John 17:10-12

¹⁰ "All I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine. And glory has come to Me through them. ¹¹I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name - the name You gave Me - so that they may be one as We are One. ¹²While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name You gave Me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled."

Those whom the Heavenly Father has decreed to keep, He gives to Jesus – and as v10 declares, Jesus is glorified through them; through saving the elect, Jesus is glorified. That’s why He cares so much for us – He gets glory through us. God unites the elect, but it is not enough that men be agreed in some manner. We are to be unified as the Father and Son are unified. This truth has been difficult for me to process. I see the rest of this High Priestly Prayer having come true and clearly coming being answered, but the part dealing with the unity among believers seems anything but near fulfillment. Believers are very distant in doctrine and lifestyle application. Yet God is no less glorified.

In v12, we see that as long as Jesus was on earth, He Himself was keeping His disciples safe in their knowledge of God – with the exception of Judas Iscariot, the Son of Perdition, concerning whom God had long before determined final apostasy and judgment, and recorded it in the Scriptures. As we have noted before, Jesus mentions Judas specifically, so that none of His disciples would think that Judas’ loss had been out of the Father’s will, and therefore, that their own preservation was uncertain. This revelation is for their benefit. Finally, some confusion has arisen here regarding the predestination of Judas to evil behavior. Some say that he is not to blame since his fall was foretold. But this is poor logic, for we do not suggest that the children of Israel were innocent in their repeated falls into idolatry on account of Moses’ prediction (Deuteronomy 31-32). Nor do we suggest that Isaiah’s prophecy that the people would see and hear but not perceive or understand gives them excuse for their stubbornness in rebellion. So, Paul’s conclusion on this matter in Romans 9-11 stands firm and true and helpful. Man is predestined, based not on God’s foresight but upon His purpose, and yet man is accountable for his sin. This is part of the mysterious plan of God to give all kinds of men over to disobedience so that He could have mercy on them – to the praise and glory of His grace.

Help!

The builders of the wall under Nehemiah's guidance gathered to hear the word of the Lord (and have it explained - a great plug for the importance of expository preaching) in Nehemiah 8:1-3, 7-8. Upon hearing the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) read and explained to them over the course of six hours, perhaps for the first time for some, they wept and mourned (verse 9). They realized their sinfulness in light of God's holiness. But then the leaders of the people told them not to mourn, for this was a time of joy (verses 9-10). In fact, Nehemiah says, "Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." I understand that. I get the theology behind these instructions. But like them, I am in great distress (Nehemiah 9:37).

I am saddened by my continuing sin, the patterns of sin that come and go, ebbing and waning their way in and out of my life. Sometimes I am strong in the Lord and in His mighty power; other times I am just as weak and frail in living for the Lord as I was when I first believed. This is painful, and rightly so. The Holy Spirit convicts, and I am convicted. Yet, I also know the grace and mercy and compassion and steadfast love of the Lord, in the light of the cross and in the light of His great faithfulness in keeping His covenant promises to those who believe in Jesus. So I ought to be filled with joy - The joy of the Lord is my strength. I'm having trouble figuring out the application of this truth. How can I mourn and weep over my sinfulness and be joyful at the amazing grace of God at the same time? What does it look like?

It looks like a life of humble repentance and service while at the same time rejoicing in the presence of God, and His many, many blessings. It looks like the tax collector who stood far back, beating his breast while he prayed, "Have mercy on me, a sinner," while at the same time being like the young calf released from the stall to frolic in the field for the first time. But how can I put it into practice in my life? Why do I feel down?

The folks in Nehemiah 10 responded by writing a covenant - they promised to keep themselves from evil. I could do that, but it would be foolish - for I know that I am a sinful man. Even though God has begun a good work in me, and even though He will see it through to completion, I will continue to sin, though perhaps less, throughout the rest of my earthly life. It's a rather depressing thought, but I suppose I must consider this conundrum as a form of suffering, and like Paul in Romans 8:18, conclude that "our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."

Hebrews 12:1-4 is an apt conclusion, but I'm open to hear your thoughts on the matter:

"1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood."

John 17:6-9

⁶"I have revealed You to those whom You gave Me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me and they have obeyed Your word. ⁷Now they know that everything You have given Me comes from You. ⁸For I gave them the words You gave Me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me. ⁹I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those You have given Me, for they are Yours."

Again Jesus takes hope in God’s faithfulness to Him through the doctrine of election. The Covenant of Redemption is what brought Jesus to do the work God had for Him. There were a specific people Jesus worked for – not one less. And Jesus completed this work to perfection. He speaks in prayer here as if His work is already done. In fact, the active part (life) is done. Only the passive part (death) remains. We see a glimpse here of the ordo salutis – the order of salvation. First comes election. Second comes regeneration. Third comes faith and repentance; faith cannot be genuine apart from repentance. Fourth comes justification. Fifth comes adoption. The list goes on. Sixth comes sanctification; seventh is perseverance. Eighth is death and ninth is glorification.

V9 is challenging to many. Jesus asks nothing but what is agreeable to the will of the Father, because He pleads with the Father on behalf of those only whom the Father Himself willingly loves savingly. He openly declares that He does not pray for the world, because He has no concern in salvation for the world – only for His own flock, which He received from the hand of the Father. But this might be thought to be absurd; for no better rule of prayer can be found than to follow Christ as our Guide and Teacher. Now, we are commanded to pray for all, (1 Timothy 2:8) and Christ Himself afterwards prayed indiscriminately for all, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). The prayers we offer for all are still limited to the elect of God. We ought to pray that this man, and that man, and every man, may be saved, and thus include the whole human race, because we cannot yet distinguish the elect from the reprobate; and yet, while we desire the coming of the kingdom of God, we likewise pray that God may destroy His enemies.

There is only this difference between the two cases: we pray for the salvation of all whom we know to have been created after the image of God, and who have the same nature with ourselves; and we leave to the judgment of God those whom He knows to be reprobate. But in the prayer here related, there was some special reason, which ought not to be reproduced as an example; for Christ does not now pray from the mere impulse of faith and of love towards men, but, entering into the heavenly sanctuary, He places before His eyes the secret judgments of the Father, which are concealed from us, so long as we walk by faith. God chooses out of the world those whom He desires to make co-heirs with His Son of life and all creation, and this distinction is not made according to the merit of men, but depends alone on His good-pleasure and purpose. For those who think that the cause of election is in men must begin with faith. Now, Christ expressly declares that they who are given to Him belong to the Father; and it is certain that they are given so as to believe, and that faith flows from this act of giving. If the origin of faith is this act of giving, and if election comes before it in order and time, what remains but that we acknowledge that those whom God wishes to be saved out of the world are elected by free grace? Now since Christ prays for the elect only, it is necessary for us to believe the doctrine of election, if we wish that He should plead with the Father for our salvation.

After laying out the basic intent of His prayer, Jesus begins to give the reasons for His praying in this way, and for these specific persons – and the fundamental reason goes back to the Father’s will, together with the effects that it has produced. Now, what has this will accomplished? First, as the Son is One with the Father, and always in perfect agreement with Him, the will of the Father has been brought to concrete reality through the effectual working of the Son. Remember in the prologue how Jesus, the “Word of God,” brings to reality God’s intention? So here, when God planned to redeem a wayward people to Himself, it was Jesus who actually redeemed them, and brought them back to a true knowledge of God: or, in His own words, He “revealed” the Father’s name to them. Within the Trinity there is always perfect unity – and so the Father’s will inevitably finds its concrete expression in the Son’s activity. So God’s will flows into Jesus’ life and death. The effects of the Father’s will do not stop with the Son’s ministry; for flowing down, from the Father through the Son, is the effect of this sovereign will on the people He has chosen. The Father selected a people, Jesus revealed the Father to them, and now they know that everything Jesus has done came from the Father. The words of God were in the Father’s heart and revealed through the Son’s ministry on earth; and now, they are received and held fast by the people God has chosen. We could sum this wonderful reality up by saying that everything good, in this life and the next, is from the Father and comes down through the Son, because of His work of redemption about to be accomplished on the cross. And this work is so powerful that it cannot fail to secure eternal life, which is nothing other than the true knowledge of God, for everyone for whom it was intended.

John 17:1-5

¹After Jesus said this, He looked toward heaven and prayed: ²"Father, the time has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You. For You granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those You have given Him. ³Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. ⁴I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do. ⁵And now, Father, glorify Me in your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began."

John, by declaring, “After Jesus said this,” is showing us that the proper course to follow upon learning doctrine (as Jesus had taught in this Upper Room Discourse) involves prayer. Knowledge is worthless apart from the blessing of God. Thus this prayer serves as a seal or ratification of the information He has revealed to His beloved disciples. Jesus prays first for Himself in v1-5. In v6-19, Jesus prays for the disciples, and in v20-26 Jesus prays for the people of God everywhere at all times – including us!

Notice that Jesus looked to heaven. This could be to note the grandeur of creation, but we shouldn’t be caught up with the outward posture so much as with the inward posture. Jesus has set His heart on things above. In v2, notice that Jesus has authority over all people, but this authority is not for His sake. Think back to John 5:21. Jesus has authority, so that He may give eternal life to the elect, those whom God has chosen to give to His Son to win to glory. Calvin says, “The kingdom of Christ extends, no doubt, to all men; but it brings salvation to none but the elect, who with voluntary obedience follow the voice of the Shepherd; for the others are compelled by violence to disobey Him, till at length He utterly bruise them with His iron scepter.”

In a sense, Jesus’ prayer summarizes everything that has gone before it. We see Jesus’ unswerving obedience to the Father; His oneness with the Father; His death that would bring glory to the Father and also to Himself; His role as the only One who truly reveals the Father to men; the fact that there is a certain group of people, called out from the world, whom God has chosen to give Him; the need for love and unity among the disciples; their mission to the world; and their final destiny in the Father’s presence. But I think it’s wrong to call this a summary. A summary is what an author does when he wants to review all the points that he has made; but in this case, it is quite the opposite. Here, Jesus is not reviewing anything, but pouring out His soul long before John ever wrote the gospel. The fact that all of Jesus’ specific requests, as to what precisely His imminent death and resurrection should accomplish, are things that John’s gospel has emphasized tells us that John must have considered this prayer so important that he intentionally designed his gospel account around fleshing out the truths which he had heard in Jesus’ prayer. This chapter is not the John’s summary; it is his foundation.

Jesus begins by requesting glory to result for both the Father and Himself from His giving to the people whom the Father had given to Him “true life” – which is “intimate knowledge of and fellowship with the Father.” Back in the Garden of Eden, this fellowship is what man was created for; and until man has regained the purpose for which he was created, his life is just a state of living death – we are dead in our sins. True life, eternal life, is nothing but a restoration of that original purpose of knowing God – and this is what Jesus’ death would accomplish. If you remember from John 3, eternal life does not mean everlasting life, though it does last forever. Rather, eternal life speaks of the quality of life being true and perfect.

Notice first that this whole process did not add glory to God, as if He were only somewhat glorious before, and He became more glorious after – no, Jesus prays that God would glorify Him with the glory that He already had before the world was created. God’s glory would not be added to, but the glory He already had would be displayed. Thus the purpose of redemption with respect to God is connected to the purpose of redemption with respect to man: man’s life, his eternal joy, and everything good consists in knowing God; and God’s glorification consists of His making Himself known for who He is, as the already infinitely glorious God. So, before we move on, let us briefly reflect on how this event displays who God is. First, the essential nature of God is complex and interpersonal; God is a Trinity, and within that inter-Triune relationship, the different persons of the Godhead are constantly fellowshipping with each other, loving each other, and bringing each other glory – but each in different ways. Humans cannot understand that abstract (but unimaginably beautiful) relationship without the help of some example; and the perfect example of how the Trinity naturally relates to each other is the practical outworking of their different roles in this central event of history, the redemption of man: in this work, we see how the Father relates to the Son, planning for Him a perfect work, which will bring great glory to Him, and promising Him, in exchange for that perfect work, a magnificent reward – namely, that He would give to Him a special people, and also bring all created things under His feet, as their Master and Lord (Psalm 2:6-8; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:18-20; Ephesians 1:10,20-23). We see how the Son relates to the Father, always in perfect accord with His will, and always obeying Him exactly. We see how the Spirit relates to the Father and the Son, proceeding from Them in order to bring to life those whom the Father and Son have chosen (John 5:21; 15:26). All of these actual realities mirror for us precisely what the triune God is in His essential nature. Without such a concrete example, we would never be able to comprehend the nature of God. And so, in the work of redemption, the triune God displays Himself for who He is, in all His glory – and we who have been called by Him get the unspeakable joy of seeing His glory in the accomplishment of this great work!

And, besides the relationship of the persons of the Trinity, we can see innumerable attributes of the all-glorious God as we could never have seen them in any other way: we can see His wrath against sin, and His unyielding justice – for God was pleased to crush His own beloved and sinless Son, rather than turn His back on the terrible affront to His holiness which sin constitutes. We can see the depths of His love and mercy and grace in that God would be willing to undergo the horror of divine wrath, the consternation of inter-Triune separation and break of fellowship, the indignity and shame and reproach and pain of being numbered with sinners and suffering as a sinner deserves to suffer – all to bring back to God men who deserve nothing but what Jesus, undeserving as He was, actually underwent. And so we will continue for all eternity to marvel at the mystery and wonder of what God displayed of His glorious character when Jesus died.