Introduction In this chapter Jesus prays for himself (vv.1-5); prays for his disciples (vv.6-19) and now Jesus prays for His Church (vv.20-26). Already in the prayer of Jesus he has spoken of salvation (vv. 1-5); sanctification (vv.6-19) and now Jesus prays about glorification; I have given them the glory You gave Me (v.22, NIV). There is a sense in which every believer is already glorified and seated at the right hand of the Father. We are in heavenly places with Christ--now (from God s perspective). Ephesians 2:6 (NLT) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms all because we are one with Christ Jesus. Jesus has prayed for our unity (v.11); our security (v.12); our tranquillity (v.13); our protection (vv.14-16); our sanctification (v.17); our mission (v.18). Now the Savior s attention turns to the apostles posterity-- but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one (vv.20-23). Jesus believed future Christians would be one. Paul believed Christians are one with Christ Jesus. And the believer s destiny (vv.24-26)...we are going to Heaven! We will share Christ s glory--an eternal glory which Christ had in His pre-existence. Jesus prays for unity on earth and community in heaven....as Jesus saw it and prayed for it, it was to be precisely that unity which convinced the world of the truth of Christianity and the place of Christ. It is more natural for men to be divided than united. It is more human for men to fly apart than to come together. Real unity between all Christians would be a supernatural fact which would require a supernatural explanation (William Barclay; p.218). Jesus has prayed for safety or protection in this world (v.14a); I gave them your word; and the world hated them. God s word determines the world s attitude toward those who love and cherish God s word. The world hates God s word. The world will not accept God s word. The word exposes and reveals the false philosophies and wicked man made religions; the word exposes the false wisdom of man. The world hates God s word and those who proclaim that word. The Lord prayed for protection but the Lord also prayed for purity (John 17:15-17). Jesus prayed to the Father about their sanctification (purity); a sanctification based on truth (v. 17). Jesus then prayed Your word is truth. Clearly the Word of God--God s truth is a uniting factor; but it is also a separating force. Let me be clear about this--truth unites and divides. Truth brings wisdom but truth is intended to bring transformation--that is holiness. The Greeks desired to know more; the same is true today; the scientists and the philosophers and the learned desired to know more; but not necessarily embrace a holy life. The word of God has a power, a transforming power, a transforming virtue about it. Jesus has prayed for the believers protection; the saints purity; the disciples program or mission. We are sent into the world; even so that is in the sense Christ was sent. Even so denotes an exact parallel. Jesus was sent. 1
Jesus sent His apostles into the world. The world became at once both battlefield and mission field. In what way are we sent? We are under orders and authority. The Father prepared the Son; equipped the Son; and supported the Son and loved the Son. Now Jesus prays. C. Neil Strait once wrote; Prayer lifts the heart above the battles of life and gives it a glimpse of God s resources which spell victory and hope. Our resources include protection, purity, truth and love. Jesus prays for the necessary resources to succeed on the spiritual battlefield and the soon coming mission field. A Request For All Future Believers (v.20) John 17:20 (NKJV) I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; John s gospel doesn t mention the word church. Yet the church is here. By the time John wrote this gospel the Church was a powerful force in the world. The Apostles clearly remained in Jerusalem for a while; but went out into the surrounding areas of Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth (India!). The Romans had done a remarkable job of leveling Jerusalem and scattering the saints. The apostolic mission was not to bring in the millennial kingdom; or reform and revitalize Judaism; but to be instruments of the Holy Spirit to bring into being a new, God created entity called the Church; to worship God, to bring people to Christ; to build up believers; to impart the teachings of Jesus to a new generation; and to write the New Testament. Jesus knew all; Jesus could see every believer in every church in every generation; all who would believe as a result of what Christ had done; what the apostles had preached in the power of the Holy Spirit; Jesus prayed for them; He prayed for us; He prayed for you! Have you believed in Jesus as a result of the testimony of the Apostles? Then this prayer is for you. A Request For The Unity Of Future Believers (vv.21-23) John 17:21 (NKJV) 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. The Father and Son are one in personal relationship; one in love. The Lord Jesus prays for the future believers; for the church in every age and every generation. He prays for unity; unity in love, unity in holiness, unity in mission. Some people have seen this prayer of Jesus as a great disappointment; an unanswered prayer. Jesus is praying for unity of heart and spirit. There is a big difference between unity (heart and spirit) and uniformity (everybody exactly alike). Jesus is not praying that every Christian embrace some singular denomination or one world church. This prayer is not unity in administration, organization, or ecclesiastical uniformity. Read the 2
text--this is unity of personal relationship (see Barclay; p.218). It seems odd to read the text and ignore the context and the theology of the prayer. John Philips writes; Here are both a mystical oneness and a manifest oneness. What we have in the world today is a church divided against itself, torn into factions large and small. There is the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Coptic Church. There are state churches. There are various nonconformist denominational churches. There are cults, quasi- Christian cancers on the body of the church. Unsaved people look at the church and see Baptists and Brethren, Methodists and Mormons, Presbyterians and Pentecostals, Catholics and Congregationalists. They are both skeptical and confused (John; pp.329-330). I think Barclay is right when he says; Christians will never organzize their Churches all in the same way. They will never worship God in all the same way, They will never even all believe precisely the same things. But Christian unity transcends all these differences and joins men together in love. The cause of Christian unity at the present time, and indeed all through history, has been injured and hindered, because men loved their own ecclesiastical organizations, their own creeds, their own ritual, more than they loved each other. If we really loved each other and really loved Christ, no Church would exclude any man who was Christ s disciple. Only love implanted in men s hearts by God can tear down the barriers which they have erected between each other and between Churches (see Barclay p.218). How are we to understand the prayer of Jesus? The mystical unity is in fact intact; complete. The mystical church of Christ is one; wholly, completely, indivisibly one. There is no schism in the mystical body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). He is the head; we are the members. Each member is washed in his blood, energized by his Holy Spirit, united to Christ, perfect and complete in Him. This is the church in its universal aspect, the church as seen in Ephesians, a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, untarnished, untouched by time, spread out through all time and space, rooted in eternity, the bride of Christ (Philips; ibid p. 330). The Lord prayed for a manifest oneness.; this is not the universal church but the local church. Philips; this refers to the local church--be it a Baptist church or some other kind of church--to any local body of believers who love the Lord Jesus, who are saved by his grace, who are seeking to walk in the light of God s word, who are drawn together for worship and fellowship and Christian service, holding fast to the truth as it is in Christ. Here the Lord is praying for unity and peace within these local congregations of his people. Then as the ungodly look on, or are introduced to the church, they are convinced that this is of God. They believe in Christ for themselves because they have seen and sensed Christ in the midst of his people (see pp.330-331). John 17:22 (NKJV) And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 3
What does the Lord mean? Leon Morris writes;...just as the true glory was to follow the path of lowly service culminating in the cross, so for them the true glory lay in the path of lowly service where it might lead them (quoted in Hughes; p.411). John 17:23 (NKJV) I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. John 17:23 (NLT) I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one. Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me. The passage in the Greek language translates as much or even as or to the same degree that you love me! Jesus is telling us that God loves those who are Christ s to the same degree and in the same way that he loves Christ! (see R. Kent Hughes; John That You May Believe; p. 411). Jesus prays for a supernatural unity; based on the unity in the Godhead; modeled and enabled by the Godhead. The unity is possible because all believers are united in Christ; not simply by a core belief system but because of a corporate attachment to the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit. Have you ever met a person and sensed immediately that the man or the woman was united to you in Christ? We share a common nature--we are born again. When we collectively draw closer to Jesus we are in fact drawing closer together. People may be put off when I say Christian unity is supernatural; but it is supernatural because it comes from God s nature and is experienced in fullness only when we know God and experience God through the Lord Jesus Christ. The unity is also historical because we embrace apostolic teaching; apostolic truth; but we also engage in apostolic service. We do what the first apostles did. In this verse (v.23) and the verses that follow (vv.24-26) John uses the now familiar word agapao (verb) and agape (noun); the highest form of love, unselfish, loyal, devoted; the word describes God s feelings, affections, sentiments; it is a word that expresses the Father s attitude toward the Son; and Son toward the Father. Love can be known only from the actions it prompts. God s love is seen in the gift of His Son. This is not simply feeling, or affection; it is choice; the exercise of divine will; making a divine choice; a choice that begins in the very nature of God. A Request For A Reunion In Eternity (v.24) John 17:24 (NKJV) Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. Why should anyone get to go to heaven? Because Jesus wants it that way. Every person who has placed their hope and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who have been born from on High by the Spirit of God; everyone whom the Father has given to the Son will be with Jesus in Heaven; because Jesus wants it that way. Heaven is incomplete without the precious cargo The Father has given the Son. The word translated desire or will or want (NIV); the Greek word does not simply express determination; but also pleasure, delight, aspiration. This is what 4
Jesus wants; he wants you; he longs for you and me to be where He is forever. Jesus prays his desire a desire rooted and grounded in His deity. How can I help you understand what you are reading? On his deathbed the Scottish Reformer John Knox had John 17 read to him every day. In the closing moments of his life it brought him great comfort. Clearly it is comforting to know that Jesus will deliver us from this life; from the pain and the sorrow. But is something altogether different to say that Jesus longs for your presence. Let me try and illustrate. Imagine you have a relative; a niece who is troubled. She is so troubled that she has been arrested for numerous crimes. Perhaps she has even spent time in prison. Her mother and father die in a tragic accident. Your wife asks you; what should we do?. You may think about it and say; The child is clearly troubled; and I don t really want to have to take care of her; but I still think we should have her come and stay with us; at least a little while. It is better she stay with us than go into foster care. Or We may be able to find another home; but right now this is the right thing to do; I promised her mother; I promised her father I would look after her. But now imagine your wife says; I would love to have our niece come and stay with us. As a matter of fact--it is my desire--the longing of my heart--i have always loved her--i have prayed for the moment--that I could love her be there for her--i have prayed for the privilege of caring for her and being with her; providing for her; watching her grow up and become the woman of God that God always intended. This is what Jesus is praying; that you be with Him, not because it is in your best interests to be with Him; or not simply because it is the right thing to do; but because this is what pleases Jesus; this is His heart s desire. This is what he longs for. Robert Murray McCheyne in his sermon on this passage contains this amazing sentence; In truth, Christ cannot (lack) you. You are his jewels--his crown. Heaven would be no heaven to him, if you were not there. Let it soak deep inside of you; let your heart soar--into the highest heavens in joy unspeakable; in praise, in wonder, as you consider Christ s prayer. The Father loved the Son before the world began. No matter how well someone knows the Son; no one knows the Son better than the Father. No one has known the Son longer. The apostles loved Jesus and trusted Jesus but that love and trust was imperfect and incomplete. The Lord Jesus desires to bring them to Himself; glorified so they can see His glory. A Testimony For The Ages (vv.25-26) John 17:25 (NKJV) O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. The Lord Jesus calls God Father in verse 1; Holy Father in verse 11, and now righteous Father. In our day we have heard from the silent majority; the moral majority; but Jesus prays a sad lament for the blind majority. 5
Jesus came and taught us about the Father. Jesus conducted Himself in such a way that we could have a grasp of who God is and what God is all about. The earthly sojourn of Jesus had now exceeded thirty years and the public ministry some three years. No one knows God the Father better than God the Son; no one has known Him longer. But I have known You. Before this world or any world began the Son has been in close, eternal, communion with the Father. Before any angel was formed, before the first particles combined to form the first star, before this galaxy and every galaxy that surrounds us, the Son has known the Father. In the silence of eternity past the Father and Son and Holy Spirit had constant contact and constant conversation. The mystery of being; the mystery of eternal love and eternal joy and eternal fellowship; completely satisfied, wholly and eternally content. And Jesus prays this remarkable statement; and these have known that You sent Me. The apostles get it --in some small imperfect way the apostles understand and believe that Jesus came from the Father. The Creator God, the Self-Existent God, the eternal immortal invisible God, the Father God sent His Son. John 17:26 (NKJV) And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. In Middle Eastern Culture to declare someone s name was to properly represent the nature and character of the person. Throughout the Old Testament the names of God were revealed and connected to some particular need that human beings possessed; the character of God and the nature of God being the necessary resource. Jesus calls His Father Righteous Father. Holy Father--speaks of His absolute Holiness and of course reveals our sinfulness. God is Almighty--we are weak; God is High; we are low; God is everlasting and we are temporal. The expression and will declare it probably refers to future revelations of the Father from the Son to the Apostles and disciples. Our sin and our failure serves to evoke new and more challenging revelations about God. Jesus cares about our enjoying and experiencing the love of the Father on a daily basis. Conclusion that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them The word love ; the reoccuring word of love, soaks and savors and flavors the gospel of John. This is one of John s favorite words; John writes the Greek noun agape some seven times and the corresponding verb thirty-seven times. John uses the word phileo thirteen times. All in all some fifty-seven times he talks about love; love in the past, love in the present love in the future. 6
When we pray--we often pray for power; the strength the ability to do things or bear things. Few people pray for love; the quality to be someone different. Could we with ink the oceans fill, Were every stalk on earth a quill, Were the whole of heaven of parchment made, And every man a scribe by trade, To write the love, of God above Would drain the ocean dry Nor could the scroll contain the whole Tho stretched from sky to sky. The treasure--the wealth--of love that the Father has given the Son; Jesus prays--that wealth--that treasure--be given to us. This is the nature of love--it gives--and the more it is given--the stronger it becomes, the more it reaches out--the further it goes--the more that is given--the larger the reservoir and resource becomes. But right when you think love becomes the final word; just in case someone thinks of love as sloppy sentiment; or some abstract feeling; or some powerful emotion; Jesus adds; And I in them. Righteousness and Love--the essence --the stuff--of God--God Himself--In Christ--Jesus comes--jesus walks--jesus talks--jesus acts--in full --living color--the incarnation of love--the desire of Jesus--based on the deity of Jesus--seeks entry into the hearts of humans. Jesus desires to have you with Him. Jesus desires your presence so that you might see His glory. Jesus saves you so that you can be with Him. The King there in his beauty Without veil is seen; It were a well spent journey Though seven deaths lay between: The Lamb with his fair army Doth on Mount Zion stand, And glory, glory dwelleth In Emmanuel s land. Heaven won t be heaven unless you are there. Jesus makes sure you have the right to go to heaven; but also makes you right for that place. Oh how He loves you and me. 7