John 17
H. Smith.
1. Introductory
The disciples who accompanied our Lord in his lowly path had listened to His ministry of grace to a needy world. That faithful testimony was now closed. Then, in the last discourses, they had listened with rapt attention to His closing instructions ere He left them to depart to be with the Father. The loving words to his own are finished. Now they have the yet greater privilege of hearing the Son expressing to the Father His desires for His own who will be left in the world during the time of His absence.
In other Scriptures we read of the Lord "rising up a great while before day" and departing into a solitary place to pray; and again, that He "continued all night in prayer". But, of the unfolding of His thoughts and desires when alone with the Father we have no record. On other occasions the disciples were, indeed, permitted to hear brief expressions of His thoughts to the Father, but now at the close of His path they were privileged to hear of the words of a definite prayer.
That the Son is speaking to the Father gives this portion its unique character, and may well give pause in attempting its exposition: seeing, however, that the prayer was uttered in the hearing of the disciples, and has been handed on to all believers by an inspired record, it becomes us to meditate upon the prayer and reverently seek to enter into the meaning of the words which, while so simple, contain thoughts so profound and truths of eternal import.
It has been truly said, "This prayer is solitary among all the prayers of mankind . . . it has no voice of confession, deprecation . . .; no echo, however distant, of recognition of sin, no tone that is touched with a feeling of demerit or defect. There is no intimation of infirmity or entreaty for help".
The prayer opens with requests that concern the Lord, Himself (verses 1 to 5). The second portion of the prayer has more especially in view, the disciples present with the Lord (verses 6 to 19). The third portion brings into the scope of the prayer all believers during the time of His absence (verses 20 to 26).
It will be noticed that the underlying motive, in the first portion of the prayer, is that the Father may be glorified in the Son; in the second portion, that Christ may be glorified in believers (v. 10); in the closing portion, that believers may be glorified with Christ (v. 22).
"These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven" (verse 1).
Thus the great prayer is brought before us. Throughout the Gospel of John, the Lord's glory as a Divine Person is ever kept before us. He is the Son, but ever viewed in the place that He had taken as Man. Thus it is He stands on earth and looks up to heaven as becomes the dependent Man. In all His perfect pathway, while proving by many a word and deed that He was a Divine Person – the Son, yet as the perfect servant in Manhood heaven was always His resource. When meeting the needs of the Five Thousand, "He looked up to heaven" (Mark 6:41). When healing the deaf and dumb, and relieving our sicknesses, He did so "looking up to heaven" (Mark 7:34). When meeting our sorrows He "lifted up His eyes" to the Father (John 11:41). And now, in expressing His desires to the Father, He still lifts up His eyes to heaven. Never ceasing to be the Son, yet, having become flesh, He never leaves the place of subjection and dependence, that becomes Him as Man. Thus, throughout the prayer, as indeed throughout the Gospel, He looks to the Father as the Giver, while He, Himself, ever takes the place of the reciever.
2. The Lord's desires for Himself (vv. 1-5)
"Father the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee; as Thou has given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (vv. 1-3).
The prayer opens with the expression of the Lord's desires for Himself and the glory of the Father. His work on earth being finished, the hour has at last come when the Lord should depart out of the world unto the Father. This hour having come, the Son can in perfect harmony with the Father's will pray for His own glory. Moreover, the underlying motive for this desire is that, in the new place in glory, He may still glorify the Father. The natural man seeks to glorify himself; here, at last, we see One who seeks to be glorified by the Father, and that in order that He may bring glory to the Father.
With this object in view authority had been given to the Son over all flesh, that the Son should give eternal life to as many as the Father had given Him. It was no longer authority given to Christ, as the Messiah, in connection to the Jews, but the far wider authority over all flesh – Jew and Gentile alike. Moreover the blessing has in view, not only a godly remnant from the Jews, but that far greater company that takes in all believers gathered from "all flesh" and given to the Son by the Father.
To such the Lord gives eternal life and thus brings this new company into relationship with the Father and the Son, for this life eternal is the enjoyment of the relationship in which the believer is set with Divine Persons. It is communion with God revealed as the Father, and with Jesus Christ – a Divine Person, the Son – but manifest in flesh.
"I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, Oh Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was" (vv. 4, 5).
Anticipating His last great work the Lord sums up His entire path through this world from the manager to the cross, with the words, "I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." When He came into the world, the heavenly host at once said, "Glory to God in the highest;" and in every step of His path, in every word that fell from His lips, and in all His acts of love, He glorified the Father. The very sorrows He had to meet, the contradiction of sinners, the hatred and jealousy of religious leaders, the scorn and mockery of worldly authorities, and the insults and reproaches of the crowd - the very things that too often lead us into acting in the flesh, and thus dishonouring God – only became occasions to bring out the perfection of Christ and thus glorify the Father.
The perfect life on earth being closed, the work of the cross anticipated as finished, the Lord now asks to be glorified with that glory which would be the only righteous answer to the work He had accomplished.
Well for us to seek to enter into the immense significance of the Lords statement, and the Lords request, for therein we discover the righteous basis for all the blessings that the Lord desires for his own in the course of the prayer. The absolute statement is, "have glorified thee on the earth." The request is, "Glorify thy Son."
The great statement tells us that everything that the Father requires has been accomplished by the Son. One has truly said, "Jesus can say, at the close of His life here below (that Satan may hear, that His own may rejoice in it, that the world may know, that angels may marvel at it), I have glorified Thee" (J.N.D.).
As Man He has taken the place of the responsible man – a position in which we have dishonoured God – and in that place He has perfectly glorified God. Having glorified God He has acquired the right to be glorified. He is worthy of the glory, and the glory is the only righteous and adequate answer to His finished work.
The Son having glorified the Father, the Father glorifies the Son, and so doing He sets forth His infinite delight in His finished work. In these two facts we have the solid basis of all our blessing, and the sure resting place for our souls.
It is as Man that He asks for this glory. He does not speak of glorifying Himself: He recieves everything from the Father. Nevertheless the ascending scale of these requests declares the glory of His Person as the Son. We might indeed ask to be glorified; who but the Son could utter the words that follow, "With thine ownself"? We could ask to be glorified with the saints. But the Son, looking at a glory far above that of angels and saints, desires to be glorified with the Father. Then further the Lord's desires rise yet higher into a region which belongs only to Divine Persons, for, He adds, "With the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." Christ asks to receive as Man the glory that had been His as a Divine Person before ever the world was.
3. The Lord's desires for His disciples (vv. 6-19).
Having expressed His desires for His own glory and that of the Father, the Lord passes on to unfold the desires of His heart concerning His disciples. First, however, in verses 6 to 8, He recalls His work in the midst of the disciples, and presents, from verse 9 to the middle of verse 11, the great motives for His prayer on their behalf.
"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" (vv. 6-8).
The Lord has said "I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do." He – the only begotten Son, was in the midst of His own as the servant doing the Father's work, and glorifying the Father. As we listen to the Son speaking to the Father we are privileged to learn from the Lord's own lips the character of this service of love. It is expressed by the two statements in verses 6 and 8. First, "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world:" Secondly, "I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me." Other expressions of the Lord's service occur in the course of the prayer, but all can be summed up in these two statements.
As we follow the Lord's path through this world we see a Man who ever walked in the enjoyment of the Father's love; and who, as the ever dependent Man, received daily communications from the Father; as He could say "He wakens morning by morning, He wakens mine ear to hear as the instructed" (Isa. 1:4 N.Tn). His knowledge, and these communications He passed on to the disciples. He manifested to the disciples the Father in all His attributes, and communicated the Father's words, in order to bring them into the same position before the Father that He as a Man enjoyed. Thus the Lord makes it possible for us to walk in the conscious knowledge of the Father's love revealed in the Son, and as having the mind of the Father through the communications made to the Son.
The revelation of all that the Father is as expressed by His Name, and these communications, are not given to the world, nor simply to a Jewish remnant out of Israel, but to the men that the Father gave to Christ "out of the world." Such belong to the great company of God's elect, for the Lord can say "Thine they were." Thus, by the language employed, the way is left open for others, beside the godly remnant of Israel, to come into all this blessedness. Moreover, the disciples proved how truly they were the Father's for the Lord can say, "They have kept thy word." They cherished the word that declared the Father's Name. They knew that all the communications made to the Son came from the Father. They received them and were assured that the Son came out from the Father and had been sent by the Father. They proved themselves to be of the number of those of whom it is said, "As many as received Him to them gave He the right to become the children of God, even to them that believe on His Name" (John 1:12 N.Tn.).
"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" (vv. 9-11).
It is for these disciples who had received the communications of the Lord, and "believed" on Him, that the Lord prays. Now we are permitted to hear the three great motives that led the Lord to pray on their behalf. First, the Lord says they are given to Him, but nontheless He can say to the Father, "they are thine." He is praying to the Father concerning those who belong to the Father. Secondly, the Lord can plead, "I am glorified in them." The Father had been glorified by the Son in His pathway on earth. Now the Son is to be glorified in the saints as they pass through the world. Thirdly, the Lord pleads, "now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee." While with them the Lord had kept them, now the time had come when He would no longer be with them. The first motive concerns the Father, the second has the glory of the Son in view, and the third the safety of believers.
If, then, we belong to the Father, and are to walk consistently with the One to whom we belong; if we are left here to glorify the Son, by setting forth His blessed character; if we no longer have the Lord with us personally, in this hostile world, we shall indeed need the prayer of the Lord on our behalf.
"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. And now come I to thee: and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves" (vv. 11-13).
Having presented the motives for the prayer, the Lord passes on to express His desires for His disciples in four definite requests:-
Firstly, the Lord prays that the disciples may be kept through the Father's name (11);
Secondly, He prays that they may be one (11);
Thirdly, He prays that they may be kept from the evil of the world (15);
Fourthly, He prays that they may be sanctified (17-19).
By the first great request the Lord brings His own under the shelter of the Name "Holy Father." He desires that we may be kept according to the Father's love, and in consistency with His holy nature. So Peter, in after years, apparently with the Lord's words in his mind, can write to believers, "as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation."
Secondly, in order that the disciples may live in the consciousness of being guarded by the Father's love, and kept in the holiness consistent with the Father's nature, the Lord further prays that they may be "one, as we." The Lord desires that all His disciples should walk in that oneness of thought and purpose, that ever existed between the Father and the Son. It is evident that if they were divided in thought and purpose they would be no witness to the love and holiness of the Father.
While with His disciples, the Lord, as representing the Father in all His love and holiness and compassion, had kept the disciples in the Father's Name. Of those who companied with Him none were lost save the son of perdition. Now the Lord was leaving them, and these things are spoken in their hearing, that they might have the joy of knowing that they would be in the guardian care of the Father, and thus share in the joy of the Lord as He walked through this world in the consciousness of the Father's love.
"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" (v. 14).
The first two desires of the Lord on behalf of His disciples have reference to their relationship to the Holy Father, and their personal joy. Their enjoyment of their personal relations with the Father prepares the way for their testimony in this world with which the third and fourth desires of the Lord are connected.
The Lord can say, "I have given them thy word." The Father's word speaks of all the councils of the Father's heart. To these councils of love and grace the Lord had witnessed as He passed through the world. Now these councils are committed to the disciples that they, in their turn, might become witnesses as they pass through the world from which Christ has been rejected. Their witness to One that the world had nailed to a cross would be a condemnation of the world, and at the same time make manifest that they were not of it; thus they would expose themselves to the hatred of the world.
“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world” (vv. 15-16).
If, however, believers are to carry out their mission, and represent Christ in the world, they must be kept apart from its corruption. Thus we come to the third definite request, that they may be kept apart "from the evil." Again the Lord states, "they are not of the world." For this very reason, while passing through it, we need to be kept from its contamination if we are to be faithful witnessses.
"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world even so have I sent them into the world" (vv. 17-18).
Further, if believers are to represent Christ in the world, it is not enough to be kept from its evil. Thus we come to the Lord's fourth desire, "sanctify them through thy truth." Sanctification implies that we are, not only set apart from evil, but, set apart in heart and life for Christ. We learn from the Lord's words that this devoted life of practical sanctification to Christ is brought about in a twofold way. First, by the truth, for the Lord's words are "sanctify them through thy truth," and He adds, "Thy word is truth." On the one hand, the word detects and judges all that in our words and ways and walk, as well as the secrets of our hearts, which may mar a life of devotedness to Christ. On the other hand, the Father's word reveals to us the Father in all His love and grace and holiness as set forth in Christ.
Thus it is that believers are equipped for their mission. As the Father had sent the Son into the world to be a witness to the Father, so Christ sends believers into the world as a witness to Himself.
In the course of the prayer the Lord speaks of believers as taken "out of the world" in which they once lived (6); as left "in the world" for the glory of Christ (11); as "not of the world" morally (14, 16); and as sent "into the world" as witnesses (18). Good indeed for believers to seize the spirit of this prayer and, realising that they are "not of the world," not only to keep apart from its evil but also to walk wholly apart from its political schemes, its social round and its religious activities.
"And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth" (v.19).
The second means whereby the believer is practically sanctified is in having Christ before the soul as an Object. Though always the Son – a Divine Person – yet He sets Himself apart in the glory as Man, there to become the Object of our affections. The word exposes and corrects all that is contrary to the truth, and unfolds to us the mind of God. But in Christ, a living Person, we see the perfect setting forth of all that the word enjoins. Occupation with Him and delighting in all His perfection will have a sanctifying effect, as the Apostle Paul can write, "we all, looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image" (2 Cor. 3:18, N.Tn.). Moreover we see in the Apostle how his own words were verified for, in another Epistle, he can say, "forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before, I pursue, looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13-14, N.Tn.). Having Christ in the glory as an object separated Paul from "things behind" and led to a life devoted to the interests of Christ, so that he could truly say, "For me to live is Christ."
4. The Lord's desires for all believers (vv. 20-26).
"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word" (v. 20)
Hitherto the prayer has had more immediately in view the disciples who were present with the Lord. Now the Lord looks down the coming ages and embraces in His prayer all those who would believe in Him through the word of the Apostles. This leads the Lord to unfold in our hearing three further desires of His heart:
Firstly, that all believers may be "one in us" (v. 21);
Secondly, that they "may be one" in the coming Kingdom glory (vv. 22-23);
Thirdly, that they may be with Christ where He is (v. 24).
While, however, we distinguish this portion of the prayer from that which immediately concerns the disciples then present, it would surely be as wrong to confine the first requests to those disciples, as to shut out the disciples from the latter requests.
The words of the Lord, "Neither pray I for these alone" would indicate that the desires already expressed by the Lord equally apply to all believers, while the last requests, by their very nature must include the disciples.
"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" (v. 21).
The first of these fresh desires is that believers "all may be one." Throughout the ages believers have been called from different nations, with diverse tongues; but, however divided in nationality, in social position, in worldly means, or in intellectual attainments, the Lord prays that they may be "one in us." This is a unity in their common interest in Christ and in communion with the Father and the Son. The expression of a unity amongst those who otherwise were sharply divided would be an arresting witness to the world of the power of the Name of JESUS. In Pentecostal days there was for a brief time an answer to the Lord's request. The world saw with amazement that "the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul." From a people, thus united in their common interest in Christ there went out a witness to the world marked by "great power" and "great grace" (Acts 2:32-33).
"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" (vv. 22-23).
The Lord has viewed believers in their mission in this world as His sent ones to represent Himself. Now He looks on to the coming glory of His Kingdom – a glory which He gives to His people to share with Himself. This leads to another request, "That they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me." This is the third unity for which the Lord prays. The first is a unity in object – "One as we;" the second is a unity in common interest in Christ, and communion with Divine Persons – "One in us:" the third is a unity in glory of the Kingdom when all believers will be "perfected into one" (N.Tn.). Then, indeed, Christ will be seen in the saints, even as the Father is seen in the Son, as the Lord can say, "I in them and Thou in Me." When the Lord appears, He will be "glorified in His saints" and "admired in all them that believe." The world will then know that the Son was sent by the Father, and that the Father loved believers even as the Father had loved the Son (2 Thess. 1:10).
Looking back over the history of God's people on earth, and recalling the path they have had to tread, the sorrows, the trials, the insults, and persecutions they have had to endure we might be tempted to ask, "can these be the people that the Father loves?" But when at last they appear in glory it will be seen that the trials were only "for a season", and that they have an answer in "praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Then indeed, it will be manifested that the Father loved them even as He loved the Son.
"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" (v. 24).
With this last desire of the heart of Christ we are carried beyond the glories of the Kingdom, when Christ will be admired in the saints before the world, into the greater priviledge, and deeper blessedness of being with Christ in His eternal home. Thus the Lord prays, "I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am." It is, indeed, wonderful grace that the Lord Jesus should come down to us where we are: it is yet more wonderful that He should take us up to be with Him where He is. When He comes down to us He supplies our wants, and meets the needs of our hearts; when He lifts us up into His own home to be with Him, He surpasses all the needs and desires of our hearts, and meets the deep longings of His own heart. When at last He has gathered all His poor wandering sheep together and brought them to His home, as He gazes upon the vast host of the redeemed, "He shall see of the fruit of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied." We, too, shall be satisfied when we awake in His likeness, and gaze with rapture upon the glory given to Him by the Father, the answer to the love that the Father had to the Son before the foundation of the world.
Oh what a home! But such His love
That He must bring us there,
To fill that home, to be with Him,
And all His glory share.
The Father's house, the Father's heart,
All that the Son has given
Made ours – the objects of His love,
And He our joy in heaven.
"O righteous Father, the world has 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 has loved me may be in them, and I in them" (vv. 25-26).
We are not yet with Christ in His home: so in the close of the prayer the Lord refers to our present portion. The One who alone knows the Father has declared the Father's Name to His people, and gives us even now to know that we are loved by the Father even as the Father loves the Son. If in the enjoyment of this love, Christ will dwell in our hearts and be expressed in our lives, as the Lord can say, "I in them." Thus the great prayer closes with the purpose that underlies all the last instructions of the Lord to His disciples, as well as the prayer to the Father, that His people should, in word, and acts, and manner, represent Him during the time of His absence. That this may be so it is well for every one of us to take home to our hearts the seven great desires of the Lord for His people:
Firstly, that we may walk in consistency with the holiness of the Father;
Secondly, that we may be united in having one object and purpose before us – the glory of Christ;
Thirdly, in order to be here as a testimony to Christ we may be kept from the evil of the world that we are passing though;
Fourthly, to carry out our mission in this world that we may be sanctified and devoted to the interests of Christ;
Fifthly, that we may be united in our common interest in Christ and in communion with Divine Persons;
Sixthly, that we may be one in the coming Kingdom to display the glory of Christ;
Seventhly, that at last we may be with Christ in His own home – the Father's house.
Such is the mind of Christ for His people as expressed to the Father, in our hearing, in this last great prayer.