This chapter forms
the conclusion of the Upper Room Discourse which has as its key theme of the
glory of God. God is glorified in relationship, in the apostolic word and in
God’s people.
RELATIONSHIP (17:1-5)
Eternal Life (17:3)
God is glorified forever
at the cross of Christ because through the death of Jesus, God makes himself
known. God is glorified forever at the cross of Christ because all the
resplendent magnificence of God shines out throughout all eternity through what
is revealed at the cross: his love, his faithfulness in all his promises, his
justice, his truth and his power as God triumphs over all his enemies.
Our God is a
relational God and God is glorified when his people is brought to know the
living God, into personal relationship with him, through the forgiveness of
sins at the cross of Christ (v3).
The theme of God’s
relationship with his people is seen throughout the Old Testament: “I will be
their God, They will be my People”.
Completion (17:4)
Jesus’ concern in his
prayer the night before his death is that the Father should be glorified
through the completion of his eternal plan (v4).
APOSTOLIC WORD (17:6-19)
Identity & Commission (17:6-10)
Jesus is praying for the
apostolic band – the group of chosen, commissioned eyewitnesses whom Christ has
trained and taught - who will bring the apostolic Word of God to those who will
in due course believe in Christ.
They have seen Jesus and are in possession of
everything that Jesus has been given by God the Father, in terms of truth
concerning God.
So then, God is glorified in the apostles because his truth
that has been revealed at the cross, in and through his work there, now resides
in these apostolic men who are going to teach this truth.
Jesus prays concerning
their identity (yours they were) and their commission (kept your word).
Protection (17:11-17)
This apostolic band has
been entrusted with the authoritative truth of the Gospel as revealed at the
cross of Christ, and Jesus prays that they be kept – that they are not lost,
that they are kept in the truth and united in that truth (Ephesians 4:3; 4:13)
because they have been called and commissioned by Christ.
Deployment (17:18-19)
Then in v18, he
speaks about their deployment.
To sanctify something is to set it apart and Jesus
prays that they be set apart in and for the truth that he has revealed to them.
They are the authentic, historical
court room witnesses to the truth that God has made known in and through the
work of the Lord Jesus. He will keep them, enable them by the Holy Spirit, set
them apart in the truth for the world and deploys them into the world to teach
all the truth that God has got to say to humanity.
GOD’S PEOPLE (17:20-26)
Unique Union (17:22-23)
The works that Jesus
has done to glorify God forever at the Cross is to bring about a unique union of closeness and intimacy between
God and his people.
With a vertical dimension we are united with God – we come
to know him, we are one with the Father and the Son: an extraordinary union between
you and me and God the Father, as close as the union between Jesus and the
Father.
And this unity with God produces a unity with one another. And this becomes
a very powerful witness in the world. The Gospel works
because of the way the Christians love each other.
Jesus is passionately
concerned about our unity, that we exercise
that unity.
The unity of God’s
people is contingent on the apostolic word.
The reason there is
no real union is because each will not submit to the apostolic word. Remove the
apostolic word from the church, there is no longer a church and certainly there
is no glory of God.
Incredible Inheritance (17:24-26)
Jesus prays that his
disciples will make it through to the end – to be with him in Heaven, a place
reserved for his people.
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