John 17 The High Priestly Prayer
We have reached the end of Jesus’s farewell discourse with his disciples: And now…
1 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,
He now “lifts his eyes to Heaven” and turns his attention entirely towards his Father, surrendering his life into the Father’s hands;
2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
Remember Jesus words of ch.16:11 “the ruler of this world stands condemned.” This marks a transfer of authority on the Earth: from Satan - usurped from the first Adam - to Christ Jesus, the last Adam.
Satan, through the fall of the first Adam, brought us Death: Jesus Christ, the last Adam, now brings us eternal Life! (Romans 5:12-19; 1Corinthians 15:21-23)
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
What does this mean - to know Him? - What does this look like? Here is one of my favorite explanations - Paul the Apostle is testifying:
“For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:9-11
Here again, is the Gospel.
4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Because: “Before Abraham was - I AM” (Ch.8:58)
6 “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.
His Name? Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” (or “I will be who I will be”)
But who is he?
Jehovah Shammah: “The Lord Is There” (Ezekiel 48:35)
Jehovah Shalom "the Lord is Peace". (Judges 6:24)
Jehovah Tsidkenu: “The Lord our Righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6)
Jehovah Ro'eh/Raah: “the Lord my Shepherd (Psalm 23)
We know him by many different names in the Old Testament, each one revealing a different facet to His character:
But all of these names can be wrapped up - and summed up - in this One Name:
Hebrew: Yeshua
Greek: Jesus
English: Joshua
Meaning: The LORD is Salvation. (Matthew 1:21)
7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.
Now they know the Father! They recognize, that as Jesus is, so the Father is also. This is an amazing revelation; and not only for them - but also for us!
8 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.
(1John 2:23) Reader, do we too, believe this?
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
We believe that Jesus has come from the Father; that Jesus is the exact representation of the Father: But, we know this only because it is the Father himself who has given us - to his Son! Amazing!
“You did not choose me, but I chose you.” Ch.15:16
Take a second look at Jesus’s words here:
“I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.”
This marks the distinct separation between those who follow Christ and those who do not. We are all God’s creation, but, contrary to what so many believe, we are not all God’s children. We are all without exception, born into sin, separation from God, and a destiny of eternal Death:
But God…
The Father, through the Son, by the Spirit, has made a Way for us to be born again - a second chance…a final and permanent Way. Think back to John’s opening testimony in Ch.1:12-13
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
…And: Jesus’s words to his disciples, just a few moments earlier: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” Ch.14:18
10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
To belong to the Father, is to belong to the Son…is to belong to the Spirit…is to belong to the LORD; the Godhead, three in one…
This mystery is unfathomable; All that matters is that we know…that we belong…
11 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.
So, the Father will “keep us in his Name” ~
What does this mean? What does it look like? Peter - yes Peter - will tell us:👇
“…who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Read 1Peter 1:3-7
The Name the Father gave to the Son: Yeshua (the Lord is Salvation) is what will keep them - and all of us who believe - united; in God and one another; through our mountain tops and valleys…through good times and bad; through Peter’s thrice denial; through everyone’s loss of faith and courage - because: “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
{68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Remember also Ch.6:66-69}
12 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.
The Scripture is Psalm 41:9: ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ See note on Ch.13:16. Again, this is the cruelest form of betrayal.
13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Jesus has not yet reached Gethsemane; he has not yet cried out “let this cup pass from me…” (Matthew 26:38-44) or sweet drops of blood in his resisting of Satan (Luke 22:44) This, the final and greatest temptation, is yet to come - and Jesus knows it: Yet, this prayer…this dialogue with his Father…will seal everything! Jesus’s face is set like flint; his eyes are set on Heaven; his confidence entirely in his Father. Through the eternal lens of Heaven, it is already finished!
What is this Joy that Jesus speaks of? Reader, if Jesus Christ has saved you from your sin, it is YOU!
14 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.
Remember the previous chapter; vs. 15 “All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
Satan, “the ruler of this world” (see Ch.16:11) and “the father of lies” (Ch.8:44) is utterly opposed to the Truth of the Word of the LORD - and all those who would believe and abide by it.
15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
This He will do: Through the Spirit, who comes from the Father, at the bequest of Jesus. (Ch.14:16-17, 26)
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Sanctify:
Transliteration: hagiazó
Definition: To sanctify, to make holy, to consecrate, to set apart
“Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.” Ch.15:3
There is no other way to sanctification, except through the Truth of God’s Word.
Jesus will verify this in his next statement:
18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Jesus - the last Adam - the perfect man - now consecrates himself - sets himself apart - as the spotless Lamb; so that all who partake of him…who BELIEVE on Him, will be sanctified as he is. This is vital: So that as he is, so also will we be: “holy and blameless and above reproach before him”. Colossians 1:22
{As a side note:
How did Jesus “consecrate himself”? He was already perfect - but we know that he is also a man, still under the Law; and as a man, he will perfectly and completely, fulfill this Law - to the last “jot and tittle”. He must, therefore, consecrate himself in the Biblically prescribed way:
Read Numbers 6:1-21
The vow of the Nazirite (from the word “nazir” meaning “to consecrate or set apart”) was a voluntary vow, taken by people who wished, for a set time, to set themselves apart SOLELY for God. Among its specific requirements are the total abstinence from wine and strong drink; vinegar made with wine and anything - whether fruit or seeds - that has come from the vine.
“I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.”
Matthew 26:29; Mark 14:25
…they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. Matthew 27:34
Could Jesus, in one final act of obedience and consecration, have taken the Nazirite vow? It seems highly likely from these clues in Scripture, that he did. (This is for another Bible study.) According to Numbers 6, this vow was both voluntary and for a certain time-frame. Once this time frame ends, the one who has taken the vow, presents themselves before the Lord with a sacrifice. So when, later on, we see Jesus crying out from the Cross “It is finished” we know that it truly and completely is!
EVERYTHING is complete;
ALL has been fulfilled.
(See also Luke 1:13-15 & Judges 13:2-5)
And what about the sacrifice presented to the Lord by the Nazarite? This is Jesus Christ Himself!}
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
Again, we remember the words of the Apostle in Ch.1:14 & 1John 1:1-4. For we, who have believed, through the writings of John and the other Apostles: Jesus now prays for us…
21 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.
22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
23 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.
The Sacrifice of Jesus Christ is perfect; and is the only Way that we can be perfectly one: with God and each other. We can deliberate, debate, and agree to disagree on all manner of doctrine: But there is one place in which all Christians are and must be perfectly united; One perfect theology that brings us all together: the one and only hill worth dying on: The death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus, the Son of the Living God, for the forgiveness of our sins! When all is said and done, this is what we believe; to this, is the glory of God - and it is this, that will ultimately make us one - in Him and each other. See Revelation 7:9-17.
24 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.
To be with him, where he is: This is the Kingdom of God and His Christ (Revelation 11:15) - the Kingdom of Heaven! Look again at the scripture from Revelation 7. The following is just my view of eschatology - and of course, is up for debate: But, here could be the final curtain for the Ecclesia as we know it today; here, could mark the end of the “fullness (or the full number) of the Gentiles” into Salvation, as mentioned by Paul in Romans 11:25-27; and the partial fulfillment of Jesus’s prayer.
All we know for certain is that, one day, we will “see him as he is” (1John 3:2) and we will know this eternal glory for ourselves…
25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.
Here is the Revealing of a mystery:
Remember vs.8? Here is the Almighty God - who is known by every God-fearing Jew, to be “One” (Deuteronomy 6:4)
…and yet (no one reading this Gospel could any longer be in any doubt) he is also three! Here is the revealing of a fathomless mystery…
But - here comes…
the unveiling of that mystery:
To all who believe that Jesus the Son of God, knows the Father - and has come directly from the Father, this mystery is now, partially unveiled. Hallelujah!
“Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” Ch.14:9
And here is another clue to Jesus’s deity, in Vs.24 “…you loved me before the foundation of the world.” Jesus…the Father…the LORD…is eternal; from everlasting to everlasting; and His desire was always that we should be with him, where he is, in that everlasting eternity forever!
This is why “he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Ch.3:16
26 I made known to them your name (Yeshua - the Lord is Salvation) , 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.”
How will he continue to do this? By saving us - utterly and completely - according to His Name!
Again, we consider the mystery of predestination: “The gates of salvation bear the inscription as you approach them, saying "Whosoever will (whosoever chooses) may come."
But once you are on the inside looking back, you can see that, written above that portal is "Predestined before the foundation of the earth."”
According to Jesus’s words in vs. 2, it is the Father, who gave us to Jesus, that we might have eternal life through him. See Ch.15:16 - We did not ultimately choose him…he chose us. And Peter takes this yet, further - in 1Peter 1:21 by stating that it is through Jesus that we believe in the Father (God)
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