JESUS’ HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER
(Part 2a – Jesus’ Prayer For His Disciples)
John 17:6-8
John 17:6-8 records the second main section in the Lord’s High Priestly Prayer. In the first five verses Jesus has been praying for Himself; however this prayer was anything but selfish. Our Savior’s main focus was the Father’s glory. He declares that “His hour has come” and He implores the Father to “glorify Him” so that He could “glorify (the Father).”
In verse 5 Jesus references His desire that He would return to the glory that He had with the Father “before the world was”. Jesus has “accomplished the work” that the Father had given Him to do. Possessing “authority over all flesh”, the Savior has spent His time on earth seeking to “give eternal life to all whom (the Father) has given Him.” He made it possible for lost men and women to “know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom (the Father) had sent.”
In verse 6 the Savior transitions from praying for Himself to praying for His Disciples. In the following verses we will hear Jesus’ specific prayer for those men who had left everything behind to follow Him. Let me remind you that at this point only 11 Disciples remained. By this time Satan has entered Judas and he is in the process of betraying the Lord into the hands of His enemies.
- Let’s take some time and examine:
I. JESUS’ PRAYER FOR HIS DISCIPLES
Though multitudes had seen the mighty works of Jesus and countless lives had been changed by the sound of His voice or the touch of His hand, many still refused to believe. There were vast multitudes that followed Him for a time but eventually turned away from Him and followed Him no more. (John 6:66 …many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.) After the departure of the multitudes, Jesus asked the Disciples “You do not want to go away also, do you?" (John 6:67). In response, Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. "We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God." (John 6:68-69) Upon hearing this, Jesus replied to Peter…"Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?" Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him. (John 6:70-71)
Later this very evening Jesus would be abandoned by even His closest followers. This came as no surprise to Jesus; in fact He told them that this would happen shortly after they left the Upper Room. (Mark 14:27 Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away, because it is written, 'I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP SHALL BE SCATTERED.' 28 "But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee").
Peter boastfully proclaimed "Even though all may fall away, yet I will not." Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times" (Mark 14:30). It was not just peter, Mark 14:31 tells us that all of the Disciples affirmed their commitment to Him. (But Peter kept saying insistently, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!" And they all were saying the same thing also.)
After Jesus had prayed in Gethsemane Judas arrived with a band of soldiers and these disciples who proclaimed that they were willing to die with Jesus “all forsook Him and fled” (Mark 14:50). Even knowing that they would soon abandon Him, Jesus took time, even at the most devastating moment of His life and prayed for them. It is truly remarkable that Jesus would spend time in prayer for men who would soon abandon Him and even deny knowing Him. Knowing these truths make the Lord’s High Priestly prayer that much more beautiful.
As Jesus prays for His Disciples He recounts many of the things that He has done for them and He makes certain requests to the Father on their behalf. Let’s consider:
A. JESUS’ REVIEW CONCERNING HIS MINISTRY TO THE DISCIPLES
There is no way to cover all of the things that Jesus did for His followers but there are several important actions that He accomplished for them that are covered in this prayer. First of all we see that:
1. JESUS MANIFESTED THE FATHER’S NAME TO THE DISCIPLES
v6 "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.
In scripture one’s “name” often refers more than just what he/she is called. Someone’s name may refer to their personality, attributes and character. Jesus has “manifested (the Father’s) name” to the Disciples that He had “given Him out of the world”. Remember, Christ has already stated that His purpose was for His followers to “Know the only true God”. In His message, ministry and miracles Jesus had revealed the Father’s true nature.
Here again we see evidence of God’s divine election; the Disciples were given to the Son by the Father. Jesus says “They were Yours, You gave them to Me”. In spite of their previous failures and those that were to come, Jesus declares that “they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.” Jesus praises the fact that His followers had believed His Word and obeyed His teaching.
Though we are cognizant of their many faults and failures, we must never forget that these men left everything behind to follow Jesus. Without a doubt these were imperfect men, but they were worthy Disciples. Jesus said in Luke 14:26: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
The Disciples had left their families, friends, homes, vocations and possessions to follow Jesus. This may have seemed like a wise decision in the beginning when multitudes of people were coming to Jesus from Galilee and the surrounding regions. There were many who willingly followed Jesus when the miracles were abundant and it seemed that He would overthrow Rome and restore the Kingdom of Israel. But as we have already seen, when it became apparent that these things were not imminent, many of those who followed Jesus turned away. However, the Disciples remained with to the very end.
Certainly they did not understand all of Jesus’ teachings but they were convinced that He was who He said He was. Again I remind you Peter’s words in John 6:68-69. He said “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” These men remained in part because Jesus had revealed the Father to them.
Jesus has revealed the Father to us just as He did for the Disciples. It is true that we “walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). We have yet to see Jesus or the Father face to face, but we rejoice in the hope that one day this will be a reality. John said in 1 John 3:2: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
After Jesus’ resurrection, He appeared to His Disciples. Thomas was not present for that first appearance and when “the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord”, he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe” (John 20:25). Eight days later Jesus appeared to them again and He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe” (John 20:28). Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” After this Jesus said to Thomas: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”. We are some of those who are blessed because we have “not seen and yet have believed”. Like the eleven Disciples, Jesus has revealed the Father to us!
How did Jesus manifest the Father’s name to His men? What was it that caused them to believe that all the things that the Father had given the Son “came from Him” to the point that they “kept His Word”? Surely the miracles had an impact on the Disciples, but in verse 8 Jesus says that He gave to them “the Words that the Father had given Him”. This leads us to something else that Jesus did for His Disciples. Notice that:
2. JESUS DECLARED THE FATHER’S WORDS TO THE DISCIPLES
v8 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.
Jesus came in obedience to the Father’s will. He had recently taught these men that He did not speak or act under His own authority. (John 14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.)
Jesus taught these men many marvelous and astonishing truths. In John 15:15 He said to them: "No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
The Gospels give us a great report of many of the things that Jesus taught the Disciples, however we only have a brief glimpse into the things that these men learned during their 3 years walking with Jesus. John gives us an in depth account of His time with Jesus, yet at the end of His gospel we read: John 21:24 This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. 25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
These men were in attendance when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount; they were present when He delivered the Olivet Discourse, they heard His many rebuttals to the challenges and attacks from the Pharisees, Sadducees and others. When He spoke to the multitudes in parables, these men were privileged to be alone with Him and ask Him for further clarification. I can’t imagine the things that these men heard as they sat around a fire or on a boat with their Master. Through it all, Jesus gave “to them the words which the Father had given Him.
In the same way, God has been revealed to us through the works of Jesus and we learn of these truths through the Holy Scriptures. Paul told Timothy that the holy scriptures “are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:15)
In Romans 10 Paul says:v13 for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED." 14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!" Then in Romans 10:17 he says “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
The Baptist Catechism of 1695 asks the question “How may we know there is a God?” The answer is that “The light of nature in man and the works of God plainly declare there is a God; but His Word and Spirit only do it fully and effectually for the salvation of sinners.
None of us would be saved without the Word of God. Jesus (the very Word of God) came to this world and revealed the Father to lost men and women. He commissioned the men that He is praying for here in John 17 with the task of sharing the Gospel throughout the Word. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit inspired these and several other faithful men to write the Holy Scriptures. The Apostle Peter said “no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20-21)
God has done everything necessary for us to know Him, we know Him through His Son and we know His Son through the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures.
The Jews (especially the Pharisees) considered themselves to be devoted to the Holy Scriptures. On one occasion they disputed with Jesus because He called God His Father and in their eyes He had consistently violated the commands concerning the Sabbath. In His response to them Jesus said: “the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. (John 5:36-40). There are many parallel truths in this passage and in Jesus’ High Priestly prayer. However, in John 17 Jesus proclaims that the Disciples heard, believed and kept His Words; the Jews had done the exact opposite. They rejected the Father’s witness concerning the Son. They did not hear the voice of God. His Word was not abiding in them. They did not believe the One whom the Father had sent. Though they searched the scriptures, they refused to believe that Jesus was the promised one and they “refused to come to Him so that they might have life”. In that same chapter, Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24)
The Disciples heard His Words, they believed and they possessed eternal life. Any one of us who is truly born again has done the same. Truly, Jesus has declared the Father’s Words to us! When Jesus delivered the Father’s Word to the Disciples, they believed it; to the point that the people of the world hated them as a result.
v14 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.
Because of their devotion to Christ, the Disciples no longer fit in with the people of this world. Jesus addressed this back in Chapter 15. He said: John 15:18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
Jesus knew that His followers were currently hated and would be increasingly hated by the people of this world because of their devotion to Him. Because of this, the Disciples needed God’s help and Jesus cared enough to cry out to God on their behalf. He prayed and asked the Father to protect them. Notice: John 17:15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
In the same way, when we hear, believe and obey the words of Christ we will be despised by the people of this world. Peter said in 1 Peter 4:3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. 4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that people would persecute those who were faithful to Him. Matthew 5:11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
When we hear Jesus’ words and obey them we honor Him; at the same time we will draw the ire of those who are opposed to Him. We must follow the example set forth by the Lord’s Apostles and not only hear His word, but “keep it”. We should also be constant in prayer for our brothers and sisters who are living in serving in places that are exceedingly hostile to the Gospel message. Jesus prayed for them and so should we!
07102024
