John 17:1. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Jesus is going forth to die, and he knows it; yet he prays to his Father, «Glorify thy Son.» There was no way of his coming to that glory except by passing through tears, and blood, and agony, and death. He only asks that he may be glorified in what he is about to do, and to suffer, and he is ready for it all: «Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.»
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.
In that saying of our Lord we have an explanation of what he did by his redemption. There was a universal aspect of it: «Thou hast given him power over all flesh.» There was a special design in it: «That he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.» Sometimes, two views of the same thing may appear to contradict each other; but when we are taught of God, we soon discover that they do not really do so, and that a grand truth may be contained in the two descriptions of it. Christ had, by virtue of his death, power over all flesh; but it was for a distinct purpose: «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.
By this, then, dear friends, we can know whether we have eternal life or not. Do we know the Father? Do we know Jesus Christ as the Messiah the Sent One? Are we resting in that blessed knowledge? If so, he has given to us eternal life.
John 17:4-5. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do, And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
In deep humility, Jesus had laid that glory aside for a while. He had tabernacled in human flesh; and when he spoke these words, the time was approaching when, All his world and warfare done, he should go back to his pristine glory with something more added to it.
John 17:6. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world:
They had not all of them clearly seen that manifestation. Jesus had to ask the question, «Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?» Still, that was not the fault of the manifestation; Christ had manifested the name that is, the character of God unto those who had been given to him out of the world.
John 17:6. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
We might have expected that the verse would end, «and I have kept them.» But their keeping God's Word is the evidence that Christ has kept them. Whenever a soul loves the Word of God, delights in the teaching of Christ, glories in those things which the world called dogmas, as if they were so much dog's meat, when you and I can feed upon these things, when every utterance of Christ is dear and precious to us, that is good evidence of our being called out of the world, and separated unto Christ; it is one of the marks of divine grace which Jesus works in those whom the Father has given him: «Thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy Word.»
John 17:7. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
The Father gives Christ the truth which Christ gives to as. The Father gives Christ the souls which Jesus keeps until the day of his power. There is mutual communion between God the Father and his blessed Son; let us never say a word that might look as if we did not understand the oneness the everlasting and infinite oneness which there is between the sacred persons of the Divine Unity.
John 17:8. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me;
You know how men talk against «verbal inspiration.» Yet Christ says, «I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me.» Many are trifling with the teaching of God's Word, as if it were of no importance at all Not so did Christ: «I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me.»
John 17:8. And they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou, didst send me.
Firmly do we believe this, and in our heart of hearts we do accept every part of the teaching of Christ, no matter what it is. I hear people say, sometimes, «Oh, but that is not essential!» There is a great deal of mischief hatched out of that egg. O friends, it is essential that Christ's disciples should treasure whatever he has said! Never trifle with that part of the Word of God which seems to be less essential to salvation than another portion; for if it is not essential to salvation, it may be essential to your comfort, or your holiness, or your strength, or your usefulness; and if it be essential to God's glory, let us never trample it in the mire, or in any way dishonour it. Who am I that I should say, «This which God has spoken is important, but that other is not»? It does not do for us to presume to judge the Word of God; we should rather let the Word of God judge us.
John 17:9. I pray for them:
Blessed word! Christ prays for his own people: «I pray for them:»
John 17:9. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me,
In that last hour, just before his Passion, his thoughts were separating the precious from the vile; and his prayer ascended for his own people: «I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me;
John 17:9-10. for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them
It is a wonderful thing that Christ should be glorified in his people. Can it be that he shall be glorified in me? Dear child of God, you sometimes sit in the corner, and think to yourself, «How insignificant I am! The church on earth would not miss me if I were taken away; and the choirs of heaven cannot need me.» Oh, but your Lord is glorified in you! If you are one of his chosen and redeemed people, in your very weakness and need he finds opportunity to glorify his strength and his fullness. He knows the truth about this matter, and he says, «I am glorified in them.»
John 17:11. And now I am no more in the world,
He was going away; he has gone now.
John 17:11. But these are in the world,
We know we are; do we not, brethren? We have a thousand things some of them very painful and humiliating to us, to remind us that we are still in the world.
John 17:11. And I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Oh, what blessed keeping is that; to be kept in spiritual oneness! I do not expect to see the people of God in visible oneness; but as there was a secret, invisible union, most real and most true, between the Father and the Son, so there is, at this time, a secret union in the hearts of all believers, most deep, most real, most true. I may never have seen that good friend before; but as soon as ever we begin to talk of Jesus and his love, if we are the living children of the living God, the bond of unity is felt at once by both of us. «One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.»
John 17:12. 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.
What a blessed Shepherd is this who never lost a sheep! Judas crept in among the flock, but he never was truly one of the flock. He was never a son of God, he was «the son of perdition» all along. Christ has kept all his sheep, and all his lambs; and he will do the same, dear friends, even to the end.
John 17:13. And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
What an unselfish Saviour! His heart is ready to break with his impending sufferings, and yet he prays for us, that we may be filled with his joy. I suppose that it is true that the Man of sorrows was the happiest man who ever lived. «For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame;» and, notwithstanding his boundless and bottomless grief, yet there was within him such communion with God, and love to men, and the certainty of his ultimate triumph, that kept him still joyous above the seas of tribulation. He prays that that same joy may be fulfilled in us; may God graciously grant it to all of us who believe in Jesus!
John 17:14-15. 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. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
There is a reason for God's elect being allowed to remain in the world. They are never left, like wheat in the field, to perish through the damp and cold, or to be devoured by the birds of the air. Oh, no! We are left for God's glory, that men may see what the grace of God can do in poor frail bodies; for the service of Christ's Church, that we may be here for a while to carry on the cause of God, to be the means of comforting the little ones, and to seek the conversion of sinners. We are to be like salt to prevent putrefaction. We are God's preventive men, to prevent as much of the evil as we can; and we are to fight with the evil that cannot be prevented, and to seek to overthrow it in Christ's name.
John 17:16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Many, nowadays, say that we ought to blend the church with the community, and that it is a great pity to have any division between them. A great many good people are outside the church; therefore try to make the church as much like the world as ever you can! That is a silly trick of the devil which the wise servants of God will answer by saying, «To whom we give place by subjection, no, not for an hour.» There must ever be a broad line of demarcation between the Church of Christ and the world, and it will be an evil day when that line is abolished. The sons of God took to themselves wives of the daughters of men, but that kind of union brought mischief with it, and it will ever do so.
John 17:17. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
We cannot afford to give up God's inspired Word, because it is a means of our sanctification; and if this be taken away, it is not such-and-such a dogma, as they call it, put into the background, but it is truth that would sanctify us which is discarded, it is God's own Word that is flung to the dogs; and that must never be.
John 17:18-19. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. «I set myself apart unto holiness, that they also might be set apart unto holy uses through the truth.»
John 17:20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Our Lord knew that the little circle around him would grow into a multitude that no man can number, out of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues; so he prayed for all whom his Father had given him,
John 17:21-22. That they all may be one; 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. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
The Church will never know her true glory till she knows her perfect oneness; the One Church will be the glorious Church.
John 17:23. I in them, and thou in me, 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.
That is a grand expression: «Thou has; loved them, as thou hast loved me.» What! with the same love? It is even so; a love without beginning, a love without change, a love without bounds, a love without end: «Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me.»
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 lovest 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.
This blessed prayer was heard by the Father; all of it must be fulfilled, and untold blessings do and shall come to us through this intercession of our Lord, blessed be his holy name!
This exposition consisted of readings from John 17:1.; and John 18:1-9.