9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
It would be a mistake to think that Jesus’ High Priestly prayer, in particular where He intercedes for His disciples and every believer since then, was a once-off prayer just before His arrest.
Paul wrote in Romans 8:34, “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” And Hebrews 7:25 says, “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” Both the death and resurrection of Jesus are historical events which occurred in the past, but these two verses speak about the intercession of Jesus in the present tense. It began on the night of His arrest, but His prayers for us continue.
The Puritan preacher John Flavel, who lived in the 17th century, wrote, “In this prayer He gives them a specimen, or sample, of His glorious intercessory work, which He was going to perform in heaven for them.”
John 17:9-13 are really at the heart of the High Priestly Prayer, and these verses signal the beginning of what some have called Jesus’ eternal priestly intercession for His own, and He begins by making it clear just who He is praying for in verse 9. “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me.”
We’ve looked at this in recent weeks. Jesus is praying for those whom He represents to the Father - those whom God gave to Him in eternity past, before the creation of the world. Jesus prays here for those He was about to offer His blood as an atoning sacrifice for.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” The offer of salvation is to all, but Jesus, in this most famous verse of the Bible, says, “Whoever believes in Him.” This means that although salvation is available to all, not all will be saved, as He goes on to say to Nicodemus in verse 18. “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
So when we come to His prayer in John 17, Jesus, although offering salvation to all, intercedes only for those who belong to Him, those for whom He was about to die.
This is what is known in the Reformed Church as the doctrine of limited atonement. While Jesus’ death presents a Gospel invitation to all the world, the actual atonement was offered only for His own people, those whom the Father gave Him in eternity past.
As with the doctrine of election or predestination, the doctrine of limited atonement is found throughout the Bible. When the angel appeared to Joseph and told him to name his son Jesus, he said, “He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah wrote, “Out of the anguish of His soul He shall see and be satisfied; by His knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities.” (Isaiah 53:12)
And Jesus Himself said in Matthew 20:28, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” The Reformation Study Bible commentary on this verse says, “That Jesus says ‘many’ here, alluding to Isaiah 53:12, implies a definite, personal focus to His redemptive mission, and an atonement that is made for a specific people.”
What this means is that Jesus’ atoning death was not made only for the possibility of sinners being forgiven. His death is not some kind of safety net offered in case there are some who might just happen to decide they might need it. The Biblical doctrine of limited atonement teaches that Jesus died to atone for the particular sins of His actual people - the elect. If you believe in Christ, you are able to say with absolute certainty, “Jesus died for me and He has paid the debt of my sins.”
As one would expect, there are many objections to the Reformed doctrine of limited atonement, just as there are to the doctrine of election, but they are clearly taught and implied to in Scripture. Jesus, in John 17:9, says, “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.” His priestly intercession is not for the world in general but is offered for those elect people known personally to Him for all of eternity, who were given to Him by the Father as His own.
Jesus not only says that He prays for His own, but He also explains why.
Firstly, His people belong to the Father and were given to Him by the Father. Verses 9 and 10 again: “I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.” Jesus has been entrusted with the salvation of God’s people. He was sent into this world and to the cross for the specific purpose of saving them from their sin and its consequences. Because they belong to the Father and Jesus’ role as their Saviour comes from the Father, He not only prays for His own, but He dies for His own.
We looked at Romans 8:30 Ephesians 1:4-5 last week, but its good to be reminded of what these verses teach us again. “Those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified. He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.”
The Son has been entrusted by the Father to save us, and this is the first reason why He prays for us.
Secondly, Jesus prays for His own so that “I am glorified in them,” as He says at the end of verse 10. Just this phrase alone should make us sit up and take notice.
Just how is Jesus glorified in us? He is glorified in the cross as He dies for our salvation. At the beginning of His High Priestly prayer He prays, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” (John 17:1) Jesus gave His own perfect, sinless life and He cleanses us from our sin by His blood. Jesus is glorified in every sinner who turns to Him and receives His grace.
Jesus is also glorified in His people as we are transformed by the power of the Spirit to live holy lives and do good works in gratitude for what He has done for us. As we know, we will not reach perfect holiness for the simple reason that we continue to struggle with temptation and sin, but as we saw last Sunday, because we are saved, we no longer have the same relationship to our sinful nature that we had prior to our salvation. Paul wrote in Titus 2:14 that Jesus “gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.”
As our lives are changed and we begin to live for Him instead of ourselves, Jesus is the one who receives the glory.
Also, Jesus is glorified as we work together in the Church to advance the Kingdom of God. Charles Spurgeon explained it like this: “The tendency is, so often, to leave everything to be done by the minister, or else by one or two leading people; but I do pray you, beloved, if you be Christ’s, and if you belong to the Father, if, unworthy though you be, you are claimed with a double ownership by the Father and the Son, do try to be of use to them. Let it be seen by your winning others to Christ that He is glorified in you.”
Simply put, Jesus is glorified in us whenever we choose to proclaim Him as Lord as we do good works in His name, and as we share the good news of the Gospel with others.
So the reason that Jesus prays for us is that we have been entrusted to Him by the Father so that He can save us, and because as He saves us and we live our lives for Him, He receives the ultimate glory. This is yet another reminder that God is glorified the most in the Cross of Calvary and in the saving work of His Son.
Jesus continues as He prays in verse 11, “I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”
As we are given the privilege of listening in on this wonderful prayer, we are reminded that as Jesus was about to return to the Father, He would be leaving His people behind in the world, so He appeals to the Father to watch over and protect them. “Holy Father, keep them.”
We don’t need to be reminded that we need God’s protection. It’s no coincidence that the Bible pictures the people of God as His sheep and Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Sheep are among the most vulnerable of animals, virtually incapable of protecting themselves when attacked, which is why they need a shepherd. The first danger we face is the corrupting influence of the world, which is why Jesus prays, “I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world.”
We all know how weak we can be and how easily we fall into sin when attracted by the things of the world, which is why it is so encouraging to know that Jesus’ intercessory prayer for our protection continues even to this day. Hebrews 7:25 again, “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
Jesus also prays for unity in the Church. “That they may be one, even as we are one.” There needs to be a sense of unity among the people of God. Remember, we are family, and we need each other. There needs to be unity within both the congregations of the Church, and within the Church as a whole. Hebrews 10:23-25 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
We are living in an increasingly Godless world and society, but this is nothing new. Jesus Christ, His Church and all that it stands for has been the subject of persecution and hatred for 2000 years, so we need to ask the question, just how successful (if at all) has Jesus’ prayer that God would protect His people been?
John 10:27-30 gives us the answer. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
There may be times when it seems we’re fighting a losing battle, but we’re not fighting it. God is, and He is sovereign over all. The psalmists cry out many times, “Why do the wicked prosper?” Paul’s answer to that is found in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. “We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
God is preserving His people. We can rest assured that Jesus’ prayer for His people which began the day before His crucifixion and continues even now is being answered.
John Flavel wrote, “Can such a Father deny the importunity, and strong reasonings and pleadings of such a Son? O, it can never be! He cannot deny Him. Christ hath the art and skill of prevailing with God.”
And J. C. Ryle said, “The special intercession of the Lord Jesus is one grand secret of the believer’s safety. He is daily watched, and thought for, and provided for with unfailing care, by one whose eye never slumbers and never sleeps. They never perish, because He never ceases to pray for them, and His prayer must prevail. They stand and persevere to the end, not because of their own strength and goodness, but because Jesus intercedes for them.”
Jesus continues in verse 12, “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”
Many people struggle with the idea of Judas somehow losing out or being given a raw deal, but he never truly belonged to Christ in the first place, just as there are many false converts in Churches all over the world today who neither obey nor belong to Jesus. God is sovereign, and we will never truly understand His ways.
Warren Wiersbe wrote in his commentary, “What about Judas? Was he secure? How did he fall? Why did Jesus not keep him safe? For the simple reason that Judas was never one of Christ’s own. Jesus faithfully kept all that the Father gave to Him, but Judas had never been given to Him by the Father. Judas was not a believer, he had never been cleansed, he had not been among the chosen, and he had never been given to Christ. Judas is not an example of a believer who ‘lost his salvation.’ He is an example of an unbeliever who pretended to have salvation but was finally exposed as a fraud. Jesus keeps all whom the Father gives to Him.”
Judas’ betrayal and subsequent destruction fulfilled ancient Scripture, just as it will be fulfilled in the salvation of all who turn to Jesus in faith. Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6, “I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
The last verse we’re looking at this morning is verse 13. “Now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” There’s that word we have seen many times before: Joy.
It’s a theme we see throughout the Bible: a call for the people of God to live in this world with great joy, because of the great hope we have in Jesus Christ. Paul even commanded it in Philippians 4:4. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” R.C. Sproul says of this verse, “The command to rejoice can always be obeyed, even in the midst of conflict, adversity, and deprivation, because joy rests not on favourable circumstances, but ‘in the Lord.’ Paul uses repetition to emphasise this truth.”
When the Old Testament prophets looked forward to the promised Messiah, it was always with a sense of joyful anticipation. Isaiah 35:1-2 says, “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing.” (The crocus is a bright purple desert flower.)
What all of this means is that it is not only our privilege, but our Christian duty to respond to the grace we have received with joy. Not that we are meant to walk around with smiley, happy faces all the time, because life can be extremely hard, but God has given us an inner joy because we are His. We don’t find our joy in the world, but in the Word. The Word of God not only gives us the joy of the Lord, but it also assures us of His love. Because of who it is we represent to the world, the world hates us, but we are held and kept in the love of God. The world hates us because we don’t belong to its system and are not conformed to it, as Paul reminds us in Romans 12. The Word shows us what the world is really like. It exposes the lies and deception we see in the world, and gives us joy to know that we are the people of God.
The Christian author Jerry Bridges wrote, “To be joyless is to dishonour God and to deny His love and His control over our lives. It is practical atheism. To be joyful is to experience the power of the Holy Spirit within us, and to say to a watching world, ‘Our God reigns.’”
Our greatest joy is knowing that we are secure in Jesus Christ. If you do not know salvation in Him, you will never experience true joy. True joy is found in knowing that Jesus, our Great High Priest, died for our sins and continues to intercede for our salvation in heaven. We have joy because we know we are kept by God for eternal glory. Yes, this life is hard and a real struggle at times, but we have joy because we know that this is not our real home. We have been saved for something far greater than this. Paul referred to Isaiah 64:4 when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
And finally, a reminder of Jesus’ promise to His disciples in John 16:22-24, “You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”