In John 17 we read one of the few recorded prayers Jesus prayed. We read that Jesus would often go off and pray. However, there aren’t many of the words he prayed recorded for us. We have what we call the Lord’s Prayer, and we know what he prayed before dividing up the bread and fish before feeding the 5,000. Beyond those, there aren’t many times we know what exactly Jesus said in his prayers. My friend Bill says that John 17 should actually be called “The Lord’s Prayer.” Why does he say this? Well, it’s because this is the prayer Jesus prays moments before being arrested and crucified for our sins. Don’t you think this prayer is a really important prayer? I sure do! Let’s take a look at what Jesus prays. 

In this prayer we discover Jesus prays for three different people or people groups.  

Jesus Prays For Himself

The first person Jesus prays for is himself. 

“When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” ‭‭John‬ ‭17‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ (‭ESV)‬‬

What does he pray for? Well, in verse 1 he prays that he may be glorified so he can glorify the Father. In verse 2 he acknowledges he has been given authority over all flesh to give eternal life. He then goes on to describe what eternal life is. He says eternal life is that we may know the Father who is the only true God and that we may know Jesus Christ who was sent by the Father. 

We Must Ginosko God

This word “know” in this verse is the Greek word “ginosko,” which means: to learn, understand, perceive, have knowledge of, to understand. It’s an intimate knowing. This means we are living eternal life when we continue to learn, understand, and perceive who the Father is. As we gain a deeper knowledge of the fact that Jesus was sent by the Father and all this entails, we are living eternal life. Eternal life is gaining an intimate knowing of who the Father and Jesus are. This intimate knowing is the kind of knowing a husband and wife have with each other. It’s a closeness in relationship that surpasses all other relationships. 

Time Is The Key

Our relationship with God is supposed to surpass all other relationships. It is God’s desire that we know him intimately, and he wants to know us in the same manner. We can accomplish this kind of relationship with God through reading his word, talking to him about everything, and spending time listening to his voice. We must spend time with God if we want to know him intimately, just as we do with any other relationship. Imagine being married to someone with whom you never speak. Or imagine spending only an hour a week listening to someone else talk about your spouse. Would you consider this sort of relationship to be a marriage? No. It’s a distant friendship at best.

Likewise, we must spend time with God in communion with him if we want to actually know him in the way this verse is talking about. It’s not enough to go to a church building once a week and hear what God is telling someone else. I encourage you to just spend a few minutes each morning before getting up and thanking God for a new day. Maybe read a Psalm to set your mind in the right space for dealing with the difficulties of the day. 

Eternal Life Starts Now

Did you know eternal life is supposed to be lived out right now? We don’t have to wait for death to live eternal life. Furthermore, we don’t have to wait for Jesus to come back to live eternal life. We can start living eternal life right now. This moment. This my friend is really good news! Eternal life starts now! As long as you are developing a deeper intimacy with the Father and Jesus, you are living eternal life. Of course we learn these things via a relationship with Holy Spirit. Recall it is Holy Spirit who will, “bring to your remembrance all that I (Jesus) have said to you.” John 14:26b (ESV) (words in parenthesis mine)

Jesus Glorified The Father

In his prayer, Jesus acknowledges how he glorified the Father by accomplishing all the work the Father gave Jesus to do. He says, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” ‭‭John‬ ‭17‬:‭4‬ (‭ESV)‬‬

The word “accomplish” in this verse means: to make perfect, complete, to carry through completely, to add what is yet wanting in order to render a thing full. Jesus paid our debt in full. Jesus perfectly completed all he was sent to do. There is nothing he left undone before going to the cross. This is something I also pray for. It is my desire to accomplish all that is written in my book God wrote about me. 

Lastly, in verse 5 Jesus asks again to be glorified in the presence of the Father with the glory that Jesus had before the world existed. 

Jesus Prays For His Disciples 

After Jesus prays for himself, he moves on to pray for his disciples.

“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. 

Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” ‭‭John‬ ‭17‬:‭6‬-‭19‬ (‭ESV)‬‬

What Is Truth

Jesus spends the majority of his prayer praying for his disciples. In verse 6, Jesus acknowledges the Father has given these people to Jesus to lead. He says that his disciples have received all the words the Father gave Jesus to say, and this receiving of Jesus’ words is what makes them followers. In verse 8 Jesus says the words he spoke are truth, and the disciples know they are truth. Then he describes what truth is. Truth is that Jesus came from the Father. Jesus was sent to earth by the Father. This is one of many times Jesus is really declaring he is God, not just a human. 

In verse 9, Jesus makes a distinction that he is not praying for the world but for those whom the Father has given to him. His prayer is for these specific people, not everyone who ever has and ever will live. 

Jesus says he is glorified because these followers are both his and the Father’s. Here is yet another declaration of the fact that Jesus is both God and human. Jesus acknowledges he is no longer in the world, but his followers are still in the world. Later Jesus prays that the Father would protect the disciples from the evil one. 

In verse 11, Jesus asks that these followers may be one just like Jesus and the Father are one. This is another declaration that Jesus is God, not just a man. In verse 12, Jesus reminds the Father that he protected and cared for each of the disciples, and none of them, except the one called the son of destruction, have been lost. Jesus also acknowledges the son of destruction left because it had been prophesied he would do just that. 

Be Filled With Joy

Jesus prays that the disciples may be filled with joy. This joy isn’t just any joy, but it’s Jesus’ joy. This word can also mean cheerfulness, calm delight, or gladness. So Jesus is asking for his disciples to be filled with cheerfulness and gladness that only comes from him. His desire is that they have calm delight in all circumstances. 

In verses 13 and 14, Jesus acknowledges that he has given the disciples the word of the Father, and the world hates them because they are not of the world just as Jesus is not of this world. Jesus knows things aren’t going to be easy for his disciples once he returns to the Father and wants to make sure they are protected. It is here where Jesus asks the Father to protect these guys from the evil one. Jesus is concerned for the safety of his disciples. Thus he prays for their protection. 

Be Sanctified

In the last few verses, Jesus prays for his disciples to be sanctified in the truth of his word. Sanctification is a word commonly used in Christian circles. What does this word mean? Sanctify means: to make holy, to separate from profane things and dedicate to God, or to cleanse or purify. Jesus wants all of his followers to become holy. He wants them to be cleansed and purified from the profane things that have attached themselves to his followers. Jesus wants his followers to separate themselves from anything that profanes his holiness and dedicate themselves to the holy things of God. By the way, this prayer applies to you and me as well. What things do you need to separate yourself from so that you can fully dedicate yourself to becoming holy and pure?

Here is where we must pause my friends. Next time we will learn about the last group Jesus prays for in this Lord’s Prayer 2.0. Then we will chat about how we can take this prayer and apply it to our lives today. I promise it will be worth the wait. I hope you will join me next time!