Well, if you have your Bible with you, you can open it up to the Gospel of John, chapter 17.
We're still here on the night of Jesus' betrayal.
It's after the Last Supper.
Judas has gone out to enact his betrayal, and Jesus has been teaching and warning and comforting the disciples.
As I suggested in an earlier message, Jesus and his disciples have likely left that upper room where they had the meal,
and they have not yet crossed the Kidron Valley and entered the Garden of Gethsemane.
We don't know exactly where they are right now, but perhaps they found a vineyard along the way somewhere to stop at.
And immediately following all this teaching and warning and comfort that Jesus has been giving,
Jesus breaks into a prayer.
And it's quite a lengthy prayer.
You may have heard of these words of Jesus referred to as his high priestly prayer.
It makes up the entirety of chapter 17, after which Jesus and his disciples will enter the Garden of Gethsemane.
And we'll see the betrayal that happens there.
So let's come now to John 17, verses 1 to 5.
We'll read the first few verses together.
And we'll see what we can hear and understand from these words of Jesus.
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed,
Father, the hour has come.
Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.
For you granted him authority over all people, that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
Now this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.
And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
These are very special words to have recorded for us in our Bibles.
It's as though the cover's being pulled back and we're getting a glimpse of something so rare.
Jesus, the Son of God, is now pouring out his heart to the Father.
And we've had glimpses of this special relationship between Jesus and his Father.
But this here's an entire chapter of us being able to hear and see
just how it is that Jesus relates with God, his Father.
We hear how he prays.
So this is very special.
I think of this chapter as almost just like a diamond mine within the Bible.
There's so much in here, so rich, so beautiful, the things that we see here.
Already after these first five verses, we have heard some strange things.
As we've seen all along, there's something wonderful and mysterious to this relationship
that Jesus has with his Father.
It's not like anything that we know.
And so we hear Jesus praying things that we would never pray to God.
We may never in this life get to the bottom of what these things mean
because they reflect a relationship that is truly beyond our comprehension.
And so we'll be content this morning just to understand something, anything,
about this mysterious and wonderful relationship between Jesus and his Father.
So you're going to hear me say a lot in this chapter and in some of the messages ahead here.
I'm not sure.
I don't know.
It seems.
We guess.
Because these are deep waters.
So let's begin with what Jesus says here in verse 1.
Jesus looks toward heaven and he prays,
Father, the hour has come.
Glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you.
So here it is at last.
The hour has come.
If we've been listening carefully throughout the Gospel of John,
there has been for Jesus this hour, this time that is getting closer and closer.
We heard something of this back in John chapter 7 verse 6
where Jesus said,
My time is not yet here.
And back then, the Festival of Tabernacles was about to happen in Jerusalem
and Jesus' brothers were urging him to go down to Judea
and do a miracle tour leading up to the festival.
They wanted him to go more public,
to stop doing things so much in secret,
to show himself to the world.
And then Jesus, of course, he didn't follow their advice,
but he did end up going down to the festival in Jerusalem.
And while he was there teaching in the temple court,
something he said made some of the Jews there angry with him.
And we read this.
They tried to seize Jesus.
This in John 7 verse 30.
But no one laid a hand on him.
Why?
Because his hour had not yet come.
So way back in chapter 7,
we've had this sense that an hour is coming for Jesus
when he will be seized.
When they will get their hands on him.
And then, as the story continued on,
Jesus made his last trip to Jerusalem.
In John chapter 12,
just after he made his triumphal entry,
you'll recall that there were some Greeks who wanted to see Jesus.
And Jesus, in response to them wanting to see him,
made this curious statement on hearing the news.
He said,
The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Very truly, I tell you,
unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains only a single seed.
But if it dies,
it produces many seeds.
So this hour,
Jesus talks about it as the hour when he will be glorified,
and also hints at it as the hour of his death.
Or at least that's a part of what this hour includes.
So this hour has been looming.
It's been getting closer.
It's the hour in which Jesus will show himself most fully to the world.
It's the hour in which he will be seized and arrested by his opponents.
It's the hour in which he will die.
And in Jesus' words,
it's the hour in which he will be glorified.
Jesus says,
That hour is here.
The time is now.
Right after this prayer,
he will lead his disciples into the Garden of Gethsemane.
And it's there that Jesus' opponents will finally get their hands on him.
And all of it will begin.
But notice what comes to mind for Jesus
as he thinks about his imminent arrest and suffering.
We might expect Jesus to pray something different.
Perhaps the hour has come.
Father, help me endure this suffering.
But no.
He prays instead,
Glorify your Son.
That your Son may glorify you.
Already Jesus is saying something that sounds pretty strange to us.
What is this hour all about?
It's about glory.
It's about glory coming to Jesus.
It's about glory coming to the Father.
And it's not coincidence that this will happen.
This is personal.
This is intentional.
Where does Jesus get this glory from?
He asks for it from the Father.
It's the Father who will glorify the Son.
Where will the Father receive glory in this hour?
Jesus says he will bring it to the Father.
They will in this hour glorify one another.
Now we have to stop and talk about this word glorify
because it's kind of a weird word for us.
It's a biblical term
and it's not one that we just use ordinarily in our language today.
What does it mean?
To glorify means to exalt.
It means to lift up.
It means to honor.
It means to praise.
It means to draw people's attention to something that is worthy.
To put the spotlight on someone or something.
And so Jesus asks his Father to do that for him.
To exalt him.
To magnify his name.
His worth.
To bring attention and praise and honor to him.
It's worth looking back here
and remembering what Jesus said earlier
in John chapter 8 verse 54.
Earlier Jesus said,
If I glorify myself,
my glory means nothing.
My Father, whom you claim as your God,
is the one who glorifies me.
So Jesus has not been seeking glory from people.
He's not been living just to draw the attention and praise of the crowds.
Rather, his attitude, his prayer,
all through this has been this.
Father, glorify your name.
He's been seeking for his Father's glory.
The glory of his name.
He's been living so as to make much of his Father.
To get others' attention on to the Father.
To get others to repent and turn back to the Father.
All the teachings.
It's been,
What is the Father like?
Talking about his grace and his love and his compassion.
His generosity.
His eagerness to answer prayer.
All through Jesus' ministry,
he's been seeking praise and honor and glory
for his Father's name.
Yet Jesus, the Son,
is worthy of praise and honor and glory as well.
We heard this back in John chapter 5 verse 22.
There Jesus said,
The Father has entrusted all judgment to the Son
that all may honor the Son
just as they honor the Father.
So God the Father desires all to honor his Son,
to worship his Son,
to give glory to his Son
just as they worship and honor and praise and give glory to him.
And the Son is worthy of this,
but he doesn't seek it from human beings.
He seeks the glory that he is due from God,
only from God.
And that's what we hear Jesus praying here.
Glorify your Son.
Basically,
Father,
bring glory to my name.
This is a prayer that is only fitting for Jesus to pray
because of who he is.
Bring glory to me,
says Jesus.
But notice what follows.
So that I may bring glory to you.
There's a mysterious relationship here.
In the same breath as Jesus asks for glory,
he prays for it with a reason.
So that I may glorify you.
How can I say this?
At the root,
at the base of Jesus' desire for his own glory,
at the bottom of this request,
it's not self-seeking.
It's this desire
to bring glory
to his Father's name,
to highlight the worthiness of the Father.
There's a mysterious relationship here
between Father and Son.
Again, we see it.
There's a flow of love
from one to the other.
There's also this desire to exalt,
to lift up,
to magnify
one to the other.
We barely understand what's going on here
between Jesus and the Father.
And already,
Jesus is moving on
to say something else.
Verse 2.
Glorify your Son
that your Son may glorify you.
For you granted him authority
over all people
that he might give eternal life
to all those you have given him.
Have you ever found yourself
just listening in
on someone else's conversation
and feeling like
they know a lot
about what they're talking about,
but you have no idea
what they're talking about?
That's kind of how I feel
when I first hear these words.
It's like I'm on the outside here.
There is this concern,
this plan,
this purpose
that Father and Son know about,
that they're talking to each other about.
And what is it?
It seems like Jesus
just brings it up again,
like this is an ongoing conversation
they've been having.
And somehow,
this statement's all related
to Jesus' request.
glorify your Son
that your Son may glorify you
for just as you gave to him authority.
And Jesus goes on
and says the whole thing.
How does this all fit together?
I'll be honest.
I don't know the connection here.
I don't understand the relationship here
between these two statements.
I could probably meditate on this
for a good long while,
years maybe.
Maybe after reading through my Bible
another three, four, five times,
some of it will come clearer.
But what can we understand here
in verse two?
Well, Jesus does make a statement.
He says to his Father,
you granted,
or literally you gave
him, the Son,
authority over all people
that he might give eternal life
to all those
you have given him.
We'll just stop there
with that first piece.
You granted,
you gave the Son authority
over all people,
literally over all flesh.
Why?
For a specific reason.
So that he, the Son,
might give eternal life
to them.
We'll talk about who them is
in a moment.
The purpose of the authority
that has been given to Jesus
is for him to use it
to give eternal life
to people.
And again,
we're kind of
swimming up to here,
aren't we?
We might have assumed,
well, Jesus is God.
He's the Word
who was with God
and was God
in the beginning,
before anything
has been made.
There he was.
We might assume that Jesus
always had authority
over all flesh.
Look back at what it says
in John 1, verse 3.
It says,
Through him,
the Word,
that's the one that became flesh,
it's Jesus,
through him,
all things were made.
Without him,
nothing was made
that has been made.
And so we might assume
that since Jesus
had his hand
in making everything
that was made,
including all flesh,
all people,
we might assume
that he has always
had authority
over all flesh,
over all people.
But now,
Jesus is telling us
that the authority
he now has
over all people
has been given to him
by his Father.
What happened?
Did he lose it
when he took on human flesh
and became one of us?
Or is it only
with regard to his humanity
that he must be granted,
given this authority,
since no human being
has ever had that authority?
If you're new
or visiting with us
this morning,
don't worry.
Not every sermon
is like this.
And if this sounds
rather confusing,
it's confusing
even for some of us
who have been Christians
for decades.
I'm going to bet
that the disciples
listening to this prayer
were wondering,
what are you talking
about, Jesus?
But we're pressing in
to understand
what we can
of the depths
of who Jesus is
and of this relationship
between Jesus
and his Father.
These two persons
who together
with the Spirit
make up one God.
It is mysterious.
It is confusing.
But let's not just
throw in the towel
and wait for heaven.
Let's learn everything
that we can about God
through the words
that Jesus has given us here.
This idea
that authority
is given to the Son
shows up in more places
than just this.
We heard about it
back in John 5,
verse 25.
Jesus said,
at that time,
very truly I tell you,
a time is coming
and has now come
when the dead
will hear the voice
of the Son of God
and those who hear
will live.
For as the Father
has life in himself,
so he has granted
the Son also
to have life
in himself.
And he has given him
authority
to judge
because he is
the Son of Man.
These words of Jesus
in John 5
blow my mind
every time I read them.
I scratch my head
over them.
Jesus just said
that it has been
granted to him.
It was given to him
to have life
in himself.
There's a mysterious
transaction going on here
between Father and Son.
And again,
we all just kind of assume,
don't we,
that Jesus,
because he's God,
he already has
life in himself.
That's what John
chapter 1 verse 4 says.
It says,
in him was life.
But somehow,
in some mysterious way,
it is granted
to the Son
to have life
in himself
before he then
turns to speak,
granting life
to the dead
who will hear
his voice.
And again here
in verse 27,
Jesus says
that the Father
has given him
authority
authority to judge.
Didn't he already
have that authority?
Well, apparently,
it seems that
in some sense,
he did not.
We hear this
in the Great Commission.
A verse we're all
familiar with.
Matthew 28,
verse 18.
All authority
in heaven and on earth
has been given to me,
said Jesus.
Therefore,
go and make disciples.
Here again,
we see that Jesus
has all authority
in heaven and on earth,
but we notice
his words.
It was given
to him
by his Father.
So at some point,
if we're honest
with the words of Jesus,
we have to acknowledge
that there's some
sense
or some time
in which he did not
have
all authority
in heaven and on earth.
It was given.
There was some time
or some sense
in which he did not
have the authority
to judge.
There was some time
or some sense
in which he did not
have the authority
to give eternal life
to people.
That's what Jesus
is implying here
in this prayer
in John 17.
How could this be
that this Jesus,
who is God,
had to be given
authority
in order to give
eternal life?
Well, this is my best guess
as to how and why.
Let me say it
right up front,
clearly.
Jesus is no less divine
than we have believed.
He is truly
and fully God.
And at the same time,
Jesus is perhaps
much more human
than we imagined.
When it comes
to Jesus' humanness,
that part of him
had a beginning.
I'll say that again.
I'll give you some time
to run it through
the heresy checker.
The human part
of Jesus
had a beginning.
There was a time
when the word
had not yet
become flesh.
But something
awesome
and wonderful
happened
in that moment
when Jesus
was conceived
in his mother's womb
by the power
of God's Holy Spirit.
An eternal being
was mingled
with a new
human life.
So deeply,
so mysteriously
united
that we can barely
come to grips
with just who it is
staring back at us.
God,
yes.
And at the same time,
a new man,
a new human being,
and not an old one.
A new human being
was Jesus,
and with regard
to his humanity,
he had no special authority.
He wasn't born
into special privilege
or authority
of any kind.
With regard
to his humanity,
he had not life
in himself.
With regard
to his humanity,
he had no authority
to judge the world
or to call the dead
out of their graves,
giving them
eternal life.
And so this authority
had to be given
to Jesus
by his Father.
Now we might wonder
at what point
in the story
does Jesus receive it?
I don't know.
Seems for sure
that he had it
at the Great Commission.
even here,
he speaks of it
in the past tense.
You granted him
past tense,
authority.
Even in John chapter 5,
it's in the past tense.
It seems he had it then.
We could speculate.
Was it at his baptism?
Was it at his birth?
Was it at conception?
We don't know.
Whenever it was,
Jesus knows
that at some point
or in some sense,
he received authority
from God
to do that
which according
to his human nature
he could not
otherwise do.
He received authority
from the Father
to give eternal life
to people.
How insane
this must sound
to an unbelieving world.
Here's a man
who prays
to an unseen God
in heaven
and acknowledges
in his prayer
that God
has given him
authority
over all flesh
to give eternal life
to people.
This is why people
have come to surmise
that Jesus
was either a liar
or a lunatic
or the Lord
that he claimed to be.
This is a wild
and lofty claim.
And amazingly,
Jesus doesn't even seem
to care about
who's listening.
It's as if he's
simply talking
with God the Father
the way he always does.
He seems to have
this absolute confidence
in just who he is
and this amazing
understanding
of the kind of authority
that he possesses
and where
and whom
he got it from.
He's claiming
to have authority
from God
to give eternal life
to people.
Think about that.
He's claiming
to be able
to give
life that lasts forever
to people
who ordinarily die.
Do you hear this?
But then
who are these people
that Jesus
gives eternal life to?
Let's finish off
the verse here.
Jesus says,
You granted him
authority over all people
that he might give
eternal life
to all those
you have given him.
That's interesting.
There's another dimension
to all this.
Another way
in which the Father
and the Son
are relating
to each other
in all this.
Jesus says,
It's the Father
who is giving people
to his Son.
Even though it's all flesh,
all people
that Jesus
has authority over,
it's for the purpose
of giving eternal life
to those
that the Father
has given
to him
that he has
this authority.
imagine for a moment
that you're one
of the disciples
just sitting there
listening to this
prayer of Jesus.
And now Jesus
is referring to you
as someone
who has been
given
to Jesus
by the Father.
I've said this before
in this series.
There's just something
much bigger,
much greater
going on here
than just some guys
that just all of a sudden
figured it out
for themselves
and discovered,
Oh, look,
this is the Messiah.
Here he is.
Actually,
according to Jesus,
there's an eternal God
who is both
Father and Son.
The Son is walking
around here
in human flesh
as one of us
and Jesus says
that these guys,
these followers
of his
are the gift
of his Father
to him.
It's like there's
a higher level story
going on here
and we're not
the main actors.
We're the present
being given
from one main actor
to the other.
And Jesus has said
things like this before.
John chapter 6,
verse 37,
All those
the Father gives me
will come to me.
Again,
in verse 39
of the same chapter,
And this is the will
of him who sent me
that I shall lose
none of all those
he has given me,
but raised them up
at the last day.
This is the higher reality.
We hear about Jesus,
we repent,
we believe in him,
but above all that
and beneath all that,
God is at work
to give people
to his Son.
And Jesus knows that.
That's what's in his mind
as these men
are right here with him
listening to his prayer.
Father,
you have given them
to me.
And I have authority
to give them
eternal life.
Let's move on
to verse 3.
This is one of my
favorite sayings
of Jesus
in the whole Bible.
Jesus says,
Now this is
eternal life,
that they know
you,
the only true God,
and Jesus Christ,
whom you have sent.
Another strange,
full,
wonderful saying
of Jesus.
It's as though
Jesus here
defines eternal life.
He has authority
to give eternal life
to all those
who have been given
to him,
but now it's like
he steps aside
for a moment
and says,
and this is what
it's all about,
this eternal life.
It's about them
knowing you,
the only true God.
It's about them
knowing me,
Jesus Christ.
It's about this
everlasting relationship
between them
and you
and them
and me.
Verse 4.
Jesus prays,
I have brought you
glory on earth
by finishing the work
you gave me to do.
This verse is loaded too.
I could preach a whole message
just on this one statement,
but I won't do it.
It's the son's desire,
as we saw in verse 2,
to bring glory
to the father
so that I might glorify you,
said Jesus.
That's what Jesus wants to do.
He wants to magnify
the worth
of his father,
to put the spotlight
on his glory.
And Jesus says,
I have been doing that
right up until now.
How?
By finishing the work
you have given me to do.
This has been the aim
of Jesus
all along
in everything he does,
in all the teaching,
in all the discipling,
in all the miracles.
But now Jesus
is so aware
that the pinnacle
of his work
is about to be accomplished.
The work that he must do
to save
those who have been
given to him.
This is the difficult work
of going to the cross
and dying for them.
It's as though
Jesus is saying,
I've finished
all the work
that you've given me
to do
up till this point,
bringing glory
to your name,
Father.
But now what is before me
is that final stretch,
this hour
in which I must suffer
and die
for the sins
of the world.
Let these words
be firmly fixed
in your mind
it's no coincidence
that this is
the gospel account
in which we hear
Jesus say
from the cross,
it is finished.
Mission accomplished.
It is finished
is not just
the cry of a man
who has suffered
a long while
to save sinners.
It's the cry of a man
who has been at work
for decades
to bring glory
to his Father
for years
up until this point
here
and finally
culminating
at the cross.
Verse 5.
Last one.
Jesus says,
And now, Father,
glorify me
in your presence
with the glory
I had with you
before the world
began.
I could preach
three sermons
on this verse.
I love this verse.
Jesus asked
the Father
to give him
the glory
that he had
with the Father
before the world
began.
Like,
do you hear this?
Who prays like this?
Who says things
like this?
This verse
highlights both
the humanity
and the deity
of Jesus.
Jesus.
Jesus has awareness
of being
with the Father
before the world
was.
He knows
about the glory
that he had
with the Father
before the world
existed.
This reveals
Jesus'
divine nature
that he is
truly God.
While his humanity
had a beginning,
his divinity,
his godness
did not.
He longs
out of that
divine nature
with those
eternal memories
to be lifted
up to the
glorious kind
of existence
that he enjoyed
with the Father
before the world
even began
because Jesus
is God.
Only God
could speak
this way.
humanity.
But now
this verse,
these words
of Jesus
also highlight
his humanity.
This is perhaps
one of the verses
we point to
most often
as we try
to understand
this mystery
that the word
became flesh
and lived
among us.
We wonder
what happened
when Jesus,
though he was
in very nature,
very form God,
what happened
when he emptied
himself or
made himself
nothing
by taking
the form
of a servant
and becoming
one of us,
a human being.
What changed
for him
when he came
down from
heaven to earth?
These words
of Jesus
give us
something of
an answer.
He lost
something
of his glory.
Not all of it.
As we see
in John 2,
verse 11,
after he did
his first miracle,
the disciples
said that it
was one of the
signs through
which he revealed
his glory.
So he still
possessed
some of his
glory,
but it's as
though much
of his glory
was veiled.
It was hidden
by his
humanity.
Some would
say that he
laid aside
his glory
when he
became a man.
And yet even
here it's
difficult to
describe,
well what
exactly did
he lay
aside?
We could
speak of
position
and privilege
for sure.
We could
probably speak
of authority
as well as
we've just
heard since
Jesus acknowledged
he had to
be given
authority
from the
Father.
Again,
this is
mysterious.
This is
beyond what
we can
fathom.
But here's
Jesus who
knew glory,
who had
the glory
with the
Father in
his presence.
Here he is
now praying
to have it
back again,
longing for
it.
This is how
far down
Jesus has
come to
rescue us.
he has
stooped
down to
becoming
one of
his
creatures.
He
exchanged
the
heights
of
heaven
for the
lowly
dusty
streets
of
Israel.
And we
could go
on.
I love
this verse
but let's
draw this
to a
close.
Four
truths that
come out of
Jesus'
prayer,
these five
verses.
What do we
learn about
God from
this prayer?
Well,
first we
see that
Jesus desires
to glorify
his Father
by finishing
the work
that God
gave him
to do.
Next,
we see that
Jesus desires
to be
restored to
the glory
he had
with his
Father
before the
world began.
And both
of these,
in both of
these,
and through
both of
these,
we see
that Jesus
is truly
God and
that Jesus
is truly
human,
truly one
of us.
So let's
just draw
some quick
lines of
application
here.
If you're
not a
believer in
Jesus today,
do you hear
what Jesus
is saying?
He has
authority
to give
eternal
life to
people.
We all
know that
death is
coming for
each one
of us
at some
point.
Yet here's
the one
who claims
to be able
to undo
that,
to help
you beat
that and
live forever,
to raise
you up at
the last
day.
And this
is, he
says, is a
free gift.
It's a gift
of God's
grace for
all who
believe in
him.
Have you
put your
faith, have
you put your
trust in
Jesus?
For the
rest of
us, those
who already
believe, I
want to take
us down a
different line.
If Jesus
desires to
glorify his
father so
deeply and
has lived to
do so, so
fully, what
should we do?
If the
father's
desire is to
glorify his
son and
works to
do that, to
put the
spotlight on
him, what
should we
do?
How should
we live?
Let me put
it this way,
what's the
purpose of
life?
The
Westminster
Shorter
Catechism
says it
this way,
the chief
end of
man, the
highest purpose
of man is
to glorify
God and
to enjoy
him forever.
Jesus
isn't just
setting us
an example
here of
how we
should pray
on Sunday
mornings.
He's setting
us an
example here
of how we
should live
our entire
lives from
start to
finish.
What our
aim should
be.
Our worship
should be more
than just four
or five songs
that we sing
on Sunday
morning.
It should
be the
offering of
our entire
lives to
this great
and glorious
God and
his son,
Jesus Christ.
And so if
you're a believer,
I want to
encourage you to
ask yourself
this question.
Is that the
main focus of
my life?
To bring
glory to
this God
and to
his son,
Jesus?
To know
him.
Is that my
main priority?
the thing
for which
all other
things in
life must
make way
and submit
to.
Have I got
my priorities
straight?
The good
news of the
gospel is
that Jesus
had his
priorities
straight.
And he
was willing
to lay
down his
life in
order to
finish the
work that
God gave
him to
do.
He glorified
the Father
completely
with his
whole earthly
life and
in so doing
he saved
the rest
of us who
have failed
to do
so.
And amazingly
Jesus offers
us this
gift, this
eternal life
as a gift
freely of
God's grace.
And so let's
not shrink
back.
Let's offer
ourselves
completely to
him.
To bring
glory to
him.
Let's live
as Paul
says, as
living sacrifices
holy and
pleasing to
God.
God
for this
is our
true and
proper
worship.
Let's
pray.
Father in
heaven, thank
you so much
that you
have given
us a
glimpse of
that sweet
relationship you
have with
your son.
And I
pray that it
would change
us.
I pray that
it would
transform our
hearts.
That we
would realize
that this
story that
we're caught
up into is
so much
bigger than
just some
of the
things that
we often
get distracted
with in
our lives.
Speak to
our hearts
again about
eternity,
about your
glory.
Reveal
yourself to
us and
lead us, we
pray, in
bringing glory
to your name.
Thank you for
Jesus.
Amen.