JESUS’ HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER
(Part 1b: Jesus’ Prayer For Himself)
John 17:2
On the eve of the Crucifixion Jesus spent His final hours giving some important instructions to His closest followers. At some point (likely just before they arrived at Gethsemane) Jesus transitioned from teaching the Disciples to praying for them. In this prayer Jesus prays for Himself, His Disciples and for His Church (including us).
In verse 2 Jesus proclaims, “You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.” The phrase “authority over all flesh” speaks to the fact that the Lord Jesus possesses absolute sovereign authority. Jesus is Lord which means that He is the supreme ruler, the ultimate authority in history. In Jesus’ statement concerning His authority, we are provided with indisputable evidence of the divinity of Christ.
Jesus Christ is God! Though He came to earth as a man for a time, His earthly ministry was nearing its end. Soon His purpose would be fulfilled, His work would be complete, and He would be exalted above all.
Philippians 2:9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name, which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The proclamation that He possesses “authority over all flesh” (people) echoes what Jesus said in John 5:26, there He said: “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.” In the Great Commission Jesus said to His Disciples "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). Jesus also said in Matthew 11:27 “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Then in John 3:35-36 He said “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
During His earthly ministry Jesus performed countless miracles. The Gospels tell us that He gave sight to the blind, made the deaf hear, and enabled the mute to speak. He cleansed lepers and healed men who were lame and even paralyzed. He delivered many who were possessed by demons. On two separate occasions He fed multitudes with minimal resources. We are also told of three specific occasions where He raised people from the dead. These amazing miracles were possible because He possessed “authority over all flesh”.
John begins his Gospel account with the proclamation that God created the world through Christ and as a result He is the ruler of it. (John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.)
The authority that the Father gave the Son entitles Him to grant forgiveness and eternal life to “as many as (He has) given Him”. Notice v2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. There is no denying the fact that even before the foundation of the world God chose a people to be “in Christ”. This truth is evident in countless scriptures. Some people get uncomfortable when they hear words like “elect”, “chosen” or “predestined”. But each of these words describes biblical doctrine and they are found throughout the New Testament.
John 6:37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
John 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Acts 13:48 Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
Romans 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.
2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.
These are just a few verses concerning God’s divine election in the process of salvation; there are many other passages that make it clear that we are saved because God chose us. Lost men and women do not seek a Holy God. (Psalm 14:2 The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, (any) who seek God. 3 They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. 4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call on the LORD?)
Paul quotes this passage in Romans 3:10, he says, As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one."
Apart from the supernatural work that God does in our lives, none of us would ever seek after God. Seeking God is a spiritual and holy act and the Bible tells us that sinful man is incapable of such spiritual things. (Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. 7 And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You…)
In this very Gospel (John) the Lord Himself says that the only way we can seek God is if the Holy Spirit stirs our hearts with a desire for Him. (John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.) If you are saved it is only because God Himself has drawn you unto Him. (Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.) We are born in sin, conceived in iniquity and naturally rebellious against God; it is only by His marvelous grace that God that we are enabled to seek God for salvation.
Perhaps the greatest (and most detailed) conversion experience in scripture is that of Saul of Tarsus. Before His conversion, Saul (the Apostle Paul) was the greatest human adversary of the Church. He stated that his intention was to destroy the Church. In Galatians 1:13 he said: “you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.” One day as he was headed to Damascus with authorization that if he were to find any Christians “whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” (Acts 9:2) As he drew near to Damascus “suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting…" (Acts 9:3-5) It was at that moment that Saul’s life changed forever.
It is apparent that Saul did not set out to find Jesus; clearly Jesus came to him. In response to this divine confrontation Saul surrendered to Jesus, abandoned his mission to destroy the church and eventually became the greatest Christian who ever lived. Paul’s writings prove that it was God who chose him for salvation and Christian service. He said in Galatians 1:15 “it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles…”
If you have been saved, then your testimony is similar to that of Paul. You were lost; you were dead in trespasses and sins and deserving of death, wrath and eternal condemnation. But God in His marvelous grace called your name and saved you from the wages of your sin.
Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved
When writing to Titus Paul declared that: “we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:3-7)
Jesus Christ has “authority over all flesh”; the reason for this is so that “He should give eternal life to as many as (the Father has) given Him.” Before the foundation of the world God chose a people to be “in Christ”. It is interesting to note that these people are described as being given to Jesus. Often we speak of the fact that Jesus is God’s gift to us and that certainly is true; but ultimately we are God’s gift to Jesus. This truth is evident in Jesus’ proclamation that He will “give eternal life to as many as You have given Him”.
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