17:1a Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven (ouranos- where the Father’s throne is), He said, Father, the hour has come.
Jesus offers up this prayer to His Father just hours before the cross. As Jesus prayed this prayer He rejoiced, knowing that He was ready to accomplish the Father’s eternal plan of redemption.
Only because we have been forgiven of our sin and clothed in the righteousness of Christ can we lift our eyes to heaven with confidence as we approach the Father’s throne of grace in prayer.
Through faith in Christ, believers are granted the same spiritual intimacy with the Father that Jesus enjoyed.
The Son, though equal with the Father, is nevertheless distinct from Him; that is, He is not a mere form or manifestation of the Father. Rather, the Son is a distinct person within the Godhead.
The hour had come in which the Son of Man would offer Himself as the perfect and only atoning sacrifice for sin.
THE SUBSTANCE OF OUR LORD’S HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER Part 1 17:1b-5
vs 1b Father, glorify(doxadzō – exalt, honor, magnify) Your Son, that the Son may glorify (doxadzō – exalt, honor, magnify) You.
Throughout the Lord’s earthly ministry He was continually “seeking the glory of the One who sent Him.” Our Lord’s birth, miracles, teaching, death and resurrection all brought glory to the Father.
Jesus came into the world to do the Father’s will and accomplish His plan of redemption for lost sinners. All the way to the end, He prayed “not my will Father, but Yours be done.”
When Jesus asked the Father, “glorify Your Son”, He was asking that the eternal plan of redemption be accomplished exactly as it had been sovereignly ordained.
The fact that the Son shares the Father’s glory affirms His deity, since God will not give His glory to another, Isaiah 42:8 I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another.
The cross displayed the Father’s glory like no other event in history. The cross revealed His righteousness, justice, and holiness in requiring the precious blood of His Son as a satisfaction for His holy wrath against sin.
At the same time, it dramatically demonstrated His grace, mercy, and love in the sending of His only Son to die for the sins of the utterly undeserving.
vs 2 even as You gave Him authority (exousia – jurisdiction, power, right) over all flesh (sarkos – all humankind), that to all whom (autos – third person personal pronoun, “to all the particular people”) You have given Him, He may give eternal life.
In keeping with God’s eternal plan of salvation, the Son was given authority over all mankind to grant eternal life to all those whom the Father had given Him.
In dying for the sins of those who would believe in Him, He was given the right to grant eternal life to them. Those who will believe in Christ are those who have been given to Him by the Father (the elect) and them alone.John 6:37-39
1. All that the Father gives the Son will come to Him. (Not might come to Him, not may come to Him, but will most assuredly come to Him).
2. No one will come to Christ who has not been given to Him by the Father. (You will never have a case of someone truly coming to Christ in repentance and faith who has not been given Him by the Father).
3. Jesus will certainly not cast out those given to Him by the Father. (A sinner who comes to Christ in faith and repentance comes because he has been given to Jesus by the Father and Jesus will never cast him away. Jesus would never reject a gift from His Father).
4. Of all that the Father has given the Son He shall lose none, but raise them up at His return on the day He comes to judge this world. There will be no one in hell for whom Christ died, for whom He shed His precious blood, for whom He made atonement of sin. You see, the cross didn’t just make salvation possible it actually procured salvation for a multitude of sinners from every tribe and language and people and nation.
5. All that the Father has given the Son will in faith embrace the Son and be given eternal life and raised up on the last day to ever be with the Lord. The Father chose a people before the foundation of the world out of Adam’s fallen race and He gave them to His Son to die for on the cross and He sent His Spirit to bring them to repentance and faith in Christ through the new birth.
Audio of Lesson
