John 17:1 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

JOHN CHAPTER 17 1 Thessalonians 17:1-5 Christ prayeth to his Father to glorify him, 1 Thessalonians 17:6-14 and to preserve his apostles in unity of faith, 1 Thessalonians 17:15,16 and from all evil, 1 Thessalonians 17:17-19 and to sanctify them with the word of truth, 1 Thessalonians 17:20-26 and for the perfect union of all believers, and their admission to a share of his glory in heaven. When our Lord had finished his discourses, of which we have had a large account in 1 Thessalonians 14:1-16:33, he goes to prayer. As he taught us when we pray to direct our petitions to the Father, so in this he setteth us an example; and before he speaketh it is said he lifted up his eyes to heaven, as his Father's mansion house who, though he filleth heaven and earth, yet doth in heaven most manifest his glory: and therefore, teaching us to pray, he commandeth us to say, Our Father which art in heaven; not exclusively, as if God were not on earth also; but eminently, as heaven is the place where he most gloriously manifests himself. Lifting up the eyes was a usual gesture in prayer, and but an indication of the soul's being lifted up, Psalms 121:1, Psalms 123:1; yet no necessary gesture, for we shall at another time find our Saviour falling upon his face when he prayed, Matthew 26:39 Mark 14:35. The lifting up of the soul to God, wherein the main and spiritual part of prayer lies, doth not necessarily require the lifting up of the eyes. The publican cast down his eyes upon the earth, in the sense of his unworthiness. Our Lord lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, the hour is come; that is, the hour of my passion, the time wherein thou hast determined that I should die; now make thy Son glorious, by raising me from the dead, by taking me up to heaven, or by giving me assistance from thee to do the work which I have to do, to drink this bitter cup: that so I, being risen again from the dead, and ascending up to heaven, may make thy name famous by publishing thy justice, goodness, and truth, upon the preaching of the gospel to all nations.