Gospel of John [17:13-14]. The Lord's priestly prayer; part 13. Joh 3:29-30; Php 1:9-11; Heb 12:2.

Title: Gospel of John [17:13-14]. The Lord's priestly prayer; part 13. JOH 3:29-30; Php 1:9-11; HEB 12:2.

 

 

JOH 17:11 "And I am no more in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are.

 

JOH 17:12 "While I was with them, I was keeping them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

 

JOH 17:13 "But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves.

 

Earlier that evening Jesus had said to His disciples:

 

JOH 15:11 "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

 

"These things" of 17:13 was the assurance that they were being welcomed into the mutual relationship of love that had already existed from the beginning between the Father and Himself.

 

Now He reports to the Father what he has said to them. If they hear Him as He now prays, the assurance He had given them will be confirmed in their minds; moreover, not only does He state His purpose to give them this assurance but He prays that the Father may fulfill that purpose within them: that the joy which He Himself finds in the Father's love may be fully reproduced in their hearts.

 

Fullness of joy is found in the Father's love. Are they assured of their place in His love? The Lord's intercession would encourage them to approach the Father in His name.

 

The example of His intercession for them may further encourage them to approach the Father in His name:

 

JOH 16:24 "Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.

 

Notice that in our Lord's prayer, what He says is not always a request or a thanksgiving. There are statements that are conversational. This is not sloppiness in prayer or filler but an interaction between Father and Son who have mutual love for one another.

 

For instance:

 

JOH 17:6 I manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world; Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to Me, and they have kept Thy word.

 

JOH 17:7 "Now they have come to know that everything Thou hast given Me is from Thee;

 

JOH 17:8 for the words which Thou gavest Me I have given to them; and they received them, and truly understood that I came forth from Thee, and they believed that Thou didst send Me.

 

JOH 17:13 "But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves.

 

JOH 17:14 "I have given them Thy word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

 

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 17:25 "O righteous Father, although the world has not known Thee, yet I have known Thee; and these have known that Thou didst send Me;

 

JOH 17:26 and I have made Thy name known to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them, and I in them. "

 

Prayer is the ultimate source of intimacy with thanksgiving, intercession, supplication, and conversation.

 

JOH 17:13 "But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves.

 

The promise is the very joy of Christ made full within the heart. One must have a capacity for such joy through spirituality. With the filling of the Spirit and gradual spiritual growth the believer learns to reside in the plan of God, the sphere of His name, and experiences a joy that the world cannot understand. Like all virtues this joy does not depend on circumstances, but in regeneration at salvation and understanding through spiritual growth.

 

Fulfillment of one's purpose in the plan of God (on the path of completing God's destiny for you) is the means of experiencing this joy in fullness.

 

This would also mean that I will not experience the fullness of Christ's joy in time if I am in the pursuit of my own plans that are not His. By means of the Spirit we are each to walk a particular journey. This journey will provide the real time experience of Christ's very joy. Deviation from that journey will not fulfill us.

 

JOH 3:29 "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom [John the baptist], who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. And so this joy of mine has been made full.

 

JOH 3:30 "He must increase, but I must decrease.

 

As great a man as John was, if he decided to compete with Christ's ministry as it grew and his own diminished, his joy would have not been made full. If we pursue what we think will give us a fullness of joy which is not God's plan for our lives we are arrogant and foolish. Some pastors are more concerned about being the biggest and best church and less concerned about what God wants it to be.

 

Php 2:2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

 

Does not the Son and the Father have the same mind, same love, same Spirit, and are they not intent on one purpose? They are completely unified in their persons. This same gift has been given to the body of Christ.

 

EPH 3:19

 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

 

Php 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,

 

Php 1:10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;

 

Php 1:11 having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

 

JOH 17:13 "But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves.

 

The Lord temporarily laid aside His joy so that we could be full of His.

 

HEB 12:2

looking off and away to Jesus, the originator and perfecter of this aforementioned faith, who instead of the joy then present with Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. [Wuest Expanded Translation]

 

Joy is one of the words that has not really changed its meaning over the centuries. The Greek word chara means joy and delight. It is a system of thinking that has a wide range of emotional responses. The words of Christ will fill us with joy and delight. By them we become partners with our divine nature and reside in the love of the Father as our Lord did and we become full of divine joy as our Lord experienced. Joy is second on the list of the fruit of the Spirit. To experience it we must walk by means of the Spirit.

 

Our Lord laid aside His joy temporarily. We never have to. He was being judged for the sins of the world, believers will never be judged. This joy does not depend on circumstances. It is God's perfect happiness, which is eternal and priceless.

 

JOH 17:13 "But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves.

 

JOH 17:14 "I have given them Thy word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

 

JOH 17:15 "I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

 

JOH 17:16 "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

 

All the Father's word that had been given Jesus had been delivered to them.