John 17:1-23

John 17:1. 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:

Christ's great intercessory prayer begins with his appeal to his Father to glorify his Son. Christ knew all that he would have to suffer during that «hour» to which he had looked forward from eternity, but his eye could see, beyond the cross with all its shame, the crown with all its glory. The Son being glorified, he would also glorify his Father, and there is a wondrous glory that comes to the Father through the death of his Son upon the cross.

John 17:2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

Some people seem unable to see that there is perfect harmony between the general and the particular aspects of Christ's atonement. As the one Mediator between God and men, he has absolute power over all men, to do with them as he wills, yet that power has a special relation to those whom his Father gave him before the foundation of the world, and they are those who come to him in accordance with his declaration, «All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.»

John 17:3. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

So that the only way to obtain eternal life is to know God the Father and God the Son, and the best way to know them is to ask God the Holy Spirit to teach us what is revealed concerning them in the Sacred Scriptures which he inspired holy men of old to write.

John 17:4. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which had with thee before the world was.

As Christ had carried out his Father's will, and done the work he had been sent to do, he was but right that he should go back to the glory which he had for a season voluntarily laid aside. You notice that, although he had not then died upon the cross, he was certain that be would there complete his great mediatorial work that he spoke of it as being already «finished.»

John 17:6. 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.

No one but Christ could or would have borne such a testimony concerning his fickle, feeble followers, happy will it be for us if he can say also concerning us who profess to be his disciples, «They have kept thy word.»

John 17:7. 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.

You see how the truth reached these disciples. The Father gave the words to his Son in his mediatorial capacity, and he gave those words to his disciples, and they received them, and believed that Christ was indeed the Sent One from the Father.

John 17:9. 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.

See what perfect union there is between the Father and the Son, and note their mutual relationship to the chosen people, «They are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine.»

John 17:11. 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. 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.

So it is clear that Judas was not amongst those who were given to Christ by his Father; if he had been, he also would have been «kept.»

John 17:13. And now come I to thee;

Christ looked beyond all that was to happen to him before he could return to his glory, and as he saw his Father waiting to welcome him, he cried «And now come I to thee.» These might be appropriate words in the mouth of a dying believer: «And now come I to thee.»

John 17:13. And these things I speak in the word, 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.

Never did anyone more thoroughly mix with men than Christ did, and never had anyone greater sympathy with human beings than he had, yet everyone knows that he never was «of the world.» He was distinct from all who were round about him, and he says that his disciples were as he was: «They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world «Christ's people have a life that others have not; they have a relationship to God that others have not, they are swayed by motives which others understand not; and they are journeying onward toward a perfection to which others do not even desire to attain. So they are not of the world, and the world treats them as speckled birds, and hates them even as it hated their Lord and Master.

John 17:10. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from evil.

Christ did not pray that there might be monasteries and nunneries where his servants might be shut away from the world, nor even that his followers might die in early youth, and go home to heaven; but he prayed that, remaining in the world for gracious purposes, to be its salt and its light, they might themselves be kept from the evil that is in the world. It would be a dreadful thing indeed if the chosen people of God were to be overcome by the world; so Christ prayed that his Father would keep them from the evil, for he well knew that they could not be kept from it by any power that was not divine. There is no less power needed for the preservation of a believer than for his regeneration. The sustentation of a Saint is a constant miracle, which can only be wrought by God himself.

John 17:16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Some men tell us that the truth is in the Word, but that the Word is not the truth. I read, the other day, that we might regard the Bible as a casket which contained the jewel of the truth, but was not itself the jewel. Christ did not talk in that fashion, for he said to his Father, «Thy word is truth.» This shows that God's Word is not merely the casket of truth, but is the truth itself.

John 17:18. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

They are sent ones, even as Christ was the Sent One. As he is the Christ, they are Christians, anointed with the same anointing as he himself is, and they should endeavor to be in all respects missionaries to the world, even as Christ was God's great Missionary to the lost.

John 17:19. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

«I set myself apart wholly for them, that they also may be set apart for holy uses.»

John 17:20. Neither pray I for these alone,-«

For these who are already saved by my word,»

John 17:20. But for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

And so his blessed arm encircled not only the converts gathered to him by his own personal ministry, but also those who should, in after days, be converted under his servants' ministry; and it always seems to me to have been great condescension on his part to have said, «I pray for them also which shall believe on me through their word.» We should have expected that he would have said, «through my word;» and, indeed, it is his Word that leads sinners to repent and to believe; yet Christ puts this honour upon those who speak his Word out of the fullness of their hearts. They have by experience made it their own, so he calls it theirs, and gives them this honourable position as the messengers of the gospel of salvation.

John 17:21. 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.

I wish that we could see more of this blessed unity, yet it does exist, even if we cannot see it. Wherever there is any true spiritual life, it matters not how much it may be marred by denominational divisions, there is and there always must be, an essential unity. All Christians are one family in Christ. I do not mean all who call themselves Christians, but all who really are believers in Christ. The inner life is one, the source of that life is one, the nourishment of that life is one, and the end of that life is one, so that all who possess it must be one, one in Christ, and one with one another, even as Christ is one with the Father.

John 17:22. And the glory which thou givest me I have given them; that they maybe one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;

That is the real secret of the saints' unity: «I in them,» together with the everlasting union of Christ Jesus with the Father: «and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;»

John 17:23. And that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me

This is a great deep, the words are very simple and clear, but their meaning is unfathomable. Is it really true that the Father has loved his chosen ones as he has loved his only-begotten Son? It is such a wondrous thing that one might be willing to lie awake at night to meditate upon the amazing truth here revealed in our Saviour's words: «Thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.»

John 17:24. 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.

Some foolish folk talk about the saints being put away for a while into some purgatorial «limbo» in order that they may be made ready for heaven but Christ speaks not so, he says, «I will that they be with me where I am.» We care not to answer curious questions about the disembodied state, it is enough for us that Christ knows all, and that we shall be with him for ever.

What shall be the occupation of those who are with Christ? «That they may behold my glory.» There will be something worth looking at, something to be delighted with for ever and ever: «the glory which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.» So God must have loved his people before the foundation of the world, for he hast loved them as he has loved his Son. There was no beginning and there shall be no end to the Father's love to his people; he says to each one of them, «I have loved thee, with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.» Here are waters to swim in, plunge into them, and revel in the bliss they are meant to convey to all who are in Christ Jesus.

John 17:25. 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.

How rich is this language! How musical! Surely, never did any human poem match this peerless prose of the Divine Teacher. And now, what a descent it is as we pass on to the next scene in his life!

This exposition consisted of readings from John 17:1, and John 18:1.