Category: Journeying with Jesus

John 17

Jesus prays

"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

When Jesus had spoken these words, he looked toward heaven and prayed… (17:1)

Preface

This chapter contains arguably one of the most significant prayers in the Word of God. It can be used as a benchmark for the focus of our own prayer. It was uttered at the conclusion of the last intimate meal Jesus shared with his disciples before stepping towards his brutal crucifixion. The hour had come. He was about to die to carry out the plan that had been set out for him by the Father since the fall of Adam. He had willingly accepted and lived out that plan up to this moment.

Immediately after uttering this prayer, an ominous foreboding descended upon Jesus as he headed to the Garden of Gethsemane. In the darkness of that garden, his willing acceptance of the plan chosen by his Father in the Garden of Eden to recover his relationship with mankind broken by Adam and Eve, was tested to the extreme. The prayer of Jesus heard by the disciples at the conclusion of this last meal shifted into an agonising private prayer in the darkness of Gethsemane, except for one statement groaning from his heart. "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." There he was at a crisis, pivotal moment for himself and all mankind with the pressing need to pray. His conflict was so intense that he fell to his knees. He and his Father had always from eternity been indivisibly one in presence. He had never before experienced having to face the impending pain of separation descending upon their relationship, when the Father would place the judgement for all the sin of all mankind on his only Son in severance of presence. No wonder he cried out with a wrenching heart.

Pivotal moments like this will stir even a hardened heart to cry out in desperation to God. The intensity of suffering and fear can break open any heart to cry out, or scream out, a prayer, whether the sufferer has developed a growing relationship with God or not. Jesus was alone crying out to his Father with drops of blood coming through his skin from the intensity of his internal battle. These drops became the precursor to the streams of redeeming blood that later flowed from his physical abuse by Roman soldiers oblivious of their participation in the pivotal drama of all human history.

When Jesus looked towards heaven and prayed at the end of the meal, he knew the hour had come for him to glorify his Father by means of demonstrating the lengths to which the Father’s love would go to give the gift of eternal life freely to any who wanted to escape the due, righteous judgement upon their sins. For this monumental gift of love to be free to all, Jesus had to pay the price tag with his life. He knew the horror of that cost was coming. Since the fall of Adam, God had been moving his plan of redeeming mankind towards this pivotal moment of all history, when he would surrender the Son that he loved to recover the lost who he loved. To complete this task was the mission and heart of the Father’s love for his creation. Because of his love for his Father, Jesus chose it to be his mission and heart also. We owe our place in heaven to the Father’s and his Son’s choices. We owe it to them.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

(John 14:3)

By obeying to the end his Father’s plan, Jesus chose to exalt his Father as the one God of creation and redemption able to be distinguished above all the gods invented by men. Mankind would be able to see by the public death and resurrection of Jesus, that their Creator had also become their undeserved Saviour. No other god worshipped by mankind before or since could claim, and demonstrate publicly, the unique position of Creator and Saviour. On the cross, Jesus would demonstrate that there is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved. Because he remained fully committed to obeying the Father’s plan to the end, Jesus was enabled to pray,

So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. (John 17:5)

The preparation of his disciples

The disciples heard every part of the prayer of Jesus. They heard the words, and significantly, they heard the spiritual content behind the words. It is possible to hear the words of Jesus and not hear their spiritual content. Jesus taught that fact on several occasions. Theories about God that swirl in our heads can never bring us to know him and his spiritual life that he wants to share with us. They leave us in darkness. Only an open heart prepared to trust can receive spiritual sight to know him.

The disciples had been prepared over their three years of living with Jesus to hear the spiritual content of this prayer with understanding and receive it. They had given all to follow him. They followed with open hearts able to be taught new truth by Jesus that sometimes jarred with their existing beliefs. Over time, they grew close. They experienced his continual love and witnessed it extended to many with the miraculous power of a host of miracles and forgiving love. He became their authority. They called him Master. They became dependent on him for daily direction and protection.

Near the end of this last supper with them, Jesus announced what the disciples did not want to hear.

"I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father." (16:28)

They knew that his entry point from the Father into this world was through his virgin mother Mary they had come to know well in his company. The conditions of his exit point, however, they did not know. Nevertheless, Jesus knew that his disciples were ready to comprehend the deliberately timed announcement of his departure, because of a declaration they had just made to him towards the end of the meal together.

"Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God." (16:30)

What Jesus had taught in this final meal contributed significantly to them arriving at this settled belief that he came from God. It was the climax of an awareness that had been growing in them over the past three years. Each person with an open heart to know God goes on a similar journey of growing awareness that climaxes in finally grasping the divine identity of Jesus and his call to follow him. The disciples’ journey of awareness as fishermen began on the Lake of Galilee when Jesus stunned them by dismissing a howling storm that had them fearing for their lives. All they could say about their new friend then was,

"What kind of man is this? Even the wind and waves obey him!" (Mark 4:41).

There was never a thought that he was God among them – maybe a prophet but never God!

After living with this "man" for three years, watching him in actions, hearing his teachings and claims about himself, their monotheistic minds were finally able to accept as true his claim to be the divine "I AM", who existed before Abraham (John 8:58). They had heard him make this blasphemous claim before their religious leaders. After that, three of them heard the voice of the eternal "I AM" endorse Jesus to be his Son on the sacred mountain of his transfiguration. Now their spirit had to embrace this Father and Son divine identity, even though their minds could not comprehend it. Having been prepared by these events, the disciples now accepted without reservation that Jesus was the Son of God, even though they would not have been able to explain how the God of their forebears and Jesus both could be the eternal "I AM", even though the theme was woven through their Scriptures.

We are no different. We will never intellectually define an infinite spirit being with our finite physical mind that is limited to receiving neural inputs from our physical senses, from which we draw our conclusions that become our reality. Any search beyond this limited physical framework of observation is delving into mystery, which spawns multiple expressions of the mystical with no consistently verifiable proof. For such proof, we can go on a journey of seeking to understand Jesus with an open heart and mind as the disciples finally did. We then become progressively exposed to his historical reality witnessed through the physical senses of thousands, his revolutionary teachings that address our human condition accurately, his claim to be the only way to eternal life, and his promise to bring us into eternal life by total trust in him as the stand-in for the judgement on our sins. On open-hearted journey, we gain a new insight into the mystery of the divine identity of Jesus backed by historical facts, including the host of physical miracles that hundreds witnessed. Saul, as a Jewish zealot, encountered this mystery when on his way to eradicate the followers of Jesus with assassination and imprisonment. He described the mystery of the deity of Jesus, who stopped him in his tracks, as follows,

Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory. (1 Timothy 3:16)

The study of Jesus, therefore, brings every person with an open heart and mind to the spiritual realisation that he came from above and appeared in the flesh for us to see up close, lived among people, healed many, miraculously fed many, trusted by many, and then returned to his original glory in heaven. He is the mystery of true godliness. All others’ self-promotions of deity are diversions that cannot result in eternal life. Once the mystery of Jesus is grasped in the mind, we are ready toreceive him into the heart as eternal life. We move from intellectual dependence informed by his physical works to be guided by his spiritual life only seen by trust. Then we face the challenge, as the disciples did, to trust and accept or reject the involvement of the Divine in any decision.

Once the disciples had grasped the identity of Jesus in this final meal with him, every word Jesus had said about his love for them held the weight of spiritual certainty, because they saw that the love they had experienced from him over three years was the eternal love that had come down from heaven as the eternal I AM. His love was the Father’s love. Every word that Jesus had said in this final meal to assure them of this love was now imbued with the divine certainty of heaven for them.

Since that meal, it has been God’s will that every person, who openly considers the sacrificial gift of his Son for their sins, becomes imbued with the certainty of his love for them from heaven. Once received by faith, such certainty creates immovable trust in God the Father and his Son. We can never intellectually define their oneness as Spirit, but once we enter into it by acceptance and trust, it becomes the doorway to the growing the riches of eternal life within us and through us into eternity[1]. Once our inner being welcomes the full being of Jesus to dwell in us, we discover and understand that he was always Spirit before he created any physical distinctions. The God always was Spirit comprised of Father and Son as one before he brought physical distinctions into existence for our existence, and his desire is for our spirit to become one with his Spirit unbound from every physical limitation.

The disciples’ new belief, however, was still not at the point where they could face confidently the opposition that captured Jesus in the Garden and put him on a cross. They scattered. The heart of God would bring them back after the ascension of Jesus and strengthen their belief in him by filling them with the presence of his Spirit to the point where they could triumph over all opposition, just as he had. Jesus foreshadowed this with his encouraging words,

"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (16:33)

Filled with the Holy Spirit they would be imbued with divine power, not just with the certainty of his love, which they had experienced to that point. Then they would move far beyond their Jewish religious beliefs and practices into the realm of spiritual life and power that triumphs over all trials. They were the forerunners of where Jesus wants to take all seekers of him, viz., beyond the operating structure of physically acquired, imperfect, personal beliefs into spiritual power and inner transformation of our spirit. Once we have begun that journey we are ready to hear the prayer of Jesus. We are ready to hear the spiritual truths behind his words.

The prayer

When Jesus had spoken these words, he looked toward heaven and prayed… (17:1)

The act of looking up would have caught the attention of the disciples that this was a sacred moment of communication between Jesus and his Father. The prayer they heard Jesus pray is the prayer for all believers and seekers of all time to hear and embrace. It is for you and me. Listen to it. Meditate upon it, because it leads us into the heart of Jesus and reflects the heart of God for us. It shows us where Jesus dwelt in his heart while fulfilling the mission given to him by his Father. Because it is a heart prayer, it cannot be understood with a closed heart. It is an insult to attempt to understand it only from our head. It shows us how Jesus wants us to dwell with an open heart as we fulfil the unique mission God has chosen and designed for us. Jesus prayed,

1 "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. 5 So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

6 "I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; 8 for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.

11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

20 "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also 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 them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

25 "Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

Overview

This prayer of Jesus exposes the concerns of his heart at this seminal moment. It naturally moves through three main areas of his concern: himself, his disciples and those who would later put their trust in him, which includes all those who believe today.

  1. Jesus prayed for himself. He asked for the Father to restore to him the glory he had in His Presence before creation, so that he might glorify him in heaven having glorified him on earth (vv. 1-5).
  2. Jesus prayed for his disciples who were listening (vv. 6-19). They were the chosen eyewitnesses, who would take God’s plan to the world for each person to hear how they can share in the intimate communication between the Son and the Father and so too be glorified with the glory of Jesus.
  3. Jesus prayed for the unity of all believers from then on who would hear the good news and participate in the intimacy shared between the Father and the Son. That is us. (vv. 20-26)

Jesus prays for himself (vv. 1-5)

1 "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you…"

4 "… I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began".

The three main realities pressing on the heart of Jesus at the beginning of his prayer were the hour that had come, his and his Father’s glory and the work given to him to do.

When we align our heart to journey with the heart of Jesus, we are impressed with the same realities of our hour, his glory, and our work. The hour, the glory and the work provide a comprehensive description of the vital components of every person’s life by the degree they are present or absent. We can focus on them in our prayers that begin each day such as,

"Father, I desire to walk today in full awareness of my hour, so that I maintain focus on the work you have for me to do, and for your glory to be honoured in heaven as I seek to glorify you on earth by finishing your work".

When the hour, the work and the glory are missing from our prayers, it is likely that we are praying for temporal goals disconnected from the eternal plan of God that he wants to implement in and through our life. Use the hour, the work, and the glory as a litmus test for the content of your prayers and a compass for life. Ask, "How was my prayer focused today?" Where is my life focused?

The hour

Jesus worked to a goal on earth. It had a timeframe. The achievement of the goal was linked directly to bringing God glory on earth and in heaven. It was now fulfilled. The hour of completion had come.

"Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you…"

"I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do".

The hour comes when the work is completed. What was the work Jesus had finished? On several occasions he made clear that his works were the saving works of his Father being done through him in obedience to what he heard his Father say at any moment. Jesus was always clear on that.

"The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works". (John 14:10)

"My Father is still working, and I also am working." (John 5:17)

"My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work". (John 4:34)

This was not working to earn a wage for food or possessions needed for survival. This was work to save humans from the eternal hell of an existence of no love or trust between humans, the derangement of isolation that follows and the loss of lasting purpose with no escape by suicide possible.

Although Jesus let his Father guide and instruct him, he carried a sense of urgency that the time would someday end for him to be able share the message of salvation for humanity. He urged his disciples,

"We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work". (John 9:4)

Notice that Jesus included his disciples in this statement of urgency. "We must work…" They were chosen to be his partners in doing the works given by his Father.

What is our work today? It is the Father’s work being worked firstly in us, and then through us to those we meet. Every would-be disciple of Jesus must ask, "What is my work given to me by the Father?" with a strong awareness that time is limited. It is these works that will be assessed at the judgement seat of Christ when rewards will be given according to the works of the Father that we have done. Paul pointed this out as follows,

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Corinthians 3:11-15)

The hour will come for us when, like Jesus, we can no longer work in saving the lost. God will then continue his work of saving those lost to him by using others. That is why Jesus taught his disciples to focus on the correct use of their time to labour for what is worthwhile, because the day comes to each of us when we can no longer work. Focus is critical. Jesus urged his listeners,

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. (John 6:27)

How many adhere to this instruction by Jesus? When we recognise that work of any value has God as its Source, the result is fear and trembling. It is a sacred call and a sacred gift. Paul instructs us to,

…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)

There is no more important measure for an individual to place upon their life than to measure it by their progress in completing the work God has given them and enabled them to do by his Spirit living in them. That is why we need to consider the questions seriously: "What is that work especially given by the Creator for me to do today? What gifts has God invested in me to do the work that he has set out for me? Am I open to God’s Spirit within pointing to spiritual work he wants from me for the sake of others around me, such as my silent prayer for a colleague he brings to mind while doing my work or for a client seeking service from me? "

"I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do".

This is the highest work any person can do and the only satisfying finish. We each need to seek to imitate Jesus and align our affections with those expressed in this prayer that prepared him to face the Cross for us. If we don’t, we will spend our life on dreams, objectives and activities that bolster our sense of worth and security in our accomplishments, none of which can bring glory to God on earth by bringing eternal life to those we meet.

The prayer of Jesus challenges us to ask how far we have advanced in the work that God created us uniquely to do for him. Is this the measure that I am applying in the use of my time to assess how I am doing with the life I have been given? Or am I placing my sense of worth on other dreams to promote and secure myself?

The length of time of Jesus on earth was determined by the fulfilment of the work given to him by his Father to complete. Once Jesus had achieved the goal given to him by his Father, there was no justifiable reason for him to remain in time-limited, physical existence on earth. The hour had come. Likewise, there is no reason for us to remain on earth once the work given to us by the Father is completed. Then the hour has come for us. Too often we would like to give other reasons to justify why we need to remain, but there are no other.

Our awareness of the coming hour grows as we approach it. We sense our work nearing its completion and our destiny of passing into the next order of existence coming towards us. Accordingly, we pray as Jesus prayed that we might glorify our Father in heaven with the glory he has given to us when we meet him at the end of our race. Nothing else matters in comparison. The world can offer nothing in comparison. It can only offer what will one day be destroyed forever. Whereas Jesus offers this:

To everyone who conquers and continues to do my works to the end, I will give authority over the nations… (Revelation 2:26)

See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. (Revelation 22:12)

We look forward to the coming hour of reward for us, while we press on with the work of the Father driven by his command which he has given to us, "Love one another as I have loved you".

The glory

With his eyes lifted towards heaven, Jesus continued…

5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

His end goal was to return to his prior eternal state of existence in the presence of his Father. There he enjoyed a glory with the Father found nowhere else. This was a glory of being and of position. He chose for us to give up both aspects of his glory as described by Paul,

Who, being in very nature God, (Being)
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; (Position)
7 rather, he made himself nothing (Choice) (Philippians 2:6-7)

Having humbled himself as a servant for thirty-three years, Jesus longed to return to the original glory of his heavenly being with the glory of his heavenly position. He also longed to join with the heavenly hosts giving glory to his Father’s being and position as Sovereign over all his creation.

The glory of God’s being

The glory of God’s being has been seen in heaven from eternity. It will be seen in the New Jerusalem as the source of all light as God dwells with his people for eternity. (Revelation 21:3, 23) The glory of his being emanates all light, power, and purity. No human can stand before such infinite energy. We fall on our faces.

On earth, the glory of God’s being has been seen at critical moments when God has needed to reveal his sovereignty to his chosen people, who needed to be clear about the God they followed and must obey to achieve his purposes. Such a one of those significant occasions was the release of power and intense light on Mount Sinai in the early stages of the formation of a nation being led by Moses to their Promised Land.

To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

(Exodus 24:7)

They needed to know that the one God of creation went before them and would lead them to their Promised Land by his power. They needed to know that God who planned to enter into a covenant with them must be held in awe and not in presumption, because loss of awe would bring loss of blessings and the judgement described in his covenant. They would lose the blessings of the Promised Land and be sent into the curses of exile. Such happened decades later when God made their predicament clear through Jeremiah his messenger to them.

Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake YAHWEH your God and have no awe of me", declares the Lord, YAHWEH Almighty. (Jeremiah 2:19)

Another significant occasion when God revealed the glory of his being was when he commissioned Ezekiel to be a prophet to Israel in the midst of their rebellion and resistance to the voice of God. Ezekiel needed a vivid example of the power that would be with him emanating from the certainty of God’s glory.

I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.

This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking. (Ezekiel 1:27-28)

Centuries later, Jesus took Peter, James, and John to a mountain to show them his undiminished glory of being to make his divine identity clear. It had been hidden on earth to that point. Jesus had begun to tell them about his coming death and that being his disciple meant having to take up their own cross to follow him. Consequently, now it became vital to impress on them the certainty of his identity as the Son of God, who was calling them to follow him to death. The sudden announcement of death was a shocking twist on his future and theirs. They had thought they were on the road with him as the Messiah to rule the world. They had even argued over who would occupy the prime position next to him. Their witness of the transfiguration of Jesus into the glory of his being was the vivid statement of his identity that they could hold onto with certainty no matter what trial they faced in the future.

There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. (Matthew 17:2)

The blinding light of the glory of the being of Jesus, when seen unhindered, could never be forgotten by them. Peter later referred to this event to build certainty in the divine identity of Jesus for new believers undergoing suffering for his Name.

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories, when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (2 Peter 1:16)

John in his twilight years again saw this brilliant glory of the resurrected Jesus and fell on his face,

In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. (Revelation 1:16-17)

In the last days, the glory of Christ’s being will be seen throughout the earth as he descends.

People will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from the fearful presence of the Lord and the splendour of his majesty when he rises to shake the earth. (Isaiah 2:19)

One judgement day, all people will see the glory of the being of God. The life of every person will be exposed before that glory. Jesus warned,

There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. (Luke 12:2-3)

The glory of God’s position

The glory of God’s position is different to the glory of his being. It is the glory attributed to any sovereign by their subjects. Uninterrupted angelic praise was given by angelic hosts around the throne to God from eternity and at creation. He was the Father, the Word and the Spirit, a being of indivisible unity and infinite love, engaged in creation.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5)

By his creative act, God is Sovereign over all his creation. From his position as Creator, he receives glory from all his creation as their recognised Sovereign. At his sovereign throne the seraphim call to one another,

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." (Isaiah 6:3)

Around the throne the four living creatures never stop saying,

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come". (Revelation 4:8)

Snapshots in the Book of Revelation show the return of Jesus to this setting, having accomplished the salvation of "people from every tribe and language and people and nation". He receives the thunderous praise of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand encircling the throne with the living creatures and the elders saying in a loud voice:

"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
  to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
  and honour and glory and praise!"

This is the honour, and glory, and praise given to returned Generals when they are exalted before their nation in various award ceremonies after a great victory over the enemy. For the victory over Satan as the Lamb slain, Jesus continues to hear every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power, for ever and ever!"

After his ascension, Jesus received the glory of his exalted position in heavenas the slain Lamb in concert with the glory received by his Father as sovereign over all creation. Here the deity of the Jesus as the Lamb is fully recognised, whereas the deity of Jesus as Saviour on earth remains largely rejected and his unity with the Father not comprehended. A return to this glory of his position shared with the glory of his Father was the hope set before Jesus as he prayed,

"Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you…"

Perhaps Peter refers to the most treasured glory of position received by Jesus when describing his transfiguration on the mountain,

He received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. (2 Peter 1:17-18)

This was the glory of sonhood attributed by a father upon a son by his love and pleasure. It is possibly the most powerful glory any son can receive. To hear a father say, "Well done my son", goes to the heart and gives a sense of glory. Many sons do not receive this glory from their father. Love is absent or displeasure dominates the treatment of the son by the father. The same is true for daughters. The ringing endorsement of Jesus by his Father from Majestic Glory would have firmed his desire to go through the hell he was about to endure. He would do it for his Father who loved him and wanted us to share that love with him. Love from his Father drove Jesus to love us to the end to fulfil his Father’s desire. He would one day again be beside his Father sharing his glory having accomplished the will of his Father to provide the Way for any person cleansed of sin to have access to his throne room.

The work defined

2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Here Jesus gives a precise description of the saving work he exercised under the authority of his Father. The work of Jesus was, and still is, to give eternal life to those given to him by his Father. He was given the authority to give it and still has that authority. Jesus always saw himself as the authorised representative of the Father giving eternal life to those who the Father had chosen. They become new spiritual creations of the Father empowered by the indwelling presence of his Holy Spirit. It follows that if anyone dispenses with Jesus as the giver of eternal life authorised by his Father, then they dispense with ever receiving eternal life. There is no other way set by God to receive eternal life. As Jesus claimed, "I am the way, the truth and the life… "

What is this eternal life God wanted Jesus to give to those given to him? How does Jesus define it?

3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Jesus defines it here as knowing the true God and Jesus Christ. Eternal life is defined by a relationship with God and Jesus. It is not just knowing about God and Jesus. There are many courses that can be taken to learn about God and Jesus. Seeking to know about God and Jesus by study can never acquire eternal life. Eternal life is the knowing that grows ever richer in a relationship of love and trust, and only there. That is why Jesus challenged the scholars of his day,

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. (John 5: 39-40)

These scholars had cut off any possibility of finding eternal life by their conscious choice to reject Jesus. He exposed their self-deception in choosing a vocation to become experts in theology for their own pride and position’s sake, while rejecting a relationship with the Theos as the subject of their theo-logy. From this closed heart stance, the best they could ever achieve was an intellectual attempt to explain an infinite being from a finite mind. They could theorise about the God they described but never know him.

Knowing a person comes by an extended open relationship based on love and trust. Knowing God and Jesus happens the same way. God is eternal in being. God as Creator is life eternal. Eternal life is God. Eternal life is God in his diversity of Father and Son existing as Spirit bonded by love with indivisible unity based on complete trust. To be given this eternal life is to be graced with a relationship with the eternal Spirit of God through Jesus in response to trusting him and asking him to become the Lord of our life. Then Eternal Life operates within us to transform us into the image of his Son. Eternal life is his Spirit building a relationship with our spirit by joining with our spirit, teaching us to know him, trust in him and obey him in the work he directs us to do. The more we listen and obey, the more we know him as Father, Son and Spirit. The more we live in Eternal Life. The more we also come to know ourselves as unified spirit, soul and body.

Note that this is much more than everlasting life, i.e., life that lasts forever. When most people think of life after death, they think in terms of time that lasts forever. They are stuck perceiving life after death in terms of a never-ending pleasant existence. They cannot perceive of it as an ever-growing relationship of knowing God, because they do not have one now. That is why the good deeds of a dead person are often the focus of praise at funerals, while any presentation of their relationship with God is missing. ‘Good blokes’ go to heaven is the assumption. In fact, many are indignant if it is suggested that a good bloke, who rejected anything to do with a relationship to Jesus, will not go to heaven. A time measure is far different to a relationship measure. God uses a relationship measure in giving eternal life and perpetuating it. Those who use a time measure have no idea of eternal life. They have no idea of a vibrant relationship with the eternal God which is eternal life.

Eternal life is so important that we must each personalise the question, "Do I have this eternal life as Jesus described it?" It is God’s will that you do. Therefore, he brings across your path those who are doing his will to complete his work by presenting to you the eternal life that is available to receive by trust in Jesus.

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:40)

We need to personalise the question further, "Will he raise me up on my last day, which I am aware can happen anytime? To what will he raise me up? What destination? What clear evidence do I have for my answer? Furthermore, will he raise me up on the Last Day? That is God’s desire.

In summary, Jesus began his prayer revealing the focus of his heart on his hour, his work and his glory. He had completed his work of declaring and demonstrating the arrival of the kingdom of God and now longed for his return to his original glory in heaven. Our prayers express the same passion of our hour, our work and our glory when our hearts are aligned with Jesus. When these are missing, we have not yet discovered the reason for our existence on earth.

1 "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you…"

4 "…I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began".

Jesus prays for his disciples (vv. 6 – 19)

Introduction

After requesting to be restored to his original glory, Jesus turns his prayer to the disciples. He describes their choosing by the Father and the status of their spiritual understanding. Jesus then asks the Father to protect them after he leaves. He loved them. He wanted them protected. They had stayed with him sharing in his work. After many had left as the opposition to Jesus increased, these had remained. He had been with them sharing in their lives. They had grown close. He knew what they would face after he left. He had warned them that they would be hated and persecuted just as he had been, because they were no longer in the world. They had been chosen out of it. They had begun to taste and see that the Rule of God was far different to the world. It was a Rule of Love. They too would lose their lives in due course for proclaiming Jesus as the Saviour of the world. Accordingly, he prayed about their knowledge, their choosing, their obedience and protection as they continued his work.

6 I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

Their knowledge

Jesus presents to his Father the status of the spiritual knowledge of his disciples. They had grasped the relationship between himself and his Father. They could not receive this knowledge spending days in a library pouring over books. They acquired spiritual knowledge that can only be grasped by a heart open to God’s revelation of spiritual truth in the context of an enduring relationship of trust.

7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; 8 for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

What had they come to know spiritually? 1) They knew that Jesus had come from the Father. 2) They knew that he was sent by the Father. 3) They knew that the words he spoke to them had come from the Father. The knowing of a person comes through an intimate relationship developed over time. Knowing about a person needs no relationship and can be gain through accumulating information. The full identity of a person can never be known by study. It can only come through intimate relationship. Jesus made it possible for his disciples to know him through intimate relationship over three years. They were now able to receive and trust his words, including his instruction that they would be hated by many and called to die for him. They were ready for him to leave them. They had witnessed first-hand his countless miracles, his power over the environment, his love for the unlovely and the unique truth of his teaching. After three years the disciples had arrived at a sufficient knowing of Jesus to be ready to declare boldly, without any doubts, his identity as the Son of God and his saving work for mankind on the Cross. They had come to know him and to know him sufficiently to know he would be with them facing any trial, including death, on his behalf. Jesus could now hand over his work to them and leave.

Similarly, every person wanting to know the full identity of Jesus can only do so by choosing to entrust their life fully to him as the Son imbued with the authority of his Father to give eternal life to whoever trusts him. All subsequent spiritual knowledge, which manifests the quality of the eternal God’s life flows from this foundation of knowing Jesus. Conversely, all other presentations of spiritual understanding detached from Jesus are imitations devoid of the eternal life of God.

In summary, we can only arrive at the same certainty as the disciples of the identity of the Father and his Son Jesus and their saving work from the context of choosing to enter into a relationship of enduring trust with God anointed by his Spirit taking up residence within us. As John points out,

…as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. (1 John 2:27)

Remaining in him with enduring trust is the only place to gain spiritual knowledge. John’s exhortation is given in the continuous present tense. In other words, he is urging the new believers in Christ to remain continually in him. He had learned this from Jesus speaking the words the Father had given him,

If you remain (continuously) in me and I in you, you will bear (continuously ) much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

Without the continuous anointing of the resurrected life of Jesus upon us and in us, we know nothing of God the Father, Son and Spirit and can do nothing of his work. We may know about God but never know him. We may be fully capable to do all kinds of charitable works on this earth, but by ourselves we cannot do any work that lasts forever. Jesus made it clear: separated from the Spirit of Jesus we cannot initiate ANYTHING of eternal value. This is an offense to the pride of many, but it is eternal spiritual reality, which is the eternal nature of God himself.

Their choosing

Jesus prays specifically for those whose identity is greater than the world can create in anyone, even the most famous. He prays for those given to him by his Father from the world. That is how he described their identity. His prayer for them gives every disciple of Jesus, who fully associates with him, insight into their exalted identity.

6 I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

Our starting residence is the world. Everyone is born into it. Everyone’s identity is forged by it, beginning with the influence of parents from earliest years to the messages of the culture through education and media. We adapt these messages to suit our own comfort. This includes our view of any god, which we shape into the image that we want to satisfy our desires. This world is the whole system of thought and behaviour created by mankind separated from God. We create our own identity in it and are moulded by and reinforced by it.

In stark contrast, Jesus prays for those whose identity is chosen by God and equipped by God. Jesus states that they are God’s personal possession. "They were yours". Before anything, the identity of a follower of Jesus is that of the personal possession of God. There is no more powerful sense of identity than to know we are God’s own possession. We are his choice. He has placed his value on us when we would otherwise have no spiritual value. Once we grasp that we are first and foremost God’s choice, we gain gratitude for how we have been created and more readily accept ourselves. We have a desire to obey God’s word, because he owns us. We do not own ourselves with the freedom to do as we like. Our relationship with God is an obeying relationship based on trust.

…you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

The world preaches freedom and exalts the individual over obedience to God’s word. God expects obedience. Adam and Eve chose to disobey and brought mankind into bondage to sin from then on. By comparison, Jesus tells his Father that his chosen disciples had obeyed his words just as he had.

To what extent have you considered that you are not a free agent to do whatever you like with your life? How do you think about choosing a vocation? Do you consider that your life is yours for the making just how you want it to be? Does your choice give any consideration to being a possession of God with the need to follow his plan for your life? Are you asking him to guide you in the significant decisions for your life?

When we value being chosen by God, we seek his plan not ours. The extent to which I make my choices without reference to God is the extent to which I devalue his choosing of me.

Their obedience

…you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

This is quite an assessment of the disciples made by Jesus and claimed before his Father. We read of the failures of the disciples as they followed Jesus. We would not have said at first glance that they had kept the words of the Father given through Jesus. The assessment by Jesus is surprising. It needs a closer look. Let us start with Peter.

Peter seemed to have a willing heart, but he impulsively reacted to situations, sometimes inappropriately. Jesus had on one occasion to rebuke him, "Get behind me Satan". Later he had to command Peter to put away his sword after attempting to repel the lynching mob that came to arrest his Master in the Garden. After his passionate boast that he would be alongside Jesus to the end, although the others would let Jesus down, Peter famously denied Jesus three times with curses to a group huddled around the fire in the high priest’s courtyard. To curse about a loved one is a deep betrayal. Nevertheless, at the first opportunity he ran to Jesus through water to reunite.

What about the other disciples? Judas is the clear failure with greed leading him to betrayal his Master. The sons of Zebedee argued among themselves who would sit at the right hand of Jesus in his coming kingdom. The disciples with their racial prejudice sought to prevent Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman at the well not seeing that she would become the first evangelist to Gentiles. He saw into her heart where they didn’t. These are just a few examples of the stumbling frailty of the disciples.

How then could Jesus pray, "they have kept your word"? Their natural passions and limited spiritual understandings certainly threw sin up to the surface of their lives. They were sinners. They were not yet the new creation Paul says we become once the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us. They had experienced Jesus with them over three years, but the Holy Spirit was not yet in them. Even so, what Jesus told them to do, they obeyed. That is the main point.

His words were the words given to him by the Father for them. He mentored them using the Father’s teaching, while demonstrating how the Kingdom of God operates and what it looks like compared to the kingdom of the world. The world had been the territory of their life since they were born. They operated within it. Even so, the Father knowingly gave Jesus followers, who had the quality of obedience that would not break at the point of facing execution. They were committed to obey the command of Jesus to go into the entire world and make disciples of all nations to the point of losing their lives. Even Thomas, who said that he would not believe in the resurrection of Jesus unless he could see the nail prints in his hands, headed East to India at the cost of his life. (His obedience reached me after an operation in hospital, when I asked an Indian post-operative specialist, who was sent to monitor my recovery, how he came to have the name, "Titus". He told me that he grew up in a village on a trade route from the Middle East to India. Thomas stayed in the village until his Hindu ancestors gave their lives to Jesus. Generations later, this medical specialist was named after the Titus mentored by Paul. It was as if the obedience of Thomas and Paul had stepped into my hospital room generations later.) Thomas obeyed. He kept the Father’s word.

What then do we learn from this assessment of the disciples by Jesus? It focuses us on our heart and the extent to which it is open to doing his will. Taking Jesus to be the Lord of our life is a heart choice enacted by our will. It does not bring perfection. It brings Jesus close. An intellectual choice keeps him at a distance from the heart. The smartest theologian can have a closed heart. We obey the Holy Spirit within us from our heart. The apostles made the heart choice to follow Jesus as their Lord. Later they were filled with the Holy Spirit, who empowered their heart choice.

…you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

Many other disciples started and turned away when the teaching and challenge of following became too tough. (John 6:66) Theirs was not a heart choice prepared to put self aside to accept God’s rule. The apostles, however, left their families to do what Jesus said. They were not perfect. They were committed from their heart, and that produced resolve in their will. They went two by two from village to village preaching the coming of the kingdom of God, healing the sick and casting out spirits by the power of God given to them. They obeyed because they trusted Jesus and his authority.

Paul did the same, and yet he wrote honestly about his struggle with sin. The things that he did not want to do he ended up doing and vice-versa. He was not perfect. He still fought sin, but he was committed to obey Jesus with an open heart of full trust in him. Paul later joined the small band of followers about who Jesus could pray,

…you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

John also obeyed. Yet he still sinned. He wrote that anyone who says that they do not sin deceives themself and make God out to be a liar. The point is not that we still sin. The point is, as John proclaims, the good news is that Jesus provides a way to deal with our sin.

…if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2)

We cannot take on Jesus as insurance for everlasting life when having no desire for eternal life, which is him. We cannot insure the nature of our existence forever when we want nothing to do with the nature of our relationship with Jesus now. We make a heart choice to strive to know him as eternal life by surrendering all that we are to him. Our life is no longer our own. The Spirit of God breathes upon our spirit to make us a new creation of life cast in the image of Christ to do the work of the Father as he did. We make a heart choice, which goes beyond an intellectual choice, to give him our entire life, so that we can build an intimate relationship of love based on trust and unity with him. It is this relationship that becomes the context for increasingly killing off the place of sin in our lives. Jesus is our living Advocate in heaven. His righteousness becomes our righteousness. Our sins are covered by his blood sacrifice and forgiven. His eternal life becomes our life. Paul could therefore say about this intimate relationship, "For me to live is Christ".

These examples of obedience leave us with the question, "Am I willing to surrender all that I am and want in order to receive eternal life as the knowing of Christ in a relationship with him?" Once made, we become motivated to obey every request of us by his Father, through the Spirit of Christ living within. We obey as Jesus obeyed and the apostles obeyed even though they continually needed to seek forgiveness for sins they knew about and those that escaped their recognition. Jesus could truthfully say,

They were yours; you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word.

Their future protection

Jesus had prayed for his future in heaven after leaving earth, i.e., glory for him so that he could give glory to the Father. At this point, he turned his thoughts to the disciples given to him. The depth of his love for them is seen by his prayer for their future.

9 I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. (vv.9-11)

Jesus saw that his work for the Father was completed. He therefore saw himself as being no longer in the world, although he had not yet left it physically. He was no longer interacting with it seeking to reveal the coming kingdom. His attention was now turned to positioning himself in the role of the silent sacrifice choosing to go to the cross for the sins of the world. His disciples on the other hand were still in the world having to deal with its constant influences. In his mind, Jesus had brought his disciples to the place of being able to carry on the work of the Father. As a result, they would be attacked as he had been attacked by Satan working through hearts controlled by him.

Protection and unity

Jesus knew what Satan’s persistent attack was like and knew that a unified resistance was needed to withstand it. He and the Father were one. The protection of Jesus by the Father operated as he listened to the Father and did only what the Father told him and showed him. Withdrawing from others to be alone with the Father was critical to Jesus keeping in step with the Father’s plans. He needed to hear the eternal "throb of his Father’s heart" and have his own heartbeat in step with its rhythm. In unity with the Father, he could hear his plans clearly. With that unity, Jesus acted where his Father was acting at the moment. Only then could he act with his Father’s authority using his name. Jesus healed the sick and cast out demons from that position of unity and authority. His power came from that position of unity, because it was the power of the Sovereign of all creation. It was the power that created all material existence from nothing and continues to control it. The crowds flocked to him, because they saw and heard of this authoritative power coming from him.

A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

(Luke 6: 17-19)

Jesus prayed for disciples to receive the same power of the name that protected him, when he walked in unity with his Father. Then they could maintain the same level of unity experienced by him and his Father. That was the heart of Jesus for his followers now expressed in his prayer:

Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.

Protection and the Name

Satan kept attacking Jesus but could never defeat him, while he walked in unity with his Father exercising his authority. Jesus knew that his disciples could only survive while living in the same unity with the Father. They could only survive operating from the position of the Father’s authority by keeping in step with his will and exercising it at every moment. As a result, Jesus prayed,

11 Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

Jesus had protected the disciples for three years using the name "Jesus" given to him by the Father. Now his request was for the Father to protect them also with that name. Jesus knew that the disciples would finish the work given to each of them, while they remained protected in the world by the power of the name given by the Father. Without it, Satan would divide them. Jesus would no longer be in the world to protect them from Satan’s onslaughts and keep them together as one. Therefore, he asked the Father to continue to protect them by his name. He wanted them to have the joy of completion within themselves that comes from unity with the Father, just as he had experienced it while he carried on the works of the Father in a hostile world. Accordingly, he prayed,

13 But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.

Those who carry the name today continue to live with this inner joy of completion as a result of walking in unity with the Spirit of God within them. There is no better place. We have to stop and take this in: there is no better place! It is the place desired by God and his Son for us. Joy is one of the resulting benefits produced in our spirit by the Holy Spirit,

…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5: 22-23)

Such people manifesting these fruits of the Spirit in their character walk in freedom. They no longer need a law to be a boundary on their behaviour. Their desire to walk in unity with the Spirit of God is their boundary. They become the happiest people on earth sustained by the joy of their spirit.

The Name of Jesus

Since the ascension of Jesus, the name the Father gave to Jesus to do his works has become ours to use. God has established the name of Jesus to be the highest, most powerful name of authority in spiritual realms. Paul prayed for the Ephesian followers of Jesus to become aware of

…his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1: 20-21)

Jesus is now the name that thwarts any and every destructive spiritual power in the heavenly realms, which seeks to enslave people on earth. This name is available to every disciple who continues to walk within and from the eternal unity of the Father, Son, and the Spirit living in them. In other words, it is available to those who continue to live in eternal life. It is not a label to wield for self-interest, which has broken away from that unity. Some calling themselves "Christian" continue to use the name of Jesus for self-interest with attempted displays of power. In doing so, they put themselves in a dangerous place with powers of darkness and propagate deception among their followers. Satan is immediately aware when the name of Jesus is not used from the foundation of a living, indivisible unity with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The seven sons of Sceva, the Jewish chief priest of Ephesus, immediately found this out when they attempted to copy Paul ministering in the name of Jesus.

Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?" Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. (Acts 19:13-16)

They used the name of Jesus as a magical label and not as the source of power that comes from living in unity with him. Jesus made it clear, "Abide in me… for without me you can do nothing".

Sanctification and truth

As Jesus continued his prayer, he repeated his request for the Father to protect those given to him. They were already registering hatred from the world, because they had fully aligned themselves with Jesus to do the works of the Father. They needed continual protection from the hatred and attacks. Therefore, Jesus asks again for them to be protected by his Father.

14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.

Jesus had equipped his disciples with the words of the Father for the works of the Father. These words of truth had become their new mindset. This was not the mindset of the world that lives by distortions of truth alienated from the truth of the Father. Theirs was now the mindset of being set apart from the world so that they could minister to the world. They could never again be at home in the world. They no longer belonged to it.

The disciples needed continual enlightenment by the truth to keep them walking in unity with the Father, while facing the constant pull of the world that surrounded them and sought to control them and divert them subtly into the shadows. Accordingly, Jesus asked the Father to set them apart in the truth. They needed the truth constantly revealed to them and applied to them.

17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

For separation from the world and its mindset, i.e., sanctification from the world, constant exposure to the Word of God is essential. Without it, we slowly absorb the messages of the culture around us. Only God’s Word can sustain the uncompromised sanctification of a disciple for God’s sake that is essential for doing works of the Father in his power.

The sanctification of Jesus himself enabled the disciples to be sanctified. He had to set himself apart from the pull of the world and choose to go to the Cross to provide a path of sanctification for the disciples and any sinner who chooses to be united with him. Jesus prayed,

18 As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Jesus was sent into the world to preach repentance for the Kingdom of God is at hand, i.e., on the doorstep. His disciples joined with him in that mission using the power of the name given to them to heal and cast out demons. They preached the kingdom of God at hand and demonstrated it with signs and wonders as Jesus had. He sent them into the world in the same way he had been sent into the world by the Father.

Jesus himself was now on the doorstep of setting himself apart in obedience to go to the Cross so that Rule of God could come to those who trusted him with their life. His declaration to the Father, for their sakes I sanctify myself, was his statement to the Father that he had settled his choice to set himself apart to face the cross for their sakes. This would be the greatest act of sanctification in history. No other martyrdom or cloistered life in any other religion of the world can be compared to it, because no other life can be offered up to take the judgement for the sins of every human for all of time. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus confirmed this choice to the Father, "not what I will, but what you will." (Mark 14:36) Then he sanctified himself by submitting in silence and offering no resistance to his crucifixion for the sins of the world.

He was oppressed and afflicted,
  yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
  and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
  so he did not open his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)

He sanctified himself so that his disciples could be sanctified in submitting to the truth. As the silent lamb led to his slaughter, he became the Lamb of God who took away the sins of his disciples and set them apart to be sanctified from the world to the truth, which he declared himself to be.

Jesus prays for the unity of all believers (vv. 20-26)

Unity and belief

Having prayed for the disciples, who had become his companions in doing the works of the Father, Jesus turned his mind to all those who will choose to believe the message about him thereafter. In so doing, his prayer elaborated on the nature of the oneness he desired for all believers. This is no ordinary unity. Jesus first explains the nature of this unity (vv. 20 – 21), then and how it is created (vv. 22- 23).

20 "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

To understand the nature of the unity Jesus requested for those to become his disciples down through the ages, we have to examine how he described his unity with his Father, because he asked for our unity to be the same. He was not asking for organisational unity such as required in Christian denominational structures. That is not the unity between the Father and the Son. Their unity is relational. "In" is the key word used by Jesus to describe their unity.

We have to understand how the Father is in Jesus, and he is in the Father, because that is the unity Jesus prayed for us. This is a two-way unity in God. When we look at Jesus, we see the Father in him. As we look at the Father we see Jesus in him. Such a unity is indivisible whichever way it is considered. It is bound together by eternal love and trust. It is indivisible, unified identity that is the expression of living, eternal love. Because God is Spirit, we must remember that this is indivisible, unified, spiritual identity. It is what theologians attempted to describe by creating the label ‘Trinity’ as the best analytical explanation of God that language could offer. Many seek to defend or attack the label without seeking to understand Jesus as he described himself. They miss seeing the unified spiritual identity of God expressed by "in". They focus on demonstrating unity of religion within denominational structures, which looks fractious to the world, and no longer focus on the unity of spiritual life in God that enables the world to believe that the Father sent the Son to be our Saviour.

When Jesus prayed to his Father for future believers to be in the Father and the Son to the extent that they are in each other, he was praying for every believer to enter into their indivisible unity. That is where he invites us to reside. That is our intended home. Adam enjoyed this unity with God when made in the image of God. He originally lived in the indivisible unity of pure love and trust in God. That is what Adam surrendered, and that is what Jesus came to restore. Paul describes this restored position of the believer as being "now hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3) "Hidden" is invisible and protected; "with" is united companionship; "in" is intimacy. This is the only place unity with God is found. Paul understood that because he chose to be identified fully with the death and resurrection of Jesus. His self and its control of his life had died. His spirit had been given new life through union with Christ in a renewed intimacy with God and protected by him. This is the unity Jesus prayed for his disciples.

As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us…

What was the purpose of Jesus asking for future believers to participate in this unity of God? It was so that the world may come to believe that he was sent by the Father.

As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

In other words, it is the nature of this relationship of unity expressed through the life of believers that produces belief in the divine identity of Jesus and his saving mission. It is this unity that transcends the limitations of the mind and produces spiritual sight that can grasp what is otherwise inexplicable. It has the power of God to bring spiritual sight and salvation. The God of all creation became a man so that we could see him up close and grasp the immensity of his love taking the righteous judgement for our sins on the cross that we might go free. The disciples were the first to live up close to Jesus, in order that they might grasp the inexplicable unity of him and the Father as the one God of their forefathers and the prophets. Their continued unity founded in God and between each other was the foundation for their mission to go into the entire world to make disciples of Jesus. The early groups of believers continued in this unity meeting from house to house, listening to the apostles’ teaching, and eating their meals together acknowledging the presence of the Spirit of the resurrected Jesus at their table. It is nurturing this unity that is the call for believers today so that the deity of Christ can be seen again in all his glory by the world that does not see him in church structures and rituals.

Satan is not perturbed by loud preaching and dogmatic teaching in institutional churches that seeks to exalt the messenger above the Saviour. His greatest concern is the power released and the truth seen when believers live together who have committed to the unity of God living in them and choosing for it to be portrayed collectively through them. Such dynamic, relationship-based life lived in the truth that sets us free, transcends all the theological debates and denominational tribalism that block any sight of the Son of God. It is the light of unity that transforms good deeds into works of love that are empowered by God’s Spirit. It is this light that enables the world to see the love of God and glorify him in heaven rather than glorify the benefactors.

Glory and love

22 I have given them the glory that you gave me,that they may be one as we are one — 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Jesus wanted more than the world seeing him do the Father’s works. He wanted more than those who looked to him to enter into a spiritual unity with him, the Father and each other. He wanted God’s glory to be seen. That was the highest aim for himself expressed at the beginning of his prayer,

1 Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

It was also his aim for unity of the disciples based in the unity of his relationship with his Father. For this reason, he gave to the disciples the glory of God’s being that had been given to him as he worked in unity with his Father doing his works. This gifted glory would give an added dimension to the unity of the disciples and all who followed. Jesus told the Father that he had given this glory to his disciples to bring them into complete unity, i.e., into a full dimension of unity.

Spiritual oneness based in God, plus the light of God’s glory upon and within believers in Christ, illuminates non-believers with the possibility of moving from knowing about Jesus to knowing him as the expression of God’s love for them. There is no more powerful way for the world to grasp the extent of the love of God for them. This full dimension of unity between believers becomes the medium and message of salvation in Jesus. The added gift of God’s glory of being within and between believers unified by God’s Spirit enables searching unbelievers to grasp the nature of God’s love extended to them when they become one with Jesus.

Every believer, who has grasped in their spirit the eternal unity between the Father as Spirit and his Son, receives a confident spiritual awareness of love their Creator has for them. This knowing in the depth of one’s being overwhelms us and results in spontaneous praise to God and gratitude for being given the privilege of eternal life in him. It enables the believer to rest in the knowledge that they are complete in the love of God. It remains steady in every storm. They need not add anything to God for their completeness. They need not seek some other mystical experience. Jesus taught his disciples continually to maintain their unity in him and with him, and to keep his command to copy his love. Then their joy would be resident within them and complete.

If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

(John 15:10 – 12)

Paul grasped the reality of what Jesus prayed to the Father in this final prayer before his departure to the cross. He stated,

My goal is that they (believers) may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ… (Colossians 2:2)

Unity of the believer with the Father, Son and Spirit in the believer, and the believer in them, is the living relationship that unites believers in love and opens up the treasure chest of complete understanding, which brings knowledge of the mystery of God. Instead of seeking a mystical experience as a way to God, Paul urged believers in Jesus to stay united in love as their base for coming to know more of the full riches of Christ as the mystery of God. This growth in knowledge is totally relationship based, beginning with the Father and the Son, the believer and God and extended to others chosen by him.

Glory and love completed

After praying for the unity of believers enriched by the glory given to them, Jesus turned his mind to what was in the depth of his heart and for which he longed. He prayed,

24 Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

The twelve were about to take the lead in continuing the works of the Father. Jesus was leaving them, but he carried in his heart a love for them that reached into eternity beyond his immediate, and their later, departure from this world. His heart was already there for them.

Jesus wanted his chosen followers to see the eternal glory of his being that had always been the gift of his Father’s love. I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word. He wanted this also for all who would follow as his disciples.

For that to happen, Jesus asked the Father for them to be with him always in eternity. They had partnered with him in doing the works of the Father. Future believers would also partner with him by taking on his command to go into the entire world to make disciples. They too would face the unrelenting attacks of Satan. They too would need the protection of unity with the Father, himself and the Spirit binding them together in love. He prayed for them to see the glory of his being in eternity. They had followed with only three of them seeing one glimpse of it on the mountain and all of them seeing it as he ascended into heaven. Now Jesus wanted them to see the glory of his being, completed by the glory of his newly won sovereign position in heavenly realms, far above every authority in heaven and on earth.

Knowing God

Jesus concludes his prayer where he started – knowing God.

3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

At the end of his prayer, Jesus expands on the knowing that is eternal life by linking it with unity.

25 "Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

He reaffirms to his Father that he knows him. He has continued in an eternal, undivided relationship of love and purpose with his Father, whereas the world has no knowledge of God in this way. In contrast, Jesus claims that the disciples given to him by the Father had come to know that he was sent by the Father into the world. They witnessed evidence for this over 3 years in hundreds of situations. In other words, they had spiritually grasped the identity and work of Jesus through their relationship with him over the past three years. Jesus had made known the name of the Father to them by them watching the relationship between Jesus and the Father in action. They had witnessed the supernatural power released by Jesus acting in continual obedience to his Father in authoritative teaching, miracles of healing and constant love. They had watched in action the name given to Jesus by the Father. They had even participated in it when given authority to heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead. They had witnessed its power acting through them. They knew it was not their power but the power of the name of Jesus given to them. They were amazed by it. (Luke 10:17) Jesus had made known to them experientially the name that had been given to him.

Then looking to future generations, Jesus commits to the Father that he will continue to make the name of the Father known to those who believe in him.

I made your name known to them, and I will make it known…

Every person who lives in the unity with the Father and the Son continues to grow dynamically in knowing the Father and the Son through the inner workings of the Holy Spirit. Such believers of Jesus experience the power of his name in every situation where they seek to walk in unity with him.

Here then is the fulfilment of God’s love. He sent Jesus to be our Saviour, because of his love for us. Jesus died for us, because of his love for the Father, and for us. The goal of this love is for us to enter into the indivisible unity of God himself once enjoyed by Adam and Eve. Paul expressed the result of this work of the Father and Son as follows,

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

From that empowered position, each believer continues the outreach of God’s love to all who will listen, trust and receive the love of God to work in them to transform them into the image of Jesus. One that high note, Jesus finished his prayer.

I made your name known to them, and I will make it known

26 so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.

Jesus prayed for God’s love to be resident within all believers embodied as his living, unified eternal presence. That is the highest miracle of love God can give to any searching person and that any believer can introduce to another by leading that person to receive by faith God’s gift of his eternal presence in Jesus.

On that high note, Jesus set his face towards his crucifixion for all humanity for all times.

When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it. (18:1)

  1. Refer to comments on 10:37-38 ↩︎