It must have been a wonderful privilege to bow in prayer with Jesus. No wonder that the men who had this privilege should come to Him with the request, "Lord, teach us to pray." (Luke 11:1)
Heaven must have seemed very near to them when the Son of God brought His petitions to the throne of grace, and they heard Him speak, "strong in faith," to His Father in heaven.
The prayer that is recorded in this chapter is a mine of wealth, from which believers have never ceased to draw hope and courage and inspiration. It must have revealed to the Saviour's listening disciples new heights and depths of His thoughts for them, although they could not then take it in. In after years the words of the prayer would be treasured and studied with an ever-growing appreciation of its depth of meaning.
If we would study it, we must remember that it is a prayer, and should be studied in the spirit of prayer. Its secrets are revealed, not to the cold inquiry of the critic, but to the heart that is melted with the love that inspires it. "I pray for them." (John 17:9)
This prayer was not for the world. Christ pleads for the world, and His life is freely given for the sinner, but this prayer deals with things that the world can never know until it takes the place of the disciple. Everyone of us who has accepted Christ as our Saviour is included in the prayer, for He says: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." (John 17:20)
We too may draw near and listen to this prayer, as the disciples did, knowing that it is made in our behalf. We were present to the mind of Christ on that night, as well as the eleven disciples.
Christ was always praying for His disciples. In the night watches, while they slept, He was pleading on their behalf for the gifts they valued then so lightly. He said to Peter, "I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not." (Luke 22:32)
And still it is Christ "who also makes intercession for us." (Romans 8:34) "We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." (1 John 2:1)
In this Christ is our example. We are to take a responsibility for others, even if they fail to feel it for themselves, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." (Ephesians 6:18) "Keep through your own name." (John 17:11)
It was in the name of the Father that Christ came. It was God who showed Him what to do, and what to say, and the name of the Father was His defense. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runs into it, and is safe." (Proverbs 18:10)
Into that name the believer is baptized, so that henceforth it is his own. He goes in the name of the Lord, and that name, through faith, makes men whole. The man who takes the name of the Lord as his protection will not take His name in vain, for God always honors His own name. "I have given them your Word." (John 17:14)
Here is the report of one who did God's will. Happy the servant who can thus give account of his work to God. Many ministers are not following Christ in this respect. Instead of giving the people the Word they are giving them the chaff of human speculations. Their work is not leading men to Pentecost.
God was able to pour out His Spirit upon the church within a few weeks, because Christ had done a great work in the hearts and minds of the disciples by giving them the Word of God. That Word makes "The man of God...perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:17)
Paul followed the example of Christ and: "shunned not to declare ... all the counsel of God." (Acts 20:27)
The equipment of the disciples was a complete one. As soon as the Spirit should come upon them, they were to go throughout the earth, preaching the Gospel. As Christ himself had been sent, so He was sending the disciples. As He himself had been equipped for His work, so He had equipped them.
Jesus Christ connects every believer with himself in His great mission. Not one is left out from the work. The idea that the work of Christ's church is to be done by a certain section, known as ministers, has no countenance in the Scriptures. Every man has his work. Everyone is sent into the world as Christ was sent into the world. "I pray not that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil. ... As You have sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." (John 17:15,18)
Perhaps your lot is cast in unpleasant surroundings, and you have thought it difficult to be a Christian where you are. You wish that you could be as favorably situated as others are, and not be obliged to associate with those who delight in sinful pleasures.
Remember that Jesus has sent you into the world, as He was sent himself. You are safer where you are, if you serve Him, than you would be in an easier place. He has prayed for you that the Father would keep you through His own name. He does not pray that you might be taken out of the world, but that you might be kept from the evil.
The life of Christ is a missionary life, and therefore it is safest where the need is greatest. He left heaven for the dark corners of this world, but He had more of heaven here in seeking the lost than He could have had in staying with those who had not gone astray. "Sanctify them through your truth." (John 17:17)
It is truth that sanctifies. Error will not do it, hence the need of knowing and loving the truth. Just as men may be always growing in the knowledge of the truth, so sanctification is to be a progressive, life-long work. "And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." (John 17:19)
Jesus sanctified himself that we might be sanctified. It was not for His own gain but for ours that He submitted to all the experiences which sanctified Him. We are to show the same spirit, and not to seek sanctification for our own sakes, but because of the increased power it will give us wherewith to help others. We are to become ever more and more helpful, as we learn more and more of the sanctifying truth of God. Christ made himself one with us. "Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same." (Hebrews 2:14)
It is in becoming one with others that we can help them. "That they all may be one." (John 17:21)
It was a wonderful unity for which Christ prayed. Nothing less than the perfect oneness existing between His Father and himself is the measure of the unity that Christ will work in His church.
There seems now to be discord and strife in the church, but because Satan has sown tares among the wheat, that does not make the wheat worthless. Both will grow together until the harvest, and then Christ's work will appear free from counterfeits.
Where there is a spirit of love and unity, there are members of Christ's church. Where self is lifted up, and strife and divisions appear, we may know that Satan has been at work and has sown tares. Sectarian divisions are not of Christ, and they will not long exist among those who are sanctified through the truth, and are separate from the world as Christ was. The world may hate them as it did Him, but notwithstanding this, they will serve others, as He did.
Some hold the opinion that sectarian divisions are necessary. If they are, it is the flesh that makes them so, for they are entirely opposite to that for which Christ prayed. There is only one body and one Spirit, one faith, one baptism, and one God, who is in all "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." (Ephesians 4:1-5): how then can His body be divided into several parts? Division is a work of the flesh, not a fruit of the Spirit. "The glory which You gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and You in me, that they may be made perfect in one." (John 17:22-23)
It takes something more than pertains to our fallen nature to bring about the oneness for which Christ prayed. Only the glory which Jesus had with the Father is sufficient for it. When the oneness is seen, the glory will be revealed.
The glory of heaven is the spirit of self-surrender that prevails there. Self-denial is the test of discipleship and the sign of true greatness. The spirit that took Christ to Calvary was the glory of heaven. Heaven delights in self-sacrifice, and when this rules, there can be perfect unity. "That the world may know that You have sent me, and have loved them, as You have loved me." (John 17:23)
The world derides the idea of self-sacrifice, but to every man and woman there come times when the glory of this world reveals its hollowness, and their hearts cry out for the living God. At such times a man in whom the Saviour's prayer is fulfilled can be to them as cold water in a thirsty land. His unworldliness is the very thing that appeals to them then, for they long for a like deliverance.
Christ is praying still. Now it is we for whom He asks that we may be sanctified through His truth; it is we to whom He has given His Word, it is for us He asks that we may be one as He and His Father are one, that in this day of educated doubt and spiritual dearth, the hungry world may once more be compelled to believe the love that He has for them, because they see it fully manifested in His disciples.--Present Truth, October 8, 1903--John 17:9-23.