JESUS’ HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER
(Part 2b – Jesus’ Prayer For His Disciples)
John 17:6-19
John 17:6-8 records the second main section in the Lord’s High Priestly Prayer. In the first five verses Jesus prayed for Himself; then 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’s pick up where we left off last time and continue to examine “Jesus’ Prayer For His Disciples”.
In part one of this message we covered the fact that Jesus manifested the Father to the Disciples and He gave the Father’s Word to the Disciples and verses 9-10 show us that:
3. JESUS PRAYED FOR THE DISCIPLES
v9 I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.
John 17 is certainly not the first time that Jesus prayed for His Disciples; He had prayed for them in the past, He was praying for them in the present, and He would pray for them in the future. The same can be said for those of us who are followers of Christ today. In this prayer Jesus was praying as the One who represented true believers before the throne of God. As we have seen throughout this prayer, Jesus is the Divine Son of God and co-equal with the Father. If He were not God in the flesh He would not have been able to proclaim “all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine”
Jesus points out the fact that He is praying not for the world, but for His Disciples. This doesn’t mean that the Savior was unconcerned with the people of the world or that He never prayed for them. We know that He did; even in His dying moments He cried out: “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). But in the context we are studying Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. As the Great High Priest, Jesus was representing His Disciples before His Father in Heaven. In spite of all their faults and failures, Jesus reminds the Father that the Disciples belong to Him. He said, “all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine”. He also declares that they have glorified Him; He says, “I am glorified in them.”
Jesus stated in v4 that He had glorified the Father by “accomplishing the work that He gave Him to do”. A major part of this “work” was manifesting the Father’s name to the people that God had given Him out of the world. Jesus revealed the character and presence of God to His Disciples. The Disciples would in turn reveal the character and presence of Christ to lost men and women in the world. Their evangelistic work would glorify both the Father and the Son.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said to the Disciples – “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)
This small group of faithful followers brought Him glory. They did this in part because they received the Word that He delivered to them. Soon, these men would be entrusted with the responsibility of reaching the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The words that the Apostles shared were the words that they received from Jesus.
After Pentecost the members of the early church “continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine” (Acts 2:42). The Apostle’s doctrine was Christ’s doctrine; the words they had received from Him is what they shared with others. This was the case for the Apostle Paul as well. 1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
Jesus said that He was “glorified in them” (His Disciples), we can glorify Him as well if we will hear His word, believe it, keep it and share it!
- Verse 12 shows us something else that Jesus did for His Disciples:
4. JESUS KEPT THE DISCIPLES IN THE FATHER’S NAME
v12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
While He was present with the Disciples Jesus kept them in the Father’s name. He did this with the power and authority that He possessed. Because of His sustaining power, these fallible men remained true to Him, even when others turned away. Jesus proclaims that He lost none of them except for the “son of perdition”. This is a reference to Judas Iscariot. This does not mean that Jesus didn’t have the power to keep Judas; the issue was that Judas was never a genuine disciple. The Lord also points out the fact this happened so that “the scripture might be fulfilled”. Jesus said He kept those whom the Father had given Him, in this Judas did not qualify! The title “the son of perdition” means Judas was relegated to eternal condemnation. This does not mean that Judas was destined to betray Christ in order for prophecy to be fulfilled; the reality is that Judas himself chose to betray Jesus and as a result the scripture was fulfilled.
The eleven genuine Apostles were kept by the mighty power of their Master. As genuine Christians we can rest in the keeping power of Jesus Christ. The Lord said in John 10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. 30 I and My Father are one." If we are truly His, we can be assured that we will never be lost.
Jesus did many wonderful things for His Disciples; He manifested the Father’s name to them, He declared the Father’s Word to them, He prayed for them, He kept them in the Father’s name and verse 19 shows us that:
5. JESUS SANCTIFIED HIMSELF FOR THE DISCIPLES
v19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
There are times in the Bible when the word “sanctify” means to make someone or something holy. This is certainly not the proper context for this verse. Jesus did not have to “make Himself holy”; He is, was and always will be the very standard of holiness. When He says, “I sanctify myself for their sakes” He is referring to the fact that He set Himself apart for the “work that the Father sent Him to accomplish”. This involves many different things but ultimately He set himself apart and came to die as the sacrifice for the sins of His people.
- Jesus was set apart for the Father’s will and He was obedient to the Father’s will. Several scriptures point to this fact. Notice:
John 4:34 “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work,” Jesus told them.
John 5:19 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son likewise does these things.
John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
John 7:16 Jesus answered them, “My teaching isn’t mine but is from the one who sent me.
John 9:4 We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.
Jesus “sanctified Himself” so that His followers could be set apart by God and for God through the truth that He proclaimed to them. As a result they too could do the Father’s will. Because Jesus had done all of these things for His Disciples He would be able to send them out into the world as His ambassadors. Notice:
6. JESUS SENT THE DISCIPLES INTO THE WORLD
v18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
Jesus has already sent the disciples out in the past. One specific occasion is recorded in: Mark 6:7 He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs and gave them authority over unclean spirits. 8 He instructed them to take nothing for the road except a staff — no bread, no traveling bag, no money in their belts, 9 but to wear sandals and not put on an extra shirt. 10 He said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that place. 11 If any place does not welcome you or listen to you, when you leave there, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 So they went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. This short term mission was a preview of the work that He would send the out to accomplish after His ascension. Soon He would give them the Great Commission and entrust them with the responsibility of being His witnesses in the world.
The Father sent Jesus into the World to reveal Him to them, now Jesus is going to send His disciples out to do the same. Jesus knows that has his hour come, He also knows that soon his glorification would be accomplished and he would ascend. Even still, the work was not complete, the work of redemption had been accomplished be the work of evangelism was (and still is) a necessity. This is a work that He chose to entrust His followers to accomplish.
Evangelism is not a burden; it is a blessing. There is nothing as special as being a part of pointing someone to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Though we have been given this great responsibility by our Savior, we must never forget that reaching people with the Gospel is not something we can do on our own. We must depend on the power of the Holy Spirit if we are to be successful in evangelism. We will certainly never be able to represent God the way that our Savior did, for we are not equal with God as He was. However were have been given the great responsibility and endued with power from above to accomplish this task.
This is a monumental task and that is why Jesus prayed for His Disciples. Later in this chapter we will examine the fact that in this same prayer Jesus prays for us as well. We have been chosen, called and commissioned just as they were. I pray that we will be as faithful to this task and those men that our Savior prayed for in His High Priestly Prayer.
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