Gospel of John [17:22-24]. The Lord's priestly prayer; part 42. The gift of the glory of Christ.

Title: Gospel of John [17:22-24]. The Lord's priestly prayer; part 42. The gift of the glory of Christ.

 

 

JOH 17:22 "And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one;

 

JOH 17:23 I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.

 

John observed that the prophecy of the evil high priest Caiaphus was correct, though wrongly interpreted by him, that:

 

Through the death of Christ He would gather into one the dispersed children of God.

 

A man named Simeon was told by the Holy Spirit that he would behold the Christ before he died. When Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple for purification at 40 days old Simeon beheld Him and said:

 

LUK 2:30-32

For my eyes have seen Thy salvation,

Which Thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples,

A light of revelation to the Gentiles,

And the glory of Thy people Israel."

 

Simeon stood on the mountain top of prophecy and watched the golden beams of sunrise far away over the isles of the Gentiles, and then gathering their full glow over his own beloved land and people.

 

It is this same unity for which Christ now prays, and His language makes it plain that it is a unity of love - a unity which has its root within the soul but is manifested in outward action. Otherwise the world could not see it.

 

If divine virtue love has no outward manifestation and is only within, how could the world see its witness to the divine revelation of Christ as coming from the Father?

 

It is not an invisible unity that is prayed for, though its existence is in the heart. The definition and details of this love as revealed in 1CO 13:4-8 has its outward character.

 

We are in Him, He is in us, and He is in the Father and the Father in Him. If the Father is in Him and He is in us then the Father is in us. Since this is true, we are drawn into the very life of God, and He is love.

 

This love is the vital unity between the Father and the Son.

 

If Christ is in His people and the Father is in Him, it follows that they share in the eternal love which the Father has for the Son and the Son for the Father.

 

ROM 5:1 Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

 

ROM 5:2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

 

ROM 5:3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;

 

ROM 5:4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;

 

ROM 5:5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

 

"poured out" - evkce,w[ekcheo - perfect passive indicative] = to pour out, to cause someone to experience something in an abundant or full manner, to cause to fully experience.

 

The perfect tense states that this happened at salvation with the result that the love of God is within us forever. This is a fact. As our minds are transformed by the word of God we come to know the love that the Father has for us, but ignorance of it does not diminish or extinguish it. We love because He first loved us. So then, the Holy Spirit made this a reality at salvation and this same Spirit is teaching us of its reality in time so that we come to fully experience the love of God in time and simultaneously we will love Him and our neighbor.

 

Through regeneration, our hearts have been made to fully experience the love of God, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts.

 

And it is the Spirit who reveals this within us and creates its reality in our hearts. The fruit of the Spirit is love. In heaven it will be for all. In time the indwelling Spirit makes this vital unity a reality in each positive believer’s soul.

 

We see how imperative it is that we do not quench or grieve God the Holy Spirit and that we walk by means of Him in total reliance upon Him to teach, lead, and empower.

 

1JO 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

 

1JO 4:8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

 

1JO 4:9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

 

1JO 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

 

1JO 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

 

1JO 4:12 No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

 

1JO 4:13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

 

ROM 8:12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — 

 

ROM 8:13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

 

ROM 8:14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

 

ROM 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"

 

ROM 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

 

ROM 8:17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.

 

JOH 17:22 "And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one;

 

JOH 17:23 I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.

 

JOH 17:24 "Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world.

 

"I desire" - qe,lw[thelo] = I will. This is very assertive.

 

Again He refers to the sum total of believers that make up the entire Church, and of which, more are being added through His gospel, His Spirit, and the witnesses that the Spirit uses.

 

The glory of the Lord is now at the right hand of the Father, which is the position of highest authority and honor. His victory is manifest there until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet.

 

He asks that the Church, given to Him as a gift from the Father, be with Him at that exalted position.

 

EPH 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

 

EPH 2:2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

 

EPH 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

 

EPH 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

 

EPH 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

 

EPH 2:6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,

 

EPH 2:7 in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

 

EPH 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

 

EPH 2:9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

 

EPH 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

 

HEB 10:19 Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,

 

HEB 10:20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,

 

HEB 10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

 

HEB 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

 

HEB 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;

 

HEB 10:24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,

 

HEB 10:25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.

 

JOH 17:24 "Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world.

 

He has prayed to be reinvested with the glory which He had with the Father before the world existed and demanded a Savior if mankind was to be saved [vs. 5].