“Jesus Prays to His Father” John 17:1-5
John 17 reveals the prayer of Jesus immediately before His arrest and crucifixion for those who would believe. It is often known as the High Priestly prayer of Jesus since He intercedes for Himself, His Disciples and for all those who would believe in Him.
Today we consider the first five verses in John 17 as the disciples hear Jesus pray: “Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
What a stunning privilege it is for us to be able to witness this prayer of Jesus to His Father. This truly is THE LORD’S PRAYER. The prayer which Jesus taught His disciples earlier, known as “The Lord’s Prayer”, was a pattern for prayer which we should utilize in our prayers to God but here in John 17, the Son of God Incarnate lifts His human eyes to God’s heavenly throne room, the place from which Jesus had begun His trip to earth. As He prays, it is a direct picture of Psalm 123:1: “I lift up my eyes to you, to you who sit enthroned in heaven.” Very soon, He would again be enthroned in Heaven.
We often “lift up our eyes to Heaven” in prayer, remembering that we are finite creatures and we are below God, not only being earthly inhabitants but being far “below” and submissive to the exalted position of our Great God, who is the Creator and Sovereign ruler over His entire universal created order. He rules over, not over what we can see, but over the principalities of the spiritual realm.
The Hour Has Come.
Jesus prays, “Father, the hour has come.” Jesus addresses His “Father”. Although God is sometimes referred to as “Father” in the Old Testament, it was not common for Jews to refer to God as Father in the first century AD. When you think of it, Jesus alone has the inherent right to address God the Father; He does so around 120 times in John’s Gospel, demonstrating the eternal and perfect relationship which He and the Father have enjoyed FOREVER. Through Jesus we also are invited to call the Heavenly Father “OUR FATHER”. What a privilege!
“The hour has come” is Jesus’ appointed hour in order to die on the cross. Earlier times in John’s Gospel, Jesus mentioned that His hour or time has not yet come but this now is God’s appointed hour for Jesus to take upon Himself the sins of the world. The fact that His Hour had come means that Jesus had served the will of His Father perfectly throughout His life and ministry. Only by living a perfect life could He provide the perfect sacrifice needed to atone for sin, and so this would be the hour of His greatest glory: His hideous death on the cross.
Mutual manifestation of God’s Glory
Jesus prays these words in verses 1 & 5: “Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,” “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” The concept of glorification had been addressed before in John’s Gospel: In John 11:4 in the context of the death and subsequent raising of Lazarus, Jesus had said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it."
The words “glory” and “glorification” concerning God are difficult to understand, especially since the contexts often say different things concerning God’s Glory. First of all, Jesus possessed a certain glory with God before the Incarnation: It was God’s Glory. Jesus did not possess this glory during the years of His Incarnation. Here Jesus prays that His original Heavenly Glory might be restored to Him. At the same time, there is a sense in which He did possess this glory while on earth because He finished the work which God had given Him and revealed that to others. When He changed the water into wine in John 2:11, this miracle was the beginning of those signs and miracles which “revealed His Glory” and the disciples “believed in Him” as a result. How could Jesus have possessed God’s Glory, renounced it, and yet demonstrate it clearly in His Miracle?
We have to understand what the “Glory of God” means. Early on, the Greek word “doxa” or “glory meant “an opinion”, any opinion, but the word came to mean “a good opinion” and then “that which merits a good opinion”. The word at that time took on the meanings of “praise, honor, good standing, reputation or renown.” When “glory” is used in the Bible to apply to God, it applies to His attributes and characteristics AS God. Psalm 24:8 & 10 are good examples: “Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle… 10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.” A correct or proper opinion of God’s attributes (orthodox view-from doxa) pertains to ALL of God’s intrinsic worth or character as an expression of God’s glory- in other words, all of who God is.
As Jesus prays, He prays for mutual manifestation of the fullness God’s Glory as it was in the beginning, the fullness of God’s Glory shared by the Father and the Son from all eternity. Particularly and specifically the Father is glorified in Jesus’ self-disclosure of the Son’s person and work while Jesus is on earth. Jesus is reflecting the Father’s glory in the Words He teaches, in the works which could only be the works of God: He reveals the magnificence, the splendor, the majesty and power which belongs to God and not to creatures made by God.
Listen to some of these outstanding verses in the Old Testament which describe God’s Glory. First in Exodus 24:17: “Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.” The Glory of God was NOT a fire in this incident but was LIKE a devouring fire. This demonstration gives the picture of God’s Glory as radiant and full of splendor and power.
In Isaiah 42:8, God Himself speaks: ”I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.” God’s glory is exclusive to Him alone and He rightfully is jealous and zealous of His Glory. Only He is God and His Glory is unmatched in the Universe.
Habakkuk 2:14 compares the finite efforts of man in attempting to make a name for Himself and God replies: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Man’s glory is fleeting and finite but God’s Glory is infinite and forever just as the waters most definitely cover the sea.
1 Chronicles 16:28-29 is part of David’s prayer of thanksgiving as the ark was returned to Jerusalem: (also appears in part in Ps. 29:2): “Ascribe to the Lord, O clans of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.” This is an excellent example calling upon God’s creatures to give the praise, worship, adoration, and reverence to God because He alone is deserving of human worship. The Church today many times puts aside RIGHTFUL and Righteous worship of God in place of a worship “experience” which will please people rather than the Almighty Holy God. God will not exchange His glory for another; He will not exchange His glory for your pleasure.
When Jesus would die the horrible death on the cross and arise from the dead, Jesus the Son would be glorified in His perfect obedience and completion of the Father’s will in saving creatures who are unable to do so for themselves. This is the reason that the Son became Flesh. His death would be the crowning moment for Jesus in saving the people God had chosen before time and eternity to be His forever! Hebrews 1:3 speaks of Jesus in these terms: “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” When He became the perfect substitutionary sacrifice for sins, He would ascend back to the right hand of the Majesty on high: His earthly mission accomplished and completed.
Jesus Glories in the exercise of Divine authority.
Listen to verses 2-4 again: “As You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” Jesus glories in the exercise of Divine Authority, and He glorifies the Father in granting Eternal Life. Jesus has been given the authority to bring all to eternal life whom the Father has given Him. Here again we see that the salvation comes, not by the will of man or the flesh, but by Divine initiative. It is in God’s choosing and Jesus gives salvation to the ones whom God has Given Him. The act of God in His GIVING is again stressed in this chapter. For the Apostle John, God the Father and the Son’s “GIVING” is equal to GRACE.
“Giving” is just as much a picture in John as is Faith and believing. God so loved the world that HE GAVE His only Son that whosoever believeth shall have eternal life and no one comes to Jesus to receive the Gift that God gives unless the Father draws Him. There is no jealousy or envy within the Trinity but perfect love in order to bring the lost to salvation, and in doing so, bring glory to the ONE True God who alone deserves glory.
Verse 3 says: “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Jesus glorifies the Father since He is the ONLY WAY to know the True God and eternal life. This has been a repeated theme in all of the I AM statements of Christ: He has emphasized His oneness with the Father because He IS THE I AM on the earth, representing the supremacy of the Father in all things.
Jesus speaks as though His work has already been completed (vs. 4): “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” Jesus prays as though His work has already been completed. There is that certainly that His mission would not fail. It was the Father’s Will for Jesus to complete salvation, and so it would be. Nothing in all of the universe will stop God’s Divine Purpose and Will.
Verse 5 ends the first section of Jesus’ intercessory prayer with these words: “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” Jesus is anticipating, not the pain of the cross, but His glorious return to the Father. He is not focusing on the horrible death which would occur within hours, but rather that his humiliation would be exchanged for glorification, mutually with the Father, as it had been forever in the past, so it would be in the immediate future. In Jesus’ Hear and Mind AND in His Prayer, this work has already been accomplished.
Jesus, indeed would be successful, earning for sinners what they could not earn for themselves. Later the Apostle Paul would write these words concerning the Victorious Christ in Philippians 2:9-11: “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him (Jesus) 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.” Glory be to our Great God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Intro: Father, the hour has come.
I. Jesus prays for mutual manifestation of God’s Glory.(1&5)
A. The Father is glorified in His self-disclosure of the Son’s person and work.
B. The Son is glorified in perfect obedience and completion of the Father’s will in saving creatures who are unable to do so for themselves.
II. Jesus glories in the exercise of Divine Authority
A. Jesus glorifies the Father in granting Eternal Life.(2)
B. Jesus glorifies the Father: He is the only way to know the True God and Eternal Life.(3)
