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John 17:1-26 – This is Christ’s prayer immediately before his trial and death. Hopefully we can be drawn into God’s intentions for and toward us as we look at this this morning.
There are many thoughts in these verses.
Verses 1-5
Christ says “Glorify your Son” – this speaks of the relationship that the Father and the Son have. These verses express the intimate nature of the relationship of the Father and the Son.
What does it mean to “Glorify?” To acknowledge, to make known, to magnify. Christ asks that the Son would be made known so that the Son could in turn by HIs words and actions would reveal who the Father is. The Father and the Son are one and working together.
Christ says He has been glorifying the Father while He was on earth. He had been making the true nature of the Father known.
The Father gave the Son power, or authority, to give eternal life to people… you and I. Christ says that He is going to give eternal life to all of the people that the Father is going to give him. This speaks of the Fathers intention and active involvement in each persons coming to Christ and coming to the Father.
A person becomes a believer because the Father desires that. We cooperate and respond to the work of the Holy Spirit and the actions of God. There is a response of receiving.
This is a look at the desires of God, and Gods intentions towards us. This is a precious thing, that God desires for us to belong to Him. He “wants” us. He “wants” you!
“This is eternal life… to know the Father and the Son.” What kind of knowing or knowledge is this? It isn’t just a knowing of facts, Jesus is praying about the knowledge that is gained through a relationship with the Father.
Christ expresses His work on the cross as if it was finished… even though it hadn’t happened yet. It was finished in His mind and in His heart, to finish the work that He had been sent to do. The work that would allow people to move into a relationship with the Father and the Son.
Verse 6-19
Christ manifested and revealed the Fathers person and name to the disciples. The Father “gave” the disciples to Him. The disciples have kept the “Fathers” word. This is fascinating, because in our mind the disciples were a fickle bunch of fellows. We aren’t 100 sure what all they were convinced of, believed or understood. It sounds like Christ had more confidence in the disciples than we do… or something. 🙂
Christ prays for our perseverance (and that of His disciples). Here is a unity of purpose and intention and belonging and delight between the Father and the Son. Christ is requesting that His disciples (and us) be united and in harmony, and that the Father would keep them from falling and keep them from failure.
Verse 20-26
Jesus prays specifically for you! Jesus prays that His disciples throughout history would be one, in the same way that the Father and the Son are one. This is something that hasn’t been realized, at least as far as we know. There has been a lot of disharmony in the world and even a disharmony in our hearts towards even those we love. This is a reality, and something that we are all in need of repenting of and growing in.
This is a major intention of God, that we be in harmony with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and that we be in harmony with God’s people. The more “in the Father and the Son” believers are, the more unified they will be among themselves.
Summary – Ephesians 1:3-14
- The believer is chosen, desired, wanted by God… before his or her conversion.
- God’s goal is that we have a relationship with God that the trinity has itself.
- God desires that believers have the same relationship among each other as the trinity has amongst itself.
- God has no desire to get rid of any believer. God is always working to protect and preserve and keep all who come to him.
- A deeper surrender to the God of good intentions would change our lives and our relationship with God.