John 17 shows us in this chapter of his gospel an intercessor Jesus, this text is divided into three great prayers that the Lord Jesus makes to his Father in heaven. He first makes the priestly prayer focusing on himself, then for his disciples and lastly for us believers
Table of Contents
Juan 17
The Gospel of John can be summed up in three key words for Christians: Jesus is God. This gospel was written by the least of the apostles of Christ, most likely in the city of Ephesus, today Turkey. For some critics of the biblical texts, they refer to the date of this gospel between the years 80 and 95 AD of Christ. Others place it between 50 and 70 AD. of Christ. In any case, the Gospel of John has the purpose of complementing the three previous evangelists, Mark, Matthew and Luke.
The evangelist John and apostle of Jesus addresses his message to the non-Jewish believers of the time. Which were confused with a Gnostic philosophy or false doctrine that had arisen. John then through his gospel teaches Christians that the word became flesh for the salvation of everyone who believes in him, that is to say that salvation comes through the faith of believing in the son of God, who is Jesus. When we come to chapter 17 of this gospel, the apostle John shows us a Jesus who is an intercessor par excellence.
John 17 – Jesus the Quintessential Intercessor
Chapter 17 of the Gospel of John is divided into three parts or three great prayers of the Lord Jesus before God, when the time has come to fulfill the sacrifice that was written. The first part beginning in verse one to five, Jesus exclaims the supreme prayer to God asking for himself. The second prayer of Jesus is interceding for his disciples and goes from verse 6 to 19.
At the end of praying for his disciples, Jesus begins the third prayer. In which Jesus intercedes for all those people who have to believe in him, when they receive the testimony of the apostles. Jesus at that time was praying for all people converted to Christianity by faith. Just by hearing the good news of Jesus, from the mouth of the apostles and receiving Christ as the only and sufficient savior. This good news spread through the ages to form the church of Jesus Christ today.
Deep down, the Lord Jesus is already praying for his church, to which all of us believers belong. And this is a great joy to know that that same night that our Lord was delivered to the sacrifice, He prayed to his heavenly Father for all of us John 17: 20 - 26. This is why Jesus is our intercessor par excellence and the only mediator between God and man. Enter here to know 70 powerful faith verses For your life. Verses that will fill you with confidence in our Lord Jesus and will allow you to open your arms to the will of the Heavenly Father
John 17:1 – 5 Jesus Prays for Himself
Before entering the 17th chapter of the gospel, Jesus had just spoken with his disciples about what was about to happen in the following days. He also encourages them to have peace and faith, in the face of any tribulation that they have to face in the world, because He had already won. After this, the Lord Jesus withdraws alone to be intimate with his father and pray.
Introduction Verse 1
In the first part of this moment of prayer, Jesus focuses his prayer on himself. But not with an egocentric aptitude but with the most sublime and humble gesture of asking that God be glorified in Him. At the beginning of this first part of the prayer, in verse 1 three points stand out:
Jesus raised his eyes when he prayed
In this part of the evangelist's story, the posture assumed by Jesus to cry out to his father is indicated. With this posture, Jesus teaches us how essential it is to address God in this way, because it denotes honor, praise. Going beyond the religious or traditional.
Jesus says, the hour has come
The Lord at all times was aware of what was going to happen. The fulfillment of the prophecy was about to be fulfilled, his time on earth was about to end. Near was the hour of his sacrificial death on the cross, the hour had come. As well as that of his resurrection that would mark victory over death.
Jesus asks to be glorified
Jesus asks his heavenly father to glorify him, so that God his father would receive all the glory. There would then be no glory for God the father, if his son Jesus did not agree to go to the Sacrifice. Which was necessary for restoration or atonement to take place. Bringing the Son into the presence of the glory of the Father. The divine mission indicated by the prophets would not have been fulfilled, as well as the purposes of grace. Because the sacrifice of death on the cross is the greatest demonstration of a father's love for his children. God's love for all of us.
Verses from 2 to 5
The Lord was happy that he had served his Father with the work that he had carried out on earth. He was the lamb through which the Father's reconciliation with humanity would take place. The sacrifice of Jesus would signify the work of salvation by grace of humanity.
Now Jesus was returning to his father's side, but he knew that in that short time what he would have to live was really difficult. He preferred then to focus on the joy that he had accomplished the work of his ministry, that he would be about to accomplish the work of redemption and even more would be in the presence of God. In verses 2 through 5 the Lord reveals his nature and where eternal life comes from.
-verse 2: Jesus reveals that God gave him authority over all flesh. And with this authority give eternal life
-Verso 3: Eternal life is to have knowledge of the only true God through whom he himself sent, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. An eternal life that means to be actively alive in the presence of God. If our lives do not depend completely on God, even if we breathe we will not be alive spiritually
-Verses 4 and 5: Glorify me, Jesus begs his father again, I have finished the work. Because Jesus here already considers his sacrifice on the cross fulfilled. And he sees himself in the glory that he had already enjoyed before the world was a world. Glory that cannot be shared if Jesus were not God.
John 17: 6 – 19 Jesus Prays for His Disciples
In the second part of the prayer in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus begins to intercede for his disciples. At that moment Jesus is joyful of the years shared with them. He rejoiced to have instructed them in his teachings and statutes, as well as their obedience and permanence in the faith.
So now before fulfilling his mission, he addresses the heavenly father interceding for them. He asks for his protection, because he knew they would be persecuted for his sake. He cries out to God to allow them to remain united. He asks again to protect them, this time from the evil one. Because he knows that satan will try to stop the work that his disciples would have from now on.
The disciples were now saints, they had been transformed by the grace of God. That transformation in the disciples represented what it was like to have Jesus in their lives. But at the same time it would be a cause of trouble and persecution. At the end of this part of the prayer, Jesus manifests to his father the apostolate of his disciples. Since now they will not only be saints but he will send them with the commission of taking his message of eternal life to any corner of the world. So that they would be in charge of continuing the work for which he had prepared them.
John 17: 6 – 10
John speaks to God his father, about the work of teaching and preparation carried out with the disciples that he gave them. Just as these received the teachings, they obeyed and remain in faith.
- I have shown your name to the men you gave me; yours were
- They have kept your statutes
- They have known that everything you gave me comes from you
- All that I gave them they received, and they have known that I truly come from you, and they have believed it.
- On the eve of despair, which they are about to experience, Jesus entrusts them to God in prayer
- I pray for those you gave me and not for the world
- Because if you gave them to me, they are yours
- All that is mine is yours and what is yours is mine
- I have been glorified in them
John 17: 11 – 12
Jesus asks God for his disciples, to keep them because he is about to go to meet them. To those you gave me, keep them in your name so that they may be one. In the same way that you and I are, ask Jesus. And he says this to God, when they were with me I kept them and not one of them was lost. Only the son of perdition, Jesus referring to Judas Iscariot, and this so that what was written could be fulfilled.
John 17: 13 – 16
Jesus makes the first request for the disciples to God, and says guarded in my joy, keeping them far from all evil. The Lord tells God that he instructed them in his word and for this reason the world hated them. Because they are no longer of this world, and I am not of this world either. With this I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from all evil in the world.
John 17: 17 – 19
Jesus makes the second request for the disciples to God, and says sanctify them. Sanctify them in your truth, separate them in your truth, because the word of God is true. Then he tells her you sent me into the world in the same way I send them into the world. With them I sanctify myself so that they may also be sanctified in truth. Jesus is the one who sanctifies us or sets us apart to serve.
John 17: 20 – 25 Jesus Prays for All Believers
In this third part of Jesus' prayer, the Lord intercedes for all believers. Here the Lord Jesus prays for all who will believe in him after his death and resurrection. The first would be those who would listen to the message of Jesus through the apostles. Because as Jesus said they would continue the work started by him.
Jesus knew that his commissioned disciples would carry out the work for which he had prepared them. Take his message to any corner of the world, so that people believe in the name of Jesus. Forming the church of Jesus Christ for all the nations of the world. And that the gates of hades would not stand against the church of Christ (see Matthew 16:18).
He asks that his church remain united, this being a distinctive characteristic of the children of God. Because Jesus is one with his father God. In this way the world could believe that Jesus is the son of God that he had sent into the world.
The disciples of Christ understood and believed that the Lord Jesus was God made flesh. Being the first ministry of Jesus to reconcile his people with the heavenly father. Jesus is the door to reach God the father. This message was transmitted by the apostles, then from generation to generation. And even we the followers of him have the mission to continue transmitting the message so that the world knows that Jesus is the true God. We invite you to learn about:
- Deuteronomy a very interesting bible book
- God's time is perfect