~John, Chapter 17~
Did you know that right before Jesus was betrayed, He prayed? He was about to go to the cross and He prayed for us! Jesus glorified the Father first and always, but He also prayed for His disciples and us. I find that truly amazing that He loved us so much, He was thinking of all His people—His family. Here is His prayer in John, Chapter 17.
John 17:1-2, “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: As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.”
Jesus is given the power to give us eternal life when we choose to know Him and accept His gift. We know this because Matthew 28:18 states, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.”
There are those that want to lessen Jesus’ status. From the beginning, we see that God was going to send someone to save us–His Son (see Genesis 3:15 and Isaiah 9:6). John 14:6 reads, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” When we say that Jesus was just a prophet or a created being, such as an angel, we change who He is and what He has done for us. In order to take away every single person’s sin, it had to be someone infinitely higher than a created being because we are created in Their (God and Jesus’s) image (Genesis 1:26).
Let’s continue Jesus’ prayer in John 17:3-4 which says, “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.”
Remember that the Father and Son are One. They are united. If we go back to John 14:9-10, Jesus was speaking with one of His disciples. “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Phillip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father: and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.” Jesus was always glorifying the Father (see John 11:40-43).
But even more, Jesus stated in His prayer, “And now, O Father, glorify Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was” (John 17:5). Jesus was there before the world was and we can see this in verses such as, John 1:1-3 and Revelation 19:11-13. He is the promised Seed from the beginning in Genesis 3:15. And John 3:16 whom many know by heart states, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” We need to know our Jesus to believe and trust in Him, because verse 18 states, “He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” And verse 36 states, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth (will stay) on him.”
Jesus continues to glorify the Father in His prayer in John 17:6-8, “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. Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee. 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.”
After Jesus glorifies the Father He turned His attention to the disciples in His prayer. John 17:9-12, “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me: for they are Thine. And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine: and I am glorified in them. 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, and that they may be one, as We are. 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.”
Judas was going to betray Jesus very soon after this prayer. Jesus gave Judas an opportunity to repent and not do this horrible act when they had the last supper together (John 13:26-31).
John 17:13-16 “And now come I to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 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. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
We need Jesus to give us His joy and He promises to do just that in John 15:10-11, “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”
John 17:17-20, “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth. As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; 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.”
When I realized that our Lord Jesus included me (and us) in His prayer, it brought me to tears. Here He was about to be beaten, mocked, spit on, slapped and ultimately hanged on the cross with nails in His hands and feet, and He was thinking not only of His disciples but we that believe on Him as well. He loves us so much!
John 17:21-26, “And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 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. 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. O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me. 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.”
The word “perfect” is a word many debate in the Bible. Such verses as the one above or this one from Mathew 6:48 which states, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as you Father which is in heaven is perfect.” This was a word that I took a closer look at because we know from Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” In the instance above regarding “perfect” and the one in Matthew, the word LOVE is there, also. As in all verses, we should never just look at one verse and try to interpret it. In the case of Matthew’s verses, we need to read the preceding verses to find the “perfectness” in love. Mathew 6:43-48, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, an sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Jesus’ prayer was for us to “be made perfect in one”, that is, to be one with Jesus and therefore, we will also be one with the Father who is LOVE (1 John 4:7-13).