Christ's Great Prayer, Part 1
Father, the hour 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. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. John 17:1-5, NIV.
Jesus was a man of prayer. We all know that. But one of the peculiarities of Scripture is that we have very few of His personal prayers. Here in John 17 we have by far His longest prayer recorded in the Bible. John 17 is indeed the true "Lord's Prayer." It falls into three parts: (1) prayer for Himself in verses 1-5, (2) prayer for His disciples in verses 6-19, and (3) prayer for all believers in verses 20-26.
In the prayer itself we find Jesus peering through the events of the cross yet to come and into the future when He will resume His seat at the right hand on the heavenly throne.
His time or hour has come. The "hour" toward which Jesus had set the entire course of His life and ministry had finally arrived. The ultimate act of that hour of glory would be His death on the cross to redeem humanity from the curse of sin and to demonstrate to all the universe that the God of love is willing to sacrifice all for the eternal health of all creation in a planet gone wrong. The path to glory for Jesus would be through His death on the cross. But beyond the cross would be the glory of His resurrection, ascension to heaven, and installation on the throne of God represented in Revelation 4.
Included in His glory would be the human fruit of His labor--those who have eternal life through His completion of His Father's work on earth. And with eternal life we come to a highlighted concept in the fourth Gospel, which tells us again and again that eternal life has already begun for those who have accepted Jesus (John 3:36; 5:24). But in His prayer Jesus fills out the picture of eternal life a bit further when He identifies it with knowing Him and the Father.
In this great prayer we sense the victory that pulsates through Jesus' soul and into His words. He knows that the task is about finished and He can soon go home.
His accomplishment was not merely for Himself and God, but for you and me. As we study the prayer of John 17 we need to participate in its spirit.
Father, the hour 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. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. John 17:1-5, NIV.
Jesus was a man of prayer. We all know that. But one of the peculiarities of Scripture is that we have very few of His personal prayers. Here in John 17 we have by far His longest prayer recorded in the Bible. John 17 is indeed the true "Lord's Prayer." It falls into three parts: (1) prayer for Himself in verses 1-5, (2) prayer for His disciples in verses 6-19, and (3) prayer for all believers in verses 20-26.
In the prayer itself we find Jesus peering through the events of the cross yet to come and into the future when He will resume His seat at the right hand on the heavenly throne.
His time or hour has come. The "hour" toward which Jesus had set the entire course of His life and ministry had finally arrived. The ultimate act of that hour of glory would be His death on the cross to redeem humanity from the curse of sin and to demonstrate to all the universe that the God of love is willing to sacrifice all for the eternal health of all creation in a planet gone wrong. The path to glory for Jesus would be through His death on the cross. But beyond the cross would be the glory of His resurrection, ascension to heaven, and installation on the throne of God represented in Revelation 4.
Included in His glory would be the human fruit of His labor--those who have eternal life through His completion of His Father's work on earth. And with eternal life we come to a highlighted concept in the fourth Gospel, which tells us again and again that eternal life has already begun for those who have accepted Jesus (John 3:36; 5:24). But in His prayer Jesus fills out the picture of eternal life a bit further when He identifies it with knowing Him and the Father.
In this great prayer we sense the victory that pulsates through Jesus' soul and into His words. He knows that the task is about finished and He can soon go home.
His accomplishment was not merely for Himself and God, but for you and me. As we study the prayer of John 17 we need to participate in its spirit.
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