Sunday mornings prior to the Sunday school hour, some men will meet in the library for prayer before the day, and there's a pretty consistent priority that comes out in those prayers. You can tell what the priority is in someone's praying when you can hear what they pray and how they pray, what they pray for. And one of the things that's pretty consistently prayed for is that in the course of the Lord's day and the services that God's word would go forth with power and with clarity, that people would respond, that we would listen and hear and obey. So we can pick up those priorities when we hear someone pray. Now, in John 17, we have the privilege of hearing, if you will, through the pages of Scripture, how Jesus prayed and how he prayed in this last night before the betrayal and then the next day with the crucifixion and all that would go on with that. Before we look at the prayer itself in this chapter, and the whole chapter comprises this prayer, I want to make some initial observations, and you can follow these on your handout. I think I've given you some space to write in additional notes. But first of all, I want us to think about the literary structure. We can look at it that way, the literary structure of the prayer of Jesus in John 17. And it's interesting because it mirrors, if you will, the literary structure of the Gospel of John. Let me explain. The Gospel of John begins in chapter 1 with the first 18 verses as a prologue, and the Gospel ends in chapter 21 with an epilogue. So you've got a prologue at the beginning, an epilogue at the end, and in between there are two volumes, if you will, of John's writing. Volume 1 is the book of signs. in chapter 1 verses 19 through chapter 12 verse 50. So basically the end of chapter 1 through chapter 12 is volume 1, which is the book of signs. The second volume, chapters 13 through 20, is the Book of Glory. Now, when we started this series in John the Upper Room, we mentioned that very basic structure, very basic outline, prologue, epilogue, and in between, you've got two volumes. Now, in Jesus' Upper Room discourse, not the prayer itself, but in the Upper Room discourse, you have that same structure. You have the prologue in the upper room of Jesus washing the disciples' feet in chapter 13, verses 1 to 17. And then you have two volumes. The prologue is followed by two volumes in the upper room. Volume 1, which is chapters 13 and 14, Jesus informs the disciples that he's leaving. He informs of his departure. and he promises to send the Spirit. So Jesus is leaving, Spirit is coming. That's volume one after the prologue. Volume two, Jesus challenges his disciples to abide, and he promises to keep them. So it promises to keep them, challenges them to abide. That's the second volume. So you got prologue, volume one, volume two, and then the epilogue is John 17, which is this high priestly prayer. So just an interesting observation regarding the structure of this whole upper room discourse in relationship to the Gospel of John as a whole. Second thing I want us to observe about the prayer itself is the repetition of the clause or the statement, you have given. you have given. And that occurs over and over and over again in this chapter, in this prayer of Jesus. So let's notice, first of all, what is given. In verse 2, Jesus prays and he says to the Father, as you have given him authority over all flesh. So what's given? The authority. Authority has been given to Christ. The Father has given authority to Christ. Secondly, verse 4, What's given? Jesus says, I have finished the work which you have given me to do. So work for Christ to do has been given. In verse seven, Jesus says, now they have known that all things which you have given me are from you. What's been given? Things. So all things that you've given me, they know they've been given from you. In verse eight, words. He says, I have given them the words which you have given me. All right? In verse 22, Jesus says, and the glory which you gave me I have given them. So Christ was given glory. You see this again in verse 24, the end of the verse. or the middle of the verse, he says, I desire that they whom you gave me, and I'll say something about that in a minute, may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me. So what's been given to Jesus? Glory. And then fifthly, what's been given to Jesus is people. people. And this is repeated six times in this prayer. Let's note them. In verse 2, Jesus says, as you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. He's talking about people. Verse 6, I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given to me. In verse 9, I pray for them, I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours." In verse 11, he says at the end of the verse, Holy Father, keep through your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one as we are one. In verse 12, he says, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you gave me, I have kept. And in verse 24 that we just looked at a second ago, Jesus says, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am. All right, so this statement occurs over and over again. There are various things that have been given to Christ by the Father. That emphasizes a few things, it indicates a few things. One is it emphasizes the Father's sovereign authority, the Father's sovereign authority. Now we're talking here about the mystery of the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, one God in three persons. And in the economy of the relationships of those three persons, there is indicated here in John 17 a sovereign authority or role that the father has that he gives to the son certain things. So it emphasizes the father's sovereignty. Secondly, it indicates differing functions in the Godhead. One God, three persons. Each one, each member of the Godhead has different functions. The Father, in this case, the Father gives and the Son does things with that which the Father gives. He acts in relationship to that which is given to him. And the third thing I want to bring out here is this whole repetition regarding especially the men you have given to me, the people, those you have given to me. It indicates or gives evidence to something that theologians call the covenant of mercy. The covenant of mercy. And that may be a foreign phrase to you or statement to you, but let me just describe it for you, if I will. And I'm giving you this from a dictionary of theological terms from Alan Cairns, OK? And he describes the covenant of mercy in this way. He says, this was made from all eternity and put into operation at the fall of man to bring salvation from sin and its penalty. OK, so this is a covenant. within the Godhead, within the Trinity, made from all eternity, and eternity passed, and it didn't get put into operation until man fell. It is generally subdivided in theological literature into the covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son, and the covenant of grace which is based on the covenant of redemption and which is made between God and His chosen ones, His elect. So the covenant of redemption, he says, is sometimes called the Council of Peace. It's a term derived from Zechariah 6.13. I won't take the time to look there. The Scripture warrants the idea of such a covenant speaking freely of the eternal nature of salvation and giving prominence to the promises made from eternity by the Father to the Son. So there's nowhere in the Scripture where you have the historical record, if you can call it that way, because you're talking about something in eternity past. of a conversation between God the Father and God the Son, where God the Father says this and God the Son says, okay, and then they seal this and they say, okay, now we've made this covenant. You don't have that, but what you have is the is the indication of it here in John 17, indication of that kind of interaction, if you will. How so? Because Christ speaks of a glory that was his from all eternity. He speaks of those whom the Father has given to him. Well, when was that giving made? Let's see. decision made, and so forth. Well, we know from other scriptures that you are chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world. It's a matter of, in theology, a lot of times what you have to do is you have to put things together. You take this passage of Scripture, this passage of Scripture, you see how they're interrelated with one another, and then you come up with a way of being able to put it all together and then communicate it. That's what this is all about. He says, in addition, Christ repeatedly referred to the commission that he had received from the Father. So several verses in John chapter 5, chapter 6, and here in chapter 17, verses 4 through 12. He says, here then are the elements of a covenant. Here are the elements of a covenant, just in general. Contracting parties, individuals or parties involved in the covenant, promises made and a condition with those promises upon the fulfilling of the covenant. So in Luke 22-29 Christ said, I appointed to you a kingdom even as my father appointed unto me. Now he says the verb here is the Greek word diatithemi from the Greek word diatheke, which is a technical term meaning covenant. It's the word from which we get, the Greek word from which we get the word covenant. And it means to give by covenant or testament. Thus, Christ himself speaks of the covenant between his father and himself. So Jesus said, I am appointing to you a kingdom, I am covenanting with you a kingdom even as my father covenanted with me, unto me a kingdom. So that's this covenant of redemption. Now the covenant of grace, as we said this indicates that covenant of mercy and the covenant of grace, he said the covenant of grace is the outworking in time of that covenant of redemption made in eternity past. So it can go on from there, and I don't want to take the time to do that, because I want to look more at this time of prayer. So anyway, this repetition, you have given, you have given, indicates this eternal covenant made between God the Father and God the Son, that if God the Son carries out certain actions, Incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension. If God the Son carries out certain actions, God the Father gives to the Son those whom the Son's work of redemption will secure. All right? The third thing I want us to look at, just by way of observation, is the idea of Jesus as the great high priest, the great high priest. His prayer here in John 17 follows a pattern that governed the high priest on the Day of Atonement. You're familiar with the Day of Atonement, right? That one day a year in the Jewish ceremonial law, where the high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies. It's the only time anybody ever entered into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. And he would enter into that sacred place with a sacrifice that was an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the nation. And it just happened once a year. That offering would be offered at one time a year. He'd have to come back and do it again the next year. All right? So it occurred at one time a year. In fact, the Day of Atonement in the Jewish calendar was just, what, a couple weeks ago? Usually it occurs between sometime in September or October every year, depending on the Jewish calendar. And that Day of Atonement, as I said, focuses on the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest entered into that place. And in the Holy of Holies, there was the Ark of the Covenant, which was the throne room, if you will, of God on earth, offers the animal sacrifice, and the priest also offers prayers for God's people. Now, as the high priest in the Jewish Jewish ceremony on the Day of Atonement, prepared for that day, he engaged in certain things. He engaged in certain activities. Here's what he did. Three things I want you to notice. First of all, he cleansed himself by a ritual washing. Cleansed himself. That's like an act of consecration. He is consecrating himself unto this function that he's about to perform. Secondly, he engaged in an all-night vigil before carrying out the work on the Day of Atonement. And thirdly, he appointed men to help him stay awake. Because after all, who of us would be able to stay awake all night long without being prodded? So you see yourself, I mean, good night. I sit down in the evening and start to read. And 20 minutes and 15 minutes into the reading, I'm like, and Chris has to boom, you know? Well, OK, so the high priest would be engaged in this all-night vigil. And he would enlist men to help him stay awake. Now, that's exactly what Jesus did, right? Exactly what he did. In John 17, verse 19, Jesus says, he's praying, he says, for their sakes, I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified by the truth. Sanctification, I sanctify myself, I set myself apart, I consecrate myself unto this work. So self-consecration. A nighttime vigil. Where did Jesus go after this upper room discourse? Out to the Garden of Gethsemane, right? And what did he do when he went to that garden? He appointed three of the disciples to go with him further into the garden, leaving the rest behind. Say, come and watch with me. while I pray." And he left them to watch with him, to help him in this vigil, while he went in further to the garden and prayed. So Jesus' actions of preparation for the Day of Atonement mirror those of the high priest in the Old Testament. And when the high priest prayed, he prayed As he prayed for the nation, he prayed in three concentric circles. The narrowest one was he prayed for himself and the ministry that he was about to perform. Secondly, he prayed for those who were also consecrated with him in the service of the temple. So he prayed for the other priests and the Levites. He prayed for himself. priests and the Levites, and then he prayed for all of the people of God. This is exactly what Jesus does. On Passover evening, Christ's ministry is carried out as the Great High Priest, because Tomorrow, in Jesus' very conscious awareness, tomorrow, the true and the final day of atonement is going to dawn. After tomorrow, there will be no more day of atonement. Well, it's not necessary. The Jews will still practice it, but it won't be necessary. Why? Jesus is going to offer the final and only truly efficacious sacrifice for sins. And with that coming the next day, Jesus offers this high priestly prayer, and he prays it in three concentric circles. In verses 1 through 5, he prays for himself, We're going to focus on that here in just a minute. In verses 6 to 19, he prays for his disciples. We'll look at that next Lord's Day, Lord willing. And then in verses 20 to 26, he prays for all believers. And we'll end this series on the upper room in a couple of weeks looking at that. All right, so in verses one to five, Jesus prays for himself. Let's read these verses together. Jesus spoke these words, lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, that your son also may glorify you, as you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. And this is eternal life. that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. All right, Jesus prays for himself. Notice, first of all, the timing here. the timing of this prayer. Verse 1, Jesus says, Father, the hour has come. The hour has come. Now, there are a couple of other mealtime references that Jesus made to time. Jump back in John's gospel to chapter 2 and look at verse 4. Chapter 2, verse 4, the context here, this is the marriage feast at Cana. Jesus and his disciples are there. And in verse 3, at this wedding banquet, which is several days long, they ran out of wine. Now what are they going to do? So they ran out of wine, and the mother of Jesus says to him, they have no wine. of course, implying you need to do something about this. But what does Jesus say? He says to her, woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. Now, it seems that Mary, Jesus' mother, wanted Jesus to perform a public miracle to display to everybody his power and authority as God in the flesh. You can do something about this. You can fill everybody's goblet with wine while they're sitting there, and all of a sudden it'll all be there. It'll be full, and all the pitchers will be full. You can just go abracadabra, and there it'll be. And Jesus says, What is that to me? My hour has not yet come." Jesus doesn't abrogate this understanding by then doing the miracle, but you notice how he did it. He did it in secrecy, all right? My hour has not yet come. In chapter 7, verse 6, Similarly, Jesus' brothers, remember they come to Jesus, the feast of tabernacles, booths is at hand, and the brothers say, hey, go on up to Jerusalem to the feast and let everybody know if you're the Messiah. Proclaim this openly. Let all the world know this. But Jesus says to them in verse 6, my time has not yet come. My time has not yet come. It was not yet time for Jesus to demonstrate fully who he was and what he came to do. Well now, in verse 1 of chapter 17, at the Last Supper, that time has arrived. Sinclair Ferguson, in his little book on the upper room, says, he says, the hour has come when his heel, Jesus' heel, would be crushed. But under it, he was about to crush the serpent's head. His time has come. The hour has come. So that's the timing. Secondly, notice his approach. His approach. It says, He spoke these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven. Now, I don't know about you. I mean, sometimes in praying, I will lift up my eyes to heaven. But most of the time, my eyes are cast down or my eyes are closed. Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven. What do you think that indicates? What do you think he's demonstrating by that? When I pondered this, my mind went to Psalm 121. Yours too? Psalm 121, one of these songs of ascents as the Jewish pilgrims are making their way to Jerusalem for a festival, one of the festivals in the calendar year. The psalmist wrote, I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. So I lift up my eyes unto the hills, but my help doesn't come from the hills. My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. And in Psalm 123, verse 1, the psalmist writes, unto you I lift up my eyes, O you who dwell in the heavens. So here again, the psalmist is indicating in praying, I'm lifting up my eyes to heaven. I'm looking up to heaven. Now, why? What does that communicate? It indicates, I think, does it not, a knowledge of where to look for help, where to look in your time of need. I don't look down to the earth. I don't look to Walmart. I don't look to the hills for the other gods of this world. I lift up my eyes to heaven because there, there, from there will I get help. Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven. It's his approach. And then his address. He begins his prayer just as he encourages us to begin praying. Father. Father. Not God, not O God, but Father. Now again, there's a lot of significance in that, isn't there? On the one hand, it indicates an intimacy of relationship, a closeness of relationship, as it should be on the human plane. Not always, but it should be. But certainly here in this case. But it also indicates something more. I think it indicates a distinction in, again, the persons of the Godhead. You have God the Father and God the Son. And Jesus himself calls him that. He calls himself your son in verse 1. Father, glorify your son, that your son may also glorify you. So he addresses the father as an indication of intimacy in the relationship, but also of a distinction in the persons of the Godhead. But then it also, in this opening statement, also there's an indication of his, Jesus' self-awareness, his self-awareness. He knows who he is. He says, I am your son. I am your son. So that indicates that Jesus knows his eternal identity. He is from eternity past. In his relationship within the Trinity, he is God the son. He is the son of God. He also knows where he came from. He knows where he came from. He knows where he's going. And he knows that the Father has given him all things. And again, this comes out in the prayer, doesn't it? Back in chapter 13, verse 3. Look back there a few pages. This is in the prologue to the upper room. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hand, this comes out in the prayer, right? And knowing that He had come from God and was going to God. All right? Jesus doesn't have self-awareness dawn on Him. He is self-aware. He knows His eternal identity. He knows where He came from. He knows where He's going. He knows all the things that have been given to Him. And we could just summarize it all in this way. He knows His deity. He knows He is God. And even in some of the things He says, it indicates His awareness of His deity. How so? God said in Isaiah 48, 11, He said, my glory I will not give to another. Right? Remember that? God will not give His glory to another. He can't. It is exclusively His. If He could give His glory to another, then that would mean that another that He would give His glory to would also therefore be God. I mean, the glory that is God's is that He is God. There's so much more to say about that and we will in just a minute. But look at verse 5 here in John 17. Jesus says, What's He saying? The glory that was God's was His. If God says, my glory I will not give to any other, and Jesus says, I had that glory, then Jesus is acknowledging his self-understanding, his self-awareness that he is God. All right, now look at his request. In the last part of verse one, down through verse five, it's one big request. He says, Father, glorify your Son. Glorify your Son. The nature of this request is for him to be glorified. Now, what do we mean when talking about God's glory? I think it was Ferguson who said, and I quote, God's glory is the external expression or manifestation of his being and of his invisible attributes and perfections. The glory that would be evident would be the external expression or manifestation of God's being, his invisible attributes, and his perfections. In other words, what Christ is praying here is this. He says, may it be abundantly clear that I am God in the flesh, that I am God incarnate. In the Incarnation, when Jesus God the Son became man. In the Incarnation, the glory of Christ is veiled. It's veiled. Right? Now, there was all kinds of hints. There were glimpses. And there was one occurrence on the Mount of Transfiguration when that glory was briefly indicated, but from the birth of Jesus, we're going to celebrate that in another month or so, the birth of Jesus, there was no halo, there was no glow, there was nothing in that baby that expressed the manifestation of the being of God, his invisible attributes and his perfections. The glory was veiled. Now Jesus is praying for that veil to be lifted. In the words of Hebrews 1 verse 3, Jesus wants it to be evident that he is, quote, the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature as the one who upholds the universe by the word of his power. He said, I want it to be known. Why? What's the purpose for this? The end of verse 9, or the end of verse 1, that your son may glorify you. Glorify your son. that your son may glorify you. This is why he wanted the veil to be lifted, that the father would be glorified. Now in verses two and three, Jesus prays for the manner of that fulfillment. In verse two, he says, as you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life. Okay, one way that Jesus will glorified and then glorify the Father is by the exercising of this Father-given authority. Jesus says, you've given him authority over all flesh. I will glorify you as I exercise that authority. Second way in which he fulfills this is by eternally saving those who have been given to him. This is what he says at the end of verse 2 and on into verse 3, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. And then he expands upon that, explains what that eternal life is. This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. So the way in which the Father is going to answer this prayer, and the Son is going to turn around and glorify the Father, is as the Son exercises that authority that the Father has given to Him, and in so doing, eternally saves those whom the Father has given to Him. Okay? Now again, Sinclair Ferguson. I'll give you this quote that further explains this. He says, Jesus' words underline that his being glorified and our being blessed belong together. Did you catch that? Jesus' words underline that his being glorified and our being blessed belong together. Our coming to know Jesus with his Father and experiencing eternal life is one of the ways the Father will glorify the Son. Now in verse four, you have the basis for this request. On what basis can Jesus pray, glorify the Son? Well, he says, I have glorified you on earth. I have caused others to have the right opinion of you, to see you in a right way. I have revealed you. Remember back in chapter 14, after Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me, in verses 7 to 11, Jesus says, if you had known me, you would have known my father also. And from now on, you know him and have seen him. And Philip says, Lord, show us the father, and it's sufficient for you. And Jesus replies and says, have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the father. So Jesus has faithfully revealed the father. Therefore, he can pray this. Furthermore, he has faithfully finished the work that he's thus far been given to do. And he is right on track with fully finishing it tomorrow. This is the day of atonement that is about to dawn, the final day of atonement that is about to dawn. And let's see the time. OK, I think I have time to share this with you. Sinclair Ferguson speaks, reminds us, and brings into this discussion. The fact that Jesus is the last Adam, the second man. Let me read this page from his book that I think is really very encouraging and helpful. He says, Jesus is the last Adam and the second man. You can read this in 1 Corinthians 15, 45 through 47. Jesus came to undo what Adam did and to do what Adam failed to do. Thus, Jesus became the high priest of creation that Adam and his posterity were called to be but failed to become. Soon, Jesus will have done everything necessary to begin his work of restoration. Now the authority on earth that the first man, Adam, lost will be regained in the second man, the last Adam, Jesus Christ. And again, you read to this in 1 Corinthians 15. This is why the Lord Jesus is now able to say what Adam never could. Jesus said, I glorified you on earth having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. Adam could not say that. In less than 24 hours, Jesus will say, Tetelestai, it is finished. Having completed the work Adam failed to do, Jesus then did what Adam refused to do. Jesus bowed his head. On Good Friday, Jesus took the judgment Adam deserved for his sin and crushed the head of the serpent who had become the ruler of this world. Now this gets interesting. He says, so what we are overhearing in Jesus' prayer has its roots in the opening three chapters of Genesis. And this may make you wonder if there is a special significance in the note that John will later interject into his account of Mary Magdalene's Easter Sunday morning encounter with the risen Lord. Remember? She supposed him to be what? The gardener. Yes, Mary must have been confused. She did not recognize Jesus until he spoke in his all-too-familiar accent. And yet, perhaps John sees more clarity than confusion here. For Jesus is the gardener that Adam failed to be. And he means to extend that resurrection garden to the ends of the earth through the preaching of the gospel and into the lives of all that the Father has given to him. It is in this way that the Father will glorify the Son, even as the Son glorified the Father. In closing, look at the expansion of this request in verse five. He says, and now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. This is a mutual, eternal glory. And how would it be fulfilled? How would it be fulfilled? By the revelation of the character and power of God in the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and the subsequent salvation of sinners. It is in this work of Christ that is about to be completed on the cross that the Son will be glorified by the Father, and the Father will be glorified in the Son. There will be the revelation of the character and power of God in His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, which enables the subsequent salvation of sinners. Our Father, now God, we thank you for this work that Jesus completed, and in that we see your glory and his. Bless these thoughts to our hearts, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, got about 12, 13 minutes until the