The Gospel Of John Chapter 17 Pt. 1 Jesus Prayed For The Father To Be Glorified

The prayer of Jesus Christ, our High Priest. 

John 17:1-2  These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2)  As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 

John 17 brings us to the longest prayer of Jesus that is recorded in the Bible. This  prayer follows Christ's careful teaching of His disciples, found in John 13-16.

This prayer of Jesus falls into 3 sections. 

In John 17:1-5 Jesus prays to the Father for His own needs.

In John17:6-19, Jesus prayed for His disciples.

In John 17:20-26, Jesus prayed for all believers of all generations.  

"These words" refers to Jesus teaching in the previous chapters. When His example of demonstrating servant leadership (foot washing) and all of His teaching was complete, Jesus was ready to pray. 

From the troubles of earth and time, the mind and soul are raised to thoughts of eternity. Such was the attitude of Jesus, the Son of God, as He prayed this prayer.

We hear Jesus pray in His own words.  His words are full of expectant faith, knowing that what He was asking the Father, reflected His Father’s heart and thought. 

In this prayer, the Lord speaks as if He had already passed through death, and was pleading before the throne of God in heaven. 

Jesus' prayer is that by His death, the holy law of God is magnified and made honorable among men. Also, that the death of Jesus for us might show the strictness of God's perfect justice, and the immaculate purity of His holy nature.

John 11:41  Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 

John rarely records any physical expressions of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he did in this text. Jesus lifted His eyes to heaven, to pray to His Father. 

When Jesus prayed right before raising Lazarus from the dead, He also lifted His eyes toward His Father in heaven. 

Our help comes from our heavenly Father.

Psalm 121:1-2  A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 2)  My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. 

Psalm 123:1  A Song of degrees. Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. 

The act of Jesus lifting up His eyes toward heaven is in keeping with the prayers of the Psalmist who lifted his eyes in prayer. 

Help will come from the God who created heaven and earth. He will hear the prayers of His redeemed people. 

When we pray, we look up to the heavens above, because our help comes from Jehovah. 

The world offers no help or support to a Christian. The Devil will do all he can to hinder our prayers. 

Thus, we must exert ourselves and remember that God in heaven is seated on His throne ready to hear our prayers. 

Let us remember to whom we pray. We pray to Jehovah, creator of heaven and earth, the one who dwells in heaven. 

Jesus is mere hours away from His death on the cross. 

This prayer of Christ is often called His High Priestly prayer, because Jesus fulfills the function of a priest, mediating between man and God. 

Before offering up the most important sacrifice for the sins of the people, the high priest did the following:

He washed himself and put on clean garments. Jesus did this before He washed the disciples feet. 

The high priest addressed a solemn prayer to God, and this prayer of Jesus fulfills that priestly obligation. 

Jesus was going to be crucified very soon, and thus the perfect sacrifice of the Son of God for all of mankind's sins, was about to be offered. 

Jesus' pattern for prayer.

Mark 1:35  And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. 

Sometimes, Jesus rose up early well before the sun rose, and He sought out a private, quiet place were He could pray to His Father. 

Mark 6:46  And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.

Sometimes, Jesus sent the crowds away, so that He could pray.  He found a quiet place in the mountain suitable for His prayer time with the Father.

Luke 5:16  And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed. 

In this example, Jesus separated Himself from the multitudes and went into the wilderness to pray. This would be undeveloped land, uninhabited, and uncultivated. It was desolate and isolated.

Luke 6:12  And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 

In this text, Jesus went to a mountain that was private and prayed to His Father all night long. 

Jesus prayed for the Father to glorify Him, that He might glorify the Father.

John 17:1  These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 

The words "the hour is come" refers to the moment that Jesus would die on a cruel cross. This hour of mankind's redemption from sin, was now ripe. 

As God's perfect Lamb and our Good Shepherd, Jesus would glorify His Father by being obedient even unto the death of the cross. 

This is a prayer for Jesus to be acknowledged as the promised Messiah by the Jewish people, and as the universal Savior by the Gentile world. 

It is a prayer for irrefutable proof of Christ's deity to be shown, in order to convince all mankind regarding the Savior of the world.

Philippians 2:8-11  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9)  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10)  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11)  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

This text from the inspired pen of the apostle Paul is connected to Jesus' prayer in John 17. 

Jesus humbled Himself by becoming a man, and was obedient to the Father's will to die on the cross for our sins.

Here is the glory that Jesus prayed about in John 17. The Father highly exalted His risen Son, Jesus Christ. He gave Him the most preeminent name in existence, the blessed name Jesus. 

When the name of Jesus is spoken, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. The act of submission and confession that Jesus Christ is Lord, glorifies the Father.  

Jesus prayed for many to receive the gift of eternal life. 

John 17:2-3  As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.3)  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 

The Father in heaven gave Jesus Christ all power over all flesh, such that He can and will grant eternal life to all who believe on Him. 

Who can tell how many Christians there have been since the gospel has been preached in the world? 

Only God knows, but it must be a vast, innumerable throng of sinners, saved by grace through repentant faith in Jesus Christ. 

Jesus prayed to be restored to His own place of glory next to the Father in heaven. 

Jesus prayed for strength to glorify the Father through His vicarious suffering and death on the cross. 

Jesus prayed to be able to give eternal life to all who believe on Him, whom the Father calls. 

Jesus prayed that the Father, the One, True God of heaven and earth, might be fully manifest, and His Son, Jesus Christ, who came to earth to save us from our sins.

Jesus prayed to be reunited with the Father and be glorified. 

John 17:4-5  I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5)  And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.  

Glory is mentioned 5 times in the first 5 verses of John 17. Jesus finished praying for His own needs, with words that indicate the cross death is accomplished. In His mind and soul, the work of our salvation was done, finished. 

The mighty work of mankind's redemption was fully done by Jesus. The law of God was fully satisfied, the Devil's temptations overcome, and the clear witness of God manifest in the flesh shown as brightly as it could. 

The last thing to do was for Jesus to suffer and die in our place. Jesus faithfully and obediently finished perfectly all the work the Father gave Him to do. 

The words of Jesus asking the Father to "glorify thou me with thine own self" refers to being fully united with His Father in heaven, as He was throughout eternity past, and which He had temporarily set aside for 33 years on earth. 

Thus, right before the cross, Jesus had great anticipation of being fully reunited with the Father and basking in the eternal glory of the Godhead.

Thoughts to Ponder...

As we begin studying this long prayer of Jesus, we can gather several principles to guide us.

First, Jesus prayed often. In this modern world chock full of time saving devices, it seems that we have very little spare time.

Yet, Jesus always made time to frequently pray to His Father, and so must we.

Second, Jesus always sought out places of solitude, where He could pray apart from the cares of this life. 

We too, must find a place at home, that can serve as a prayer closet, where we can pray to the Father, without distraction. 

Third, Jesus prayed to be able to glorify the Father in all that He did. We must pray for a focused mind willing to obey our God, such that we seek to live for His glory in all that we think, say and do.

Fourth, Jesus prayed that He would have strength to glorify the Father in His words and deeds. Let us also pray for strength to love and serve God at all times. 

Last, Jesus longed for the moment He would return to the Father. Let us live our lives anticipating the return of Christ, and let us pray for that kingdom of God to come.

Bob