John 17:1. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come;
That tremendous hour which was the very hinge of history, that hour in which he must suffer, and bleed, and die, to pay up the ransom price for his people: «Father, the hour is come;»
John 17:1. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
In the endurance of the cross, there was a mutual glorification. It was the time of the Saviour's humiliation, and yet, in a certain sense, he was never so glorious as when he died upon the tree. Then, too, he glorified his Father, vindicating divine justice, and manifesting divine love.
John 17:2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou, hast given him.
Christ, by his death, had power given him over all flesh; that is the universal aspect of it; but there was a special purpose hidden within it: «that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.»
John 17:3. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Dost thou really know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, his Son? Hast thou been brought into such familiar acquaintance with God as to accept Jesus Christ as thy Saviour? Then, thou hast eternal life, and thou mayest rejoice that thou hast a life like that of God himself, which can never die.
John 17:4. I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
What a blessed thing that our Saviour was able to say this just before his death! Oh, that you and I may be able to utter some humble echo of this speech when we come to the end of our lives! This is indeed a life worth living.
John 17:5. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
«Take me up from earth again, reclothe me with that glory which, for a while, I have laid aside,»
John 17:6. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
What high praise this was of Christ's disciples! «They have kept thy word.» Poor creatures that they were, they often turned aside from the right path, they were oftentimes very ignorant, and very willful, yet the Lord knew that their hearts were right towards him, and that they willed to learn, and desired to believe. So he saw in them what was often hidden even from themselves, and he testified to his Father, «They have kept thy word.»
John 17:7-8. How they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me;
Every preacher of the gospel should ask is it that this is true concerning himself. When we pass on to the people the words which God has given to us, we supply them with real spiritual food, and so we glorify God; but if we only give them our own words, we do but mock their hunger, and we dishonour God. Our blessed Master, though quite able to speak his own original thoughts, kept to the words of his Father; let us be careful to imitate his example.
John 17:8-9. And they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
There was a specialty in Christ's prayer now that he was nearing the end of his earthly life. He concentrated his intercessions upon the chosen people for whom he was about to shed his blood.
John 17:10-11. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee.
The disciples were going to be left alone, and Christ's tender heart made him lessen the pain of the separation by offering this great petition on their behalf:
John 17:11. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
This was as though he had said, «Thou hast given them to me, my Father, to become my bride; and now I am about to die, and to return to thee, I give back this bride of mine into thy charge. Take care of her, I pray thee, till I can come back again, and receive her unto myself.» There is such holy unity between these Divine Persons of the Godhead that the Father first gives the elect to Christ, and then Christ commits the elect into the Father's keeping.
John 17:12-13. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Are you dull and sad today? Does anything depress your spirits? It is not according to your Saviour's mind that you should be unhappy; it is his will and purpose that the joy should be fulfilled in you. Ask for a sip from his cup of joy at this moment, one drop of his joy will make the dullest to be bright, and the saddest to be glad.
John 17:14. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. He was a stranger here, and his people are also strangers and foreigners.
We are not so much to be unworldly as to be other-worldly. We belong to another world, to another kingdom, even the kingdom of heaven.
John 17:15. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
«Keep them in the world to battle with the evil; make them the salt that prevents putrefaction, and let them not lose their savor, let them not be contaminated by the evil in the midst of which they dwell.»
John 17:16-17. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
It almost looks as though our Lord anticipated that question of Pilate, «What is truth?» Here is his answer: «thy word is truth.»
John 17:18. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
Christ was the sent One, and every Christian is also sent. All believers should be missionaries, sent forth upon a mission to bless the sons of men.
John 17:19-20. And for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Christ knew that his Church would grow. He did not merely pray for the little handful of disciples who were with him there, but he preyed for all who, in after years, should believe on him.
John 17:21. That they all may be one,
That is the great prayer of Christ. There are not two churches, but one Church. Christ is not the Head of two bodies, he hath but one mystical body. There is but one Bridegroom, and there is but one bride, that bride is his indivisible Church. Hence his prayer, «That they all may be one;»
John 17:21. As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Can the world believe in Christ till his Church becomes more manifestly one? I fear not, so let us each one aim at the true unity of the one Church of Jesus Christ. There are come who aim at this by separating themselves from everybody else, but I do not see how they promote unity in that way, I clearly and painfully see how they increase divisions and multiply strife wherever they go. But let us, beloved, to the utmost of our power, promote the unity of the body of Christ.
John 17:22-23. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me,
Do you understand this wonderful union? Jesus Christ in you: «I in them,» and then the Father in Christ: «and thou in me,»
John 17:23. That they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me,
This is a wonderful truth, that the Father loves the Church even as he loves Jesus Christ his Son. When shall the world ever know this till the unity of the Church is more clearly seen?
John 17:24-26. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
Oh, for a blessed fulfillment of that prayer in our experience this very moment, for Christ's sake! Amen.