O righteous Father, &c.— "O Father, who art the Author of all righteous designs, and the lover of righteous men; nay, and from whose very righteousness flows the admission of believers to thee; though the world, wilfully ignorant of thy nature and perfections, and of thy gracious counsels for man's salvation, has rejected me, I have notwithstanding every where demonstrated that I am fully acquainted with thy counsels; and my apostles knowing that thou hast sent me, and that I am one with thee, have believed in me as the Messiah; which is the reason I am so solicitous, that they should behold the glory thou hast given me: and for this reason I have, with the greatest care, taught them thy nature, perfections, and counsels, John 17:26. Nevertheless, being now incapable, by reason of their prejudices, of receiving full information in these points, I will instruct them afterwards by the illumination of my Spirit, that the love which thou hast borne to me, as thy most divine messenger, may be shewn to them, as thy messengers likewise; and that, being inspired by my Spirit, and enjoying, in their hearts, a revelation of my divine nature, they may have me dwelling within them, so as always to act by my authority, and always to be happy in my love."
Inferences. With what pleasure should we behold our gracious Redeemer in this posture of humble adoration,—lifting up his eyes to his heavenly Father with a solemn devotion, and pouring forth his pious and benevolent spirit in those divine breathings which are here recorded. From his example we may learn to pray, and, from his intercession, to hope. We know that the Father heareth him always (ch. John 11:42.) and singularly did he manifest that he heard him now, by all that bright assemblage of glories, which shone around him in the concluding scenes of his abode upon earth, and in those which attended his removal from it: and in all these did the blessed Jesus manifest his zeal for the glory of the Father. May we emulate the same holy temper! And, when we pray, even for our own consummate happiness in the heavenly world, may we consider that happiness as ultimately centering in the honour and service of God!
And well may we be encouraged to hope for this happiness, when we reflect that Christ has an universal power over all flesh, and over spirits superior to those who dwell in flesh; with which he is invested on purpose that he may accomplish the salvation of all his faithful people. We see the certain way to life eternal, even the knowledge of God in Christ. Let us bless God, that we have so many opportunities of obtaining it; and earnestly pray, that he who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, would, by his divine rays, shine also forth on our benighted souls; and so animate us in his service, from the noblest principles of gratitude and love, that we may be able to say, even in our dying moments, with somewhat of that spirit which our Lord expressed, Father, we have glorified thee on earth, and finished the work which thou gavest us to do; and now, being no more in the world, we come unto thee. Then may we hope, in our humble degree, to partake of that glory to which he is returned, and to sit down with him on his victorious throne.
In the mean time may our faith see, and our zeal confess Christ! May we acknowledge his divine authority, as having come out from the Father, and as being in his Godhead with him from everlasting! May we be united in love to him and to each other, and be kept by that divine Word to eternal life! Let the fearful instance of the son of perdition, who perished even from among the apostles, the chosen of God, teach us a humble jealousy over our own hearts, whatever external privileges we may enjoy; and engage us to maintain a continual regard to him, who is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy! Jude, John 17:24.
What perpetual reason of thankfulness have we, that our gracious Master delivered these words in the world, and recalled them thus exactly to the memory of his beloved disciple so many years after, that we, in the most distant ages of his church, might, by reviewing them, have his joy fulfilled in us! Let us also with pleasure recollect, that Christ not only prayed for his apostles, but for all that should believe on him through their word; and therefore for us, if we are real, and not merely nominal believers. For us doth he still pray, not that God would immediately take us out of the world, though for his sake we may be continually hated and injured in it; but that he would keep us from the evil to which we are daily exposed. For our sakes also did he sanctify himself, as a propitiation for our sins, that we also might be sanctified through the truth: for He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Titus 2:14.
O may these wise and gracious purposes of his love be fulfilled in us!—May we be one with each other, and with him! May that piety and love appear in the whole of our temper and behaviour, which will evidently shew the force of our religion, and reflect a conspicuous honour upon its great Founder!
It is the declared will of Christ,—and let us never forget it, that his faithful saints should be with him where he is, that they may behold his glory which the Father has given him. And there is an evident congruity, as well as mercy, in the appointment, that where he is there also should his faithful servants be. The blessed angels do undoubtedly behold the glory of Christ with perpetual congratulation and delight: but how much more reason shall we, if faithful, have to rejoice and triumph in it, when we consider it as the glory of one in our own nature,—the glory of our Redeemer and our Friend! O let us often be lifting up the eyes of our faith towards this glory, breathing after heaven in this view; and in the mean time, with all due zeal, and love, and duty, acknowledging the Father and the Son; that so the joy of heaven may be anticipated in our souls, while the love of God is shed abroad there by his Spirit, which is given unto us, even something of that love, wherewith he hath loved Jesus, our incarnate Head!
REFLECTIONS.—1st, Our Lord having finished his discourse, closes it with a prayer: for those to whom we preach we should also pray. In this chapter Christ recommends his faithful saints to the care and keeping of the Father of mercies; and the blessed effects of it they continue to reap to this hour, and shall to the end of time.
1. He addresses his prayer to the Father, whom, as Mediator and Head of his church, he regarded as his superior, and in whose love he herein expresses his confidence. He approaches him as a Son with reverence and godly fear, lifting up his eyes to heaven, the place where he peculiarly manifests his transcendent glory. Note; (1.) The object of prayer is God only. (2.) Christ lifted up his eyes to heaven to sanctify this gesture to us, and to justify it against the ridicule of scoffers. (3.) None can possibly belong to Christ, who do not shew, in a course of habitual and constant prayer, their dependence upon the Father of Mercies.
2. He prays for himself; that he may be glorified, and enabled, in the completion of the work that he had undertaken most eminently to exalt his Father's glory. Father, the hour is come—for his death according to the will of God; and though it approached with horrors unspeakable, he welcomed its arrival, because he saw that the salvation of his faithful people would be the happy fruit thereof: glorify thy Son; as man and Mediator, he looked for support under his sufferings, that some beams of glory might gild that gloomy scene; that, triumphant over death and hell, he might rise the third day, ascend into heaven, and sit on the throne prepared for him; where angels, principalities, and powers, should be made subject unto him; and thence he should send down his Spirit, effectually to establish his kingdom in the earth; and should execute his judgments on the Jewish people, destroying their city and nation; that thy Son also may glorify thee, by suffering in the stead of sinners, and thereby bringing the highest glory to all the divine perfections; as also by the discharge of his mediatorial office, when, exalted to the throne of glory, by the mission of his Spirit, and the ministry of his servants, his gospel should be spread abroad, and God's name made great among the Heathen. Note; God's glory should always be the great end we propose in all our prayers and services.
3. He pleads the power, with which, in consequence thereof, he was invested, as an argument to enforce his request: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him: all the concerns of fallen man were put into the Redeemer's hand, that he might be glorified in the salvation of all the faithful. (See the Annotations.) Note; (1.) Man in his mere fallen state, is become flesh and not spirit, brutish in his appetites, passions, and pursuits. (2.) Christ has all human affairs under his mediatorial government, and as such is not only King of saints, but King of kings, and Lord of lords. He manages all the temporal affairs of men as is most subservient to the salvation of his faithful saints, and shall at last be the judge of quick and dead. (3.) Eternal life is the gift of Jesus Christ; he hath purchased the title to it; and has, in virtue of his obedience unto death, a right to bestow this inestimable privilege on all his faithful followers. May I be of that blessed number!
4. He explains wherein this eternal life consists, and what is the way to it. This is life eternal, the earnest and foretaste of it, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent; not a speculative knowledge merely, but such as engages fiducial confidence in God, as the only worthy object of our trust and worship, in opposition to all idols; and such a full persuasion of the divine mission of Jesus, as leads us to him as the only Mediator between God and Man, and satisfies the soul in the clear views of his fulness and all-sufficiency to save to the uttermost all who come to God by him.
5. He pleads what he had done to glorify God upon earth, as the reason and ground of his prayer and confidence that the Father would glorify him with himself in heaven. I have glorified thee on the earth, in my doctrines, miracles, and life; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do; of most perfect sinless obedience to death, even the death of the cross, for the redemption of sinners. He was now on the very point of concluding this most grand undertaking; and, being fully purposed to go through with it, he speaks of it as already accomplished. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Having finished his great atoning work, he became entitled to the promised reward, and confidently expects to be exalted to the mediatorial throne; and to return to heaven again, there to make a display of his own eternal and uncreated glory, which, during his humiliation, he suffered to be obscured by the veil of flesh. Note; They who by grace, through faith, are experimentally interested in this glorious redemption, having the same mind which was in Christ Jesus, desire to live only to glorify God upon earth.
2nd, Having offered up his prayer for himself, he proceeds to enlarge on the behalf of his apostles. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world; have particularly revealed to them thy glorious perfections, and designs of grace displayed in my gospel; thine they were, not only by creation, but by faith in thee under an inferior dispensation; and thou gavest them me, by causing them, in a way consistent with thy moral government of the world, to believe in me; (see the Annotations) and they have kept thy word, embracing faithfully the doctrines which I have delivered unto them, publicly professing, and zealously propagating the gospel of the kingdom. Now, of late their minds have been more clearly enlightened, and they have known that all things, whatsoever thou hast given me, are of thee; that what I have taught them has the seal of heaven upon it, and that I have acted in all things in perfect conformity, as Mediator, to the commission I have received. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; all the doctrines of gospel-grace relative to man's everlasting peace; how pardon, peace, righteousness, and salvation may be attained through me; and they have received them, in the light and love of them, and have known surely that I came out from thee; and they have believed that thou didst send me, as the promised and true Messiah, invested with divine authority to seek and save lost souls, and to accomplish the full salvation of all his faithful saints. I pray for them, that they may be preserved and kept, and that the work begun may be perfected in them; I pray not [just now] for the world in general, but for them which thou hast [already] given me [out of it] for they are thine, having thee for their Father, by their own voluntary choice and surrender, through thy divine grace and Spirit. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; our interests are inseparably the same, as we are one in nature, essence, and operation; and the faithful saints are alike indebted to both for all the blessings of the covenant of grace; and I am glorified in them, by the miracles done by them in my name, and by the converts they make to the true faith in me. Whence we learn, (1.) Those who are here called the world, are they whose joys, desires, pursuits, and aims, centre in worldly things. They live after the fashion of the world, and, if they continue impenitent, will be condemned with the world. (2.) Keeping Christ's word, holding fast his doctrine, and adorning it by a good conversation, is the substantial evidence of our belonging to him. (3.) The study and delight of all genuine believers is to exalt the name of Jesus, and to ascribe entirely to him the glory of that rich and free salvation, of which he has made them partakers.
3rdly. Our Lord proceeds in his prayer for his dear disciples, whom he was going to leave; and therefore, as man and mediator, commends them to his Father's care and keeping. And now I am no more in the world, ready to depart, and return to my radiant throne in glory; but these are in the world, left to conflict awhile with temptations, afflictions, and persecutions; and I am going from them, so that they will be deprived of the comfort of my bodily presence, when I come to thee. Holy Father, essentially holy in thyself, and the Author and Source of all holiness to thy creatures; keep, through thine own name, those whom thou hast given me; by thy almighty power, and for thy own glory, preserve them from sinking under their trials; strengthen them against their spiritual foes, Satan, the world, and sin; keep them by thy grace, till thou shalt bring them to thy glory; that they may be one as we are, united in affection and labours, and having the same interests and designs. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name, according to the commission with which I was invested, and by the influences of thy grace: those that thou gavest me to be my apostles, I have kept in the faith and hope of the gospel; and none of them is lost, and left to perish, but the son of perdition, that traitor Judas, that the scripture might be fulfilled (Psalms 41:9; Psalms 109:8.) And now come I to thee, having finished my work, and returning to my glorious rest: and these things I speak in the world, and offer these requests on their behalf, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves, happy in the present experience of my love; in the quickening, guiding, and comforting influences of my Spirit; and in the hope inspired by the great and precious promises that are in me; so that their joys on earth may increase, and be growing up into consummate glory in heaven. I have given them thy word, have put them in trust with thy gospel, and will furnish them with gifts to publish it through the world; and, because they have embraced the truth and boldly confessed it, the world hath hated them, unable to bear the reproofs of their preaching and practice; because they are not of the world, in their principles, tempers, and conduct, opposite to the carnal minds and conversation of natural and sensual men, who mind earthly things; even as I am not of the world; and my example and doctrine have they faithfully observed. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, deliver them at once from all the power of their enemies, and put an immediate period to all their trials and troubles; but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil, supporting them under all their sufferings, preserving them from falling into sin, and bruising the wicked one, Satan, under their feet; thus causing them to triumph over all opposition. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world; therefore they will be sorely thrust at, as I have been: and, as thou hast supported me, let them experience the like protection, and share thy care and love. Note; (1.) The prospect of going to be with God in glory, cannot but make it pleasing to quit a world of wretchedness: the hour of dismission will be to the faithful the beginning of their endless felicity. (2.) The world is the Christian's grand enemy; and the victory that overcometh it, is our faith; and this is the gift of God to the soul that yields to his drawings. (3.) Christ's believing people have work to do for him in the world; and however desirable it is to be with him, they must not be in haste to go before his time; but patiently take up their cross, fight the good fight of faith, and hope to the end. (4.) No man's profession, privileges, gifts, or apparent attainments, where the heart is not right with God, will stand him in any stead; when the hour of trial comes, he will be proved, like Judas, a son of perdition. (5.) The Lord will have his faithful disciples walk joyfully, not mournfully, before him; and he has for this end left them the exceeding great and precious promises, and ever lives to make intercession for them. (6.) The faithful servants of Jesus, who keep his word, and refuse to be conformed to the ways and manners of this wicked world, may expect to be hated by those, against whom their words and works cannot but testify that their deeds are evil.
4thly, Our Lord, having prayed for his disciples' preservation, prays in the next place for their sanctification.
Sanctify them through thy truth; consecrate them for their sacred office, and let them be under the powerful influences of thy word and Spirit, that in their own souls they may experience increasing purity, and be enabled for the propagation of the truth of the gospel through the world: thy word is truth, infallibly certain in itself, and the great means of purifying the heart. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world, with the same gospel, and on the same errand, to advance thy glory, and promote the salvation of immortal souls. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, am now ready to offer up myself a sacrifice, and to enter on my mediatorial office in glory, as their great High Priest, to be the eternal advocate of all my faithful saints: that they also, in virtue of my intercession for them, and by the mission of the Holy Ghost into their hearts, might be sanctified through the truth, enabled for the practice of all true godliness, and strengthened and made successful in propagating the glad tidings to the ends of the earth. Note; (1.) All Christ's people must be made partakers of true holiness: he saves none whom he does not sanctify. (2.) What was his prayer for his apostles must be ours daily for ourselves, that God would carry on the blessed work of his grace in our hearts, and perfect that which he hath begun. (3.) The word of God is the great means of our sanctification; and by it, through the quickening influences of the Holy Ghost, are we enabled to grow up into him in all things, who is our Head, even Christ. (4.) The real ministers of Jesus are his peculiar concern; and they who are truly his, prove it by the practical influence his word has on their own hearts, and the zeal with which they preach the truth to others. (5.) They who go into the ministry under a divine mission and call, may confidently expect the divine assistance and blessing.
5thly, Christ's prayer is not limited merely to requests for his apostles, but, in the next place, includes all his faithful people to the latest ages.
Neither pray I for these alone, my first ministers or apostles, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, in all succeeding generations; that they all may be one in faith and love, by the preaching of the gospel collected together, and united in one body under the same living Head; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us, animated by the same Spirit; one in judgment, disposition, designs, desires, and admitted into the nearest fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me, beholding the powerful effects of my grace upon them: and the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them; that is to say, the gospel, with all its inestimable blessings; and, to many of them the power of working miracles by my Spirit; that they may be one, even as we are one, in strictest union with us and with each other through the same Spirit; I in them, as the head of vital influences to them; and thou in me, by thy Spirit given without measure unto me; that they may be made perfect in one, be united in the most cordial love, without any jarring affection, or the least mixture of sorrow and complaint: and that the world may know these thou hast sent me, convinced by the present power of thy grace, displayed in their concord, unity, and mutual love. And it shall then appear that thou hast loved them, as thou hast loved me, by the mission of thy Holy Spirit, and by all the gracious, miraculous, and glorious fruits issuing therefrom. Note; (1.) The ministry of the word is the great instrument that Christ is pleased to make use of, in order to beget faith in the souls of men. (2.) All true Christians are one in Christ Jesus: he is their living Head: they are by faith and love united to him, and joined in one Spirit to each other. (3.) They who despise, insult, and ridicule the followers of Jesus, will shortly be convinced, to their confusion, how highly these are the objects of his love.
6thly, Our Lord concludes his prayer with a holy but humble demand, as the eternal Son of the everlasting Father, for the eternal salvation of his eleven apostles.
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am. It is my demand, and I claim it as my right, that they be brought to my eternal kingdom, and may behold my glory which thou hast given me, transformed into the same image, adoring and rejoicing; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world, and therefore wilt grant all my requests. O righteous Father, whose will is most just, and whose promises are all faithful and true; the world hath not known thee, thy perfections, councils, or designs; but I have known thee most intimately and perfectly; and these my present disciples and apostles have known that thou hast sent me, the promised Messiah. And I have declared unto them thy name, thy nature, attributes, and designs of grace; and will declare it, by farther discoveries to them of thy mind and will, after my resurrection, and by the mission of the Spirit; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them; and they, knowing it, may, by experience of the same love, be made unutterably blessed and happy; and I in them, taking up my residence in their hearts, and thus preparing them for the fruition of eternal felicity with me in glory. Note; The world lieth in ignorance and wickedness: happy are they who are enlightened by Jesus, and through his grace are come out of the world.