CHAPTER 17

(A.D. 33)

INTERCESSION

¹These words spoke Jesus, and lifted up His Eyes to Heaven, and said (portrays in the following the longest of the Lords Prayers in the four Gospels; as well, it is the only one stated to have been prayed with the Disciples), Father, the hour is come (the time for the Redemption of man, which would be accomplished at the Cross, and which had been planned from eternity past [I Pet. 1:18-20]); Glorify Your Son (the Cross, as horrible as it was, would Glorify Christ because it would effect the Redemption of untold millions), that Your Son also may Glorify You (refers to Him taking upon Himself all the burden of human sorrow and, as well, exhausting the poison of the sting of death, which He would do at the Cross and would Glorify God):

²As You have given Him Power over all flesh (presents Christ as the Channel through which Eternal Life may be given), that He should give Eternal Life to as many as You have given Him (refers to those who meet the conditions laid down in Scripture concerning Faith [Jn. 3:16; I Tim. 2:4; II Pet. 3:9; Rev. 22:17]).

³And this is Life Eternal (proclaims the true kernel of what Eternal Life actually is), that they might know You the Only True God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You have sent (the Cross would make all of this possible!).

⁴I have Glorified You on the Earth (proclaims Christ carrying out the Will of God in all things): I have finished the Work which You gave Me to do (that Work was the Cross of Calvary; He was so much committed to that Work that He could call it done, even though its conclusion was a few hours in the future).

⁵And now, O Father, Glorify Thou Me with Thine Own Self (proclaims that all True Glory exists only in God; when Christ as God became Man, He divested Himself of that Glory) with the Glory which I had with You before the world was (a request that He would be glorified as Man with the Glory which is Eternally His as God; this prayer was answered at the Resurrection, when He came forth with a Glorified Body).

HIS DISCIPLES

⁶I have manifested Your Name unto the men which You gave Me out of the world (proclaims the fact that the Name of God was but partially and imperfectly understood before): Yours they were, and You gave them to Me (proclaims a precondition; it means that God had ordained them for this task long before they heard Jesus say, follow Me, and, no doubt, long before they were even born; the Omniscience of God can do this, without affecting the free moral agency of man); and they have kept Your Word (doesnt mean that they were perfect, but does mean that they were true to the Light).

⁷Now they have known that all things whatsoever You have given Me are of You (actually the Disciples, insensible and full of faults, and yet the Grace that loved them spoke of them in the admiring words of Verses 6 through 8).

⁸For I have given unto them the Words which You gave Me (over and over again, Jesus proclaims that He was led by the Father in all that He did, even to the very Words He spoke); and they have received them (does not necessarily mean that they understood them, at least at the time, but they did believe them, and later come to understand them), and have known surely that I came out from You (portrays the bedrock of their Faith), and they have believed that You did send Me (proclaims a core belief not only in His Person, but, as well, regarding His Mission, even though that knowledge at this time was imperfect).

UNITY

⁹I pray for them (concerns His Intercession on their behalf, and is assured of an answer): I pray not for the world (only speaks of this moment, as He, no doubt, prayed much for the world in days past; actually, His entire Ministry was the expression of the Fathers Love to the whole world [Jn. 3:16]), but for them which You have given Me (presents Grace which reveals these desires as wonderful, and the privileges that flow from His Care for His Own); for they are Thine (presents all that Jesus had and did as First belonging to the Father).

¹⁰And all Mine are Thine (proclaims total consecration in that they were the Fathers before they were His), and Thine are Mine (a man can say, all mine are Thine, but only Jesus could say, all Thine are Mine; this is a claim of perfect equality with the Father); and I am Glorified in them (the Lord is Glorified in Eternal Souls, and not in things).

¹¹And now I am no more in the world (speaks of His Mission being finished, with Him returning to the Father shortly), but these are in the world (speaks of a hostile environment, with God Alone able to keep them), and I come to You (the Ascension). Holy Father, keep through Your Own Name those whom You have given Me (this would be done by the means of the Cross, and our Faith in that Finished Work), that they may be one, as We are (one in love and unity).

¹²While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your Name (all who truly follow, referring to Faith anchored in the Cross, will be kept): those who You gave Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition (it refers to the fact that Satan tried to destroy all the Disciples, as would be obvious); that the Scripture might be fulfilled (Judas was not lost that Prophecy might come to pass, but Prophecy foretold the fact of his willful sin and lost state [Ps. 41:9; 69:25-29; 109:8; Acts 1:20-25]).

¹³And now come I to You (He set the example relative to prayer; we are meant to follow suit); and these things I speak in the world (He is praying this prayer in a hostile environment, and believes that the Fathers Care will protect them in this hostile environment), that they might have My Joy fulfilled in themselves (this would be answered on the Day of Pentecost).

¹⁴I have given them Your Word (speaks of a permanent endowment; we must live by the Word); and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world (the spirit of the world is ruled by Satan, the Prince of Darkness, so it is greatly antagonistic toward the Lord).

KEPT FROM EVIL

¹⁵I pray not that You should take them out of the world (in fact, we should be Light in the face of the darkness of this world), but that You should keep them from the evil (this is done through the Cross, and our Faith in that Finished Work).

¹⁶They are not of the world (the calling and election of all Saints have nothing to do with the world or its systems), even as I am not of the world (reflects that the servants should be like their Lord).

¹⁷Sanctify them through Your Truth (refers to the Word of God; it alone must ever be the criteria for all things): Your Word is Truth (means that the Bible does not merely contain Truth, but is Truth).

¹⁸As You have sent Me into the world (refers to a Commission which He carried out on the Cross), even so have I also sent them into the world (to preach and live the Cross [I Cor. 1:18, 23; 2:2]).

¹⁹And for their sakes I Sanctify Myself (I separate Myself unto God in order to do His Will), that they also might be Sanctified through the Truth (no one can Sanctify oneself; this is a Work of the Holy Spirit, which is carried out as the Believer evidences Faith in the Cross of Christ [Rom. 8:1-2, 11]).

BELIEVERS

²⁰Neither pray I for these alone (Jesus is speaking not only of His present Disciples, but the multitudes in all ages who would believe their Testimony), but for them also which should believe on Me through their Word (has reference to the fact that all must take the Word to others);

²¹That they all may be One (again He prays for unity among Believers, which can only be brought about by Love); as You, Father, are in Me (unity and Communion), and I in You (unity and Purpose), that they also may be One in Us (the pronoun Us proclaims the Trinity): that the world may believe that You have sent Me (proclaims the Father sending the Son into the world to save the world, and the Son sending His Disciples into the world for the same purpose).

²²And the glory which You gave Me I have given them (unity and Glory); that they may be one, even as We are One (one in Communion, Purpose, and Glory):

²³I in them, and You in Me (spoken distinctly by Christ; Jesus is the mediating link of relation between the Father and Believers), that they may be made perfect in one (all of this can be done only through the Cross); and that the world may know that You have sent Me (proclaims what this unity brings about), and have Loved them, as You have Loved Me (that God loves His People will draw more people to Christ than anything else).

²⁴Father, I will that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am (one with the Father); that they may behold My Glory, which You have given Me (pertains to the Exaltation that He will receive at His Resurrection, which was only hours away): for You Loved Me before the foundation of the world (Jesus proclaims His preexistence with the Father and, therefore, His Deity).

²⁵O Righteous Father, the world has not known You (the reason: due to the Fall, it is spiritually dead): but I have known You (pertains to far more than mere acquaintance; it speaks of relationship beyond the pale of human comprehension), and these have known that You have sent Me (refers to His Mission of Redeeming the world).

²⁶And I have declared unto them Your Name, and will declare it (they do now know, but they have more to learn, much more, which the Spirit will teach them): that the Love where with You have Loved Me may be in them, and I in them (Love is the Foundation of all which Christ speaks).