John 17:1 Commentary and Bible Study

We view this great and wonderful prayer of the Lord with reverence and with amazement. It is the prayer of our Saviour immediately before he goes to Gethsemane, followed by his arrest, trial and crucifixion. The disciples do not know, they do not realise the hour is come, but he knows exactly what is going to happen. All the other recorded prayers of the Saviour in the New Testament are extremely short. This is quite different in length and in content from all the others. Is it really prayer? Yes, it is, but in a sense it is more than prayer. This is from God to God. This cannot be imitated. There are some things in the prayer from which we can learn for our prayers. For example, it is an entirely unselfish prayer. Everything is prayed ultimately for the glory of the Father, which means in effect the whole Godhead. If we put that yardstick on all our prayers, they would be more like the praying of the Saviour. But this is unique prayer, from God to God. It is prayer fully in line with the prearranged plan of the Triune God. It prays for all the things which they have determined and decided in eternity past, in the council of the Godhead. Every element in this prayer is bound to be answered because it is the Son of God praying to the Father. Not only because he is God, but because he is just about to secure all the things for which he prays. He is about to go to Calvary where he will suffer and die as the representative of his people, and he will take their sins upon himself and cancel them, bearing them away, and paying the price for them. So he prays for them and he is bound to be answered because he is infallible God as well as man. He lifts up his eyes to heaven not because heaven is literally geographically above, but because it is above spiritually. Spiritually the highest place is the dwelling place of God and the symbolism is that he looks up. ‘The hour is come.’ The vital days have arrived when all is to be determined, when he is going to be crucified, rise from the dead, ascend into heaven, and then pour out the Spirit upon the infant church on the day of Pentecost. He knew exactly where he was on the divine timetable. He speaks as a prophet. A prophet forth-tells and a prophet foretells. Even in his prayer, Christ forth-tells, he preaches, and he foretells. He knew the party was being organised, the clubs and the weapons were being got together and the swords. The Levitical police were assembling, Judas was there, briefing the leaders. Others were there, the chief priests and scribes and Pharisees, ready to venture out into the night and within a few hours he would be arrested. He also prays as our high priest and he fulfils all the symbolism of the Old Testament high priest who went into the holy place bearing the names of all his people upon his heart. He prays out loud because he wants the disciples to hear his prayer, to understand how he will continue to intercede for them. All the events for which the Saviour prays are going to happen immediately as a result of Calvary. Everything for which he prays in this great prayer has been answered.‘Glorify thy Son.’ He prays that the divine attributes will now be displayed in him: his holiness as the perfect spotless Lamb suffering for us; his love in undergoing that deepest torture and torment imaginable on behalf of his people and their salvation; his power shown in his resurrection and his ascension.