Introduction
The last time we were studying John’s gospel together we reached the end of the Lord’s farewell speech to his disciples. He and his disciples had gathered in the upper room for the Last Supper. And after Judas Iscariot left them, the Lord began to teach the others about how he was going to leave them. But it was good that he was leaving them, because he was going to his Father’s house in heaven to get everything ready for his people before coming back to bring us there. And it was also good that he was leaving them, because he would send them the Holy Spirit to help them. And he spoke about many other things as well during that farewell speech, things that we’ve been studying together for six or seven weeks.
And the Lord finished his speech to them at the end of chapter 16. And now, in chapter 17, he begins to pray. So, from chapter 13 to chapter 16 he was addressing his disciples. And now in chapter 17 he addresses his Father in heaven. And this prayer is known as the Lord’s highly priestly prayer.
Human priests were to offer sacrifices to the Lord on behalf of the people. And they were to pray for the people. In fact, the High Priest wore an ephod over his torso. And the ephod was decorated with twelve precious stones, one stone for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. And these twelve precious stones were a reminder that the High Priest represented the people and he was acting on their behalf and he was to pray for them and for their forgiveness.
And the Lord Jesus Christ is our Great High Priest. And right now he’s in heaven, where he’s standing before his heavenly Father and he’s praying for us. He’s interceding for us. And by his prayers he’s obtaining for us everything that he has won for us by his life and death and resurrection. And the Father is not reluctant to give us what Christ has won for us, because the Father sent the Son to save us. And so, the Father is willing to listen to the prayers of the Lord Jesus and to give us everything we need for our salvation.
So, that’s what the Lord Jesus is doing for us now in heaven. And while he was on the earth, he also prayed for us. And that’s what he’s doing in John 17.
The whole prayer can be divided into three parts. There are the verses we’re studying this evening, where he prays about what we might call the mutual glorification of the Father and the Son. So, he’s praying about his own glory and his Father’s glory. And then there’s verses 6 to 19 where he prays for his disciples and for their protection. And then there’s verses 20 to 26 where he prays for all who will believe in him including us today.
And so, let’s turn to the first part of this prayer.
Verse 1
It’s very easy for us to skip over the opening of the prayer, but we should note carefully that the Lord Jesus addresses his prayer to ‘Father’. And, of course, you can’t be a father unless someone has come from you. You can’t be a father without having a son or daughter who has come from you. And God the Father is the Father of the Lord Jesus, because the Lord Jesus has come from the Father. He is the Father’s only begotten Son.
And he comes from the Father, not in time, but eternally. So, there was a time when I was not a father, but then my daughter was born and I became a father for the first time. But when it comes to God, there never was a time when the Father was not the Father. And there never was a time when the Son was not the Son. The Father is the Father eternally and the Son is the Son eternally.
And since the Son is begotten from the Father, and not made, then he is the same as the Father. So, a human being begets another human being. And a dog begets a dog. And a cat begets a cat. And so on. And one divine person begets another divine person. And so, the Father begets the Son, who possesses the same divine being as the Father. In other words, the Father is God and so is the Son. One is not greater than the other. One is not lesser than the other. They are the same as one another and equal in power and glory. The Father and the Son are the same as one another and yet they are not two gods. They are, with the Holy Spirit, one God for ever.
And God the Father sent his only begotten Son into the world as one of us so that he is now God and man in one person. He is one person: the Eternal Son of God the Father. But that one person is now both God and man. He is fully divine and fully human. He is true God and he is true man. And he came into the world as one of us so that he could endure ‘the hour’ that has now come.
Do you see that in verse 1? He says to his Father in heaven that the hour has come. Now, back in chapter 2 we had the story of the time when he changed water into wine. And on that occasion, he said to his mother, Mary, that ‘his time’ or ‘his hour’ had not yet come. And throughout John’s gospel he refers to a time or an hour that is coming, but which has not yet arrived. You get the impression each time that he’s waiting from some important or significant event to happen. And then, in chapter 12, he said, ‘Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour”? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.’ And immediately afterwards he spoke about his death on the cross. And you realise that that’s what he’s been talking about and that’s what he’s been waiting for. He’s been waiting for the time when he will be taken away and tried and crucified on the cross. And here, in his prayer to his Father in heaven, he says that the time, the hour, has come. The time has come for him to give up his life for the sins of his people.
And since that hour has come, he asks his Father in heaven to glorify the Son that the Son may glorify the Father. And so, this is why I said at the beginning that this part of the prayer is about the mutual glorification of the Father and the Son. Some people want all the glory for themselves. They want to be in the spotlight and they want to receive all the praise and honour and they don’t want to share it with anyone else. A footballer takes all the glory for scoring the goal and doesn’t share it with his team-mate who passed the ball to him. An actor takes all the glory without acknowledging all the people who helped her in her career. But the Son of God is not like that, because he prays not only for his own glory, but for the glory of his Father as well.
And it’s not so much that he wants the Father to make him glorious. He is already glorious because he is and he always has been the Eternal Son of God the Father, who is equal to the Father in glory and honour and might. So, it’s not that he wants the Father to make him glorious. Instead he’s asking for their glory to be displayed in what is about to happen to him when he’s taken away to be crucified. And his glory and his Father’s glory were displayed through the cross, because through the cross we see the glory of their abundant and overflowing love for their people. We see the glory of the Son’s abundant and overflowing love for his people, because he was willing to lay down his life as the ransom to pay for the sins of his people. And we also see the glory of the Father’s abundant and overflowing love for his people, because he sent his Son to die for us. And so, we read in 1 John 4: This love: not that we loved God the Father, but that he loved us and gave up his Son for us. We see the Father’s love in his willingness to give up his Son for us. And we read in 1 John 3: This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And so, we see the Son’s love in his willingness to give up his life for us. God the Father and God the Son displayed the glory of their love and their goodness and their kindness towards us in the cross of Christ.
And they also displayed the glory of their justice, because instead of excusing our sins, they dealt with our sins. Instead of overlooking them, which would have been unjust, they punished them. But instead of punishing us for our sins, the Father punished his Son in our place, when the Son took our sins upon himself and died for us.
And then, the cross leads to the resurrection and the ascension. And God the Father and God the Son are glorified in Christ’s resurrection and ascension, because the resurrection was a display of their glorious might and power over death and the grave. And Christ has now ascended to heaven as the great and glorious king over all and he sits at his Father’s right hand side in glory where the angels and the saints worship them for ever.
The Lord Jesus prayed that he and his Father will be glorified. And since he prayed for it, then we should pray for it too. Our chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever. That’s our purpose. That’s what God made us to do. He made us to glorify him. And when the Lord Jesus taught us to pray, he taught us to pray for God’s name to be hallowed or honoured. And so, we should pray and pray and pray again that men and women and boys and girls here in Belfast and around the world will acknowledge the glory of God the Father and God the Son and they they will honour them by worshipping them and by living their lives for them. And we should pray that God will help us to honour them in all we do and say and think: that it will be clear by the way we live our lives that we think that the Father and the Son are glorious and worthy of our love and praise and obedience.
Verse 2
Let’s move on to the second verse where the Lord prays to his Father: ‘you granted him [and he’s referring to himself] authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those who you have given him.’
By these words the Lord is testifying to what theologians call the covenant of redemption. So, there’s the covenant of works, which God made with Adam in the beginning, promising Adam and his descendants eternal life on the condition that Adam obey God in the Garden. But Adam broke that covenant by his disobedience. And so, God established the covenant of grace with his people, by which he promises to deliver them out of the state of sin and misery into which we fell because of Adam and to bring them into a state of salvation by the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. So, that’s the covenant of works with Adam and the covenant of grace with God’s people.
But then there’s the covenant of redemption which is a covenant that God established before the creation of the world and which is a covenant which the three persons of the Trinity made together in eternity. And by this covenant the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit planned our salvation.
And the Lord refers to some of the details of this covenant in verse 2 where he refers to the people the Father has given to the Son. And then in the same verse the Lord says that the Father gave the Son authority over all people so that the Son might give eternal life the people he has been given.
So, let me try to fill this out a little. Before the world was made, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit agreed that the Father would give his people — known and loved by God — to the Son. And before the world was made, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit agreed that the Son would give eternal life to those people. In other words, before the world was made, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit agreed that the Son would be the Redeemer of God’s people and he would do whatever was necessary to save them from destruction and to give them eternal life in the presence of God. And what did the Son have to do in order to be their Redeemer and to save them from destruction? He has to come to earth as one of us and do for God’s people what Adam was supposed to do, but didn’t, which is to obey God perfectly on behalf of God’s people. And then he had to make satisfaction for the sins and shortcomings of God’s people by giving up his life on the cross as the once-for-all, perfect sacrifice for their sins. And in this way, the Son would obtain eternal life for God’s people and he would give it to them by the Holy Spirit, who enables God’s people to receive eternal life through faith in the Redeemer.
One theologian (Bavinck) says that this covenant of redemption, established in eternity, means that the covenant of grace does not hang in the air, but rests on an eternal, unchanging foundation. In other words, the covenant of grace — whereby God promises to deliver his people from our sin and misery and to save us by a Redeemer — rests on the eternal agreement of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to do whatever is necessary to save us from destruction and to bring us to perfection in the presence of God. Our salvation is secure because it rests on the eternal counsel and covenant of God. And our God, who is infinitely and eternally and unchangeably true, always keeps his covenant promise.
Or think of it like this. You know what it’s like. A committee meets together and the members of the committee agree that something needs to be done. And the meeting ends and everyone goes away. But who is responsible for doing what they agreed? Who is responsible for carrying out their plan? They agreed to do something, but they did not agree who would do it. And because no one agreed to do it, nothing is done. Well, in the covenant of grace, God agreed to deliver us from our sin and misery and give us eternal life. But who will be saved? And who will save them? The good news is that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit have already agreed those things. Who will be saved? All of God’s people, known and loved by him eternally, will be saved. And who will save them? God the Son will save all of God’s people. He will be the Redeemer of God’s people.
And so, the Father gave his people to the Son. And the Son will give them eternal life.
Verse 3
But what is eternal life? That’s the next thing for us to consider. And the Lord Jesus tells us what eternal life is in verse 3. What is eternal life? This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
In the Bible, to know someone often means more than having an intellectual knowledge of someone. So, I might know a lot about a person, because I read about their life in a book. But I don’t really know the person unless I meet him or her. That’s when I really get to know the person. And in the Bible to know someone often means we have a personal, and even an intimate knowledge of someone. In fact, sometimes when we read in the Bible that one person knows another person, it means that one person loves another person. The Good Shepherd not only knows his sheep, but he loves his sheep and is willing to die for them. Or God says about the people of Israel in the book of Amos, that of all the nations of the world, he only knows Israel. Well, God knows all about the other nations, but he knows and loves Israel in particular.
And so, when the Lord says that eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ, he means that eternal life consists in knowing God with this kind of personal, intimate and loving knowledge. Eternal life consists in knowing and loving God. In the life to come, when we’re made perfect in God’s presence, and there will be no more sin to get in our way, we will know God more fully than we know him now. And we will love God more fully than we love him now. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13: Now we see but a poor reflection. But then, in the life to come, we will see face to face. Now we know in part. Then we shall know fully, even as we are fully known.
Now, we begin to know and love God in this life, because the Holy Spirit enables us to know God through what God has revealed about himself in his word. And he enables us to know Christ as our Saviour and to know God as our Father. He enables us through faith in Christ to know God’s love for us and to rejoice in it. So, we begin to know God in this life. But we will know him and love him far more fully in the life to come.
And consider this: The only reason we can know and love God now and in eternity, and the only reason we can know God’s love for us now and in eternity is because of God’s overflowing and abundant love for us. Because of God’s overflowing and abundant love for us, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit agreed in eternity to give us to the Son so that the Son might give us eternal life. Before the world was made, before we were made, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit knew us and loved us and agreed to save us. This is our God: he’s known us eternally and he’s loved us eternally. And from all of eternity he willing to save us from destruction and to give us eternal life and eternal joy and eternal happiness in his presence for ever. This is our God and he’s worthy of all our worship and our love and devotion and our obedience both now and for evermore.
Verses 4 and 5
Let’s move on to the final two verses. And I must be brief. In verse 4 the Lord prays to his Father in heaven and he says that he has brought glory to the Father by completing the work the Father gave him to do. And since he has completed the work his Father gave him to do, he asks the Father to glorify the Son in the Father’s presence with the glory he had with the Father before the world began.
So, the Father sent his Son into the world to complete the work that was assigned to him. The Lord’s words are a little puzzling, because we assume he’s talking about the work of redemption. And when he was praying these things, he hadn’t yet completed that work, because he hadn’t yet given up his life on the cross for our salvation. And so, it’s possible he’s talking about another kind of work which he was given to complete. For instance, in verse 6 he refers to how he has revealed the Father to the disciples. That was a work he was given to do and he’s done that. He’s completed that work.
So, he may be referring to that work in verse 4. But it’s possible that he is thinking of the work of redemption. So, because his arrest and death were imminent — they were about to happen in a few hours — he speaks of these things as if they have already happened. Because he’s about to die, then he’s able to say that the work has already been done.
And in view of what he’s about to do, he asks the Father to bring him back into the Father’s presence in heaven above. So, he came down from heaven to complete the work he was given to do. Now that he has completed it, he’s looking forward to the time when he will be able to enter heaven to be with his Father again. He was looking forward to going home.
Now, when we were studying the Nicene Creed, where we confess that we believe in the Son who came down from heaven, I made the point that this is picture language. The Son of God did not really leave heaven. Since he is God, then he is omnipresent. That means he is present everywhere all at once. And when he came to earth as one of us, he did not cease to be God. He did not cease to be what he eternally is. Therefore he did not cease to be omnipresent. And so, while he was on the earth as one of us, he was still present everywhere all at once as the Son of God. As a man, he could only be in one place at a time. But as God, he is everywhere.
As God, he is always in heaven. And so, when he prays to his Father here about being glorified in God’s presence, he’s thinking about ascending to heaven as one of us. So, he came down from heaven as one of us. And in a little while he was going to return to heaven as one of us. And because Christ our Saviour died and was raised and entered heaven as one of us, so all of us who believe in him will be raised and will enter heaven. He has gone before us into heaven to prepare a place for us. And when the time is right, he will come to earth again to bring us to our eternal home, which is with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God in three persons. And there we will know and love God for ever and there will be known and loved by God for ever.
And while we wait for Christ’s glorious return, we must seek the help of God the Holy Spirit to live for God and his glory so that we will honour the Father and the Son and the Spirit in everything we do.
