The Gospel of John, Chapter 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:

Everything God planned to the smallest detail, Jesus has done, and soon Jesus will lay down his life to be crucified to pay for the sins of all mankind. In this God is glorified.

² As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

God knows everything, including who will be saved. Anyone can be saved, but God knows who will accept salvation and who will reject it. God is invested in our lives….he guides all kinds of situation to align with his purpose for us… and all these things are opportunities for us to glorify God through our commitment and obedience.

³ And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

We read the scripture sometimes without processing what it means. Plainly here it says, “And this is life eternal…” those seeking eternal life would do well to pay attention to what Jesus says next, which is…”That they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent.” For a little while now I’ve been pondering the verses about Jesus being the Word (John 1:1-4) and all the other verses that tell us of the importance of knowing the word and walking in the word…. judging ourselves through the word…. speaking the word… and the washing by the water of the word…. the word is a lamp to our feet… the word is a light to our path…. so much is said about the Word…and the importance of the word….I fully believe that those who invest themselves into knowing Jesus through spiritually nourishing themselves on the bread of the word…are actually those who allow Jesus to live inside and through them.
 “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body..” (Matt 26:26)
How can we expect to live a Christian life and not read the word and be doers of what the word says? Jesus followed the words that God said…. and in this God was glorified…verse 1.

⁴ I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

God sent Jesus to do everything Jesus did on this earth, then become the sacrifice for our sins so we could be reconciled to God. Jesus, while he was praying here, had completed everything, and now he had the cross ahead of him to finish what he came to do and glorify God.

⁵ And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

• John 1:1-4 ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.² The same was in the beginning with God.³ All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.⁴ In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
• Genesis 1:26 ²⁶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (He said “let us make man in our image” He was talking to Jesus)
  

Jesus came to this earth as a man so he could die for our sins and impart to us his righteousness. In this he glorified God. After he died on the cross, he broke the bonds that death had over us… he defeated and cancelled out every claim leveled against our sinful flesh, then rose again and returned to the father…glorified.

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.

“…and they have kept thy word. “ This stands out to me. Those that belong to Jesus and God keep his word. How can you keep something you aren’t invested in? So many Christians attend church for every service, they engage in Christian works, they are moral people who profess Jesus… but never actually sit down with the word to consume it. The entire point of being a Christian isn’t to end up acting like a Christian….it’s to develop a relationship with Jesus and allow him to live through us.
Religious experiences don’t include God. Religion is a form of godliness, but without the power of an actual relationship with God.

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.

Jesus told the disciples what God said… he taught them all about God and who he really is. The same Torah that the Pharisees and Sadducee’s used to create a religion, Jesus used to show who God is and who he is. The Pharisees and Sadducee missed the message of the Torah and never connected to God, so they didn’t recognize Jesus. The disciples heard what Jesus taught them, and they made the connection through Jesus with God.

⁹ I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

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.

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.

Jesus was their teacher and Shepard while he was here on the earth…he looked after them spiritually and gave them God’s word. All of them except Judas received and kept what Jesus taught them. Judas is called the son of perdition here…and he had not yet completed the betrayal….meaning, he had not yet kissed Jesus with the kiss of betrayal…but Jesus knew what was going to happen and by whom it was going to happen.

¹³ And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

Jesus is praying for his disciples, both the ones who were before him and the one coming after because of their ministry. He prayed for all of us to have joy from our relationship with God. The most troubling trial I ever went through was one of the most joyous times. For a long time after it was over I was brought to tears at the way God moved on our behalf…. including setting things up that would work in our behalf long before the situation occurred. This trial that was meant to break us was one of the most joyous and growth filled times of my life….and I treasure the hand of God that moved in our favor. God is so good… thank you, Jesus, for praying for me.

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.

When I was first born again, I was so excited about being saved I was sure simply everyone wanted to hear the good news and receive Jesus too. I went over to my aunts house and spoke to my cousin all about Jesus and how to receive him as Lord and Savior. My cousin listened and after telling him to call me if he ever wanted to talk… day or night, just give me a call, I got up to head home. I was stepping off the porch when my aunt popped outside to “tell me off”. She told me angrily that I was born and christened as Catholic and when I died I would still be a Catholic. She was taking a stand against my conversion to Christianity because she viewed it as a rejection of Catholicism. My aunt wasn’t even faithful to Catholicism and yet, here she was hissing at me over leaving it and being offended. It shocked me to see the anger….I thought the people in my world would be delighted for me because I found Jesus who saved my soul…and wanted to save theirs too…. but no, people were angry. Had I become some false religion… people would have rolled their eyes, and kept their opinions to themselves. Because I became a Christian people felt the need to confront me with things like telling me they didn’t need to be married because it was just a piece of paper. I didn’t even have to say anything about them living together….simply stating I believe in Jesus and that I’m a Christian was enough to stir up their shame and conviction so they felt justified confronting me and defending their sins. Even when I explained that I was a sinner too…they still hated me. But it wasn’t me they actually hated…it was Jesus inside of me.

¹⁵ I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

This is good news… Jesus prayed that we be kept from evil in this world.

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 are sanctified by the truth in the word. We as Christians MUST read and study the Word. Not to memorize verses, but to learn the lessons the words teach.

¹⁸ As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

¹⁹ And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

²⁰ Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

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.

We as the believing body of Christ are santified by truth…reading the word of God and walking in the truth we learn in the word. When we internalize the word… we walk in the word and become doers. We live the truths in the word and become one with Jesus and God. The world will know us by Jesus…. just like those people who came at me because I became a Christian… they weren’t angry at me because of something I did to them, they were convicted by the Jesus that lives inside of me. I have become one with my savior because I aligned my will to his. My conversion was not a change in religion…. it was a change in beliefs. Had I simply changed religion , no one would have batted an eye…even if I have become a baptist or some other Christian religion…. what they had a problem with was my converstion to Jesus because there was power behind it…. Religious conversion don’t have power, but receiving Jesus does….and when a person receives Jesus the people will respond to the light you have inside of you. Some will want that light, some won’t… but everyone will have a reaction. True conversion is not a form of Godliness without power.

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.

²⁵ O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

• John 1:10-12 ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.¹¹ He came unto his own, and his own received him not.¹² But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

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.

Thank you Jesus!!! I love you Lord.