The High Priestly Prayer — John 16-17

0:00 Here we are today resuming in John and we're picking up in chapter 17. I'm only covering through verse 16, a little bit more than half the chapter. And unfortunately this chapter is not easily segmented. So today's going to feel a little open ended. This isn't one of those chapters where you have section one and then completely unrelated section two.

0:27 This is one long prayer so it'll feel a little disjunct at the end but I can't really help that. So let's begin, as tradition has it, to read through our scriptures here. John 17. I will only read through the, through verse 16. These things Jesus spoke and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour has come.

0:53 Glorify thy son that the son may glorify thee. Even as thou gavest him authority over all mankind, that to all whom thou hast given him, he may give eternal life. And this is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I glorified thee on the earth having accomplished the work which thou has given me to do. And now glorify thou me together with thyself, father, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

1:23 I manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them to me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have come to know that everything thou hast given me is from thee, for the words which thou gavest me I have given to them and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from thee and they believed that thou did send me. I ask on their behalf. I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine.

1:53 And all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I have been glorified in them. I am no more in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, the name which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in thy name which thou hast given me, and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to thee and these things I speak in the world that they may have that they may have my joy made full in themselves.

2:31 I have given them thy word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world even as I am not of the world. I do not ask thee to take them out of the world but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. And that's where we will end it today. Let's open with a word of prayer.

2:52 Heavenly father, we come to you this morning. We thank you for your word. We thank you for this gospel of John that we have the opportunity to study that we might see that Jesus is the Christ, the son of god, and that believing we might have life through his name. As Jesus pray, we ask that you would be glorified through this morning's message that you would speak to me, that you would remove me, and let our hearts hear the things that your spirit would have us to say. We ask these things in Jesus name, amen.

3:21 This prayer picks up right after in chapter 16 where where Abe left off, Jesus was speaking to his disciples here in the upper room and they just got finished confirming that where is it here in in 29 load. Now, you are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. We know that you know all things. You have no need for anyone to question you. By this, we believe that you came from god.

3:57 So, they have this little affirmation here of who Jesus is and Jesus now, as it says in verse one in 17, he turns his eyes to heaven and he begins to pray. This chapter contains the most extensive and profound prayer of Jesus that we have. It's very intimate. I I find this to be the the most intimate prayer that that we have recorded. Jesus's whole life has been impart about a revelation of the father.

4:40 Based on Jesus's union with him and that Jesus is god as he's been trying to point out through this whole gospel. I feel it is appropriate that Jesus' teaching concludes with this prayer, this this genre of teaching of a prayer which is most closely associated with union with God. I think it's it's very appropriate that this is the last real teaching that we have. Jesus' intercession for his disciples in this chapter anticipates his role after the ascension. We can look at verse first John chapter two verse one among many others.

5:22 I don't need to go there right now. But because this intercession corresponds to the role of a high priest elsewhere in the New Testament, Romans eight thirty four, Hebrews seven twenty five, if you're you're the taking note type. And because Jesus uses the sacrificial language later on in the chapter when he refers to sanctifying himself, which is in verse 19, which we won't get to today, because of those things, this chapter is usually titled in most of our Bibles as the high priestly prayer. The passage concentrates on the relationship between the father and the son and the glory that they share. The father is seen as the one who gives.

6:03 That term is used 13 times here. The father is the one who gives and it highlights the father's grace and his love and and and gifts and his the father's being the source of everything. Jesus focuses that gifting on the father's gift of the disciples to the son. He he's focusing a bit on on that particular thing in the part that I'm covering today. Jesus continues to show himself to be the revealer sent from the father, but he is seen also as the giver.

6:48 He's giving the disciples the father's word, the father's glory, the father's eternal life that has been bestowed upon them throughout his ministry and and when Jesus's ministry is over and if it comes to to completion. I I will break it up a little bit here for you, and of course, whoever is taking the rest of this chapter will probably have a different outline for this. But just to give you a general idea, the first five verses here is Jesus beginning with his petition for the glorification of the father and the son. That that pretty much that's an easier one that goes through verse one through five, roughly. After which he prays for the disciples that are gathered around him still at this point, and he describes their situation, and then he prays that they be protected and sanctified.

7:39 And that kind of takes us through the rest of what I'm gonna talk about today. He does pray for all who will become believers through the witness of the 11, a little later on, and that they might share in divine oneness. And he concludes with a summary of his past and future work. So it's it's a very nicely flowing thing. Like I said, it's it's it's sad we need to break it up and and split it right in the middle.

8:06 But in the interest of trying to cover a little bit more deeply, instead of pounding through this chapter in forty five minutes. So we'll get a little bit more in-depth in it here. So getting right into the text. Jesus begins by praying for the glorification of the father and the son. So he's beginning this where his his keynote address began in John chapter five.

8:35 And I'll turn there and read it for you really quickly. In John chapter five, in verse 19, where... This this is the first time in this gospel where Jesus starts to hinting at or or blatantly hitting you over the head with how he is equal with God and how he is God. Truly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself unless it unless it is something he sees the father doing. For whatever the father does, these things the son also does in like manner, and and and so on.

9:41 Did Jesus look on his suffering as glory? He does not merely pray, sustain thy son. He says, glorify thy son. So, in in a sense, our lord's lowest stoop was his highest glory. That's what he's looking at here.

10:04 He was never more resplendent than when he hung on the cross. That was the pinnacle. That that was it. And so he prayed, glorify your son. Enable, enable him to bear the agony to pass through that agony to the glory.

10:25 That the son may glorify you. The death of Christ was the great glorifying of god and and that's been spoken up here many times. This is something that that we know very well. The the reason why salvation had to work out the way it did because there were so many other ways that he could have done it but the reason he did it this way is because this is what brought him the most glory. The fact that Jesus had to take on physical form.

10:55 The fact that he had to suffer and deal with what humans deal with on a daily basis. And then the fact that he had to be abused, mocked, beaten, torn, tortured, and killed so that he could rise again. That brought God more glory than any other salvation plan because it is all about him. As it's been said before, Christianity is that only religion that has as its central event the execution of its god. That Christianity is the only one that has that.

11:33 Jesus stoops so low and and this what Jesus is is when he's looking towards what's about to happen. He's looking at this as this is the pinnacle event. This is it. This is the this is the greatest thing that can bring god the greatest glory through through Christ's obedience. In verse two, when he gets to saying, even thou gavest him authority over all mankind, that to all whom thou hast given him, he may give eternal life.

12:08 Here and then a little bit later, can... We could delve into the elect and predestination a little bit. That's a topic for another time. I'm gonna go into a little bit, but I'm I'm not gonna I'm not gonna dwell on that a whole lot. Here, we do get the doctrines of general and particular redemption kind of blended here.

12:31 By his death, Christ did obtain power over all flesh. We we we know that. We can read that all over in the New Testament. His his death did accomplish everything. It was totally complete for all mankind but the purpose his death the the special object of his death was the salvation of the elect, if if we can put it that way.

13:01 Sort of... Have you ever put a spoon in the sink? And of course, you're always dumb enough to not put it upside down. Always put it right side up in the bottom of the sink. Then you come ten minutes later or an hour later, you go, Oh, I'm going wash that spoon.

13:17 So you turn the water on and okay, right? And no matter what, always move the faucet so that it's right over the spoon and you always turn the faucet on first before... So look at it that way. The the the purpose of Christ's death was to accomplish, it has a specific purpose, the elect, it was to save the elect but in doing so his sacrifice so bountiful was that sacrifice and what it could accomplish that it saved, it did save all mankind. It has the ability to save all mankind.

14:22 That's that's what he sees. So, what he's saying here. This is eternal life. Not life for a few years but life eternal. When you accept Christ, when you have that knowledge, that that personal knowledge of Jesus Christ and the knowledge of god that is given to you through the holy spirit.

14:40 That is that is the eternal life. Jesus prays that he might glorify god in the future but now he speaks of the glorification of the father that he has already accomplished in his earthly ministry. The work, his work is not complete before his death. So we do have to be careful in how we look at this and how it translates into the English. 10...

15:06 Going back to chapter 10 verse 18. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from the father. He is not...

15:20 It's it's not totally over yet. It's it's it's not... Salvation has not been completed. We can also look at nineteen twenty eight and thirty when Jesus says, now it is finished. Okay.

15:33 So it's not it's not literally completed. So I think he's just looking at his... What was on his list of things to do in his earthly ministry, the the cross aside. He says, I glorified you on earth having completed the work. The glorification of the father has been one of the distinguishing features of Jesus's life throughout this gospel and a glory that is characterized by grace and truth, which we read in the first chapter of this gospel, and I will misquote it.

16:07 So, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten from the father, full of grace and truth. This work that Jesus was given to do was given by the father and Jesus was in complete obedience to that. So, the where was I? So, the character of the works reveals the character of the one who gave them. Right?

16:41 So, In this way, the words and deeds of Jesus are revealing the father's glory since his whole mission came from the father and he held them to the letter. The son's obedience in itself is seen, it is seeing the glory of God since his humility, his obedience, and his sacrifice reflect the love that is laying down one's life. And as we read in the New Testament, it's not just laying down one's life for a friend or for a righteous person, but the love that was laying down his life for his absolute most, the enemies that hated him the most. The ones that hated him the most, us. That's us.

17:28 Who are in rebellion? So, Jesus had laid aside his glory for our sakes. And now having done that, and his work being regarded as done, he's asking God to restore his glory. In verse five, And now glorify Thou me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Glory now seems to refer to that splendor, the the shining splendor that is the divine presence.

18:08 It's the the the unapproachable light that Paul mentions in first Timothy six. I think that's what he's talking about here. The son is asking that through the glorification of the cross and through the glorification of the resurrection and his ascension that he might return to where he was before at the right hand beside his father. Now he shifts and starts his intercessory prayer for his disciples. As the opening verses have focused on the glory of the father and the son, they have included the disciples a little bit and how He turns to them a little bit more directly and He comments on His work among them, their response and the relation they now have with the Father in contrast to the relationship that they have with the world.

19:45 The manifestation through teaching, the teaching ministry, that has been completed But this... The climactic revelation through the death and resurrection still remains. So what does it mean here when he says that they were gods, speaking of the disciples? Again, we can get into the predestination bit here, but I actually don't think that it's appropriate. If they were...

20:19 If he's referring to the fact that they were the fathers through the election, and predestination, we have to remember that, Paul in Ephesians says that the elect was in Christ before the foundation of the world. So if they were in Christ, he just says here that they were the fathers. So that would kind of drive a little bit of wedge there and I don't think that makes a whole lot of sense. So I think that's not really what he's talking about. I think maybe what he's talking about here that they were the fathers is that he was speaking of the possession as in the salvation history.

20:52 So the relationship that the disciples had with God through the covenant with Israel, perhaps. So the Israelites that had a true affinity for God, the Israelites that certainly knew God and accepted Christ's teaching, the disciples weren't the only ones. There were... I know that there were other Israelites who accepted his teaching. And so if he's talking about them, those who were already gods and who were waiting for the Messiah to complete his work and to bring to fulfillment that relationship.

21:31 So the father gave them to the son for this purpose. And through their faith and obedience, they were drawn by God to the son and his teaching. We can cross reference chapter six forty four and forty five and also verses 60 through 66 on that one. And so, demonstrated that they were gods. Those that when we have the people saying, you know, this is hard teaching.

22:01 Who can accept this? Who can understand this? And many of them left. They couldn't follow Jesus anymore. But there were the ones that stayed.

22:10 And not just the 11. There were other ones that would have stayed and those that were known as Jesus' friends. We think about Mary and Martha and their brother. There were others too. So then Jesus addresses the disciples' response to Himself in verses seven and eight.

23:26 He's presenting it as it was given him. His instructions as they were given him. The father's words as they were given to him. Jesus has relayed them on and taught his disciples, and they have accepted it. And and and it it is speaking specifically of Jesus' teaching.

23:45 And Jesus' words as they are God's words, which bring life and judgment. We can look at chapter three verse 34, six sixty three and sixty eight, twelve forty eight, chapter 14, chapter 17. There's there's a lot. Just even here in the gospel about god's words bringing life and judgment. And so, Jesus's teaching has been grounded on his own identity as the son sent from the father.

24:16 And accordingly, these disciples have been given to the son and the focus is on the father and that they believe that the father sent him. There's a lot of recurring themes here. I feel like I keep saying the same thing over and over, but it... It's not, it's always a little bit different. And it...

24:33 If something is repeated, it's because we're supposed to really understand that point. Right? So they knew for certain that Jesus came from the father, they believe that the father sent him. They knew and believed the truth about both the son and the father in their mutual relationship. Now, next, Jesus picks up the affirmation that was spoken by the disciples at the end of, the last chapter in 16.

24:56 He picks up on that. And he he is, saying that their their knowledge and faith are not as complete as they think it is. They they think that they've gotten it. Right? And how often have have we done that?

25:11 They they think that they've gotten it. And Jesus affirms that they've reached this decisive point in understanding who he is and where he came from and his mission here. They they believed in him. They they hung in with him through through his ministry when others left. But there's still this enormous amount that they don't know.

25:36 And Jesus told them as much when he promised the Holy Spirit that he would instruct them. We look at, just back in 1426 and then also in in chapter 16. But the the foundation has been laid, and it's secure. They've been receptive. This fundamental attitude of a true disciple is that you are receptive and accepting, of of what you're told.

26:00 And now they have started to grasp this this crusk... Wow... Crux of this revelation and this this identity. It's it's a great thing to think about even even today and to think about us that Jesus accepts us for, you know, we we might know something, like, we might be starting to grasp something. And he recognizes that.

26:28 He recognizes it and affirms that, okay, we've made, we've reached this decisive point, but here's all this stuff that you still don't know. And so here is the Holy Spirit who will teach you all things. Here's the Holy Spirit that's going to now take this little bit that you've started and now work through you to grow that knowledge. God's acceptance of believers despite our great ignorance and our great weaknesses that that he accepts us as as a as a work in progress for the for that is truly what we are. The disciples relationship to god has also enabled them to recognize the son and and now, it's for these believers specifically, not for the world that he prays for next.

27:41 But he he first wants to pray for the disciples here in this relationship that they have with the world now. He petitions here that they receive protection, sanctification, union, both with God and and with each other. And these kind of petitions would not be applicable to the nonbelievers, to to the rest of the world. So he's praying for the father to bestow these things upon them since it is through the disciples' witness that the rest of the world will be saved or or could be saved. Right?

28:26 So the the 11 are sent out, and and it's if if the Lord can bestow on them this this sanctification, this union, and protection, then their witness will then be more fruitful in spreading the gospel and bringing more people to Christ. So in an indirect way, he's praying for the world here in a very indirect way. Since it is through the disciples' witness that the world will continue to be challenged, by god's love and god's call, then that's how we see that this is actually sort of an indirect prayer for the world. So Jesus repeats his earlier description of the disciples next. The description of the disciples in verse six, he changes it a little bit now.

29:11 The disciples are those that the Father has given to the Son, for they are yours, as he said. They were the Father's before he gave them to the Son, and they remain the Father's after he gives them to the Son. So the next verse, 10, verse 10, explains how this is. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. That is a very important statement right there for us to recognize and to recognize in the context of this gospel and what this gospel has been about, what John is trying to show here.

29:51 This the fundamental truth, part part of the one of the fundamental truths of this gospel, this this oneness between the father and the son is expressed here in terms of possession. The disciples very relationship with the father and the son also bear witness to this and they have been given to the son and yet remain the fathers through this divine oneness. And Jesus's statement here shows us it is a claim of itself to being god because we should all say regularly that all I have is yours, right? We we say this all the time and and and we try to give things over to god and let him run our lives because we're not capable of doing it ourselves and plus, everything we own came from him anyway. So we say, All I have is yours, but what created thing can say, All that you have is mine.

30:52 All of yours is mine. That is, it it's a statement as as pertinent as before Abraham was, I am. And if that's not an indication of god, I need some new glasses. So now Jesus looks to the time when the sun is taken away from the disciples. So what happens now?

31:20 The disciples are left in the world. Verse 11. So the relationship that has begun has to be continued and maintained in their new situation apart from him. They have to they kind of have to run the show on their own now. Not totally on their own because the spirit will be sent but after Jesus departs, the glory that has begun has to come to completion in in the divine oneness.

31:48 We look at verse 22 and eventually and yet another stage, in the fullness of the revelation of the glory of the Son, verse 24. I hate to steal the thunder of whoever takes this next half, but that's how this goes. He says, Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as we are. I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. We do have to address this little bit here as Jesus is described as the good shepherd, the perfect shepherd, not one that the father has given me.

32:33 No one can snatch them out of my hand and and all of these things that Jesus has said. So, how do we reconcile this? And he almost says it for you. It was known and it was foretold that Judas would be lost. Therefore, Jesus as as the keeper of the sheep was not in a way, he was not responsible for keeping him.

32:56 Jesus didn't lose him because he Judas was never entrusted to Jesus's care in that way. He... It was destined for him. His his fall was was predestined. That was that was the way it was to go.

33:10 He was never committed to Jesus' charge here. And that scripture might be fulfilled. And next, as we keep going through this and we and we get to verse 13, it would seem that Jesus cares nothing at all about his own sufferings here. This is the upper room discourse. This is right after he's finished here is when they go out to the Mountain Of Olives.

33:38 This is it and Jesus knows that this is it. They're getting right up to that point and he's not thinking anything about it. He said at the beginning, glorify your son that you might be glorified. And he's thinking nothing about the suffering. He's so occupied with the concerns that he has for his people, the disciples, the 11, but all of his people.

34:37 The protection is to be in the midst of the world, not by the removal from it. He wants to keep them there. In their identification with Jesus, they draw upon themselves the world's hatred of him. But they also share in his mission to the world, which is spelled out in verse 18, which I won't talk about. Secondly, the protection is from the evil one.

35:02 Verse 15, behind the world, the world that hates them is the evil one. For the whole world is under the control of the evil one. First John five nineteen. This is this is Satan's time. This is Satan's time and Jesus is praying desperately that the father would keep the disciples.

35:23 He would keep his people and guard them and keep them on that straight and narrow and give them the strength, give them what they need to resist and and to be able to confront Satan and his followers and to spread the gospel effectively and bring people to Christ. This the the the warfare motif that runs throughout the New Testament is fundamental in Jesus' own understanding of of this reality, and he and he's going with it here. And although Jesus is about to complete, he's about to complete his work of salvation. He's completed the ministry he was given to do. He has completed everything that has been on that list.

36:08 He's now down to the last thing. And although he's about to complete it, this warfare is going to continue. Neither the father nor the son is going to abandon the world now. Rather, they're going to continue to engage it and to confront it and call the world to repentance. That is desperately what god wants.

36:32 He is not willing that any should perish. He does... Yes, there's... Again, we get into the predestination thing in the elect bit but he is not willing that anyone should perish. He's waiting.

36:45 He's waiting that all might come to him. That is what he wants. He wants us to live with him in eternity with him and the father living in the glory. The disciples place in the world is not something they can give up because it's not something that God the Father and God the Son can give up. So the disciples have to stay here and they can't give up either.

37:41 And too much of either one of those is not good. We have to bring them in the middle a little bit. Yes, we are called to be separate from the world, and God's will and God's holiness are so totally separate from the world. But we can't forget that, yes, God is also just and will judge the world, but He also so desperately loves the world and He loves us that He did what He did. So let's not forget that.

38:08 And let's not forget that yes, the world is an awful place and they will be judged. But again, He's waiting. He's waiting. He is not willing that any should perish, and He wants the world to be called to repentance because His love is that great. We're going to end with it there.

38:28 I said it would be a little abrupt. Whoever will finish the rest of this, the most intimate of the Lord's prayers, and in teaching us how to pray. This this can be continued next time. So let's thank the Lord. Father, we thank you once again for this time that we have to look so deeply into your heart and to the heart of our savior.

38:51 We thank you for your word that we have, that we can see this, we can learn from it, and we ask that you would grant your Holy Spirit to us and open our hearts and our minds to learn all the things that we could learn. We would never completely learn everything in this lifetime and we know that we will reach that once we are with you in glory. But we just ask that you would continue to work in us and and allow us to grow, that we would be receptive of the things you would have for us to learn that we might be conformed to the image of your son. We thank you for this time. In Jesus name, amen.