June 22, 2020 at 3:11 pm | Posted in Biblical prayer, John | 10 Comments
Tags: Biblical prayers, chosen by God, commentary on John, High Priestly Prayer, John 17, knowing God, prayers of Jesus, Sunday School lessons on John, the Disciples, the Lord's prayer
The prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4 is commonly referred to as “The Lord’s Prayer,” but it is really a model prayer which Jesus taught to His disciples as an example of how THEY ought to pray. He would not have prayed this prayer for Himself. However, John Chapter 17 is a prayer that Jesus DID in fact pray for Himself and His disciples. As far back as the mid- to late-1500s this prayer (possibly given the name by theologian David Chytraeus) has been known as “The High Priestly Prayer.” If anyone asked me (and they haven’t!), I would call John 17 “The Lord’s Prayer,” and give the other one a different name. I hope that you appreicate the awesome privilege of being able to permissively eavesdrop on this amazing moment of loving intimacy, intercession, and insight between the eternal Son and the eternal Father.
John 17 is a chapter of the Bible which inspires special solemnity and humility and worship.
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:
John 17:1
This possibly took place while Jesus and the Disciples were still in the upper room, or they might have already started making their way to the Garden of Gethsemane. The word “glory” or “glorified” is used eight times in the prayer, and five of them are in the first five verses. Was it egocentric for Jesus to ask God to glorify Him? No, the Father and Son share the glory that the Son receives in His Incarnation, His Crucifixion, His Resurrection, His Ascension, and His Exaltation.
As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
John 17:2
In the opening verses He prayed for Himself. He spoke directly to the Father, but He spoke of Himself in the third person. This indicates that Jesus was praying personally, but still formally, and with an awareness that this was a semi-public prayer, and that the Disciples were listening and were supposed to be listening, and that this would become inspired Scripture – to be read by us even today.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
John 17:3-5
Here eternal life is defined as “knowing” God, so it can’t mean a mere intellectual grasp that the Biblical God is the correct God. It is a personal, intimate knowledge. Those who are in Christ, as shown in I Corinthians, are the “Knows,” and no one can really know God in a saving way without knowing Christ.
Jesus’s love for the Father is tied to His obedience, just as our love for Jesus is tied to our obedience.
The Word had been with God, and the Word had laid aside His glory (not His Deity).
He prayed in preparation for what He was about to go through, and He prayed (not selfishly) that God would glorify Him for the glory of the Father. He asked for the return of His preincarnate glory. Then He went on to pray for His Disciples – the capital D Disciples, the ones who were with Him at the time.
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
John 17:9-11
The “world” is another major concept in this prayer, along with “glory.” If you are a Christian you were “of the world” at one time. If you are not a Christian you are still “of the world.” If you are a Christian, even though you were “of the world” before trusting Jesus, you actually secretly belonged to God. He gave you to Jesus, and Jesus prayed for you in this prayer before you were ever born. In a very real sense you were chosen by Jesus, knowing that you already belonged to God, so that Jesus could present you back to God in Him, and He would be glorified for rescuing you from a system in which you had been captive. Yet you remain “in the world,” although you are no longer “of the world,” and Jesus has prayed for your protection, that you would be kept in God’s name, and we share in the love of the Father and the Son and in their eternal covenant, not as gods ourselves, but as redeemed children eternally united to God and Christ.
This was a prayer for the Disciples’ protection and their continuance in the faith, as well as for their sanctification.
I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
John 17:14-17
He ultimately prayed also for you and me – all future Christians.
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
John 17:20-21
He prayed for our unity in the faith, and, coming back full circle to the idea of glory, that even we may be glorified with the Son and the Father.
And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
John 17:22-26
The Deep End 
The Prayer for the Chosen
June 22, 2020 at 3:11 pm | Posted in Biblical prayer, John | 10 CommentsTags: Biblical prayers, chosen by God, commentary on John, High Priestly Prayer, John 17, knowing God, prayers of Jesus, Sunday School lessons on John, the Disciples, the Lord's prayer
The prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4 is commonly referred to as “The Lord’s Prayer,” but it is really a model prayer which Jesus taught to His disciples as an example of how THEY ought to pray. He would not have prayed this prayer for Himself. However, John Chapter 17 is a prayer that Jesus DID in fact pray for Himself and His disciples. As far back as the mid- to late-1500s this prayer (possibly given the name by theologian David Chytraeus) has been known as “The High Priestly Prayer.” If anyone asked me (and they haven’t!), I would call John 17 “The Lord’s Prayer,” and give the other one a different name. I hope that you appreicate the awesome privilege of being able to permissively eavesdrop on this amazing moment of loving intimacy, intercession, and insight between the eternal Son and the eternal Father.
John 17 is a chapter of the Bible which inspires special solemnity and humility and worship.
John 17:1
This possibly took place while Jesus and the Disciples were still in the upper room, or they might have already started making their way to the Garden of Gethsemane. The word “glory” or “glorified” is used eight times in the prayer, and five of them are in the first five verses. Was it egocentric for Jesus to ask God to glorify Him? No, the Father and Son share the glory that the Son receives in His Incarnation, His Crucifixion, His Resurrection, His Ascension, and His Exaltation.
John 17:2
In the opening verses He prayed for Himself. He spoke directly to the Father, but He spoke of Himself in the third person. This indicates that Jesus was praying personally, but still formally, and with an awareness that this was a semi-public prayer, and that the Disciples were listening and were supposed to be listening, and that this would become inspired Scripture – to be read by us even today.
John 17:3-5
Here eternal life is defined as “knowing” God, so it can’t mean a mere intellectual grasp that the Biblical God is the correct God. It is a personal, intimate knowledge. Those who are in Christ, as shown in I Corinthians, are the “Knows,” and no one can really know God in a saving way without knowing Christ.
Jesus’s love for the Father is tied to His obedience, just as our love for Jesus is tied to our obedience.
The Word had been with God, and the Word had laid aside His glory (not His Deity).
He prayed in preparation for what He was about to go through, and He prayed (not selfishly) that God would glorify Him for the glory of the Father. He asked for the return of His preincarnate glory. Then He went on to pray for His Disciples – the capital D Disciples, the ones who were with Him at the time.
John 17:9-11
The “world” is another major concept in this prayer, along with “glory.” If you are a Christian you were “of the world” at one time. If you are not a Christian you are still “of the world.” If you are a Christian, even though you were “of the world” before trusting Jesus, you actually secretly belonged to God. He gave you to Jesus, and Jesus prayed for you in this prayer before you were ever born. In a very real sense you were chosen by Jesus, knowing that you already belonged to God, so that Jesus could present you back to God in Him, and He would be glorified for rescuing you from a system in which you had been captive. Yet you remain “in the world,” although you are no longer “of the world,” and Jesus has prayed for your protection, that you would be kept in God’s name, and we share in the love of the Father and the Son and in their eternal covenant, not as gods ourselves, but as redeemed children eternally united to God and Christ.
This was a prayer for the Disciples’ protection and their continuance in the faith, as well as for their sanctification.
John 17:14-17
He ultimately prayed also for you and me – all future Christians.
John 17:20-21
He prayed for our unity in the faith, and, coming back full circle to the idea of glory, that even we may be glorified with the Son and the Father.
John 17:22-26