The Lord's High Preistly Prayer

Jesus Prays For His Own

John 17

Intro: John 17 contains Jesus’ great “High Priestly intercessory prayer.” Please get your bible and follow along. You will be blessed if you do.

It expresses the deepest desires of Jesus’ heart for His return to the Father and for the destiny of His chosen ones. Jesus asked the Father to grant the believers the same kind of unity that He and the Father enjoyed from eternity—a unity of love.

In verses 1-5 Jesus prays for Himself! He prays to be glorified in His hour so He could glorify the Father. Jesus had glorified God while on earth. He had finished the work He came to do. (John 19:30) The way for mankind’s salvation was paid in full. He prays to be glorified in the Father as He was before the world was.

In verses 9-19 Jesus prays for His disciples!

After praying for his own glorification, Jesus turned the direction of his petition to his disciples. These were the men God had selected to give to his Son as his disciples. To these men, given to him by the Father out of the world, Jesus had expressed the reality of the Father’s person to them. And they had kept his word. Their faith wasn’t perfect, and they would fail their Savior in the coming hours; but their commitment was in the right place, and they would return to this faith and to obedience to God after His death and resurrection.

17:9 These disciples were the object of Jesus’ affection and Jesus’ prayer. He was not praying for the world. Instead, he was praying for those the Father had given him. These would carry on the good news of salvation to the world. They would need the prayers of Jesus be able to do what He had called them to do. 17:10 Jesus’ words reveal his oneness, closeness, and equality with God the Father. These disciples belonged to both him and the Father, and they were the ones in whom Jesus would be glorified on earth after he had returned to the Father. The disciples’ lives would reveal Jesus’ essential character to those who had not yet believed, so Jesus would be present in the world through them.

17:11 Jesus would be departing the world to rejoin the Father; the disciples would stay behind to carry out God’s plan by spreading the good news of salvation. Such a mission would arouse great hostility from the evil one, so the disciples needed special protection. Jesus asked that the Holy Father would keep them and care for them. The prayer itself indicates confidence in God’s ability to “keep” his children, while at the same time allowing the disciples to hear Jesus’ desire for how they are to be kept. Jesus prayed that they would be united just as he and the Father are united. They should have a unified desire and purpose to serve and glorify God. Then they would have the strongest of all possible unions.

In verse 11 He prayed for God to keep them in His care.

In verse 12 Jesus had kept all His disciples except Judas. The sciptures foretold of Judas' betrayal of Jesus.

In verse 13 Jesus prayed for His disciples to have His joy in them.

In verse 14 Jesus had given His disciples God's word which caused the world to hate them as it had Jesus.

In verse 15 Because of the world's hatred of them, Jesus prays the Father to keep His disciples from the evil one.

In verse 17 He prayed for God to sanctify them by His word. Sanctify- to purify or free from sin. That's why the word of God is so important. King David confirmed this many centuries earlier in the book of Psalms.

Psalms 119:11 (NKJV) Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You!

In verses 20-26 Jesus prays for all believers.

In verse 21 Jesus prayed for us to be one in each other as He and the Father are one. He prayed we would be one in Him and the Father. We are to be one in nature, character, and purpose. As the world watches us live out our oneness in them, it is for the purpose of helping people believe in Jesus and God. We must demonstrate thru our lives what we believe or there is no power to persuade. We Christians are to be differrent then the world.

In verse 22 Jesus has given us God's glory in Himself. Hebrews 1:3 (NKJV) Jesus, who being the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

When we were saved the very Spirit of the living God came into our being in all His glory. Romans 5:5 (NKJV) ⁵ Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

In verse 23 Jesus’ work was not only to speak and model the character of God. His ultimate purpose was to present both the splendor and character of God (God’s glory) in such a way that God would become personally real to us. We, in turn, are to pass on what we had received to others so they may also believe. We who have received the glory should become unified in our shared relationship with Christ. Complete and perfect unity between God and believers results in worldwide belief. When we demonstrate this oneness, we will convince the world that the Father sent the Son.

In verse 24 Jesus wants all believers to be with him where he is so they can see his glory. Think of glory as the full revelation of God's nature, attributes, character and the awesomeness of God. Glory is the Weight of the full Truth of God in His holiness and fullness. What wonderful assurance Jesus’ prayer gives us to know that the Lord of heaven wants us to be with him. This request impacts our present experience and future hope. In the present, we unite with God the Father in Christ thru the Holy Spirit. In the future, we will be with Christ in eternal glory and enjoy with him the love he experienced with the Father forever.

In verse 25 The world doesn't know God at all. But anyone who is a believer knows that the Father has sent Jesus, and the purpose was for Jesus to die as payment for our sins. We must tell the good news to others so they can know.

In verse 26 Jesus said He has declared the Father to believers and He would continue to declare Him thru the Holy Spirit. Jesus declares that we believers know that God had sent Him into the world. Jesus prays for us that thru Him we would truly know and experience God's love and fullness as He does. That the same love that God has for Jesus, He prayed we would have. What a Savior we have who thought to pray for us on His way to the cross to die for us so we could be saved from Hell. Jesus even in heaven continues to pray and interceed for us.

Hebrews 7:24-25 (NKJV)
²⁴ But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. ²⁵ Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

Invitation: Do you know personally this Savior of the world. He died on that cross for you. If you have never asked Jesus to forgive your sins, now would be a good time to do that. Just ask, dear Jesus, I know I am a sinner and I am sorry for my sins against God and His word. Please forgive me and come into my life and lead, guide, and direct me from this day forth. I pray in Your name Jesus, giving you taahnks for saving my soul from Hell.