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Foreword
Chapter 17 is the Lord’s High Priestly prayer. This is the real “Lord’s Prayer” not the
one that He taught His disciples how they should pray in MAT 6:9-13. We have many records of
Jesus’ sermons, conversations and deeds but only this one of His prayer. Jesus’ best and longest sermon in the
Upper Room is followed by the best and longest of His prayers. We learn from Jesus’ example that we must pray for
our people after teaching them. There are many things too deep to understand in this prayer.
Jesus prays four things for His people, namely, that they will be (a) kept, (b) sanctified,
(c) united and (d) with Him in glory. We should also pray for these things.
The High Priestly Prayer
v.1 Jesus lifted up his eyes to
heaven as He prayed. [1] The greatest hour in history is come, i.e. the time of Jesus’ crucifixion,
resurrection and ascension. [2]
v.3 [3] Life
eternal is obtained by all who in their hearts know the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hast sent. [4] To really know God
and Jesus Christ and to enjoy them both is what eternal life is
all about – a personal relationship with God.
v.4 Jesus glorified God on the earth by
His godly life, and more so by His substitutionary death at Calvary. He finished the work (i.e. to pay the price for our sins) which
God gave Him to do. On the cross, Jesus said “it is finished” (JOH
19:30). [5]
v.5
Though Jesus volunteered to come to earth to suffer for us, yet His desire was to return to His heavenly glory.
[6]
v.6
God’s name includes His attributes (eg. His holiness, mercy, power). Jesus’
godly life manifested (i.e. revealed) God unto His people
(i.e. the men which thou gavest me out of the world). The world
“world” is used nineteen
times in this prayer. God had elected them (i.e. thine they
were) and God had given them to Jesus to save (i.e. thou gavest them me). [7]
Jesus’ disciples kept God’s word (which Jesus
preached to them) in their hearts. They did not keep God’s word perfectly but nonetheless they did so, unlike others
who rejected God’s word with Jesus preached to them. A born-again person knows that the bible is God’s Word, and
therefore desires to keep it.
v.8 A born-again person not only is sure that
the Bible is God’s Word, but also is sure that Jesus is God’s Son.
v.9 Jesus prays for the elect only, not
for all the people of the world. This truth is a
great source of comfort to His people because we know that the efficacy of His prayer is greater than our weakness.
[8]
v.10 Saved people glorify Jesus through their
lives (though they do so imperfectly).
v.11 Jesus spoke as if
He was already no more in the world. Since Jesus was leaving
the apostles, He prays that God will keep them through His name (i.e. through His own power, wisdom etc.). Jesus prays that
they would be one in the way that He and the Father were
united, i.e. a spiritual unity of thought, aim, purpose, etc. [9] See also verses 21 and
23.
v.12 Jesus the “good shepherd”
made sure that He kept all the “sheep” that the Father gave
Him.[10]
The Disciples in the World
v.13 Jesus has taught the apostles all these things (especially
the promises that they would not be lost like Judas) so that they would be filled with joy.
v.14 Christians are moulded by God’s word, so that they, like Christ, are quite different in outlook
and attitude from the world. Therefore, they are hated
for what they are, not what they do (15:19,20).
v.15 Jesus could see the desire
in His disciples’ hearts to flee from the coming trials. One would have expected that since they were hated in
the world, Jesus would have prayed for their delivery from the world and its trials, but Jesus prays for them to be kept from Satan’s (i.e.
the evil one’s) destruction while they are left to witness in
the world (15:27). [11]
v.17
Negatively, they must be kept from falling from the truth. Positively, they must be built up in the truth (i.e. the truth of God [12]), i.e. they must be sanctified [13]
v.18 The Father has sent the Son into the world to glorify Him, and the Son sent the apostles to glorify both the Father and the Son.
v.19 Jesus has separated (i.e. sanctified) Himself as the Sacrifice, so that the apostles would be saved
and be separated (i.e. sanctified) from the world.
v.20 Jesus now prays for those who would be
saved through the apostles’ ministries (i.e. through their word).
v.21 After praying for their preservation and sanctification,
Jesus prays for their unity. Obviously the unity referred to here is not an external unity but a spiritual one
(verses 22 and 23). When the world sees that Christians of diverse backgrounds have the same Christ-like characteristics
and aims when they trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, they will be convinced that Jesus is from God (i.e. thou hast sent me).
v.22 The same Spirit that is in the Father and the Son
is also in believers to give them their Christ-likeness (i.e. glory which thou gavest).
Their Future Glory
v.23 There is a mysterious spiritual unity between the Son and the father, and between believers (i.e. that they may be made perfect
in one). When the world sees the same Christ-likeness
in believers (eg. obedience to the Bible, desire to preach the Gospel), they will believe that Jesus is indeed
sent from God. The changed lives will prove to the world
that God has changed them because He loved them. God loves us,
the way He loved Jesus. This is an incredible and mysterious
truth.
v.26 Jesus had declared to the apostles God’s
name (i.e. attributes), and will
declare it, after He left them, through His Holy Spirit. The more the apostles knew about
God, the more they would enjoy God’s love (i.e. that the love wherewith thou hast loved me maybe in them).
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Footnotes
[1]
Though we are not commanded to use any particular posture for prayer, an appropriate bodily position helps one
to focus in prayer. If our posture is too casual (eg. sitting down) then it is likely that our attitude will also
be too casual. Jesus’ example teaches us that it is unnecessary to close one’s eyes in prayer though closed eyes
shut out visual distractions.
[2]
This is the hour that had been prophesied since Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden (GEN 3:15). Going to Calvary glorified Jesus’ obedience
to the Father, the crucifixion glorified His love for us, the resurrection His power, and the ascension
His righteousness. The Son is also glorified when souls are saved (v.2) and those souls then glorify Him
through their lives.
Jesus coming to die for us glorified God’s love and mercy for us. Jesus’ sufferings at Calvary as He bore
our sins also glorified God’s holiness and justice. Jesus’ salvation at Calvary glorified God’s wisdom,
namely His ability to satisfy both His holiness and love through Jesus’ sacrifice.
[3] v.2
All men (i.e. flesh) are in Jesus’ power to save (MAT
11:27, 28:18). Since all power to save is given to Jesus,
it is impossible to be saved apart from Jesus Christ. Jesus gave eternal life to as many as God hast given Him
to save, i.e. those elected by God.
[4]
Knowledge of God alone (without knowledge of Jesus Christ) does not save because one would be fearful to approach
the Holy God without the knowledge of what Jesus Christ has done at Calvary. Without knowledge of Jesus Christ
we may probably “know” of a god who is holy, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. But we will not know the one true God who is not only holy, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent
but also loving, merciful, patient, and personal. In other words, it is impossible to know the only true God
without knowing Jesus Christ whom He hast sent.
[5]
Though Jesus had not yet finished the work, he said “I have
finished…” because He was so sure that it would soon be accomplished.
[6]
Jesus claims to be God in this verse by teaching us that He existed before the world was, and that He shared
glory with God the Father. No man can claim to share God’s glory!
[7]
By virtue of divine decree the elect belong to God (ROM
8:29,30), but in order that this decree might become effective in their lives they had been given to
Jesus to save them.
[8]
This verse clearly tells us that there are two groups of people, namely, the people of the world and those
who are God’s. Though this is clearly taught in the Bible, man hates the fact that God chooses some but
not others. Man believes that God has no right to do this, and that He is obliged to save all. They forget that
salvation is a gift. Therefore, God has a right to give it to whomsoever He pleases, and the Bible also clearly
teaches that God’s desire is for all to be saved (2PE 3:9). Though Jesus
wrought out a redemption that is sufficient for all mankind and offers it freely to all, His redemption is effectual
only to the elect.
Though it is God’s right to elect whomsoever He pleases, it is our duty to evangelise all
men because we do not know whom He elected. In other words, election is God’s business and evangelism
is our business. Much mischief has been caused by Christians who major on the doctrine of election and forget to
major in their responsibility of evangelism. Such people are called Hyper-Calvinists.
[9]
Since they would soon face persecution from outsiders, they ought to be united among themselves. This verse is
often misused by ecumenists to promote an external unity of all those who profess to be Christians. Though external
unity (or organisational uniformity) may encourage internal unity, it alone cannot foster true organic unity. In
God’s creation, though there is much organic unity, there is no visible organisational uniformity. Not even two
twins are totally alike. Many people (especially the ecumenists) mistake uniformity for unity.
The true unity of the Church which Christ is referring to here is that of a living spiritual organism!
[10]
The second “kept” in this verse means “guarded” – like a shepherd guards his sheep, or a soldier guards
treasure. This verse sounds as if Jesus failed to keep one of the elect (Judas). This is not so, but rather
Jesus uses an abbreviated manner of speech (see also 5:31) that should read like this “…none of them is lost, but
the son of perdition is lost so that the scripture might be fulfilled.” Jesus emphasises that He lost none
of the elect in JOH 18:9.
The son of perdition means the “son of destruction.”
[11]
We are saved to glorify God not to have a life of ease. The best way to glorify God is to be Christlike under severe
trials. This proves the reality of what God has done in our lives. If Jesus’ disciples were taken out of the
world, then who would preach the Gospel? Monastic life is not godliness but cowardliness. Further more, a life
of trials is the best antidote against love of this world, and the best preparation for heaven.
[12]
“Truth” is a very difficult word to define. Dictionaries define it as “the quality of being consistent with
fact, or reality.” But fact or reality to one might not be fact or reality to another. Also what is fact today
may not be so tomorrow. The only satisfactory definition of “truth”
is “thy word is truth.” The Word of God is forever consistent with the eternal reality of God’s created
order and life.
[13]
Christians are separated (i.e. sanctified) from the world through the renewing of their minds by the Word
(ROM 12:2). Sanctification
prepares us for heaven. Jesus’ sacrifice earns us the title to heaven, but sanctification gives us the capacity
to enjoy it.