When Jesus had spoken these words, He lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given Him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
6 I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 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. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
20 I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
In Matthew 6 Jesus teaches His disciples how to pray, and this model prayer is known all over the world as the Lord’s Prayer. Technically though, we should call it the Disciples’ Prayer, because the prayer of Jesus we find in John 17 is the real “Lord’s Prayer.” It is also called the High Priestly Prayer – an amazing record of the greatest prayer ever prayed.
Matthew Henry, in his commentary on John 17 writes, “This chapter is a prayer, it is the Lord’s prayer, the Lord Christ’s prayer. There was one Lord’s prayer which he taught us to pray, and did not pray Himself, for He needed not to pray for the forgiveness of sin; but this was properly and peculiarly His, and suited Him only as a Mediator, and is a sample of His intercession, and yet is of use to us both for instruction and encouragement in prayer.”
What is it about this prayer that makes it so great? Well, there are many reasons, and today we’ll take a brief look at just 4 of them.
1. Firstly, it is a great prayer because of who prayed it.
The opening 4 verses of John’s Gospel say, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
This is the all-knowing, ever-present, all-powerful God of the Universe, in prayer. He is the Word of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the Son of God, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the promised Messiah, the Bread of Life, the Light of the world, the Great “I Am”, the Good Shepherd, the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Resurrection and the Life… I could go on, but I hope you get the point. When Jesus prays and we are given the privilege of knowing the heart of God as He prays, and we would do well to examine it and learn from it. This is the greatest prayer ever prayed because of the person who prayed it.
2. Secondly, it is a great prayer because of the context – the time and place in which it was prayed.
Jesus’ prayer in John 17, as significant as it was, is made all the more important by the occasion surrounding His prayer.
“Father, the hour has come.” What hour is that? Earlier that evening Jesus shared the Last Supper with His disciples. He had washed their feet, Judas had fled the scene, and in chapter 18 Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The hour He spoke about in verse 1 was His appointment with the cross. Jesus was about to experience betrayal, separation, suffering, crucifixion and death. This was the hour in which God’s eternal purpose was about to be carried out. We must remember that the Cross of Calvary was not God’s plan B, put into place only when human beings sinned. He has known for all of eternity that we would use our freedom of choice badly. And the plan of salvation by the cross is His eternal plan. 1 Peter 1:18-21 says, “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”
And now that hour has come. The Saviour of the world is about to bear the sins of the world on the cross.
We’ve all seen timeline diagrams. It’s basically a long line with a starting and ending point depicting someone’s life or a period of history with significant events and dates spread across to try and give us some understanding of how things unfolded and happened over time. Now, if you can, try and picture in your mind God’s timeline – a timeline with no beginning and no end. Somewhere on that timeline we find the six days of creation. And somewhere further along that line (we’re not sure exactly where) is the second coming of Jesus and the end of this world. In between are all the major events of world history, and the major events that are yet to come, plus the lives of the rich and famous. Your own birth and death are also recorded on that timeline. But there is one event that stands out above all others. It is marked by a cross. It is the moment in space and time when the Saviour gave His life for you and for me. This is the most significant event in all of history. Nothing compares to the Cross of Calvary. This is the hour that Jesus prayed about, and this adds tremendous significance and weight to the greatest prayer ever prayed.
3. Thirdly, it is a great prayer because of the content of the prayer.
It takes us backwards and forwards along God’s eternal timeline. Verse 5 takes us back to eternity past: “Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
Verse 24 takes us forward into the future glory in heaven: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”
It is a great prayer because it speaks of God’s glory.
The glory of the Father and the Son in verse 1: “Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” In verse 10 Jesus prays that the disciples would glorify Him: “I am glorified in them.” Amazingly in verse 22 Jesus prays that He would give His disciples glory: “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.” And in verse 24 He prays that we would see His glory: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory.” All of these requests will ultimately be granted in eternity when we will be glorified forever.
It is also a love prayer, which reminds us of God’s love for us and for His Son in verses 23 and 24: “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”
In this prayer there are three distinct divisions. Jesus begins by praying for Himself in the first 5 verses as He prepares to go to the cross. This whole idea of Him being fully man but fully God at the same time confuses us. At no point did Jesus give up His deity – His ‘Godness’ – only to take it back when He returned to heaven, but He retained His very nature of holiness at the same time. The apostle Paul probably explains it best in Philippians 2: “Though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8)
In His humanity Jesus experienced the full range of human emotions, including the anguish of having to face the cross. In fact, as God He knew exactly what was coming, and that made it all the harder for Him as He prayed for Himself in John 17 and later on that evening in Gethsemane.
In the second part of the prayer from verses 6 to 19 He prays for His disciples. They were about to have a huge responsibility thrust upon them. Later on the charge given to them by Jesus immediately before His ascension was to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.” These men were the ones who would take the first steps as the Christian church once Jesus had risen from the grave and returned to heaven. The church has always faced persecution, simply because we proclaim the absolute truth in a world that is offended by the truth, but those first few decades were among the most critical. It would have been so easy for them to go back to the obscurity of their previous lives, but God’s Spirit empowered the early church to do the work He commissioned it for, and He still does today. Jesus prayed that God would protect and strengthen His disciples at this vital point in human history.
And then we come to the part of Jesus’ prayer where He prays for the generations of Christians to follow. If you are a born-again follower of Jesus Christ, then I have some amazing news for you. All those years ago, just before He went to the cross, Jesus prayed for you…
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:20-26)
It is always a blessing and humbling when someone prays for you, but to know that Jesus – God Himself prayed for you is just the most amazing thing to try and grasp. And not only that but do you know what Jesus is doing right now? Hebrews 7:24-25 has the answer: “He holds His priesthood permanently, because He continues forever. Consequently, 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.” He continues to pray for us today, and we cannot over-emphasise the significance of His ongoing prayers for us.
He is interceding for us while satan accuses us, but those accusations fall on deaf ears, because Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross paid our sin debt in full, so God always sees in us the perfect righteousness of Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross, His righteousness and perfect holiness was imputed to us, while our sin was imputed to Him at His death. This imputation or exchange is what Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 5:21 – “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” This exchange took away forever our sinful state before God, so God can accept us as blameless. And Jesus continues to pray for this.
4. The fourth reason this is the greatest prayer ever prayed because of the victory it proclaims.
You can sense the deep concern Jesus has for us in this prayer as He prays for us to be protected in this dark and lost world. We all know from personal experience just how easy it is to be drawn away from God by the things of this world, and Jesus’ prayer is that we would be shielded from those things.
The American evangelist Rueben Torrey once said, “There is more joy in Jesus in 24 hours than there is in the world in 365 days. I have tried them both.” Jesus prays that we would learn that lesson too. We live in a world of deep deception. satan has fooled the world. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” satan is a liar and a thief, and Jesus prays that we would be constantly on our guard against the deception we see all around us. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. Any alternative to the truth of Christ, no matter how flowery or wonderful it may seem, is a lie from the very pit of hell.
In his first letter the apostle John puts alternative religions and belief systems squarely in the spotlight when he writes, “You have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He made to us - eternal life.” (1 John 2:20-25)
There is this weird idea that all religions lead to God, and it doesn’t matter what or who you believe, just so long as you are sincere. God never said that, and it is Jesus’ earnest prayer that we would be protected from believing that lie.
In Him and Him alone we have the victory, and He prays for that truth to embolden and sustain us. In the previous chapter Jesus tells His disciples that He has already overcome the world. The victory is already His: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
In His High Priestly Prayer the victory in Jesus is revealed and proclaimed. The world may be deceived, but Jesus has shown us the truth by revealing the one true God.
The prayer of Jesus in John 17 is the greatest prayer ever prayed, because of who prayed it, the context of the prayer, the content of the prayer, and finally because of the ultimate victory it proclaims.
John MacArthur says of this prayer, “Here, we are ushered into the throne room of God. Here, we eavesdrop on the communion, the eternal communion between the Son and the Father. The veil is drawn back. We’re admitted into the Holy of Holies. We approach the inner communion of the Trinity. The secret place of the Most High God is opened for us. Here, we need to remove our shoes and listen, and humble ourselves with reverent hearts because we are on the holiest of all ground.”
Homegroup Study Notes
Read John 17
Many have called this the greatest prayer ever prayed.
On Sunday we considered 4 points that make it such a great prayer.
They are 1) because of who prayed it, 2) the context of the prayer, 3) the content of the prayer and 4) because of the victory it promises and proclaims.
Discuss each of these points in your group. What other aspects of this prayer of Jesus make it so significant?
Pay particular attention to the 3 distinct divisions of the prayer.
In verses 1-5 Jesus prays for Himself, in 6-19 He prays for His disciples, and in the remainder of the prayer He prays for the future Church.
What are we able to learn about our own prayers in this model prayer of Jesus?
Read verses 15-19 again.
What do these words teach us about being in the world but not of the world?
The exclusivity of the gospel – the doctrine that Jesus is the only means of salvation is emphasised throughout this prayer.
How does this challenge modern thinking?
How does it challenge you?