Jesus: Praying for self

33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Progression of prayer in this chapter:

Prays for Himself (Jn17:1-5)

Prays for disciples (Jn17:6-19)

Prays for others (Jn17:20-26)

In this chapter after talking to the disciples about the Father; we now get Jesus speaking to the Father about the disciples.

Purpose:

Preparation for suffering to come

Contemplation for the glory promised

Strength for the acceptable sacrifice (Heb12:1-3)

For the apostles and the task before them

For those who would believe because of them.

Our Passage, our gleaning

John 17:1–2 NASB95

1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.

John 17:3–4 NASB95

3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.

John 17:5 NASB95

5 “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

You know the first question by now, what sticks out to you in our passage, and why?

What does Jesus say ‘has come’ (v.1)

The hour has come

Jesus makes a request of the Father, with a purpose (v.1), what is it?

That the Son may be glorified, and that the Son may glorify the Father

That was the Father’s gift to the Son (v.2)?

All authority

All whom You have given

Who is the they, and who is the You (v.3)? How do you know?

The “they” is the disciples, for that is whom he had been speaking to before (16:29)

You, that is the Father, we know that for that is who the Son is praying to (v.1).

What does Jesus say has already happened (v.4)?

I have glorified you

Accomplished the given work that was to be done

What did Jesus have “before the world was” (v.5)?

Jesus was glorified with the Father before the world was.

(Transition) - There are great prayers in the bible, Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple (1Kn8:22ff); Abrahams prayer for mercy for city of Sodom (Gen18:22ff); Moses prayer for God to relent (Exo32:11ff). But by far this is the greatest prayer! The structure of the prayer I mentioned, the sentences are simple, the ideas are deep, the words are moving and meaningful, so may we now start to enjoy this rich prayer together.

The position of the prayer

John 17:1 GNB

1 After Jesus finished saying this, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your Son, so that the Son may give glory to you.

Prayer, genuine, sincere prayer reveals a persons innermost being. This prayer, and the start of this prayer gives us more insight to the nature and heart of Jesus and His relationship with the Father.

Melanchthon said: “There is no voice which has ever been heard, either in heaven or in earth, more exalted, more holy, more fruitful, more sublime, than the prayer offered up by the Son to God Himself.”

Similarities to the Lord’s prayer

Both directed to the Father

Both acknowledge, give recognition to the holiness of God’s name

Both are concerned about kingdom work on earth

Both request keeping, protecting from evil

There is differences too; Trench put’s it like this:

“The request of our Lord thus given in John’s seventeenth chapter is clearly no prayer of an inferior to a superior constantly there is seen in it the co-equality of the Speaker with the Father. The Two have but one mind . . . Where the Son speaks he is not seeking to bend the Father to Him: rather is voicing the purpose of the Godhead.”

(Transition) - now to look at the position and petition of the prayer, starting with the position

The position, posture of the prayer is with lifted eyes to heaven.

This has been seen before (Jn11:41) - at Lazarus tomb, and (Mk7:34) with the deaf and mute man. - - - so with eyes closed, head’s bowed is not required for devoted prayer. Jesus by example lifted up, looked up to heaven!

The position of prayer was not one of being downcast, gloomy, depressed of what was to come. It is a prayer of faith, confidence and even victory, of overcoming because of what was to come.

The petition: glorify the Son (ref: Jn12:23 too)

For the hour had come. We know before Jesus had said several times “my hour has not come.” Now, the hour of glorification has come, comes the fulfilling of

John 12:23 NASB95

23 And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

The petition: builds on the relationship between the Father and the Son!

Spurgeon said: “And herein he sets an example: in all times of tribulation let us fall back upon our sonship, our adoption, and the fatherhood of our great God. To our Father let us go, for to whom else should a child so go?”

The petition acknowledges the time has come, the hour has come, what hour, the hour of glorification. The hour of the cross where the glorification happens (Jn12:27-33, 13:30-33, 21:18-19)

The petition came with faith that the sacrifice would be acceptable and bring glory to the Son and the Father.

Morris: “To men the cross appeared an instrument of shame. To Christ it was the means of true glory.”

At the cross it glorified the Son and displayed the wisdom and power of God

1 Corinthians 1:23–25 NASB95

23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

At the cross it displays the glory of the Father by the sacrifice of the Son!

Tenney: “The Son glorified the Father by revealing in this act (the cross) the sovereignty of God over evil, the compassion of God for men, and the finality of the redemption of believers.”

Another one, a suggestion by Spurgeon to consider:

“Christ’s motive should be ours. When you ask a blessing from God, ask it that you may glorify God by it. Do you pine to have your health back again? Be sure that you want to spend it for him. Do you desire temporal advancement? Desire it that you may promote His glory. Do you even long for growth in grace? Ask it only that you may glorify Him?”

Eternal life: praying on the source, nature.

John 17:2–3 GNB

2 For you gave him authority over all humanity, so that he might give eternal life to all those you gave him. 3 And eternal life means knowing you, the only true God, and knowing Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

Praying in knowledge of all authority given (ref: Php2:5-11)

There is the description by Paul of what the results will be one day

Philippians 2:10–11 NASB95

10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Praying in knowledge of the authority to give eternal life

Oh what a gift that is, eternal life.

Carson said: “Christians often think of Jesus as God’s gift to us; we rarely think of ourselves as God’s gift to Jesus.”

Praying for understanding (Greek: ginosko) knowledge of both the God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son.

“Ginosko” in the current verb here, is in present subjunctive which means growing knowledge, experience.

(Transition) A now return to the request made in (v.1)

Glorify Me!

John 17:4–5 GNB

4 I have shown your glory on earth; I have finished the work you gave me to do. 5 Father! Give me glory in your presence now, the same glory I had with you before the world was made.

Jesus states He glorified the Father (the you) by accomplishing the work given.

This is Jesus looking at the cross as something that has already been done. That is the finished work!

Guzik: “Jesus, with divine confidence and assurance, saw the work on the cross as already finished. There was (of course) a sense in which the work was not finished; but since Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), there is a greater sense in which the work was already finished, completed in the heart and mind of God. Now it just had to be done.”

Jesus entire life in the flesh was to bring glory to the Father.

Glorify Me together with Yourself

Jesus asked the Father to glorify Him together, not in sense look at Me, but to look at the glory once had in Your presence and bring that glory together again with You.

Let me expand on the glory of the Lord, of Jesus glory we have seen in Gospel of John

Gods’ manifestation of Jesus in the flesh, and the disciples beheld this glory (1:14)

The signs (miracles) manifested His glory (2:11)

The glory given to the Father through Jesus (7:18, 8:50) and of the revelation glory that was to come (11:40)

God-man, Jesus the Son seeks to glorify God the Father (12:28)

And God the Father glorifies God-man, God the Son (13:31-32)

John 13:31–32 NASB95

31 Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; 32 if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.

Because Jesus is glorified in heaven, sinners can be saved on earth. They can receive eternal life with the Father through the eternal glory of the Son (being the death, burial, resurrection and ascension).

Because Jesus overcame death, we too, can overcome death, eternal death, separation from God, because of Jesus finished work. We too are overcomers.