John 17 Verses 1-5

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: 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” 

Most people refer to what is written in Matthew chapter 6 and Luke chapter 11 as “the Lord’s prayer.” However, the Lord gave that as a sample manner in which we could use as a guide to prayer.  Chapter 17 is truly the “Lord’s prayer.”  It is the prayer that He made to the Father. 

“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:” The “hour” to which the Lord was referring was the “hour” of his crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.”  In this hour, the Father would glorify the Son and in so doing, the Father would be glorified.  The glory to both the Son and the Father emanates from the covenant work of Christ according to the covenant of redemption made between the Father and Son in which all of the elect are saved from their sins by the shed blood of Christ and justified before God.   

“As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.”  Christ has been given power over all flesh.  He gives eternal life to as many as the Father gave him.  The phrase “as many as” indicates that eternal life is given to the exact same number as the Father gave the Son.  If it were one more or one less, then it would not be “as many as.”  Eternal life is given to all those who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1.4).  They are given eternal life by the power of the Son: John 5:25: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.”  The all powerful voice of the Son is the instrument He uses to give eternal life to the elect.   

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”  Without the possession of eternal life no one can know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He had sent.  We must be born again in order to know both the Father and the Son.  With this impartation of eternal life in the new or spiritual birth, we are made to know God and enabled to learn about God and his word.  

“I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”  The Lord glorified the Father on earth by doing the work in which the Father gave him to do.  John 6:37-39 details the work in which the Father gave unto the Son: “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.  For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.  And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”   

“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”  All that I know of that glory before the world began is the glory of the self-existent eternal God.   

John 17 Verses 6-10  

John 17:6 “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. 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. 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.”   

In the above we see the unity of the Son and the Father.  The men whom Christ chose as apostles were given to him by the Father.  This is also true of the other seventy in which the Lord called and sent forth to preach.  These men were of the Father and given to the Son.  Moreover, these men kept the Father’s word.   

The Lord in summarizing his teachings that he had given to the men whom he had called said that they had received those teachings and had known that the Son came out from the Father.  Moreover, these men believed that the Father had sent the Son.   

“I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.”  This statement of the Lord is a dagger in the heart of universalism.  That the Lord did not pray for “the world” certainly teaches us that the Lord did not come to save everyone, but he came to save and give eternal life for those the Father had given him.  The “world” in which the Lord refused to pray is the world of those not given to him by the Father.   

“And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.”  This shows us that the Lord was not only praying for the apostles and preachers he had called and sent forth, but that he was praying for all that the Father had given him from before the foundation of the world: Eph. 1:4 “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:”