (the book) out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sane a new song, saying, "Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for You were slain, and didst purchase for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And Thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever."" You note the difference in the glory with the fullness display both before Christ became a man and after His resurrection and ascension to the Father. The display of the glory is overwhelming, all creation is confronted and overwhelmed by that glory.
So even though during His earthly ministry there were the displays of the glory, there was the revelation of the glory, it was still to the large extent veiled.
The closest we come to a full unveiling of that glory is the Mount of Transfiguration which was an experience limited to just three of the disciples. There is something of the coming glory of Christ was unveiled and manifest.

Back to John chapter 17. So this is the glory that Christ is talking about when He prays "glorify your Son". Now the pattern to this glory is the cross an interestingly the gospel of John, when you talk about the glorification of Christ you're focusing in on the cross. That's become a synonym for the crucifixion, the glorification of the Son, and you see something here of the assurance of the victory of Jesus Christ. That in His crucifixion He realizes that there will be accomplished the fulfillment of all the purposes and plan of God for the redemption of mankind and the exaltation of His Son. So the cross is used as glory.

Back in chapter 7 verse 39, the word "glory" appears as we saw back in chapter 1 of John. The word "glorification", if I remember correctly appears for the first time in John 7 and verse 39 "But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.", and you see that would encompass the events of the crucifixion, the resurrection and the ascension, would result in glorification.

Look over in chapter 12 of John. Christ has been talking about His impending death, chapter 12 closes the public ministry of Christ, you remember. In verse 27 "Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. "Father, glorify Your name. There came therefore a voice out of heaven: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." Again the crucifixion becomes the focal point where God will glorify His Son and Himself.

Look in chapter 13, verse 31, "Now is the Son of Man glorified". What is He talking about? Judas has left the room to carry out the deeds of the betrayal. Now, the Son of Man is betrayed, now the Son of Man is to be crucified, now the Son of Man is to be glorified, the hour has arrived. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself and glorify Him immediately. You see how the glory of the Father and the Son are intertwined and inseparable. So Jesus Christ glorified the Father during His earthly life through His complete and absolute obedience, His full revelation of the character of God in all that He did and said But the fullness of that glory is accomplished in His death and resurrection, there the full display of the power of God at work in providing redemption that only God could provide is realized and God is glorified, the Son of God is exalted

Back to John 17. You note here that the glory that He is talking about is in the context of the redemption that He will be securing in His death. Note verse 2 "even as", so "glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You even as", it's a further development of what He is talking about in this glorification process "even as You gave Him authority over all mankind". The Son's request to be glorified is to be fulfilled in light of the authority given to Him and this authority could not be exercised in the fullest way to realize the purposes of God until the crucifixion is accomplished. Note here the Son has been given authority over all mankind, literally over all flesh, all humanity, no limitations on the authority of the Son of God. His authority is absolute, it is complete, there has never been nor will there ever be a person born into the human race who in the ultimate sense does not come under the authority of Jesus Christ. Now as we'll see He's going to divide humanity in a moment but all humanity has been placed under His authority, His power by the Father, that's absolute, complete, He is the Lord. But note here the connection with glorification to what would be accomplished. He could be absolute Lord over all humanity without going through the experience of the cross. He has always been the Lord of glory for all eternity, but, the next statement, "even as You gave Him authority over all man, that (and that little word "that" expresses purpose) "in order that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life." So you see He's been given authority over all mankind so that He might bestow eternal life on a portion of mankind. Now that's where mankind is divided. The eternal life is not bestowed on all who are under His authority. All humanity has been placed under the authority of Jesus Christ. He has right and power over them, but He is to be glorified so that His authority might be exercised to bestow eternal life upon those that the Father has given Him. A special group among all humanity have been taken by the Father and given to the Son as a gift bestowed upon Him. You note the word here "give", used repeatedly in this verse three times. You go through this whole prayer and you see this word "give" is a key word. Note, the authority was given to Him, the people were given to Him, eternal life is given by Him. Authority- given to the Son, people- given to the Son by the Father eternal life- given to those who were given to Him by the Father.

Now we've noted this emphasis in the gospel of John before, it's repeatedly stressed in this prayer that Christ is concerned about that group of people that the Father has given to Him, we see it in verse 2. Look down in verse 6 "I manifested You name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; Thine they were, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Verse 9 "I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, (not on behalf of all of those over whom I have authority) but of those whom You gave Me; (or have given Me) for they are Yours." Verse 11 "And I am no more in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one, even as We are (one)." Praying specifically for this group of people. Verse 12 "While I was with them, I was keeping them in Thy name which You have given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled." Emphasis on what was given to Christ. Verse 24 "Father, I desire that they also, whom You hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me; for You did love Me before the foundation of the world."

Look back in John chapter 6. When we studied John chapter 6 we talked in detail about the doctrine of election. That's what's being talked about in John 17, that from among all mankind God the Father selected out some to be given to the Son. Now you note the order here, the Father gave the Son authority and then He gave to the Son a people upon whom the Son would bestow eternal life, the process is God's from beginning to end. John chapter 6, verse 37 "All that the Father gives Me", note the same stress, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, the one who comes to Me I certainly will not cast out." Who will come to Jesus Christ? The one that the Father has given to Christ. Verse 39 "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day." Every single individual that the Father has given to Jesus Christ will be a recipient of eternal life from Jesus Christ and assured of glorification on the day of resurrection. It's a settled matter, all that the Father gives Me, Christ says, I will loose not one of them, but they're guaranteed the coming resurrection.

Look in chapter 10, verse 29. Talking about His sheep who hear His voice, they follow Him, He gives them eternal life, they are eternally secure. Verse 29, "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." You note the continual stress, "The Father gave them to Me." You note our contribution is unnamed as far as the origination of the process. I'm a follower of Jesus Christ because God the Father gave Me to Him, and thus the Son bestowed upon Me eternal life. Now the Father also ordained the means that this would be accomplished, sanctification of the Spirit and faith in the truth, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians.

Come back to John 17. So you see the pattern here, the Son is given authority but to use this authority to be bestow life necessitated the cross with all of His authority God could not forgive and redeem sinful humanity without satisfying the demands of His righteousness. Remember the seraphim in Isaiah 6 cried out "Holy, Holy, Holy", and God could not declare mankind forgiven at the expense of His holiness, at the expense of His righteousness. So in order for the authority that the Son of God had over mankind to be used to bestow life upon some among mankind necessitated the glorification process of the cross. That's the connection here, "glorify Me, accomplish Your purposes through the events of My death and resurrection in order that I might use my authority to bestow life on those You gave Me"- eternal life. We've mentioned before in the gospel of John eternal life deals not just with the duration of life but with the quality of life. Every single personal being in all the universe, angels as well as human beings are eternal. All humanity is eternal, every person born into this race is destined to exist for eternity. But eternal life is a quality of existence for life, it is to live in a personal relationship with a personal God for all eternity. There are those who will endure for all eternity in horrible suffering separated and alienated from this personal God. They are not said to have eternal life even though they exist for eternity because He's talking about the quality of life here. Incidentally that quality of life begins the moment a person trusts Jesus Christ as Savior. Life is transformed from the inside out and the quality of my existence is totally different than it was before I trusted Jesus Christ as Savior because that relationship with God begins in this life at the moment of faith in Christ but it continues on through eternity. Christ bestows upon them that the Father has given Him eternal life.

Now He's going to develop this, verse 3. What is eternal life? "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." You note, eternal life here is defined in the context of a relationship, in the context of knowledge. What does it mean to have eternal life? We get locked into certain expressions. To have eternal life means that you know God and His Son, Jesus Christ. That's what He says here, that's how He defines eternal life. This is eternal life, knowing God and knowing His Son, Jesus Christ. Now when He talks about knowing God that becomes crucial here. No more crucial issue, Jesus Christ says that He bestowed eternal life on certain ones. These are those who have knowledge of God, that's what it means when He bestows life on them, they have knowledge of God. They are brought into a relationship to know God and I take it that the word "know" here, many of you are familiar in the Old Testament it's a word that denotes intimacy, to the extent that it's used of the sexual relationship. Not just because of the physical act but because of the intimacy that is involved because even the sexual act was ordained by God to be accomplished and carried out in the context of marriage relationship, expressing the intimacy that exists between a man and a woman. So when you talk about knowing God we're talking about intimacy of relationship and understanding that goes beyond just superficial intellectual awareness of certain facts. Several things involved here that we know about God, it involves a recognition of His character, that He is Holy, we saw that back in Isaiah 6, "Holy, holy, holy". It involves a recognition of how He sees me as sinful. It involves a recognition of work that He has done in accomplishing salvation. Believers are those that are brought into the intimacy of a relationship with God. They have eternal life. Think about that, that's awesome. Sometimes even we as believers fail to appreciate the personal aspect of what is eternal life. That means that I have a relationship of intimacy with the eternal God Himself, that I live in that relationship of intimacy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, endlessly because I have eternal life. Now that means that that relationship of intimacy is in existence constantly. Do I live like that? Does that control all that you do? That as a child of God, one who has come to believe that Jesus Christ the Son of God died to pay the penalty for his sins. You have been brought into a relationship of intimacy with the eternal God. My, no wonder the Scriptures repeatedly emphasize that believers' lives must be different. You think about that. You go out after the service, walk down the streets of this city, you pass people who are totally different that you are a human being privileged to live in a permanent, eternal, consistent relationship of intimacy with the God that created all things. That's amazing. I sit and I think on that and I say "Gil, how can you ever slide into the mundane, thinking of life as mundane, as a grind, when there is not a moment of a day that I am not living in a relationship of personal intimacy with God Himself. That transforms everything into a different perspective and a different light. You note the knowledge here, it's twofold "that they might know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ". Personal intimacy not only with God the Father but with the one that God the Father sent, Jesus Christ and that's the beginning point for us on the human side. When we come to recognize and know Jesus Christ. Recognize that we are sinners for whom Christ died. We come to believe in Him as our Savior, that relationship which is called life begins at that instant of time but it never ever will cease.

Verse 4, back up, I want to pick up one verse, we have time for that, John 3. John chapter 3, because you see the other side of it and John 17 has expressed "This is the eternal life", literally. And John 3:19 you have the other side of that, "And this is the judgment, (the condemnation), John 17, "this is the eternal life", John 3:19 "this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil." He's just said in verse 18 "He who believes in Him (the Christ) is not judged (or condemned), he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." The difference between life and condemnation is the relationship one has with Jesus Christ, one's attitude towards Him. Have you come to believe in Him as the one who died for you?

Back over to John 17, verse 4, Jesus said, "I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You gave Me to do." "Having accomplished", the word that means to bring to perfection or completion. "I brought to completion, to fulfillment the work which You gave Me to do." So you note, He did glorify the Father on the earth. Now in verse 1 He prayed "glorify the Son, that the Son may glorify You", but this is just a continuation of the process of glorifying that has been going on even during His earthly ministry. But there will be a fuller realization of that process because in the death of the Son of God and His subsequent direction, God the Father is glorified, honored as the God of redemption, the God who has secured salvation for fallen humanity. So "I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work which You gave Me to do."

Look back in chapter 4, verse 34 "Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish (bring to fulfillment, bring to completion) His work." That's what Jesus did during His earthly ministry, the works of His Father, and that glorified the Father, because the Father was being revealed to mankind. "I accomplished the work which Your gave Me to do." Now the culmination of that earthly work is the providing of redemption. He revealed the Father during His earthly ministry and now He will provide redemption by His death and resurrection which will bring that earthly ministry of glorifying the Father the culmination and the climax.

Verse 5, "And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I ever had with Thee before the world was." So you see we've come full circle. Christ is praying for Himself to be glorified but it is not a selfish prayer because He is praying for Himself to be glorified so that the purposes of God might be accomplished thus glorifying the Father, so that we who have been given to the Son by the Father might experience the redemption that could only be secured through His death on the cross.

Are you a possessor of eternal life? Are you here this morning as one who lives in a relationship of personal intimacy with a sovereign God? That's what eternal life is. Not are you religious? Not are you relatively good? Do you live in a relationship of personal intimacy with God? Not talking about your emotions here primarily. Have you ever come to the point in your life where you recognized and understood that Jesus Christ the Son of God died for you, paid the penalty for your sins and trusted Him alone as your Savior? If not, no matter what your emotion, no matter what your feeling, you don't know God, that's the beginning of the knowledge of Him.