‘THE HOUR HAS COME’ – John 17:1-5

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on February 26, 2014 under PM Bible Study |

PM Home Bible Study Group; February 26, 2014

John 17:1-5

Theme: Jesus prays concerning what would be brought about through the cross with respect to Himself.

(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

Tonight, we begin the closing chapter of the long, extended conversation our Lord had with His disciples in the Gospel of John—just before He went to the cross for them. And in this closing chapter, we find our Lord’s great prayer for His disciples.

People often call the model prayer in Matthew 5 “The Lord’s Prayer”. But if you read that prayer carefully, you’d find that it’s not really a prayer that would be appropriate for the sinless Lord Jesus to pray. It is a prayer He presented as a model for His disciples to follow; and therefore might better be called “The Disciple’s Prayer”. The prayer before us, however, is a prayer that only the Lord Jesus could pray. It is the prayer that is truly “The Lord’s Prayer”. In it, our Lord Jesus prays to the Father concerning the sacrifice He was about to make for us; and He prays as One whose perspective is far above our own. In reading it, we find that deity speaks to deity within the earshot of humanity—and that through it, Jesus reveals to us spiritual truths about His sacrifice on our behalf that we never could have otherwise known.

This majestic prayer can be divided into three parts. The first part has to do with Jesus’ prayer concerning Himself (vv. 1-5). The second part has to do with the things He prayed concerning His apostles (vv. 6-19). And the third part has to do with the things He prayed for us—who hear the testimony of the apostles and believe on the Lord Jesus for salvation (vv. 20-26). Tonight, we concentrate on the things that Jesus prayed about Himself in this great prayer.

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Notice how this chapter begins. We’re told that “Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said . . .” (v. 1a). What were the “words” that Jesus spoke? Certainly, they were the words that He had spoken to His disciples throughout His marvelous evening supper with them. But they probably most specifically speak of the closing words of the last chapter—and of the affirmation, “These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (16:33).

Having spoken what was necessary for our good cheer and victory, He then prays concerning what He would do to make that good cheer and victory sure. Note that we find Jesus praying about . . .

I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CROSS HE WAS ABOUT TO FACE (v. 1).

A. The first thing we see that Jesus affirms is that the sacrifice He was about to undergo was of the greatest possible significance and importance. You can see this by the fact that Jesus begins His prayer by saying, “Father, the hour has come” (v. 1b). Throughout this Gospel, we have found that phrase: “The hour has come”. Way back in the second chapter, when the wedding party had run out of wine; and Jesus’ mother tried to get Him to do something about it, Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come” (2:4). On another occasion, His half-brothers were pressuring Him to make Himself known publically during the Jewish feast of Tabernacles. They said this because, at that time, they didn’t believe in Him. But Jesus told them, “My time has not yet come . . .” (7:6). He eventually revealed Himself at the feast and some sought to take Him. “But,” the Bible tells us, “no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.” (v. 30). On another occasion, He was in debate with the Pharisees in the temple. As the Bible says, “These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come” (8:20). Jesus—it seems—was always under pressure with respect to this “hour”. But He resisted the pressure because that hour had not yet come. But when He makes His triumphal entry into into Jerusalem, just a few days before His crucifixion, we find that Jesus finally says, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified” (12:23). He said, “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour?’ But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” And a voice came from heaven and said, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again” (12:27-28). And here, in this prayer, we see that the hour had at last come. Our Lord affirms that the event of His crucifixion was of the highest possible significance and importance; because now, the “hour”—planned by the triune Godhead from eternity past, had at long last come.

B. And look at what was on our Lord’s heart at the coming of that great hour. He prayed, “Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You . . .” (v.1c). That was the great concern of our Lord—that He glorify the Father. And that was the great purpose of the cross as well. It would glorify the Father who graciously gave us His Son as our Redeemer. After Jesus had released Judas to go out and betray Him, He set into motion the events that would lead to His own crucifixion. And as soon as Judas left, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately” (John 13:31-32). What a momentous event this was! The cross was no tragedy! It was no error in the plan of God! It was what the Lord was given to undergo in order to bring about the Father’s glory! We can’t help but notice, too, that when the Lord Jesus told Peter about the way he himself would one day lay down his life for the Lord, John wrote, “This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God” (John 21:19). We can say that when we undergo faithfully whatever the Father gives us to undergo—and when we obey Him sacrificially, even to the laying down of our life for our Savior—we follow in the path of our Lord and glorify the Father also..

II. THE ETERNAL LIFE THAT WOULD BE BROUGHT ABOUT BY IT (v. 2-3).

A. A part of the glory that the Lord would bring to the Father would be what it was that was brought about by the sacrifice. Jesus asked God that He may glorify the Father, “as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him” (v. 2). Jesus says that the Father had given Him authority over “all flesh”—that is, over all humanity. And from out of that humanity, the Father gave some to Him to be His own. And this helps us appreciate why Jesus went to the cross. It was so that all those whom the Father had given Him—from out of the whole of humanity over which He holds authority—may have eternal life. People have, over the centuries, given a variety of different meanings to the death of Jesus on the cross. Some have said that He died only to give us an example of sacrificial devotion. Others have said that He died only so that our hearts might be broken by a vivid demonstration of God’s love for us. Still others have said that His death was nothing more than a tragic accident that has no significance at all except as a matter of history. But here, Jesus Himself affirms the the tremendous significance of His death by saying that it was to give eternal life to those the Father had given Him. It was to make it possible for those whom God had chosen for Himself to enter into a relationship with Himself and His Son forever!

B. And note also how Jesus describes “eternal life”. He goes on to say, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (v. 3). Many of us would have defined “eternal life” as “existing forever”. But duration alone isn’t sufficient to describe “eternal life”. After all—dreadful a thing as it is to say—unending “duration” is also a feature of eternal judgment in the Lake of Fire; for the Bible tells us this about those who will be cast there: “And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10). Here, Jesus reveals to us that “eternal life” is much more than just a matter of “duration”. The distinguishing feature of eternal life is that it is an unending relationship and fellowship with the Father and with His Son. If you and I have entered into a relationship with God through faith in His Son, then we are living “eternal life” right now. “Eternal life” in Heaven won’t involve living a different “life” than we’re living now. It will be the same life; only at that time, we will be glorified in Christ and enabled to enjoy the full experience of it. The apostle John says elsewhere, “. . . This is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11-12). In Christ, we have eternal life right now, as a present possession; and we will enjoy that eternal life even more fully in the age to come because of the cross.

III. THE COMPLETION OF OUR LORD’S WORK THAT IT REPRESENTS (v. 4).

A. Another affirmation that stands out in this prayer is that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross marked the completion of a work that the Father had given Him. This prayer indicates that Jesus’ work is done. He prayed, “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (v. 4). All that remained was for Jesus to go to the Garden of Gethsemane and await His betrayer and to be handed over for crucifixion. And if we were to read on in John’s Gospel to that crucifixion, we would eventually find Jesus speaking these dying words from the cross; “It is finished!” (19:30). There are other places in Scripture that affirm the cross as the completion of our Lord’s work. The writer of Hebrews began that book by saying,

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being in the brightness of His 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 . . . (Heb. 1:1-3).

After our Lord purged our sins at the cross, He “sat down”. His work was completed. A priest, in the times before Jesus came, was never presented as “sitting down”; because the priest’s work of atoning for sins was always going on. Later in his letter, the writer of Hebrews wrote that a priest “stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins.” Speaking of Jesus, however, he adds, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God . . .” (Hebrews 10:11-12). Our Lord sat down, because He had finished the work that the Father had given Him to do.

B. Note that in completing this work, He glorified the Father on the earth. Jesus was not a philosopher or religious innovator who roamed around on His own initiative—spreading His own teaching and advancing His own ideas of spirituality. He came to this earth as a Son who was obedient to His Father’s will; and as One who had an assignment to complete. He spoke only what He was commanded by the Father to speak; and He did what the Father commanded Him to do. He said, “. . . I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things” (8:28). He said, “. . . I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” (5:30). He said,

I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day (6:38-40).

Whatever Jesus said or did, He said or did because it was the Father’s will. And as you read through His prayer, you plainly see Jesus’ affirmation that He had completed the work that He was given to do. He speaks, for example, of His ministry of enlightening His disciples as completed. He says,

“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me” (vv. 6-8).

Look closely at what He affirms. He says, “I have manifested . . . Now they have known . . . and they have received . . . and they have believed . . .” Jesus had finished the work that was given to Him. He declared “I have given them Your word” (v. 14).

IV. THE RESTORATION OF JESUS’ GLORY THAT WOULD FOLLOW (v. 5).

A. And now, He makes a request concerning Himself that He would be glorified again with the glory He once shared with the Father. He prays, “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (v. 5). The Bible tells us that the Son of God, the third Person of the Triune Godhead, dwelt in heavenly glory in eternity past. He eternally shared in the full glory of the Godhead with the Father. Paul says, “He [speaking here of the Son in His pre-incarnate glory] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (Col. 1:15-17). But even though He shared glory with the Father throughout eternity past, the Bible also tells us that the Son willingly laid His glory aside in order to come to this earth. The Son of God left His heavenly glory to be conceived in the womb of Mary, and to be born into the human family as our Sin-bearer and Savior. In doing this, the Son never ceased being fully God; but He, “being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:6-8). That was how much He sought us—to stoop down so far as to become one of us. And here we see the depths to which He would go in condescension for us—even to “the death of the cross”! But at the time He prayed this prayer, He was soon to be restored to the glory He shared with the Father. Paul writes, “Therefore God also has highly exulted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11). So then, Jesus left His glory to be our Savior. And having saved us, His Father is about to restore Him to that glory. And this is what He asks concerning Himself—that He be glorified again with the glory He had with the Father before the world began!

B. He is restored to that glory today. But He has been restored to that glory in a condition that is much different from the one He was in when He had first laid it aside. When He came to this earth, He never ceased being fully God; but in coming into this world, He also assumed full humanity to Himself. In Him, full humanity has been joined forever to full deity; and so now, that Person who sits at the right hand of God in heaven—as God—is also a glorified Man! He now forever possesses two natures—human and divine—unmixed and unmingled, but together in one wonderful Person. This means that a Man now sits on the throne of God. And what’s more, Jesus is now so united to us—not only in His humanity, but also in our spiritual union with Him through faith—that He will now not be fully glorified without us. We know that He already possessed glory before we existed; because He speaks to the Father of “the glory which I had with You before the world was” (v. 5). But later, He would say, “I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them” (vv. 9-10). He says, “. . . The glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one . . .” (v. 22). He has now shared His glory with us; and He will see to it that we share that glory with Him forever!

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Later in this prayer, He said, “. . . These things I speak in the world that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves” (v. 13). We share everything with Him—including His own divine joy! What a Savior! What a prospect He has given us! He doesn’t just save us part of the way—He saves us all the way . . . and then some! He saves us all the way up to the highest possible level—all the way up to His own glory!

No wonder He said, “The hour has come!” No wonder we should rejoice that it did!