Gospel of John [17:22-23]. The Lord's priestly prayer; part 41. The gift of the glory of Christ.

Title: Gospel of John [17:22-23]. The Lord's priestly prayer; part 41. The gift of the glory of Christ.

 

 

JOH 17:20 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;

 

JOH 17:21 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 Me.

 

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.

 

Jesus here appeals to what He has done for them during His earthly ministry.

 

The glory refers to all that the Father gave Him in order to accomplish His ministry on Earth. It is everything that filled His character as a man.

 

Everything He possessed, even His body, was a gift from the Father. This does not nullify His personality. We have received everything of value from the Father and we are still individuals. Christ is unique as the God Man and all that He had in His humanity was a gift from the Father. He prays that the glory that was given to Him would be given to us.

 

LUK 2:40

And the Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

 

LUK 2:52

And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

 

HEB 5:8

Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.

 

Christ had words, power, authority, virtue love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, honor, humility, and more that made Him the man He was. He originated nothing. All that was given to Him, He gave to us. Everything that has been given to Him He has given to His believers. He has not horded one thing. "He had nothing for Himself alone but rather was rich to enrich His believers" (Calvin). Together this comprises His glory and that glory has been given to each believer in full.

 

This graciously given glory is discovered in the word of God under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit and it becomes a reality in the believer's conscience.

 

2CO 3:12 Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,

 

2CO 3:13 and are not as Moses, who used to put a veil over his face that the sons of Israel might not look intently at the end of what was fading away.

 

2CO 3:14 But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.

 

2CO 3:15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;

 

2CO 3:16 but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

 

2CO 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

 

2CO 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

 

And the glory doesn't stop within us, but expresses itself through us to the world, whether they see it or not, it is expressed.

 

2CO 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves;

 

2CO 4:8 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;

 

2CO 4:9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

 

2CO 4:10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

 

We carry Christ's death as a mantle of our redemption. This is not a reference to suffering, but it is the means by which we endure through suffering.

 

This means that we are always carrying within us the efficacious work of our Lord so that His life will be manifested through our lives, or manifested in our body.

 

Paul reveals this same thing in his own desire to be conformed to His death which is another way of saying that he wanted his life to be Christ's so that he would walk in the resurrection life of Christ.

 

Php 3:10-11

that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

 

2CO 4:11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

 

Now the passage speaks of suffering. It's not every day but it is a consistency in our lives. Temptation, persecution, tribulation are always lurking for the believer. Yet when he understands that Christ went through these things so that He could be manifested to the world he realizes that he carries about in his body the dying of Jesus so that in these times of pressure, he may reveal Christ to the world around him.

 

The giving of glory by the Son has its purpose as it did when the Father gave it to the Son and that is as the Father sent the Son into the world He has now sent us, His body, into the world.

 

MAT 28:18-20

"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

 

JOH 14:12

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.

 

JOH 20:21

Jesus therefore said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you."

 

The Holy Spirit uses many events and circumstances for revealing Christ to the world. He uses the manifestation of the unity of love amongst believers.

 

We know that it is God the Holy Spirit who convicts the world that they may believe in Him and so it would seem that God the Holy Spirit uses the manifestation of the unity of love amongst believers as a vehicle for His revealing of the Son of God in the man and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have no idea of all the things, events, circumstances, etc. that God the Holy Spirit can use to bring that revelation to the unbeliever through His common grace ministry.

 

1JO 4:14

And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

 

Each time these witnesses are used by God the Holy Spirit and a person comes to faith in Christ, the usurper in God’s universe looses another captive and sin and death and the world are thrown off that one through regeneration.  

 

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 Caiaphas was correct, though wrongly interpreted by him, that:

 

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

 

JOH 11:47 Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs.

 

JOH 11:48 "If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."

 

JOH 11:49 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all,

 

JOH 11:50 nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish."

 

JOH 11:51 Now this he did not say on his own initiative; but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,

 

JOH 11:52 and not for the nation only, but that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.