#174 - Kyle Thompson // Jesus Prays for Himself

We explore John 17, the longest recorded prayer in the New Testament, often called Jesus's high priestly prayer. This intimate moment occurs at the climax of the upper room discourse as Jesus prepares for his crucifixion.

• Jesus lifts his eyes to heaven, addressing God intimately as "Father"
• He acknowledges "the hour has come" – the pivotal moment of crucifixion
• Jesus prays to be glorified so he can glorify the Father
• Eternal life is defined as knowing God and Jesus Christ personally
• Jesus references his pre-existence and shared glory with the Father
• The prayer shows Jesus's desire to return to his full heavenly glory

Read the rest of John 17 and consider how your perspective might change if you lived as though eternal life begins now rather than after death.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to The Daily Blade

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Speaker 2: 0:20

Welcome to a new week of the Daily Blade.

Speaker 2: 0:22

Happy to have you guys here. This week we're studying the longest recorded prayer in the entire New Testament. So it's the prayer of Jesus as recorded in John 17,. And it's often referred to as the high priestly prayer of Jesus. But let's set the scene a little bit here. John 13 through 17 is the upper room discourse. Okay, with John 17 being the climax.

Speaker 2: 0:42

At this point Jesus is winding down his earthly ministry and he marches ever closer to the cross at Golgotha. But before getting to the upper room, jesus has performed many miracles. He's had a triumphal entry into Jerusalem and he had predicted his forthcoming death to his disciples. And while in the upper room for the Passover feast, jesus washed the apostles' feet. He predicted aloud that there was a betrayer in their midst. He predicted aloud that Peter in particular would deny him three times, expressed his exclusivity that no one could come to the heavenly Father except through him, foreshadowed the coming of the Holy Spirit and prepared his disciples for the hatred that would soon be coming their way from the world. So Jesus is wrapping up this last meeting with the apostles before he is betrayed and arrested.

Speaker 2: 1:26

So let's actually go to the text here John 17, verses one through five, and I'll be reading everything in the ESV this week. When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, that the son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him, and this is eternal. So all week this week we're going to be looking at each individual verse and we're going to be breaking them down. So let's go ahead and go to verse 1 here. He lifted up his eyes to heaven. So the posture Jesus takes here is that of direct communion with God. Father. This is a very intimate address. It's very familial in nature and it reflects the oneness of the Trinity. The hour has come. So this is the most pivotal moment in history, really in the history of humanity. It's about to take place the crucifixion and then the subsequent resurrection of Jesus. Glorify your son, that the son may glorify you. So Jesus is not asking for earthly exaltation here at all. The son is perfectly glorifying the father by enduring the shame of the cross, which, paradoxically, is the path to glory.

Speaker 2: 2:51

Now, verse 2. Since you have given him authority over all flesh. So the Son of man you know, not man, not Satan has been given dominion over all people. He has the authority To give eternal life to all whom you have given him. So these are the elect that he's talking about here.

Speaker 2: 3:09

Then we get verse 3, and this is eternal life that they know, you, the only true God. So the knowing here doesn't stop in the world of the intellectual or stay in the world of the ethereal. Even this knowing is an intimate knowledge, it's a relational knowledge in nature, and also this is a direct repudiation of the heresy of polytheism. There is but one God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. So we receive this eternal life through communion with God, through his son Jesus.

Speaker 2: 3:41

Now, verse 4, I glorified you on earth. So Jesus's entire life, his sinlessness, his ministry, his miracles, all of that served to the glory of God, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. So this refers back to the divine mission that God sent Jesus down here to do in the first place. And then verse five and now, father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. So Jesus is asking the father to restore their pre-incarnate right, their pre-incarnate relationship. He wants to be restored to his full heavenly glory again, and so this is just clear affirmation that Christ was with God before the world began and was existing in full, glorious fellowship with his father. So let me leave you with this question to ponder today how can we change our perspectives where we live on this earth, as if eternal life begins right now as opposed to when we pass away? So do yourself a favor and read the rest of John 17. I'll see you back here tomorrow.

Speaker 1: 4:47

Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go. If you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review. Stay sharp.