John 17:1-26, Prayer of Jesus Christ to God the Father.

1.  Glorify thy Son; Son Glorify the Father.

This chapter is the prayer of Jesus Christ to God the Father, just before the end of his life as a man. "John 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:" Jesus prays to the Father to glorify him. You may ask; what is there to glorify on the death of the cross like a criminal? And, how a dying man will glorify God the Father? In order to explain it, let me give you an example. In Olympic sports, say a person is on the parallel bar, on the high beam; doing the routine, competing for the gold medal. He/she makes a few circles to gain momentum, leaves the hands from the beam, fly above the bar, makes two or three flips on the air, as well as twists at the same time, a very difficult risky combination maneuver, comes down, catch the bar with one hand, turns the body, the other hand catches the bar, and continues the circle without missing a beat; and gain momentum, dismount the bar, flips one more time, and makes a steady perfect landing, without a flaw. The stadium filled with applause, claps, whistle, shouts, and the place went crazy. This is glorifying the person, for the excellent impossible feet he just performed. Then, the slow motion of same thing comes on a big screen, and a commentator explains the artistic expertise of every move. They were most difficult and impossible moves but was done with class and perfection without any flaw; the score board flashes 10 points out of 10, the crowd went insane. This is called glorifying; the performance was admired with thunderous applause. Next, this person stands on the stage receiving the gold medal; there was applause again, which is glorifying again and again. This is just an example: Let us come to the real thing. Jesus asked the Father to glorify his Son, so that the Son will glorify the Father. The most impossible, heroic, selfless, dedicated, and perfect; performance was played out, but there was no audience. Perhaps, the whole world has seen it, but we could not perceive it as the great performance of the most difficult impossible task; instead we see this as a tragic murder of an unfortunate holy man. It is because we live in the flesh, and we are blind to the Spirit. The flesh can see only the fleshly things; the sufferings, death, and the tragic end. The flesh is not capable to see the spiritual performance. But, if we have accepted the Holy Ghost to be present as the commentator or the teacher to explain this performance, he could have provided the big screen, which is the holy spirit, then we could have seen the most wonderful performance, of the most difficult impossible task. The architect of the whole salvation plan is 'God the Father'. He has designed every detail. Every move of 'God the Word'; from his birth as the man, his entire life as a man, and so on, until he become God again in the omnipotent Spirit; was designed by God the Father. His birth, his life, his death, resurrection, ascension; then becoming begotten Son, Lord, Christ, and God; the entire program was designed and managed by the greatest architect, who is 'God the Father'. Everything; including his final moments as a man with; his disciples, the soldiers who caught him, the high priest, king Herod, Pilot, and the events on the cross, the seven words he spoke, all were meticulously done, with perfect accuracy, in the exact same way it was designed by 'God the Father', which is recorded in the scriptures. God the Father was looking at every one of his moves. It was not an unexpected betrayal and murder that caused a tragedy. As Jesus was doing the most difficult task, with perfect moves, with class performance, God the Father gave him 10 points out of 10. Here, God the Father was glorifying the Son. If we are taught by the Holy Ghost, as we study along the scriptures, we will never see it as tragedy by an accident, but as the perfect compliance to the instructions of the Father. The Father glorified the Son with the highest applause. "Philippians 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Here, God the Father glorified the Son with the gold medal of the heavenly kingdom. And, the Son gives all the glory to God the Father. As Christians, we must not see this as a passion show, or as the crucifixion of Jesus, or to lament the lent days, or such. But we must become Spiritual to see the manifestation of God in Spirit, rather than in the flesh.

2. Power to guide his disciples to Eternal life?

"2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." All flesh in this context is, as many as God the Father has given Jesus, they are only the disciples, but not the whole world. Jesus must lead all his disciples, to eternal life, except the son of perdition, who chose an assignment from Satan. God included him in the group of disciples, for his own reason, which is genius. People cannot understand this, if not for the Spirit. "3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." This verse is limited to the time of Jesus as a man. Then, Holy Ghost was not revealed to people; and he was sent after the resurrection of Jesus. So, at that time, 'God the Father' was 'the only true God'. Know him and know that man Jesus was sent by God, were requirements for eternal life. Since then, God has updated the status. After the ascension of Jesus, he was made Lord and Christ, and was anointed as God. Now he is the sent, as God Jesus Christ. And the Holy Ghost is also sent and is also revealed as God. So, God the Father, Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost; these three persons in One omnipotent Spirit is the true God. But eternal life is to know the true God. So, knowing "the father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost" in person is the eternal life.

3. Jesus Christ finished his Works as a Man.

"4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." Jesus Christ has acknowledged that all things he does was by God the Father. That include the gospel that he preached, his miracles, healings, and all things. Whatever God the Father told him to do, he has done it. He confessed this to his disciples and to all religious leaders. So, he gave all glory to God. This was glorifying the Father on the earth. Then he said that he has finished the work that the father gave him to do. Next, he will give his life on the cross for the sins of the world. Then, he will declare that "it is finished" from the cross. His assignment as a man will be completed by that. But he continues his work as God, by turning his people away from sins. It is also in obedience to God the Father. But false preachers preach lot of nonsense. "5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." We saw what glory is, from the last verse. Here, Jesus desires the same glory, that he had in the very beginning, as God the Word with the Father. At that time Jesus was equal in status with God the Father, according to Philippians 2:6.

4. We are in the World, but not of the World.

"6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word." God the Father has picked up disciples for Jesus. He plucked them out of the world. If we look carefully, we may see a few things. 1, God did not bother to take them from the religious group. He prefers to take them from the world. 2, He detached them from the world, so that they may be dedicated to Jesus, as his disciples. 3, They were godly people, and they will keep the word of God. These are the three things. And, Jesus Christ manifested the name of God the Father to them, that is, he showed them signs, which could be healing or miracle or such, to show the power of God to his disciples. "7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. 8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me." The disciple knew that all power that Jesus had, has come from God the Father. And they have accepted that Jesus came from heaven and will go back to heaven. We saw this even in the last chapter. "9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine." This is very important for us to know. Jesus Christ will pray only for his people, but not for others. The bible says that God will not hear the prayers of sinners, except repentance. They can pray as much as they want, it will impress themselves and others, but not God. "10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are." Jesus and God the Father are one; it is abiding, and it is by the Spirit. Jesus prays to keep the disciples also as one; that is to keep them in the abiding of the Spirit. "12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled." The son of perdition, who was Judas Iscariot, was unique for special purpose. We must not treat his and such cases as normal. Even if we explain it, people will not understand it, if they do not have the Spirit. "13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." In its context, Jesus says that the religious world will hate his disciples and the true followers of Jesus. We studied this even in the last chapter. "15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." We all will live in this world; but we must not be of the world, as Jesus was not of the world. Jesus prays to the father to sanctify us through the truth. How to sanctify us through the truth? It is to apply the truth with power and grace. "18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." God the Father has sent Jesus to the world to minister and to die on the cross. Jesus also tells his disciples in Luke 10:3, "Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves." That is, you are a lamb, and your mission field is filled with wolves. If you are not an apostle or an evangelist, you must not be sent to new places, and God will not give you gifts to manifest his power. If you think that you can do the ministry of God with money, you are of the world or of the devil, but not of Jesus Christ. If you are a pastor, teacher, elder, or a believer, and if God tells you to minister, which will be your field? The field will be among yourselves, which will be your family, friends, and church. God refers them as your wolves. If you tell them the truth, they will devour you. You will either shut up and run for your life, or you will die there, the spiritual death. Ministering the truth even to your own loved ones is very difficult.

5. They also may be one in Us, even as we are one.

"19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." There was no sin found in him and he lived a perfect life. 1 Peter 2:1 says, "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:" He says that he sanctified himself, so that we may follow him and be sanctified. "20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;" This prayer is for us. The words of Jesus are recorded in the Bible, and we study his word, and obey them. If we do, this prayer is directly for us. "21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be  made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." God the father and Jesus Christ is in one Spirit, and it is abiding. Jesus Christ wants us also to abide in God. How can we abide in God? It is a big subject. I have a few videos and articles on this topic. I have given links below, and you may study the topic. "24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." This is in eternity. Jesus wants to keep his disciple with himself there. We call this as New Jerusalem, the highest calling, or the bride of Christ. They will have the same glory as the glory of God. "25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." The world, including our religion, do not know God. But you may say that Christians know God. No! they know God as Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and others know God. That is not knowing God. Jesus Christ wants his disciples and his true followers to be one with God in the Spirit, and to know God intimately through his Spirit. That knowledge takes us to heaven to be with God. It is the prayer of Jesus Christ for his followers. If we follow Jesus Christ, we will be in his prayer. So, please follow Jesus.