JESUS PRAYS FOR THE DISCIPLES

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1 January 11, 2014 ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON JESUS PRAYS FOR THE DISCIPLES MINISTRY INVOCATION O God: We give thanks to You for the manifold blessings to us. You did not have to bless us but You did. We shall remain eternally grateful. Amen. WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW AND UNDERSTAND Jesus prayed that the disciples would be united and protected by God as they brought new people into their community in an unsafe world. THE APPLIED FULL GOSPEL DISTINCTIVE We believe in the indwelling of the Holy Ghost for all believers and that the Holy Ghost verifies and validates the Believer as part of the Body of Christ. TEXT: Background Scripture John 17:1-26 Key Verse John 17:21 Lesson Scripture John 17:6 21 (NKJV) Christ Prays for His Disciples 6 I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. 9 I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 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. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. 1

2 Christ Prays for All Believers 20 I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. COMMENTARY Verses 6 8. The Divine Intercessor turned from Himself, and from the approaching glory of His own mediatorial Person and position, to meditate, for the advantage of His disciples, on what had already been done for them, in them, to them. He clothes these meditations in the form of a direct address to God, and makes the series of facts on which He dwells the groundwork of the prayer which follows for His disciples, as representative of all who, like them, have come into relations with the Father through Him. I manifested thy Name corresponds to ver. 4. I poured light upon, and thus made appreciable, apprehensible, thy Name. This Name was but partially and imperfectly understood before. The Name of God, the compendium of all His excellences, the essential features of His substantial Being which Christ has thus illuminated, is the Father. Whatsoever is made manifest is light. By being and living on earth as Son of the Father, the Father was revealed. A full revelation of the Father involves and is involved in a manifestation of His own Sonship. The relation between the Father and the Son is one of infinite complacency and mutual affection, and the revelation of it demonstrates the feet of the eternal and essential love of the Divine Being. Thus, the fact that God is love is manifested in the life of the Son of man, who was in himself a revelation of the Son the Son of God. I manifested thy Name, said Jesus showing that he regarded His work of self-manifestation and God-revelation as virtually complete to the men whom thou gavest me. The Father s giving of the sons of men to Christ refers primarily to the men that were made susceptible of His special grace and revelations, who in seeing, saw, in hearing, heard, who, being drawn by inward monitions and Divine grace, and verily taught of God, came to Christ. Thus, the Father gave them to Christ. The first monitions, susceptibilities of soul for Christ, which are found throughout the world and the Church, are God s way of giving men to Christ. The supremacy of grace is involved in the whole of this representation. Out of the world. They were in the world, but have been drawn out of it by the revelation of the Father. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me. So that the approach even to the Lord Jesus, the drawing to Christ and to the blessed revelation of the Father, was preceded by a previous condition Thine they were. Before the process of giving and drawing was begun, there was a sense in which they bore this great designation. Their position as creatures, or as Israelites, or as believers in the Old Testament manifestation of the Name, seems 2

3 to fall short of the solemn assertion, Thine they were. There were in every case spiritual predispositions. They were of God, doers of the truth ; willing to do the will of God; they were of the truth. All these expressions reveal an extraordinary relation of human souls to the Father, which is presupposed, and precedes the power over them and advantage to them of the grace of Christ. This may throw light on the work of grace in pre-christian and non-christian times and places. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy the sum total of thy revelation or Word to them. They, these men, these special representative men, have been true to their light, and know of the doctrine whether it be of God. Their own quickened conscience has been strong enough to justify all Divine assurances. To Christ s eyes, they have already come out of their fiery trial faithful and true. Now, at this point in their training, they have known, by a strong experience, by tasting, handling, seeing, trusting, by vivid flashes of light, by keen, clear intuition of the reality, that all things whatsoever which thou hast given me, are from thee. This obscure utterance is clearly expounded in the next sentence, which is the echo of the grand assertion, which drew from the breaking heart its loud and sublime note of triumph. Because the words, the various sayings, utterances of Divine reality, which thou gavest to me, I have given to them. This blessed recital and exposition of His previous ministry is followed by the record of the effect, without which the whole Christian dispensation would that very night have come to an abrupt end. They believed that all Christ s words, works, energies, revelations, warnings, promises, like Christ himself, came from the eternal Father, therefore represented the supreme reality, more certain than demonstration, more vivid than intuition. They have rendered invincible assent to them as the Divine, absolute, unchangeable, irrevocable, eternal truth. In this overwhelming and satisfying conviction was laid the foundation of the Church of Christ. And they received them. This was a direct consequence of the Divine giving and of the Divine drawing. And they came to know discerned, i.e. by personal experience and truly that I came out from thee, and believed that thou didst send me. This knowledge and belief is the germ of the communication to others of the Divine manifestation; it is the Lord s reward for all the toil and sacrifice and Divine humiliation of His earthly ministry. The incarnate Word is recognized as such, the only begotten Son of the Father is known to be the Brightness of His glory. We see in this great utterance the true origin of the evangelist s own words. This thought of Christ s has now become their voluntary, spontaneous, assured conviction. The inward reason corresponds with the objective facts. Verse 9. I very emphatic am praying for them We must remember that this is perfectly consistent with the fact that, in the day of the spiritual manifestation to the disciples, when both the Father and Son came to them, the 3

4 disciples would ask the Father for the gifts which His love to them was waiting to supply; and He, Christ Himself, would hear them if they asked in His Name; and that then there would be no need that He should pray the Father for them. That time had not yet come, though it was coming. Both statements are also perfectly consistent with His intercession for us. Not concerning or, not for the world am I praying. Surely, this is not an assertion that He would never pray, or that He had not already prayed, for the world. His entire ministry is the expression of the Father s love to the whole world. He came as Jehovah s Lamb to take away its sin; He bade His disciples to pray for their enemies, and He cried at the last for a blessing on His murderers. He came to seek and save the lost, to call sinners to repentance, not to condemn, but to save the world. Moreover, in this prayer (verse 21) He does pray for those who should ultimately, though they do not now, believe on Him through the word of the disciples; therefore it is inconceivable that He should dogmatically limit the range of His gracious desire. He expressly and divinely commends to the Father those whom thou hast given me the burden of the thought is contained in the motive He suggests for this commendation, viz. because they are thine; i.e. though thou hast given them to me, though they have come to me, through thy drawing, they are more than ever thine. This most fervent yielding to the attraction of Jesus, and utter moral surrender to His control, do not alienate the heart from the Father, but make it more than ever His. Verse 10. And all things that are mine are thine; whether they be these souls, or these powers that I wield, or these words that I utter, or these works that I do, all are thine. This statement is in perfect harmony with all His teaching, and is not incompatible with the reverential sentiment that any servant of God might utter; but he adds words to show that the union between Him and the Father is much closer than this, and quite unique. And thine are mine. In the full confidence of filial relation we can believe it true that the heavenly Father says to every one of His veritable children, All that I have is thine. Here the words must not be drawn out of their connection; it is human souls who are of God, and are therefore Christ s. The dogmatic lesson is that everyone who has heard and learned of the Father does come to Him. Such an assurance gives hope to the world. And I (have been and) am glorified in them. The Divine Savior rejoices in the victory He has won in securing the faith of the disciples. Verse. 11. And I am no more (no longer) in the world. The earthly ministry is over; for a while He must leave them in the pitiless storm, bereft of His care and counsel, exposed to infinite peril and temptation. Headless, scattered, tempted to believe that all He had said to them was one huge delusion. And these are in the world, without me. without visible sight of the mirror in which thy glory has been reflected, and I come I return to thee These are the 4

5 conditions on their part and on mine which justify this prayer for them; and my prayer is, Holy Father, keep or, guard them. The very holiness of the Father is appealed to as the surest basis of the petition. They have already been taught to pray. The eternal holiness and righteousness of God is involved in the saving and sanctification of the believer in Jesus. Keep them, holy Father (says our Lord), in and by thy Name, those whom thou hast given me. That they may be one, united, formed into a unity of being, even as we are, not losing their personality, but blending and interchanging their interests and their affections after the Divine pattern of the Father and Son. The relations between Christians, which constitute the essential unity of their corporate being, are of the same kind as those which pertain to Christ and God, and prevail between them, therefore lying far behind the shifting phases of organization and human order, in the essence and substance of spiritual life. Verse 12. While I was with them. He speaks of the earthly ministry as completed, and reviews the whole of his influence over them. I kept them in thy Name which thou hast given me. This an earthly father might say, without irreverence, of children whom he was about to leave, but the quality of the keeping is characterized by the Divine Name which was given him, and that manifested the Sonship which carried with it all the revelation of the Father. And I guarded them signifies watchful observation; guardianship as behind the walls of a fortress and not one perished went to destruction except that the son of perdition (has perished). Christ does not say that the son of perdition was given Him by the Father and guarded from the evil one, and yet had gone to his own place; the exception refers simply to the not one perished. This victim of perdition, this child of hell, has completed his course; even now he has laid his plans for my destruction and his own. He has so perished in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. He did not free the son of perdition from the responsibility of his own destruction. If the interpretation given above is sound, there is no inclusion of the traitor among those who are of the truth, etc.; but he was one who, not-withstanding boundless opportunity, went to his own place in the perversity of his own will. Verse 13. But now come I to thee. So that the condition, the shielding protection of my love is removed, thou, O my Father, must be their Sun and Shield. And these things I am uttering in the world; uttering, i.e. in their hearing before my last step is taken, and perhaps in the very midst of the machinations which are going on against me. That they might have the joy that is mine fulfilled, fully unfolded and completed, in themselves. By overhearing the high-priestly prayer, they would be assured of the Divine guardianship, and would receive the transfer of even His, joy as well as of His peace. They would find the higher joy also of the return of their Lord to the bosom of the Father. 5

6 Christ taught His disciples to desire such joy and peace as be found on the night of the Passion. Verse 14. I have given them thy word a permanent endowment); and the implication is that they have received it (verse 8). The phrase is rather more condensed than before, and carries all the consequences previously mentioned, and others as well to which the Lord had referred. As a matter of fact, the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. This constant contrast between the mind of Christ and the spirit of the world pervades the New Testament. Christ had exposed its hypocrisies, and denounced its idols, and inverted its standards, and repudiated its smile, and condemned its prince, and was now indifferent to its curse. His disciples shared His sentiments, came in also for its malediction and hatred. Verse 15. The prayer of Jesus based on this. I pray defines the contents of the prayer not that thou shouldest take them away lift them up and out out of the world, as thou art taking me by death. This natural desire on the part of some of them is not in harmony with the highest interests of the kingdom. There is much testimony for them to bear, there are many great facts for them completely to grasp, many aspects of truth which they must put into words for the life and salvation of souls, individuals for them to teach and train, victories for them to win, examples which they must set before the world. If they are all to vanish from the eyes of men as Christ will do, the end of the manifestation will be sacrificed. The Lord prays, not that they should be taken out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them. Over against this kingdom the Lord Christ, as the devil s great Rival, rules in the kingdom of grace. Verse 16. They are not of the world, even as of the world I am not. This verse simply repeats, with alteration of order, the clause of verse 14 as the basis of the next great petition. Verse 14 draws the comparison between Christ and the disciples; verse 16 lays the greater emphasis on the world. Verse 17. Sanctify them; consecrate them, separate them from the evil of the world, as for holy purposes. Devote them to the glorious cause. Let them be sacrifices on the altar. Sanctify, is not synonymous with purify. The sanctification of the Old Testament is a ritual process effected by ceremonial observance; the sanctification of the New Testament is a spiritual process passing over heart and conscience and will, and is the work of the Divine Spirit. If they see the truth they will be discharged from the illusions of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Thy Logos (thy Word), the utterance of thy thought, is truth. If we can ever cognize what is the Divine thought about anything, we shall reach the absolute truth. The Logos of God, the full, God-chosen utterance of the reality of truth, is the nearest approach to truth that we possess. This revelation of God is the closest correspondence with the reality. God sanctifies his children, consecrates them to 6

7 the service of his kingdom by revealing the truth, by making known the otherwise transcendental facts of his kingdom. The Spirit of God is not limited to the normal operations of the Word. Verse 18. As thou didst send me into the world from the glory which I had with thee before the world was even so I sent them into the world; i.e. from that higher sphere of thought above the world to which I had called them. They are not of the world, but I sent them from the unworldly home and from the high place of my intimate friendship, from the ground of elevated sympathy with myself, into the world, with my message and the power to claim obedience. Christ gave this apostolic commission near the commencement of his ministry so that the word embraces the entire ministerial function of all who believe in the mission of the Son. Verse 19. And for their sakes I sanctify, consecrate, myself. The Father had consecrated Him and sent Him into the world, but over and above all this there were special and sacrificial acts of love and devotion which He made on behalf of His own. He went up voluntarily into the wilderness to be tempted for them; He wrought for them while it was yet day. He now was ready to commend Himself to the Supreme Will of the Father, and to offer Himself through the Spirit in His perfected humanity without spot of sin to God. Christ is the Priest and the Victim, and the dedication of Himself to this climax of His consecrated life is for the sake of the disciples. That they also may be sanctified indeed truly or veritably. That which the Lord, in its highest form, effects for Himself, they receive as a work wrought in them by another. Christ s consecration in selfsacrificial love, in abandonment to the power of the Word which has revolutionized their whole being, in entire equipment for their calling, even to the point of hatred and antagonism from the world, and death for His sake. They are indeed to drink of His cup, and be baptized with His baptism. They must be crucified with Him and buried with Him, and rise again with Him, in the activity of their faith. Verse 20. Neither do I pray for concerning these alone, but also for those who believe on me through their word. The Lord summons the future into the present. He speaks of having once for all sent them, and He sees rising before His eye the multitudes in all ages who would believe their testimony as if already doing so. The universal Church rejoices in the fullness of His love and the greatness of His wish concerning the individuals who believe. The prayer is an eternal intercession. Verse 21, That they all may be one. My prayer is that the many may become one, form one living glorious unity; every part of which spiritual organism, while living a separate and differentiated life, is yet part of a whole. In the natural sphere, as the parts of a whole organism are more and more 7

8 developed, and increasingly resemble individualities in their separation, they are in the same proportion dependent on the whole for the life that is in them. Even in a highly organized community, as the separate individuals have more and more personal consciousness of special function, they become the more dependent on the whole, and in one sense lost in the unity to which they belong. The branches in the vine form together one vine; the members of a body, being many, are one body and members of one another. According as thou, Father, (art) in me, and I (am) in thee; i.e. the relation between the Father and Son, the manner in which the Father lives in the Son, as in His organ or instrument of manifestation and object of supreme affection, and as the Son is in the Father, abiding ever in the light of his glory, in the power of his Name, and as these two are thus One in being, so, or similarly, the believers are to live in and for each other, becoming a unity, just as the Father and Son are unity. In order that they themselves also may be one in us. Though they are to be lost in God, yet they do not lose their own individuality. In proportion to their organic relation to the fullness of the Godhead and the completeness of their own spiritual fellowship with one another, will this personal consciousness of theirs become more and more pronounced. There is yet a further process contemplated, viz. in order that the world may believe that thou didst send me. The spiritual life and unity of the Church will produce an impression on the world, which now rejects the Christ and does not appreciate His Divine commission. The union, which springs from the blended life of the various and even contradictory elements in the Church, will prove the reality of its origin. The world will believe, this is the final purpose of the intercession concerning the disciples; so though above he did not pray for the world as the then immediate object of His intercession, the poor world is in his heart, and the saving of the world the end of his incarnation. If the union between the Father and the Son is the sublime type of the union between those who shall believe, it is not the union of a great society in accordance with certain invincible rules of affiliation and government. The union between the Father and Son is not a visible manifestation, but a spiritual inference. The common indwelling in the Father and Son, the identity of the spiritual emotion and purpose in all who have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, will convince the world by producing a similar inference. RELATED DISCUSSION TOPICS CLOSING PRAYER My God: I am grateful to have found You and kept You in the forefront of my being. Bless us continually with Your grace and mercy. They represent bountiful blessings for all of us. Amen. 8