CXXII.
THE LORD'S PRAYER.
(Jerusalem. Thursday night.)
dJOHN XVII.
d1 These things spake Jesus;
and lifting up his eyes to heaven [the action marked the turning of
his thoughts from the disciples to the Father], he said, Father,
the hour is come [see pp.
116, 440]; glorify
thy Son, that the son may glorify thee:
2 even as thou gavest him authority over all flesh, that to all whom thou
hast given him, he should give eternal life. [The Son here prays for
his glorification, viz.: resurrection, ascension, coronation, etc., that
through these he may be perfected as a Saviour and be enabled to give that
eternal life unto millions, the bestowal of which will redound unto the
glory of the Father. Moreover, the glorification of Christ revealed his
divine nature, and the Father was glorified by its thus becoming apparent
that he had bestowed upon the world so priceless a gift. The gift of authority
was bestowed after the resurrection (Matt. xxviii. 18). All humanity was
given into his hands that he might give life to that part of it which yielded
itself to him in true discipleship.]
3 And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God,
and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ. [God is revealed
in Jesus Christ: Jesus had just prayed for his glorification that the Father
may be fully revealed him him. The revelation of God is the first step
toward the attainment of eternal life. The inner reception of that revelation
by a daily conformity to it is the second step. As we actually live God's
life we come to know him; but we cannot attempt to live his life without
a revelation.] 4 I glorified thee
on the earth, having accomplished the work which thou hast given me to
do. 5 And now, Father, glorify thou me
with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was. [679] [As the hour for finishing his
work had arrived, Jesus speaks of it as already finished. As he had finished
that for which he had emptied himself of his glory and entered the world,
he asks that now, on his departure from the world, he may be reinstated
and permitted to assume again that which he had laid aside. Paul's words
are commentary on these two verses (Phil. ii. 5-11). Thus Jesus ends the
first division of his prayer which is a petition for himself, for the glory
of the Father, and the good of the world. The second division which follows
is a fourfold plea for the disciples which he then had, followed by petitions
in their behalf.] 6 I manifested thy
name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were,
and thou gavest them to me [As a first plea or reason why the Father
should bless the disciples of the Son, the Son urges that they are his
property by gift of the Father. The Father is possessor of all humanity
as the Creator; the Son by gift from the Father possesses the believing
portion of humanity as its redeemer]; and they have kept thy
word. 7 Now they know that all things
whatsoever thou hast given me are from thee:
8 for the words which thou gavest me I have given unto them; and they received
them, and knew of a truth that I came forth from thee, and they
believed that thou didst send me. [As a second reason for blessing
the disciples Jesus pleads their reception and retention of the truth which
the Father had sent him to reveal, and the resulting knowledge and faith.
The truth revealed by Jesus was so palpably divine that the disciples could
know that its bearer came from heaven. But whether that bearer came of
his own volition or as a commissioned messenger of the Father they could
not know. But where knowledge was impossible, they trusted to Jesus and
believed.] 9 I pray for them: I pray
not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me; for they are
thine: 10 and all things that are mine
are thine, and thine are mine: and I am glorified in them. [As a third
plea he urges the joint possession which the Father held with [680] him
in the disciples, and the further fact that the Son was glorified in the
disciples.] 11 And I am no more in
the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. [As a last
plea he urges the necessity of the Father's care over the disciples since
the Son will be no longer in the world to care for them.] Holy Father,
keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even
as we are. [Our Lord's first petition grows out of his last
plea. His departure would tend to scatter the disciples; they had been
united by faith in the name of Christ, that is, by the divine power given
of God and revealed in Christ (Ex. xxiii. 21; Isa. ix. 6; Jer. xxiii. 6),
and Jesus asks that they may be still so kept, and that their unity may
be as perfect as that subsisting between the Father and the Son.]
12 While I was with them, I kept them in thy name which thou hast given
me: and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition
[literally, son of perishing]; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
[Ps. xli. 9. Jesus emphasizes the fervency of his petition by urging his
own conduct as to that which he asks. He asks the Father to care for those
for whom he had himself been so painstakingly careful that not one had
been lost, save him whom it was impossible to save, and whose loss the
Scripture had predicted--a loss in no way chargeable against the loving
fidelity of the Good Shepherd.] 13
But now I come to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they
may have my joy made full in themselves. [Being about ready to depart
from the world, Jesus had taught and prayed for his disciples that they
might be brought into a oneness with the Father similar to that which he
himself enjoyed, and the consequent joy which filled his own life might
in some measure fill theirs also. This also was part of his care for them.]
14 I have given them thy word; and the world hated them, because they are
not of the world, even as I am not of the world. [An additional reason
for the Father's care is here presented. The reception of the Father's
word had brought upon them the hatred of the world, thereby increasing
their need of a [681] heavenly blessing, as
a counter-balance to the curse of the world. Jesus as advocate gives potency
to his petitions as to the sufferings of his disciples by suggesting that
he has himself shared them--Heb. ii. 10-18.]
15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them from the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from the evil one. [The care which he asks
in protection in, and not removal from, the world. It is best both for
the Christian and for the world that he should remain in it. The world
is blessed by the Christian's presence (Matt. iv. 14-16), and abiding in
the world affords the Christian an opportunity of conquest and reward--Rom.
viii. 37; Rev. ii. 26; iii. 21.]
16 They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth.
18 As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I them into the world.
19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may
be sanctified in truth. [To sanctify means to set apart to a holy use.
As Jesus himself had been set apart as God's messenger to the world, so
he had set apart the apostles as his messengers to it. This setting apart
was not a formal, empty act, but was accomplished by God's imparting or
developing a fitness in the one sanctified to perform the duties for which
he was set apart. Fitness in this case would be imparted by imbuing the
apostles with the Spirit of truth. Jesus had set himself apart (Heb. ix.
14), that the apostles might follow his example--II. Cor. v. 14-17 (and
also the church--Phil. ii. 5; Rom. xii. 1, 2), that thereby the world might
be saved. Our Lord's prayer as to the apostles is, therefore, a threefold
petition, viz.: that they may be kept in unity, kept from the world and
the devil, and that they may be set apart and equipped for the gospel service.
We come now to the third division of the prayer wherein he asks for blessings
upon future believers.] 20 Neither
for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through
their word; 21 that they may all be
one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also
may be in us: that the world may believe that thou didst send [682] me.
[Here again the first petition is for unity, and again the unity subsisting
between the Father and the Son is designated as the kind desired. That
future disciples may understand the nature of this unity, Jesus sets it
forth in an amplified statement, which reveals the fact that he does not
ask for a unity similar to that subsisting between the Father and the Son,
but for that very unity itself enlarged and extended so as to become a
triple instead of a dual unity by the comprehension of the disciples within
its compass. As a reason why the Father should bring about this unity (and
a reason also why all Christians should work for it), our Lord states that
its attainment will result in the conversion of the world to the Christian
faith.] 22 And the glory which thou
hast given me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as we
are one [Jesus here states that to bring about the unity which
he here prays for he has bestowed upon the disciples the glory which the
Father had bestowed upon him. The glory mentioned was that of being the
Son of God (Matt. iii. 17; John i. 14; Heb. i. 5; iii. 6), which glory
Jesus imparts to his followers (John i. 12; I. John iii. 1). In other words,
he made us his brethren that we might be united in one great household
(Rom. viii. 29; Eph. i. 10; ii. 19; I. John iii. 9, 10; iv. 8, 16). A true
comprehension of the Fatherhood of God and our brotherhood in Christ must
result in unity]; 23 I in them, and thou
in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that
thou didst send me, and lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me. [He
here states that the perfect unity of the church and the putting forth
of its power in harmonious effort to convert the world will be equivalent
to a demonstration of the truth of his divine mission. Verse
21 above asserts that the initial stages of unity will produce faith
in the world, and this verse adds that the perfection of that unity will
lead the world beyond faith into the realm of actual knowledge as to the
divine mission of Christ. The context suggests that this unity will result
in gracious manifestations of the Father's love. Possibly these manifestations
may be of such a nature as to aid in bringing about [683] the
state of knowledge mentioned.] 24
Father, I desire 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. [While Jesus prays that
his disciples may enter the heavenly state, that state is not expressed
as the end desired. He wishes them to be in that state that they may behold
his glory. The glory of Christ is his Sonship, and the love which accompanies
that relationship. To behold this is the height of spiritual exaltation.
To know God is life eternal, and to behold God is joy ineffable. God is
truly beheld subjectively. We must be like him to see him as he is (I.
John iii. 2). The second petition of Jesus, therefore, in no way savors
of a vainglorious desire that his disciples may behold him to lead them
to admire him, but a wish that they may participate in the heavenly state,
and know the Sonship of Jesus and all its attendant blessedness by, in
some measure, participating in it.]
25 O righteous Father, the world knew thee not, but I knew thee; and these
knew that thou didst send me; 26 and
I made known unto them thy name, and will make it known; that the love
wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them, and I in them. [In theses
closing sentences Jesus blends his present and his future disciples. To
his present disciples he had made known the Father's name, and to the future
ones he would make it known. The knowledge which he had of the Father had
been imparted to the disciples, and they had received it, and had thereby
been in some measure fitted for the revelation of the glory for which he
had just prayed. The world, on the contrary, had rejected Christ's revelation,
and had refused to know God, and had thus become unworthy of the privilege
here asked for the disciples. Jesus had revealed the Father while on earth
that men might attain to the revelation of God in the hereafter, thus participating
in the love which the Father has for the Son because the Son is spiritually
in them. It is a significant fact that the two of the five petitions of
this prayer are for Christian unity. It may be said generally of all [684] the
petitions that they ask the Father to complete that which the Son has already
begin and completed to the limit of his present circumscribed power.]
[FFG 679-685]
