Calvary Road Baptist Church

“THE LORD JESUS CHRIST PRAYING FOR HIMSELF”   Part 1

John 17.1-5 

Have you looked up at the stars on a moonless night out in the desert, where there is no light pollution or smog to filter out the twinkling starlight? When I flew to Mali to preach for Brother Ibrahim, one of my great anticipations was the joy of looking into a sky uncontaminated by lights for hundreds of miles around. I did not know the Sahara has a perpetual dust cloud from the ground to about 1500 feet. No pictures at night, with the camera’s flash reflecting off the dust particles. And no visible stars, either.

I just wanted to witness the heavens declaring the glory of God, the firmament showing His handiwork. Alas, it was not to be. I guess I will have to wait until the summer to look at the stars at night unimpeded by light pollution, as the power grid in California rapidly slides into third-world status, and the rolling summer blackouts take effect.

I love contemplating the immensity of God, His infinite power, and glorious majesty. I am one of those guys who gets excited during a violent storm as I reflect on the power of God being so much greater than the power of any tornado, hurricane, or typhoon. Have you considered that God is so powerful that He spoke this vast universe into existence? I love the “and God said” phrases in Genesis chapter one’s record of His creative activity.[1] He but speaks, and it is so.

As well, I frequently speculate on the wonder and majesty of the Triune Godhead’s interpersonal communion even before He created anything. As I understand the Bible, God’s Triune preexistence from eternity past featured the perfect and immutable eternal One God, who exists as one God and three Divine Persons. Before there was a throne room in heaven, before there was a heaven, the divine Persons of the Godhead enjoyed their self-sufficient communion.

Then God created the heavenly host, an almost innumerable company of incorporeal beings termed angels, who watched in awe and wonder as God created the time, space, matter continuum, and everything in this physical universe in six literal days. By the end of the sixth day, Genesis 1.31 records, 

“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” 

You get the rest of the picture, as painted in broad brush strokes. Sometime after that, Lucifer rebelled against God, along with one-third of the angelic host. He then used a serpent to beguile the first woman, Eve, who sinned before Adam sinned. They two were expelled from the Garden of Eden, and the uninterrupted misery of human existence and the endless deaths began.

However, before the sinners were ejected from the Garden of Eden to live out their lives, propagate the sinful race with who knows how many children, and experience physical death as a consequence of their disobedience, God declared His intention to provide a remedy to deal with not only the Devil’s intrusion but also the human race’s curse.

The Remedy would be the seed of a woman, Genesis 3.15. When He was born to a virgin named Mary in the village of Bethlehem, He was named Jesus. You know about His birth in Bethlehem. You know about His sinless life. You know about His baptism in the Jordan River by His cousin, John the Baptist. You know about His temptation by the Devil in the wilderness for 40 days and nights. And you know about His earthly ministry, which included a variety of miracles, and the selection of the twelve apostles, and the formation of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Of course, the Gospel accounts make a note of our Lord’s frequent recourse to prayer.[2] There was also His instruction to His disciples to pray and how to pray.[3] And, of course, mention is made of the Savior’s prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane.

That said, John chapter 17 is unique in the Gospel accounts as the record of the Savior’s actual words in prayer to God the Father. With an eternity past of the eternal Son of God speaking to His Father and the four Gospels recording that the Savior prayed to God the Father, this chapter is the only record of anything more than Christ’s passing comments to His Father in heaven.

Thus, while this chapter certainly does not record everything the Savior said during this season of prayer to His Father, it is the most extensive prayer recorded from the Son to the Father. Labeled the high priestly intercessory prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a treasure. The chapter, the prayer, is recorded to be in three parts.

In the first part of the prayer, verses 1-5, the Lord Jesus Christ prays for Himself. To be sure, we know that He prayed for Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane. But it is only here that His prayers for Himself are recorded. These five verses will form the basis for five sermons from God’s Word, The Lord Jesus Christ Praying For Himself.

This message is part one of five parts. Please turn in your Bible to John 17.1. When you find that verse, I invite you to stand for the reading of God’s Word: 

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. 

I direct your attention to the six components that comprise verse 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.” 

First, CHRIST’S PRAYER IS ANNOUNCED 

“These words spake Jesus.” 

This opening phrase of what may be the most important chapter in the entire Bible is a reference back to the preceding three chapters of John’s Gospel account beginning in the Upper Room, and especially the previous verse, John 16.33: 

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” 

Crucial to our understanding of John chapter 17, the key to our appreciation of the Savior’s high priestly intercessory prayer, and essential to recognize about the Savior’s prayer to the Father for Himself, is where He looked for comfort and consolation, and where we should look for comfort and consolation.

I understand and appreciate the heartache and sorrow produced by the news accounts of what is taking place around the world, particularly in the Middle East. That said, because I am a Christian and therefore otherworldly, I am mindful of the Savior’s declaration that we will have tribulation in this world and that my peace of mind and heart will never come from the implementation of permanent solutions and long-lasting remedies in this life. Paul admonished the Corinthian congregation to look to God for comfort in trying times and circumstances, Second Corinthians 1.3-4: 

3  Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

4  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 

The Marxist’s hope is comfort in this world. The humanist anticipates that lasting remedies are possible in this life. What I look for, and what every Christian ought to look for, and what the Savior promised to His eleven remaining apostles, was that “that in me ye might have peace,” John 16.33.

Thus, with the apostle’s initial phrase in the verse, a turn by the Savior is noted, from the Lord’s discourse to His men and to His prayer to His Father. Can you make that transition? It is observed that many people are willing to learn from the Son of God. But are you eager to go beyond that? Are you willing to follow Him to the Father? Remember, He said a while ago, “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” If you cannot deal with that, if you cannot look for your ultimate consolation in Christ to be access by Him to the Father, you need to reevaluate some things. Peter wrote, “Who by him do believe in God,” in First Peter 1.21. If you are not one whose faith in Christ is how you believe in God, then you had best abandon all hope of Christ’s high priestly intercessory prayer having an impact in your life. The child of God, on the other hand, who believes in Christ that you might believe in God, enjoys the corresponding blessing with your faith in Christ, that results from having a high estimation of Him and trusting Him to provide peace, not from the storms of life but in the storms of life. 

Next, CHRIST’S PRAYER ATTITUDE 

“and lifted up his eyes to heaven.” 

Take note of the Savior’s physical attitude in prayer to the Father, His posture, as opposed to the posture in prayer that we often practice and teach our children. The Savior did not close His eyes, and He did not look down when He prayed. Rather, His eyes were open and directed heavenward as He prayed to His heavenly Father. Did He stand? Did He kneel? Was He sitting? Beyond His upward gaze with open eyes, we do not know. The Savior’s posture in prayer is the same posture that has been commonly exhibited by the Jewish people when they have prayed down through the centuries.

In Psalm 123.1, we read these words: 

“Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.” 

In Mark 7.34 and John 11.41, we see the Lord Jesus praying: 

“And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.” 

“And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.” 

Why is our cultural practice to close our eyes while tilting our faces downward in prayer? I do not know. Do we find examples of prayer in the Bible where individuals are looking downward instead of upward? Yes. In the parable of the publican, in Luke 18.13, the Lord Jesus Christ said, 

“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." 

The question is why the Lord Jesus Christ would lift up His eyes to heaven since He certainly knew God the Father is omnipresent. I would answer that the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up His eyes to heaven because that is where God’s throne is, Psalm 11.4: 

“The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.” 

Third, CHRIST’S PRAYER ADDRESS 

“and said, Father.” 

Consider the significance of the Lord Jesus Christ’s address as He moves from preaching to the eleven to prayer to God. Two things are worthy of our attention:

First, notice our Lord’s use of the word “Father” in this prayer. Six times He uses the word “Father,” but without the vapid repetition found in so many people’s prayers who use the word “father” or the word “God” as so much punctuation. Here are each of the verses: 

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.” 

John 17:5

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

John 17:11   

“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.” 

John 17:21   

“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.” 

John 17:24   

“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.” 

John 17:25   

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

He said, “Father” four times, “Holy Father” in verse 11, and “righteous Father in verse 25.

Next, let me suggest the significance of our Lord addressing the First Person of the Godhead as Father. There are at least three significances that are possible:

First, the Lord Jesus Christ addressed the First Person of the Triune Godhead as “Father” by virtue of His human nature, miraculously produced. In Hebrews 10.5, we see acknowledged the role God the Father had in producing the physical body of our Lord Jesus Christ: 

“a body hast thou prepared me.” 

Though the eternal Son of the living God has always been the Father’s Son, yet on the occasion of His incarnation, it was needful for His human body to be produced by His heavenly Father. Thus, in this sense, He is the Lord Jesus Christ’s Father.

Second, God is the Father as the Head and Representative of the family of God. In Romans 8.29, we are told that Christ is “the firstborn among many brethren.” Thus, in this second sense, He is the Lord Jesus Christ’s Father.

Third, the eternal Son of the living God, the Second Person of the Trinity, addresses the First Person of the Trinity as “Father.” Though each of the Triune Persons is eternal and coequal to the other two, yet the Second Person has from eternity past occupied with humility the position of functional subordination to the First Person, First Corinthians 11.3: 

“the head of Christ is God.” 

I would suggest that you consider addressing your heavenly Father in a similar fashion, though you must realize that the First Person is not at all your Father in the same way He is the Savior’s Father. He is your Father by adoption and the new birth, and ought to be so recognized. This explains the Savior’s comment in John 20.17 following His resurrection: 

“Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” 

Fourth, CHRIST’S PRAYER ANNOUNCEMENT 

“the hour is come.” 

Do you remember when the Lord Jesus Christ went to the marriage feast in Cana? While He was there, His mother informed Him that they had no more wine. Mary expected her Son, now embarked on His public ministry, to solve the problem. Remember what the Savior said to her in John 2.4: 

“Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.” 

It would be a mistake to read into that verse any suggestion of disrespect. The Savior’s comment to His mother on that occasion was not a rebuke but as informational and was well within the boundaries of courtesy and propriety.

In our text, we find the seventh and next to the last occasion the Lord Jesus Christ referred to this most momentous “hour.” 

Note:   Allow me to interject at this point comments made by the Puritan divine Matthew Henry about our Lord’s high priestly intercessory prayer: 

Here we have, 

1.  The circumstances of this prayer, Joh 17:1. Many a solemn prayer Christ made in the days of his flesh (sometimes he continued all night in prayer), but none of his prayers are recorded so fully as this. Observe, 

  1. The time when he prayed this prayer; when he had spoken these words, had given the foregoing farewell to his disciples, he prayed this prayer in their hearing; so that, 

(1.)   It was a prayer after a sermon; when he had spoken from God to them, he turned to speak to God for them. Note, Those we preach to we must pray for. He that was to prophesy upon the dry bones was also to pray, Come, O breath, and breathe upon them. And the word preached should be prayed over, for God gives the increase. 

(2.)   It was a prayer after sacrament; after Christ and his disciples had eaten the passover and the Lord’s supper together, and he had given them a suitable exhortation, he closed the solemnity with this prayer, that God would preserve the good impressions of the ordinance upon them. 

(3.)   It was a family-prayer. Christ’s disciples were his family, and, to set a good example before the masters of families, he not only, as the son of Abraham, taught his household Ge 18:19, but, as a son of David, blessed his household 2Sa 6:20, prayed for them and with them. 

(4.)   It was a parting prayer. When we and our friends are parting, it is good to part with prayer, Ac 20:36. Christ was parting by death, and that parting should be sanctified and sweetened by prayer. Dying Jacob blessed the twelve patriarchs, dying Moses the twelve tribes, and so, here, dying Jesus the twelve apostles. 

(5.)   It was a prayer that was a preface to his sacrifice, which he was now about to offer on earth, specifying the favours and blessings designed to be purchased by the merit of his death for those that were his; like a deed leading the uses of a fine, and directing to what intents and purposes it shall be levied. Christ prayed then as a priest now offering sacrifice, in the virtue of which all prayers were to be made. 

(6.)   It was a prayer that was a specimen of his intercession, which he ever lives to make for us within the veil. Not that in his exalted state he addresses himself to his Father by way of humble petition, as when he was on earth. No, his intercession in heaven is a presenting of his merit to his Father, with a suing out of the benefit of it for all his chosen ones. 

Fifth, CHRIST’S PRAYER APPEAL 

“glorify thy Son.” 

For many years I have cultivated an interest in what I call a Biblical approach to appealing, while convinced that prayer is a particular type of appeal to God. So here, as the Lord Jesus Christ presents His heavenly Father with a profoundly important appeal in the hearing of His apostles.

Focus your attention on the word “glorify.” The Greek verb used is the “First aorist active imperative of doxá½±zw, the only personal petition in this prayer. Jesus had already used this word doxá½±zw for his death (Joh 13:31). Here it carries us into the very depths of Christ’s own consciousness.”[4]

I have previously mentioned how challenging and complex this concept of glory in God’s Word, and so with the verb form of the word, to glorify. To refresh your memory, the New Testament use of the noun form of the Greek word, dá½¹xa, according to the Theological Dictionary Of The New Testament, “denotes ‘divine and heavenly radiance,’ the loftiness and majesty of God, and even the ‘being of God’ and His world.”[5] What, then, does it mean to glorify? In the New Testament, “to glorify” has the sense of “to honour,” “to extol.”[6] This request by the Son is a direct claim of deity, in light of Isaiah 42.8 and Isaiah 48.11: 

“I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another.” 

“For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.” 

Therefore, it is evident that the Lord Jesus Christ is requesting that His Father honor Him, exalt Him, and display His majesty most profoundly. However, that request will not be acted upon until after His crucifixion, and properly so. And why, properly so?

Consider two verses from Proverbs, one verse containing a complimentary parallelism, with the other featuring a contrasting parallelism: 

Proverbs 15.33:       

“The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.” 

This verse teaches two truths that run parallel and in the same direction. The fear of the LORD teaches two things. First, the instruction of wisdom. Second, and close to it, that humility precedes honor. 

Proverbs 18.12:       

“Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.” 

Here we see contrast. Haughtiness precedes destruction, while humility precedes honor.

Then, there is Paul’s comment in Philippians 2.5-11: 

5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

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. 

May I interject a frequent mistake by the young at this point? The young make the mistake of thinking they deserve to be honored for their accomplishments. “I made a great deal of money. Honor me.” “I obtained a difficult degree. Honor me.” But personal accomplishment has never been the basis for honoring someone, at least not rightly.

Let me appeal to one of our Church members who worked as a millwright, frequently with engineers. He will likely tell you that those engineers deserved no respect from the millwrights based upon their formal educational accomplishments. Respect by millwrights on the job site, which is a form of being honored, had to be earned over time with humility, as displayed by a willingness to listen to the millwrights’ insights concerning the best approach to a design or an installation.

Look also at the ranks of the military. Will a gunnery sergeant obey a second lieutenant? Absolutely. But will he respect him, which is the military version of honoring him? Not based upon his rank alone, I promise you. Respect has to be earned, with a proper display over time of the willingness to learn from his noncommissioned officers. In other words, humility recognizes someone deserves no honor based solely on a college degree or an officer’s commission. Honor is earned and properly follows the appropriate displays of humility.

Thus, what God’s Word declares to be appropriate for you and me by way of humility preceding being honored, the Lord Jesus Christ abided by Himself. What a topsy-turvy world we live in that behaves as though the young deserve honor only because they demand it, and their elders exhibit the moral cowardice to give them what they do not deserve and have not earned. As I have previously mentioned to you, author Diana West informs us that studies conducted back in the 1950s referred to it as parents’ “loss of nerve” when dealing with their children.[7] The problem has reached crisis proportions in our day.

Can someone grasp the concept of Christ being glorified without a corresponding appreciation of the place of humility in his or her own life? I suspect the answer to that question is “No.” 

Sixth, CHRIST’S PRAYER ARGUMENT 

“that thy Son also may glorify thee.” 

Please do not think by the word argument that I suggest dispute. By argument, I refer to the reason, the justification, and the basis for Christ’s appeal to the Father to be appropriately and deservedly honored.

“It is not merely for strength to meet the Cross, but for the power to glorify the Father by his death and resurrection and ascension, “that the Son may glorify thee” (hina ho huios doxasêi se). Purpose clause with hina and the first aorist active subjunctive.”[8]

May I suggest that the same purpose for which the Lord Jesus Christ sought to be glorified (and was glorified) applies to a person who has come to be honored? As the Savior wanted to be glorified so that He might glorify His Father, so ought we to recognize the purpose of God in our improved influence: 

James 4.10: 

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” 

First Peter 5.6:

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” 

Why did the Lord Jesus Christ ask His Father to glorify Him? For Him, in turn, glorifying His Father. The same principle applies to you and me. If you will humble yourself, which is to say give no thought to exalting yourself, when comes the day that you are lifted up, honored, shown great respect, you will be able to use your elevated platform to glorify God. Did the Father glorify the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes, He did. He gave Him a name that is above every name. And has the Savior used His exaltation and glory to, in turn, glorify the Father. Most assuredly. 

It is an extraordinary privilege that God has given to us. Along with those eleven men, we are privileged to listen in on one side of a conversation the eternal Son of God had with His heavenly Father.

We are witnesses to His plea to the Father, His appeal, to be glorified. And we will examine in future messages the humiliation He endured to set the stage for His glorification by the Father.

We know the Savior enjoyed glory before His incarnation. He enjoyed from eternity the divine prerogative of glory due Him only because He is God.

That said, what mission He is embarked on and what He began in our text to pray for would result in glory subsequent to humility never before displayed. Let us note it. Let us appreciate it.

As well, my lost friend, seize upon your opportunity to benefit from what Christ did that He began to pray about in the verse before us. God became a man, humbled Himself with the death of the cross, and then conquered death. He did all that to save some of mankind’s sinners.

Are you among those who will be saved? You are if you will trust Christ. I urge you to trust Him now.

__________

[1] Genesis 1.3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 29

[2] Matthew 14.23; 26.36; Mark 6.46; 14.32; Luke 6.12; 9.28; John 14.16

[3] Matthew 6.9; Luke 11.1; 18.1

[4] A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures In The New Testament, Vol V, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1932), page 274.

[5] Gerhard Kittel, Editor, Theological Dictionary Of The New Testament, Vol II, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1964), page 237.

[6] Ibid., page 253.

[7] Diana West, The Death Of The Grown-Up: How America’s Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization, (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2008), page 55.

[8] RWP, page 274.

Would you like to contact Dr. Waldrip about this sermon? Please contact him by clicking on the link below. Please do not change the subject within your email message. Thank you.

Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church