A DEVOTIONAL STUDY ON JOHN CHAPTER 17

By Raymond McGough

My Lord’s Prayer.Jn 17:1-5

(1) The focus is now on Jesus in the words he speaks of to his Father. While he was
speaking he lifted his eyes towards heaven. He had been speaking to his disciples and
they still stood around him. I believe you could call it a very public and personal prayer
because of that.
Jesus was illustrating the truth of his identity to them. He did not hide the fact of who
he is. Publicly portraying to them he is the Son of God soon to be the Lord of Glory. At
the moment Jesus is veiled in human flesh. The disciples could only see a man standing
before them. They knew who he claimed to be and had accepted what he had said in
regard to himself but at this time never really understood what it meant. Later on they
would benefit from this.
At the time only a few knew his real identity. To the crowds they could only see a
man. To the world of today he still continues to be that. The age I live in only accepts
him as a historical figure. A man who went about doing good but one who is God totally
ridiculous. Many are called few are chosen .On that basis the idea of Jesus just being a
man will persist to the end. It is easier for humanity to accept Jesus the man but not God.
Jesus would know this. The motivation behind his prayer is that the world would know he
is God the Son revealing God the Father to it. `
The reason why he looks to heaven is because he looks towards his Father. He is
totally dependant on Him to fulfil the work that had been given to him to do.Crucialy
important, even more so than any earlier period in his life. The hour as the writer of the
fourth gospel superbly calls it had come. Jesus would need all the strength that the Spirit
of God would give to him to enable him to triumph victoriously over all that the devil
would bring against him.
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you,”
Glory for the Son of God and glory for God the Father. When God glorifies his Son he is
also glorifying Himself through His Son. The Son glorifies the Father and the Father
glorifies the Son.
There is no selfish request from my Lord. In this verse his ultimate aim and desire is
to glorify His Father in the world I live in, and He lived in then... “…that your Son also
may glorify you.”
Many Christian scholars and theologians have entitled this passage of Scripture as
the High Priestly prayer for Christ himself. He intercedes on his own behalf, and for
those whom his Father has given to Him. I believe there are times when I need to take
myself out of the equation, when my Lord only wants me to meditate and ponder on His
Person, and Character equally true of God His Father. The same can be said, of the Holy
Spirit
My gut feeling is that this is one of these occasions. The passage is peculiarly my
Lord’s He is caught up in a conversation with His Father. All of it is God centred. God
the Son speaking to God His Father. What wonderful grace He the Son of God my Lord
gives to me in his insight to the drama unfolding before my eyes. To give me a glimpse
of the divine deity. To let me see and understand that it is all about Him soon to be the
Lord of Glory. To see it from the God point of view not from my own perspective as
much as the Spirit of God allows
(2) Breathe taking from the earthly point of view whether anybody likes it or not
depending on the premises they are looking from. God the Father has invested His
authority upon His Son. Jesus Christ my Lord. He is to have dominion and rule over the
whole of mankind the godly and the ungodly. It really does not matter in the end the fact
that the ungodly will not recognize his rule and authority and be sent to a lost eternity that
is their decision. Not because he does not love them but because of their continuing
rebellion against the Lord of lords and King of kings. Daniel the prophet of the Old
Testament prophesied of this event six hundred years before the birth of Christ my Lord.
Here I see it being acted out in the person of my Lord (Dan.7:14) (“Then to Him was
given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should
serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be
destroyed.”) From my own spiritual perspective in view of what I read of here I am
completely humbled. The question in my heart why should God care about me? His word
tells me that I rebelled and walked away from Him, not only me the whole of humanity.
Nobody humanly speaking would have even considered this plan of action
unfolding before me. The answer is His love towards me. An intellectual answer that
answers my mental faculty of an earthly mind. No! Throws up more questions than
answers. Sin darkened my intellectual progress the Holy Spirit continues to burn that off.
But in the passage before me He is still to come in that format which does not happen
until later. We find his introduction in this format in the Acts of the Spirit of God through
the apostles. (Acts.2)He continues to transform my mind and spirit into the perfection of
Christ my Lord. an on going process However; the passage is directly about the Son of
God being glorified. Through His glory He will glorify His Father in heaven. I am spoken
of in an indirect fashion but the tremendous thrust behind it is the love of God my Father
towards me, and all my countless brothers and sisters chosen by God the Father
Eternal life finds its centre in the God and Father of my risen Lord. Jesus Christ.
The whole concept and origin of eternal life springs from the Father. “That He...” God
the Father should give me eternal life “To as many you have given Him” There is no
mistake I am a gift from God the Father to His Son Jesus Christ my Lord. You means
God our Father. “Given Him.”
Means the Son of God Jesus Christ.
The many are all of those who have been chosen by God our Father to be His
before the beginning and the foundation of the world that we live in today. How
astonishing to the weakness of my human heart and spirit. But nevertheless it is true for
each and everyone who knows Jesus Christ as Lord. We who have been chosen by God
our Father in heaven did not know this but H e did, and when the time came He revealed
this to us through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. He gave us as a gift to His Son Jesus
Christ. I note that it is not in my hands it has always been in His hands to do whatever
pleases Him. There are many more out there who are the Father’s children to be given to
his Son Jesus Christ as a gift from Himself. Only His Spirit can lead me to them because
I am a brother of theirs. How limitless are the riches of God’s love to all. Radiant glory
from both God the Son and God the Father continuing to blaze fire and light not seen by
mere mortals who continue to walk in the dark. I would like to concentrate on the last
part of the verse and see what the Spirit of God would have me understand in regard to it.
“..As you have given Him...” Reinforces what God is doing which involves his Son Jesus
Christ. The whole concept of the conversation is of that which had already been planned
before anything was. When mankind was only a supposition still to be introduced upon
the earth. The unimaginable becoming the reality to the spiritual realm of human kind.
This is what I see unfolding here a done deal in heaven and eternity. I did not create me;
God did including the whole of humanity. Many will not recognize the fact; not
withstanding it is not only about them. The whole frame looks to the glory of God the
Son, and God the Father, and those who have been chosen by Him before anything was to
be given to God my Saviour.
Unthinkable to design make and create a race of finite creatures fashioned in the
image of their maker, and to give them a choice of either to follow the one who made
them or to follow their own devices.. The wonderful news God already knew whom He
had chosen to give to His Son. However; I have no idea who they are that is why I have
the glorious gospel of the Son of God to take to the nations. Jesus in his foreknowledge
knew who God His Father had chosen for Him. (Jn.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.” I would like
to reiterate I have no idea who they are only God my Father and Jesus Christ his Son my
Lord knows the identity of those who will come into the Kingdom of God. I have to
allow His Spirit to guide my spirit. (3)
Again I have to take myself out of the equation the whole of the text is centred
upon the God and Father of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. What wonderful insight
the Spirit of the living God affords to John the Apostle author of the fourth gospel of
which this is a majestically glorious passage insights he shares with me. To know God
the Father is to have eternal life. Not to know Him intellectually, although that is
important to enable me to acknowledge that He exists. He is there. More important to
know Him intrinsically as a great and glorious person not unlike an earthly father and
mother but He is greater than that because He is from everlasting to everlasting. When
you hear Him speaking to you in that still small voice of His Spirit you will be assured of
the eternal life that only comes from Him through His Son Jesus Christ. Then you will
know you know Him.
Earlier on in the gospel the author recorded the words of John the Baptist and what
he had to say on the context of this message. (Jn.3:34) “For He whom God has sent
speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.” Jeremiah the
prophet had a lot to say concerning God, the God and Father of Jesus Christ my Lord.
(Jer.9:23, 24.) Humanity is not to glory in themselves that belongs to God. I am not to
glorify myself. All glory and honour must go to God. The wise are not to glory in their
wisdom the mighty in their might the rich in their riches. All Glory belongs to God.
 I must keep in mind that the words here come from the mouth of the Lord.
Jeremiah received them and wrote them down just as he heard them from the Lord.
Again it is not about pursuing intellectual wisdom for its own sake I will never get
to know God using that method. John the apostle brings it up to date in His account of the
gospel of Jesus Christ and the glory He is going to be glorified with. The same glory
Jeremiah speaks of here. The words God gives to the prophet are the very same John the
Apostle writes of, the very same glory of God my Father. If I am to glorify then it is God
my Father I am to glorify in the fact that I know Him and understand what He reveals to
me. I do not know Him fully only in part as my knowledge of Him in the role of my
heavenly Father continues to grow. He and only He exercises what is truly glorious being
the Lord God. The Lord brings lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
“For in these I delight.” says the Lord. To know this is to have eternal life by
receiving and knowing Jesus Christ as my God and Saviour. For He through His Spirit
will enable me to do these things. At the time of John‘s writing of this passage Jesus is
still upon the earth, although John wrote of it afterwards, nevertheless, he was still there
when it occurred. The whole of the passage is of my Lord speaking of Himself using the
name only the disciples knew, and had been told to keep it secret. Jesus Christ, he says to
them, that he had been sent to earth by God His Father. The rest of the populace only
recognized him as Jesus the Nazarene, but He would soon be my glorified Christ, the
Lord of Glory. (4) The work God the Father had given His Son to do was now at an end.
Jesus Christ my Lord had glorified His Father God upon the earth in front of humanity.
Before his great high Priestly prayer of which I read here. Jesus knew the time had come
for him to depart and go back to His Father. I find evidence of this in the earlier discourse
that Jesus had taken with his disciples. (Jn.13:31) So when he had gone out, Jesus said,
“Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him” My Lord continues his
conversation with his Father in heaven. He is not reminding His Father that the work He
had sent His Son to do is now finished. The Father already knew that. I believe this high
priestly prayer is for the benefit of the disciples reminding them of my Lord’s glorious
identity as one who is God. A mutual benefit for all those who have been chosen by God
the Father to be a gift to His Son Jesus Christ my Lord. Jesus always spoke of doing the
work of his Father never a work of his own. It was exclusively the work of His Father in
and through Him. Jesus Christ the Son of God came to earth to serve His Father God.
Isaiah the prophet said this of Him. (I sa.49:3) (“And He said to me,
You are my servant Israel,
In whom I will be glorified,”) Obviously a word of prophecy now being fulfilled in and
through Jesus Christ my Lord. As I see it here.
(5) As I have said the passage is all about God the Father and God the Son. I am a gift
of God the Father to Jesus Christ His Son. But the greatest gift is of His Son Jesus Christ
to me. Those who have been chosen by God the Father to have eternal life, my brothers
and sisters are His gift to His Son Jesus Christ. He is the greatest gift to them from God
the Father. Hallelujah!
But now to take my eyes off of me. Jesus Christ the Son of God speaks of His
own incredible glory. While on earth he had lived in His Father’s glory veiled in his own
human flesh. It was time to take the covers off. The glory that He always had as the Son
of God, which he had left for a season to be obedient to His Father. He will now return
too. However; I notice he wants to be glorified together with His Father, the glory of the
Father and the Son; both love one another, and are in harmony with each other. How
majestic! He really let’s the disciples know who He is, He is God, and this has always
been the case. They like all flesh had been made through Him. Jesus Christ the Son of
God now asks His Father to glorify Him with the glory that He had, had, already before
the beginning of the world. I have no idea what must have went through the heads of the
disciples when they heard this. Nevertheless Jesus said these words on their behalf and
my behalf. A great precious truth that will not die.
Further proof of this can be found in the book of Proverbs (Prov.8; 22-28) I will
keep these words of Jesus Christ my Lord before me, as I look at this passage of Scripture
in Proverbs. Evidence of the fact of His glory which He had left for a time when He came
to earth on the behalf of mankind... (22) “The Lord possessed me...” The Son of God is in
possession of God the Father and God the Father is in possession of God the Son. I note
the author speaks of the beginning and of the way, better to be understood, before the
beginning of the way.
There was no man before the beginning.I look at the phrase at the start of the
sentence. “The Lord possessed me...” God the Father cannot look upon sin and after the
fall he could not look upon man without destroying him. Let alone possess any human
mortal.
My understanding as guided and influenced by the Spirit of God, that the person
King Solomon speaks of here is none other than the Son of God. Whether the king knew
this of what he was writing, I do not know. This is one facet of glory that my Lord
possessed before coming to the earth. He was before all things, including the works of
old. The works of old is a reference to the beginning of earth and the universe which is
getting older as time moves on. His works of old is again a reference to the glory of the
Son of God. He along with his Father and the Spirit brought into being the earth and the
universe
Remember Jesus always spoke of his Father and Himself as being one both in
possession of each other. Glory beyond glory. This is one strand of the many belonging
to the glory of the Son of God. So many facets to and of his glory. I as a mere mortal can
only wonder wide eyed in astonishment at what the Spirit is unfolding to me. The
graciousness of the revelation of God the Father of His Son Jesus Christ and the glory He
had with Him before the beginning of anything. This is overwhelming. My earthly mental
faculty cannot understand, but my spirit is drinking, and growing rich in God in my
desire to know Him in my heart. (23)
Conclusively this proves to me the point that Solomon is not writing of a mere man.
Here I see another facet of the glory of the Son of God the absolute glory he had, had, of
his own with God his Father. The glory he now wants to be glorified with along with the
glory of his Father at this particular hour.
The whole passage reinforces the love of God the Father for his Son and the love
of His Son for God the Father self existing, self sustaining from eternity onwards and
backwards time means nothing the core of it all. The love of the one triune God in the
second Person of the trinity towards me. Jesus Christ my Lord his Son. The love of them
both includes the Spirit. This is the glory of God the Father Jesus Christ His Son and God
the Holy Spirit to know Him, and the love He brings to me through His Son Jesus Christ
my Lord. The great and glorious God. Jesus Christ the Son of God. My Lord. Now wants
His Father God to crown Him along with His Father God with this heavy weight of
tremendous glory. T o know God is to glorify Him. Jesus Christ His Son was certainly
doing that, and had done it. Now the pinnacle was coming to be crowned with his glory,
and the glory of his Father. Thereby, glorifying his Father God.

Prayers of Jesus for his disciples. 17:6-19

(6) Nobody chose the God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ. He chose me through
Christ Jesus his Son. The whole thing is totally out of my hands. Exactly the same that
can be said of all of God’s people who know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour whom
they serve.
Jesus speaking to his Father confirms and affirms that He has revealed the identity
of his Father to the men who are standing around Him... I believe the importance of what
Jesus is saying here is absolutely crucial for the understanding of our Christian faith.
The men standing around him apart from one would need to get it right, because
they would be the pioneers of Christ’s church, which was still to be established upon the
earth of which you and I are members.
We owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude and appreciation, and even more so to
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Who I see standing here having conversation with the
Father.
I believe this is the fulfillment of Psalm 22:22 “I will declare your name to my
brethren;” Not only does Jesus speaks to his Father of the disciples gathered around Him
here he speaks of you and me. Wonderful! “….whom You have given Me out of the
world.” I had said earlier that everything that we have ever done and still to do God
already knew. T o take that equation as far as it goes can be quite frightening but not for
God’s people. Looking at it from a different perspective as I have already said what
Jesus is talking of here with his Father was when you and I were nothing before anything.
There was no creation. Hard to think of nothing You and I were nothing, complete
nothing. I am nothing. I do not exist. Nobody and nothing existed apart from God. I was
an idea still to be brought into reality but very real in God’s eyes. You could say that we
who belong to God the Father existed before anything was as an idea still to be formed
from the power of the mental faculty of the divinity.
Whatever shape and form we existed in we were there. What other meaning can we
take from the words of Jesus as He speaks them to his Father. Speaking of his disciples
Jesus acknowledges that they first belonged to his Father. Ezekiel the prophet spoke on
the matter.( Ezk.18:4) “ Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the
soul of the son is Mine..” Conclusive proof of what Jesus is speaking of here to his
Father.
Unmistakeable you and I were and are children of God the Father now given to
Jesus Christ as a gift... The time had come for the Father to give us as a gift to his Son.
He then would give to us the greatest gift. The gift of his Son Jesus Christ The next part
of the verse throws up more questions instead of answers. Jesus speaking of his disciples
acknowledges that his Father had given them to Him but it is at the end of the verse when
he confirms that they have kept the Father’s word. Incredible! When in the previous
chapter they had claimed that they did not know what He had been discussing with them.
My own feeling and interpretation is that the Lord is looking to the future when His
Spirit would help them to keep His Father’s word. Strengthening them, and enabling
them to live it out in their own lives. Much the same as we do today, but for them a
greater level of expectancy, sadly not seen much of in our day.
I believe like them expect great things from God and they will happen. The
glorification of Jesus Christ our Lord and God our Father will bring it to fruition.
Increasing the level of my own belief. (7) Christ my Lord his intent is to glorify His
Father here upon the earth in and through the disciples who had already been handpicked
for Him. I can do nothing apart from the will of the Father is a phrase Jesus reiterated
often. The glory chiefly spoken of here is of the Son Jesus Christ includes God his Father.
The men chosen by the Father and given to Him is the by product of His glory. Central to
all of this is Christ Himself and the intimate personal relationship He enjoyed with His
Father. A relationship which He enjoyed even before anything was because He had been
with the Father. Slowly ponder these precious words none of what is unfolding here
could have occurred without the consent and the permission of the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
When I see Jesus Christ I see God the Son but I also see God the Father two
individuals in the one triune God.
When Jesus speaks there is in a sense God his Father is speaking too. Note how
Jesus in His conversation with His Father in this great High priestly prayer of his
confirms and affirms what He has done upon the earth. Namely, the disciples have been
made aware of the fact that He Jesus soon to be the Christ had come to glorify His Father
and that everything He possessed had been given to Him came from the first person of
the trinity. God His Father.
“They have known that all things you have given me are from you” Past tense
Jesus had deposited the words of his Father deep down into their very beings which
would burst into flame at the coming of Pentecost.
(8) Jesus is speaking of the words He received from His Father. Now they have been
deposited into the hearts of His disciples. Unknowingly to them they had been sown deep
down into their spirit. They are not conscious of this. An intellectual admission and
consent to who they believe He is. The human response from the mind not the heart.
The disciples acknowledged Christ’s Lordship over them but were yet to understand
what he really means. Jesus talks to the disciples reiterating the fact that he and his Father
love them and he had come from the Father. (Jn: 16:27, 28.)
However in his conclusion in verse 28 of chapter 16 Jesus repeats Himself but adding
something else to what He had said already. H e had come from the Father to the world
but now it was time to go back to His Father. He would need to leave the world to do this.
The disciples would be without him for a short period. I see from the disciples reply
further down the passage that they had not understood anything. This man whom they
called Lord had just announced his departure
A man whom they had given up everything to follow. Three years later he calmly
announces H e is leaving. I notice that they speak to Jesus acknowledging Him as the Son
of God who had come from the Father. Absolute silence regarding His departure.
Frightened to ask what He meant? Nothing is said by any of them. A continuing wall of
silence. Perhaps they thought that what Jesus had said to them would disappear.
Comfortable not to know what you do not want to know. I believe they still stood in awe
of Him which stopped them from asking questions that Jesus would have been only to
glad to answer. Instead they reasoned with their own human limited understanding best to
leave it alone.
No wonder in His reply to their s he says, “Do you now believe?” Notice the
question mark. Jesus already knew they had grasped nothing of what He had said. The
same can be said of us. There are tremendous truths contained within God’s Word we fail
to believe because of the lie of the Devil. The very same thing we see here in the lives of
the disciples. The enemy had come into their earthly thinking in the silence of human
thought.
Jesus knew that this would happen. Unknown to them but known to the Son and the
Father the timing of what they are both doing at this critical hour would benefit all of
Christ’s disciples, then and now, as well as in the future. The gift of eternal life which is
the Son of God Jesus Christ.
On the positive side they believed Jesus when he informed them that His Father had
sent Him to them to reveal God the Father as the one and only true God. Just as we do.
The prophet Moses hundreds of years before prophesied of the event unfolding
before them... Moses was a type of Christ still to come. . (Deut.18.15, 18) Jesus Christ
my Lord is the chief prophet. Most of the Old Testament prophets prophesied of His
coming of which I read of here.
(9) Now Jesus turns his prayer from Himself to His disciples. Remember in His
foreknowledge as one who is the Son of God He knew exactly what lay ahead of Him
Terrible suffering an agonising ordeal for one who is truly man as well as God.
The physical pain, excruciating agony of being whipped until the flesh was torn from His
back. Mental agony and torment horrendous suffering. Not only of the flogging, that was
bad enough worse was to follow. He had to bear the weight of a heavy wooden cross of
rough wood. After almost being beaten to death. So bad was his injuries for me and the
rest of the world that he fell because of the weight, and some one else had to carry it for
him. Saw his death upon that cross hands nailed to the cross beam.
Importantly, he saw this as a man as well as being the Son of God. In his
Godliness I have no idea how he suffered mentally, but I know from the Scriptures he
did. “My God! My God why have you forsaken me?” The human mind can only take so
much. Jesus while on earth was every bit a human like you and me. With one proviso he
had no sin.
He sees all of that, but because of the love which is in His heart towards those
whom the Father had given to him he begins to pray and make intercession on their
behalf. Unbelievable to my earthly imagination and mind. Nobody humanly speaking
could have ever thought this up. The hero in story books and comics always came out on
top and lived to see another day. But not in this case. The destiny of my Lord was to die
as a man for the sins of the world. My sins and yours.
I would like you to notice Jesus does not pray for the world. Great emphases are
reinforced by the words of Jesus on praying for his disciples. “I pray for those whom you
have given me, for they are yours” A statement that brings us back to the one triune God
The first and second persons of the Godhead Father and Son. Earlier the
discussion had been on the Father of how everything originates and comes from Him.
That never changes. The disciples Jesus points out belong to him and God our Father.
How extraordinary that in a later date John one of the disciples in this group of
whom Jesus prays for would write a letter including all of Christ’s disciples. Disciples
like you and me. I believe we must walk the road of a true disciple of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. (1.Jn.5:19.) “We know we are of God, and the whole world lies
under the sway of the wicked one.” But at the moment our Lord’s focus and attention are
on this small group of his disciples. The nucleus of what we would become.
(10) A terrific word of prophecy from Jesus that would find fulfillment in the lives
of this small group of men who are his disciples. The oneness of the Son and the Father
again brought to the forefront under the pen of the author John the apostle. Very
distinctive Johannine literature. Distinctive ideas like light being distinctive against the
darkness. The Father is distinctive against the Son in relationship. Words that bring a
distinctive contrast. “And all mine are yours, and yours are mine.” Extremely difficult to
understand from a human father and son relationship particularly from this passage...
However; the relationship is of both who are one God but two different individuals.
Father and Son from the divine perspective. One God two individuals of the same
substance Father and Son. Same substance means they are one in each other.
When Jesus speaks of the disciples being all of his he then goes on to say that they
are all of His Father’s I believe it speaks of the oneness of the Father and the Son .John
turns the equation round stating the next part of what Jesus had said, “Yours are mine,”
The Son’s oneness with His Father of the same substance from eternity past, present and
future continuing to love each other with complete harmony.
The disciples can be said to belong to God the Son and God the Father because
although they are both different individuals both are one. One God. God the Son and God
the Father.
“And I am glorified in them.” Jesus looks to the future of His disciples beyond the
cross and how he would be glorified through them Him and His Father because of his
foreknowledge as one who is God.
I said previously there are times when we must take ourselves out of the equation
realising that to be faithful to God is not to trust in our own self sufficiency. To trust and
rely on God to bring to fruition His Sovereign will and purposes for you and I. Not only
mankind included the whole realm of human history, time, and space which H e will
bring to an end.
Took me quite a long time to learn that one. But God is gracious. Some of us have
to still drop the self sufficiency because He can supply the work whether it is in the
secular or vocational. The critique, “Do you believe you are where God wants you to be?
Always remembering Paul was a tentmaker”. I have turned aside for a moment now let us
see the glory of God the Son and God the Father with the help of the Spirit of God. A
wonderful person.
(11) Quite astonishingly Jesus speaking to his Father in heaven makes an amazing
prayer in regard to himself in front and in ear shot of his disciples “ Now I am no longer
in the world,” The author a disciple who belonged to this small group does not give an
account of his or their reaction to this startling news. It is like me standing with my
friends, and telling them I am not here. Privately, thinking he has definitely left the
planet. I will speak to him when there is nobody near. I can only assume the disciples
were completely shocked by the news. The other contradicting fact was that he was
standing in front of them praying.
Jesus while he was in the world did not belong to the world He belonged with his Father
God. Although he had been in the world he and his Father are one. Now the time had
come to go back to Him. World in the context of how Jesus uses it and the way the Holy
Spirit interprets it to the author John the apostle is that which is openly hostile and against
all that the Son and the Father stand for. The very same principle will apply until we are
called home or are received in the rapture.
Jesus is mindful in his love for this small group of disciples of the fact he will be
leaving them to a world that will be openly hostile to them as it is to Him.
With the same strength and vigour he relied upon when calling upon His Father’s
name he asks for the same for his disciples. T o be kept in the name of God His Father
He call’s Him Holy Father and so He is .Again he speaks of the oneness of His
Father with Himself and that the disciples would be one together. The same holds true for
all of the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. We should be one. My Lord always spoke of
this. (Jn.10:30) “I and my Father are one.”
(12) A wonderful insight of the intimate and personal relationship between God the
Son and God the Father continuing to love each other in close harmony. The subject the
disciples whom the Father and Son continue to love.
Jesus praises his Father for listening to his request to keep the disciples in his
name. He glorifies his Father by saying he had kept them in his name. God had answered
His Son’s prayer. The same as He does for you and I.
None of them will be lost remembering that Jesus at this time is still man he was
also God. Seeing that he continues to be the Son of God who knows the beginning and
the end of all things in his foreknowledge he would see that would be the case. The
disciples did not know that at the time. More importantly our Lord did. He also knew the
one who would betray Him describing him as the son of perdition or destruction. The
foreknowledge of God the Son our Lord. Frightening for those who continue to rebel
against God’s Anointed. He confronted Judas Iscariot spoke to him told him that he was
the person who would be the betrayer as he stood in the group without using his name.
He had the opportunity to grasp the mercy of God and repent. The man did not flinch. His
heart had become cold and hard. (Jn6:70) Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you,
the twelve, and one of you is a devil?”
Again our Lord offers hope of reconciliation to the betrayer when he uses the word
might in the last clause of the verse. It did not need to be Judas Iscariot. The words of the
last section of the verse speak for themselves. “…that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”
(Pss.41:9) “Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has
lifted up his heel against me.” H e may not have realised it but Jesus had looked upon
Judas Iscariot at one time as a friend. How terrible to be so near and yet so far from
paradise. To be thrown into a lost eternity by your own choice exactly what Judas Iscariot
is doing? The question mark is there because he is still to commit the act of betrayal and
rebellion. When you read the chapters that lie ahead you will find that he does.
(13) The joy of which the Son speaks of to His Father is eternal. Not dependant on
our emotions or our feelings. Joy our Lord speaks of is of knowing the Father. He wants
the joy he knows of to be the joy of his disciples. Jesus Christ wants them to be filled
with his joy. To know God is to know the Son and the Father. Knowing both as one God.
The gift of the Son of God to us who believe comes from God the Father brings eternal
life to the believer who is a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bringing with it the
incredible joy straight into our hearts of knowing our sins have been forgiven. The joy of
the Son of God to see this joy as has been described fulfilling the hearts of his first
disciples.
(14) A fiery trial awaits these disciples because the Son has given to them the word of
his Father. Our Lord uses the past tense the world has hated them. He can see the work he
has began in them coming to a successful finish. The world is always in rebellion against
God and his Son. Therefore the disciples because they have been chosen by God through
his Son the world will be against them. The world is the age we live in controlled by the
enemy Satan once an archangel thrown out of heaven to earth because of his rebellion
against God. God threw him to earth with the rest of the fallen angels who had sided with
the Devil. Another name for Satan. He knew that God would send someone to rescue the
fallen. But was determined to take as many as he could to a lost eternity because that is
his destination. He hates the disciples because he hates God and his Son. The Son did not
rebel against His Father nor would he. He had come to be obedient to the will and
purposes of God the Father. Now that work is coming to an end. The world epitomises all
that is evil. Our Lord makes it quite clear that He and his disciples are not of the world
for that very reason.
Jesus when he spoke to the Jews a term he used for the religious leaders and
politicians of his day made it quite plain to them where they stood. (Jn.8:23) And He
said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of the world; I am not of
this world.” Quite clearly the Devil had got a hold over them. What had happened to
them was not going to happen to the disciples. The next verse provides evidence of that.
(15) Our Lord makes his intentions clear those whom he will depart from shortly are to
carry on in the work he has commissioned them to do. They will founder and establish
his church upon the earth. A responsibly I am glad to meet as a disciple of His. Meeting
the challenge of his salvation provided to me through Him. The unmerited favour of God
the Father in his love towards me in the receiving of the free gift of his Son Jesus Christ
into my life as Lord. Nothing can take the place of eternal life of which God the Father
affords to me through his Son Jesus Christ. The abundance of divine mercy and love.
These early disciples had experienced up until now a little of that. But that would
grow enormously, as they walked further into their faith. Provided with in and through
the Lord. I had said our Lord would not allow his disciples to be captured and trapped
like the Jews had been
A fact that is made very plain at the end of the verse when Jesus prays for his Father
to keep them from the evil one. The proof of that is in me because I am in the same body
of Christ as they were. The difference; they have been called home to be with the Lord. I
will meet them when I am called home.
(16) The disciples had been obedient to Jesus Christ their Lord and had done
everything God His Father had revealed to them through His Son Jesus Christ.
In light of that Jesus could say of Him and of them I am not of the world.
Underlines the importance of making sure what I do is pleasing to my Lord. If I am only
interested in me then I belong to the world. The criterion is to give the whole of my life to
the Lord as these disciples had done. To be separate from the world but be still in it. The
word sanctify means to separate. A word Jesus uses in the next verse.
(17) I want you to separate them from the world. I believe that is what Jesus is
asking his Father to do for this small group of disciples. The truth of God the Father of
our Lord revealed through his Son had already separated them. But now Jesus would be
leaving them. He prays for his Father to continue separating them from the world when
they are still on the earth without Him He would only be gone for a short time. A lot
would happen. The truth Of God’s word is found in the contents of the Scriptures.
(Pss.119:9) “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your
word.”
(18) God the Father had sent His Son into the world to give as many as possible the gift
of eternal life. The very same of which He has given to me. Now that his departure is
almost here he has sent his disciples into the world. When the Lord’s departure is
concluded the disciples will have received the Holy Spirit who will enable them to take
the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ into the world. The divine commission. All
three individual persons of the Godhead are actively involved in this work. The Father
and the Son including the Holy Spirit. The same can be said of today and the future. I
would like to reiterate the words of my Lord. (Jn20:21) “Peace to you! As the Father sent
Me, I also send you.”
(19) The truth of God the Father can only be found in His Son Jesus Christ his purity
and holiness. Purity and holiness of God the Son made visible to this small band of
disciples to whom Christ’s purity and holiness will be imputed when they are filled with
God the Holy Spirit.
Jesus now to become the Christ speaking of himself says to his Father, “And for
their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.” The time had
come for Jesus to totally separate from the world. He would take the sins of his disciples
upon himself, and the world. Through this very necessary death. for those like his
disciples, who accept him apart from one, would be free having received eternal life. The
disciples would be separated through the truth of God’s Son being separated from the
world to his Father.
I believe what Christ has done and continues to do through his Spirit cannot be
emphasised enough, the words, “...For their sakes…” leaps off the page. I would like to
conclude this section by quoting from Hebrews. (Heb.10:10) “By that will we have been
sanctified (separated) through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”

The great High Priestly prayer for all believers. 17:20-26

Finally the conclusion of this passage not the final word in our Lord’s eyes. What
has been said before is equally as important as what is going to be said now Christ’s great
high priestly prayer for all believers.

You and I who know Christ as Lord are included in this prayer of his even
although we still had to step into the world. Ponder for a minute upon that.

(20) Vessels made from the dust of the earth like you and I had been entrusted by God
and his Son to carry the gospel of Christ to the world. From such vessels we received the
word of Christ in and through the Scriptures and the preaching of it. No wonder it was of
the utmost importance that they should not fail, and we are the fruit of their labour
Never minimize the work of these early disciples. The choice of to do what Christ
had called them to do or go their own way was always before them. The time was more
perilous then than now. We owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude and appreciation for
being faithful to their Lord and ours in founding and establishing the church of Christ
which we are members of. Believe and do what the Spirit lays on our hearts.
The ingredient of their success is our Lord’s prayer for them and us failure was not an
option. God praying to God for all of us. God the Son communicating to God His Father.
Can our finite minds grasp this incredible truth and drama continuing to unfold before
me I ask myself. The drama and the atmosphere at that time while Jesus was praying
audibly in front of his disciples must have been heavy with static and electricity .I believe
it made the hairs on the back of their necks stand on end. Glory from heaven. Christ’s
prayer for them and me is that many would come to believe in Him through his word
which is in all of us.
(21)We do not compete against each other with our differing ministries they are meant
to bring us together as one. “…that they all be one...” Jesus is speaking of one body. The
body of his church of which He is the Head. Paul the apostle spoke upon the subject.
(Gal.3:28) “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither
male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” The same principle applies to all
who believe in Jesus Christ and call him Lord. All believers are one in Christ Jesus.
Unity.
The Father and the Son are of the same divine substance both distinctively
separate individuals but one God. I believe while he prays to his father in heaven the
disciples who stood with him would hear him praying these words. They may not have
understood but they certainly heard. Not until a later date would they benefit from this
knowledge. Not only them you and I. Just as the Son is in the Father the Father is in the
Son. They are one having unity together. You in me I in you Father and Son. He goes on
to pray that the disciples would be one in them, not only these disciples, but every
disciple who would come after them. To be one with each other only the Lord can
accomplish that and is accomplishing it. As he seeks to bring us together into Him and
His Father. Marvellous agape love. Eternal love that is unmerited. Praise God.
There is still hope for the world because the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ
would be carried to the world with the Godhead existing within the physical frames and
the spirit of these disciples. Many in the world would be set free.
Are still being set free.
(22) You and I who have accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord have received
his glory. To participate in the glory of the Son of God. How absolutely astounding quite
astonishing that earthly creatures such as you and I should enjoy that privilege. Sharing in
the glory of one who is God. The glory God gave to His Son the Son gives to us. “And
the glory which You gave Me I have given them.” The glory Jesus Christ speaks of here
is that which leads to unity and fellowship. John the apostle author of the fourth gospel
continues the theme of being one.
He records the words of our Lord who speaks of the glory of His Father and
Himself and of the result of such glory. “…that they may be one just as We are one:”
The glory we receive from God our Father through Jesus Christ our Lord is not for
the exclusive use of any individual to promote him or herself over the body of Christ. The
sole function is to bring us together as one. Like the text reads the Father and the Son are
one and we as a body of believers are to be one To achieve that oneness of mind and
spirit is to be one in Christ Jesus our Lord. The glory of Christ is also one of a life of self
denial going to the cross and dying there to make us free being bought by his shed blood
The path of glory that we share with the risen Christ has the same hallmarks living a life
of humble service carrying my cross. “Humility, self-denial and the willingness to suffer
for Christ will ensure the true unity of believers and will lead to true glory” (Life in the
Spirit Study Bible. Page.1639.
To conclude on this text of the passage on the subject of divine glory, although it
can never be exhausted. I turn to the apostle Paul reading his magnificent declaration in
regard to it. (2.Cor.3:18) “ But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the
glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as
by the Spirit of the Lord.”
(23) What we should be like as God’s children. I must pursue the target set before
me. Perfect unity of the Father and the Son. Jesus still continuing to pray for all believers
speaks of being in his disciples “I in them, And You in Me” A colossal affirmation and
confirmation from the mouth of our Lord.
We need to digest this slowly of what is being said here. When we gloss over
something or give it a cursory glance we can so often miss the importance of it.
The whole dynamism of the active work of perfecting us into the image of
Jesus Christ to the outside world is because Jesus Christ dwells within you and I. None of
this can be achieved without Him. He is the power and the energy of enabling us to do
what pleases Him. You is a reference to God the Father
A stunning revelation that you and I who know the Lord have the Father and
the Son dwelling within us. But this is no mere academic intellectual exercise. I believe
many of God’s people miss that point and are poorer in spirit
The reason why we have the Son and the Father dwelling within us is that we
may be made perfect in one. Notice the on going process. “may be made perfect...” Not
completed as yet.Doctrinaly rich with a practical application.
We need to open our hearts to what is being said here. To realise we already
have what we need to take the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ into the world.
The Father and the Son living in our spirit. Not forgetting the Holy Ghost. By these very
means the world in which we live will know God sent His Son Jesus Christ. I t will also
know the Father loves the Son knowing also the Father loves us with the same love He
loves his Son with. A love that can only be understood by the spirit man within us too
great for the human finite mind.
(24) The unity of the invisible visible universal church of our Lord Jesus Christ
will reach its climax with her consummation in heaven. As members of this great body of
the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, when that happens, only then we will be perfect and
united as one in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Only then when the church of Christ is lifted into heaven will she be made
perfect in unity and love. Love of the Bridegroom with his Bride the church. The
Bridegroom is the Lord of glory Jesus Christ. Praise his wonderful name! Hallelujah!
Consummation from the divine perspective is when everything the Father and the
Son planned reaches its fulfillment and the new heaven and the new earth comes into
being. What a wonderful place for you and I to dwell in
Our risen glorified Lord’s will and desire is that we should be there. He sees this
and speaks of it. “Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me
where I am,” Where is he? In heaven. He wants you and I to be with him to share in the
love of his Father and Himself. I cannot imagine what that will be like. However my
heart rejoices over it. He can see that day. Paul saw it. Does your heart not leap with
incredible joy I know my heart does. (I.Thess.4:17) “Then we who are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus
we shall always be with the Lord.”
When you and I are there we will be able to behold his glory something we could
not do when we were our former selves enslaved to sin. H e who freed us will allow us to
look upon his glory only made possible because of the love of God the Father and of
Himself He showered upon us. The greatest God there will ever be. Words are beyond
me.
Jesus now touches on the fact that he has always been God the Son. He knows of
the Father’s love that had been afforded to him before the foundation of the world
reaching beyond eternity. No earthly mind is able to understand this. Not even the
cleverest of the clever.
(25) True wisdom and glory is to know God in our heart and our spirit. The world does
not know the Father nor His Son. Jesus still continuing to pray to His Father in heaven
speaking of the world says that it does not know Him. We can see that in our day.
Therefore what he says next is of vital importance to our spirit. “ ..But I have known
you;” He God the Son and God the Father are one. Obviously know each other. The
reason why you and I know the Father is that his Son our glorified Lord chose to reveal
Him to us. I had said earlier, when our Lord reveals Himself the Father is also revealed
It is because of that we know the Father sent His Son. Jesus Christ our Lord.
(26) Jesus Christ declared the name of his Father to the disciples. He will keep on
doing that with the rest of the disciples who are still to come He prays for the love which
his Father loves him with may be found in all of his disciples. To know God my Father is
to know of his love in me. Cannot be found anywhere else, there was a time when I
looked everywhere, but there. But it is true God is in you. God the Father and God the
Son. The hope of glory including the Holy Spirit is in you..He is waiting for you to let
Him take control of your life.

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