NOVEMBER 11 / NOVEMBER 25, 2018
THE GREAT HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER (PART II)
INTRODUCTION:
1. The seventeenth of John is a most remarkable chapter, in that, it is the only long prayer of our Lord which the Holy Spirit thought good to record. That He often prayed we know well, but this is the only prayer reported. We have many of His sermons, parables, and conversations, but only this prayer, which, as Matthew Henry notes, “was a specimen of Christ’s intercession.”
2. This prayer, which was offered some time after our Lord and His disciples left the upper room where they had taken the Lord’s Supper together, was very likely heard by the eleven. They all heard the discourses of the three chapters before and there is no reason to think they should not have heard the concluding prayer. Augustine remarks, “The prayer which Christ made for us, He hath also made known to us. Being so great a Master, not only what He saith in discoursing to the disciples, but also what He saith to the Father in prayer for them, is their edification.”
3. The prayer divides naturally into two parts: The first part is a very brief but wonderful prayer which Christ prayed for Himself. (Verses 1-5) The second, and by far largest part, is Christ’s prayer for His own. (Verses 6-26)
PREVIOUSLY, WE CONSIDERED:
I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE PRAYER. (VERSE 1a)
II. CHRIST’S PRAYER FOR HIMSELF. (VERSES 1b-5)
NOW, WE WILL BEGIN TO LOOK INTO:
III. CHRIST’S PRAYER FOR HIS OWN. (VERSES 6-16)
A. HIS OWN FOR WHOM HE PRAYED ARE DISTINGUISHED FROM THOSE WHO ARE NOT HIS OWN AND FOR WHOM HE DID NOT PRAY. (VERSES 6-10)
1. Whom He did not pray for. “I pray not for the world.”
a) It is not the world in general. (See Verse 21)
b) It is not the Gentile world, as opposed to the Jews.
c) It is the world in distinction from the Elect, who are given to Christ out of the world.
d) Take the world for a heap of un-winnowed grain on the threshing floor, Christ prays for it, for the blessing that is in it, but the Lord perfectly knows those that are His, and He has an eye particularly to them.
2. Whom He did pray for. “…for those that were given Him.”
a) Certainly He means the disciples, but it is doubtless to be extended further to all who come under the same character, who receive and believe His words. (Verses 6, 8)
b) He prays for all that should believe on Him. (See Verse 20) This verse applies not only to the petitions which follow it, but to all that went before and extends to all believers in every place and in every age.
3. The encouragement He had to pray for them, and the general pleas (five in all) which He made.
a) The first general plea is the trust He had been given from the Father concerning them. “Thine they were, and thou gavest them me.” (Verses 6, 9) the Father had given them to Him, and He had a charge to keep concerning them.
(1) This was meant, first, of the disciples. The Apostles, who were Christ’s gifts to the church, were first the Father’s gifts to Jesus Christ. (See Eph. 4:8, 11; Psa. 68:18)(2) It is designed to extend to all the Elect, for they are elsewhere said to be given to Christ by the Father. (John 6:37, 39)
(3) The Father had authority to give them. “…thine they were.”
(a) They were His as creatures, whose lives were derived from Him.
(b) They were His as law-breakers, whose lives were forfeited to Him. It was this remnant of fallen mankind that was given to Christ to redeem.
(c) They were God’s chosen and their lives and beings were consigned to Christ as His Agent. (Verse 7)
(4) The Father did accordingly give them to the Son. “Thou gavest them to me.”
(a) As elect souls to be redeemed, they were given to Christ to redeem, so that the purpose of God according to election might stand.
(b) As lost sheep in need of a shepherd, the Father gave them to Christ, the Good Shepherd, so that not one of them should perish. (Ch. 10:27-29 and 16)
(c) As children needing to be taught, they were given to the Master-Teacher Jesus Christ. (Heb. 2:13)
b) The second general plea is the care He had taken of them to teach them. “I have manifested thy name to them. I have given them the words which thou gavest me.” (Verse 8)
(1) The great design of Christ’s coming was to manifest God’s Name. His life and teaching bore that witness.
(2) He had faithfully fulfilled this purpose. “I have manifested…I have given…”
(3) He did not seek His own, but in all that He did and taught His aim was to magnify the Father.
(4) This was His prerogative. (Matt. 11:27) Others may publish the name of the Lord (Deut. 32:3), but only Christ can manifest that Name.
(5) Christ will, without fail, manifest God’s Name to all that were given Him.
c) The third general plea is the good effect of the care He had taken of them. “They have kept thy word.” (Vs. 6) “They have known that all things…are of thee.” (Verse 7) “They have received thy words.” (Vs. 8)(1) Received, as the good ground receives the seed.(2) Kept, that is, continued in it.(3) Known, that is, understood it. Note, He speaks in this prayer of things which are not as yet (fully) as though they are; He speaks of them as they shall be after the Holy Spirit is come.(4) Set their seal to it. “They have known surely that I came out from God.” (Verse 8)
d) The fourth general plea is the Father’s own interest in them. “I pray for them…for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine.” (Verses 9, 10)
(1) The consigning of the Elect to Christ in no way made them less the Father’s. In fact, it made them more so,for they would be His by redemption, and restored to Him in righteousness.
(2) The Chosen are taken into covenant-relation to the Father. Christ presents them to Him. Christ has redeemed us not to Himself only, but to God by His blood. (Rev. 5:9, 10) They are first-fruits unto God. (Rev. 14:4)
(3) The foundation on which this plea is based is that the Father and the son are one in essence, and one is interest. “All mine are thine, and thine are mine.”
e) The fifth general plea is His own concern in them. “I am glorified in them.”
(1) He had been glorified in them while here on the earth through their obedience to Him, and their ministry of preaching and working miracles in His Name.
(2) He is to be glorified in them when He shall return to heaven, and they shall mightily carry on the work by His Spirit Who shall be in them. (Acts 1:8)
(3) He shall be glorified in all the saints at His return. (II Thess. 1:10)
4. After prefacing His intercession for His own with these five general pleas, Christ went on to offer up particular petitions for them. These petitions all have to do with spiritual blessing in heavenly things. They are such blessing as were suited to their present state. Our Advocate with the Father is acquainted with all the particulars of our burdens and dangers and difficulties, and knows how to intercede on our behalf.
B. THE FIRST OF HIS PARTICULAR PETITIONING FOR HIS OWN HAS TO DO WITH OUR PRESERVATION. (VERSES 11-16) He commits them to the Father’s custody to this end.
1. The request itself is that they be kept from the world.
a) Not by taking them out of the world, i.e. remove them by death to a better world.
(1) He had work for them to do in the world. (Verse 20)
(2) Though He desires that they be with Him where He is (Verse 24), He leaves them in the world so that they may do good and glorify God upon earth.
b) Not by keeping them totally free from the troubles, toils, and terror of the world.
(1) For their sakes He had overcome the world, so that they might cheerfully endure its persecutions for His sake. (Ch. 16:33)
(2) They were to suffer persecution for their godliness, and through much persecution enter into the Kingdom of heaven. (II Tim. 3:12; Acts 14:22; Rom. 8:36)
c) But rather, by keeping them from the corruption that is in the world; for this He prays. (Verses 11, 15)
(1) Notice, for this, He appeals to His Father as, “Holy Father;” engaging the attributes of God’s holiness for the preservation of His holy ones. “Keep.”
(2) He would have the Father keep them through His own holy Name. “Through thine own name.”
(a) For Thy Name’s sake.
(b) “In Thy Name” (Lit.), i.e. in the knowledge and fear of Thy Name.
(c) Keep them by Thy power; keep them Thyself; preserve them by those means of preservation which you have appointed. (Prov. 18:10)
(3) He would have them kept from the evil that is in the world.
(a) From the evil one, Satan, who is the god of this world.
(b) From evil things, that is, sin; from every thing that leads to it.
(c) Jesus had taught His disciples to pray for deliverance from this evil (same Greek word). It may mean the devil himself, or evil people, or evil influences; all manner of wickedness. As Jesus prays for us, so let us pray for ourselves, for clearly “the evil” is a very real and dangerous threat to our souls.
2. He gives reasons for His requesting Divine preservation.
a) He pleads by reason of the necessity of His leaving, which would prevent His keeping them as He had hitherto done most successfully. (Verses 11, 12)
(1) He had kept them in His Father’s Name, from Whom He, the God-man, had received the sacred charge, having lost none.
(2) The one seeming exception actually was not; for Judas was never given to Christ as were the others, and his apostasy was foretold. (Ch. 13:18, 26, 27; Psa. 41:9)
(3) He now calls upon the Father to take charge of their keeping since He is soon to be leaving this world.
b) He pleads for the Father’s keeping so that they might have His joy fulfilled in them. (Vs. 13) They thought their joy was coming to an end, but under the Father’s care it would be advanced nearer to perfection than ever it had been.
c) He pleads for the Father’s keeping because of the troubles they were sure to meet up with in the world for His sake. (Verse 14)
d) He pleads for the Father’s keeping because of their nonconformity to the world. “They are not of the world,even as I am not of the world.” (Verse 16)
(1) Those may feel safe in God’s custody who do not engage in the world’s interest, nor devote themselves to its service.
(2) Those may in faith commit themselves to God’s custody who are as Christ was in the world, and walk as He walked.
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