John 17:1-19 1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. 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. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For 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. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I 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. 12 While 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. 13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
Here the Lord Jesus looked toward heaven and prayed to God the Father that he would glorify him so that he would also glorify God the Father. The Lord Jesus would soon be crucified. The cross is a shame in the eyes of man, but glory in the eyes of the Lord Jesus. He asked the Father to make him share in the glory with the Father, the glory he had with the Father before the world began. This shows that before the world existed, the Lord Jesus was already with God the Father, and he shared the glory with God the Father, This shows his divinity. His authority to give eternal life also shows His divinity. Eternal life is to know the one true God, and to know Jesus Christ, whom God has sent. To know here means a personal relationship, an intimate relationship. Eternal life is an intimate relationship with God, with the Lord Jesus. Here, the Lord Jesus prayed for his disciples before he left the world, but he didn’t pray for the world. He prayed that the disciples may be one, just as He and the Father are one. The Lord Jesus didn’t pray for the world not because he didn’t care for the world. The purpose of his coming was to to save the world, there are verses in the Bible that ask us to pray for the world. The Lord Jesus asked the Father to protect the disciples from the evil one. The evil one is Satan the Devil, who is the king of the world. The disciples do not belong to the world just as the Lord Jesus does not belong to the world. The Lord Jesus also asked the Father to use the truth to sanctify the disciples. The word of God is the truth. Just as the Father sent the Lord Jesus into the world, the Lord Jesus also sent his disciples into the world to serve God and preach the gospel to the world.
May God bless you and your family. 🙏😀
