Up to 55% Off Premium Gift Bible
Lives of Faith and Grace Series
What We Learn About the Power of the Word from Jesus’s High Priestly Prayer
Jesus’s Prayers
The Puritan Anthony Burgess, in his work on John 17, remarks: “And certainly, if it be lawful to prefer Scripture before Scripture, we may say, ‘Though all be gold, yet this is a pearl in the gold. Though all be like the Heavens, yet this is like the sun and stars.’”
The fact that we do not hear many of the words Christ offered in his many prayers on earth makes the words of John 17 a sort of entrance into the holy of holies. The Son, in the Spirit, is speaking to the Father.
There is little point in decrying the fact that there is so much more one can say about John 17 than what they can say. We will need eternity to understand the truth of what was spoken from the lips of Christ. But that doesn’t mean we cannot glean important, soul-refreshing truths now—otherwise, Christ would not have allowed his disciples to hear these words.
There are many angles that we can zero in on regarding John 17, but understanding some of the rich Old Testament background to Christ’s prayer will prove invaluable to understanding why Jesus prayed the words he did.
In the first place, he begins praying for his own glory (John 17:1, 5). He knew, based off what the Old Testament said concerning the Messiah, that he would receive glory and honor for being the faithful servant: “yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God” (Isa. 49:4). We see the Father’s answer to this prayer not just in the salvation of souls all over the world, but even in heaven a choir of angels proclaim:
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev. 5:12)
Praying with the knowledge that the Father has given to him “authority over all flesh” (John 17:2), Jesus desires to give eternal life to his people, which is to know God and Jesus (John 17:3). One cannot but think that the promises between the Father and the Servant in Isaiah 49 were coming now to their full expression in these words by the Son.
Knowing he has special people as a reward from the Father because he accomplished the work given to him (John 17:4), Jesus asks that he would be glorified in them. This echoes the promise of Isaiah 49:6, where the Father says to the Servant (Jesus),
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Since Jesus knows his people are his reward and that they will glorify him, he also asks the Father to protect the bride while they remain on earth (John 17:11–12). To be kept in God’s name has a rich Old Testament background. Jesus knew that the “name of the Lord is a strong tower” (Prov. 18:10), so he could be asking for God to protect his people based on his unique ability to do so. To be kept in God’s name would also lead to the faithfulness of Christ’s people while on earth. As God protects, we are faithful because of that protection.
Our Lord also prayed for his disciples to be joyful (John 17:13). If anyone knows the true joy of the Lord, it is Jesus. In fact, one of the most stunning passages in the Old Testament about Christ highlights this fact. In Proverbs 8:30–31, the Son, as personified Wisdom, says,
“Then I was beside [Yahweh], like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man.”
This verse describes Christ, the delight of the Father, rejoicing in God, the world, and the children of man. By praying this prayer in John 17, Jesus is asking for us to have his joy fulfilled in us (John 17:13).
Jesus knows the desires of his people from all ages and prays for our greatest desire: to see him and be with him.
Desiring our joy and desiring that we are kept by God’s name in the world, Jesus also desires that we are kept from the evil one (John 17:15). Any reader of the Old Testament would have known the power of the evil one (Gen. 3; Job 1:6–12; Job 2:1–6; Zech. 3). Jesus knew the power of the devil, which is why he prayed specifically for Simon Peter (Luke 23:31–32) but also for all his people (John 17:15).
God always desired for his people to be a holy people (Lev. 19:2; 20:7; 20:26; 21:8; Ex. 19:6). Jesus, knowing this, asks that his people may be holy to the degree that they share in his holiness (John 17:17–19). Just as Jesus was shaped by God’s Word, so too we must be shaped by God’s Word. This was always God's intention speaking to us, and now Christ is asking for our holiness to be the outflow of the power of the Word and the holiness of Christ.
To receive this holiness, we must receive that spiritual life given to us from the Father and Christ, which comes through the Spirit (John 17:22–23). The Spirit is the means of communicating life from the Father to Christ and then from Christ to us. Earlier, Jesus similarly acknowledged, “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 execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man” (John 5:26–27). Isaiah prophesied of the Father’s intention to pour out the Holy Spirit upon Christ, equipping him for his work as Mediator:
“Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations” (Isa. 42:1).
There is no doubt that Christ understood that for us to share in the life of the triune God, in God’s “oneness,” his people would need the indwelling of God, especially if we are going to be one as God is one (John 17:20–21).
This oneness guarantees our presence before the Son one day. Jesus prays for us to be with him and see his glory (John 17:24). We can see why the death of a saint is “precious” in the eyes of the Lord (Ps. 116:15): the Lord takes us to himself. Moses desired to see God’s glory. He was told he could not see God’s glory and live (Ex. 33:18–20). Jesus allows his saints to see God’s glory and live, for they will be glorified like Christ in his presence. Jesus knows the desires of his people from all ages and prays for our greatest desire: to see him and be with him.
John 17 points us forward to what Christ is asking God to do for the church, even to this day and beyond. But we must remember that Jesus didn’t pull these requests and desires out of thin air. The rich Old Testament background surely has much to teach us about why Jesus said the words he did for the sake of the church. Likewise, God's word should provide us with the necessary words to go to God with, especially as we ask him to fulfill his promises made to Christ for our sake.
Mark Jones is the author of The Prayers of Jesus: Listening to and Learning from Our Savior.
Related Articles
If Jesus Is God, Why Did He Pray?
Many theologians over the course of church history have wrestled with this question. The answer to this question is relatively simple.
What Did Jesus Teach about Prayer?
As mediator, Jesus brings us to God, but he does so by pouring out his Spirit upon us so that our own prayer life is to replicate his prayer life in terms of how the Holy Spirit binds us to our Father in heaven.
4 Practical Tools to Help You Pray
The Lord’s personal habits in prayer also provided a model for the disciples—and for us. Jesus’s example shows us that prayer doesn’t happen accidentally. We must be purposeful in prayer.
Podcast: Practical Tips to Help You Pray More (Courtney Reissig)
Courtney Reissig discusses the importance of prayer and how prayer helps us trust God by coming to him in a posture of dependency.
