Calvary Road Baptist Church
“THE LORD JESUS CHRIST PRAYING FOR HIS REMAINING APOSTLES” Part 1
John 17.6-19
Imagine that you are one of the Lord’s remaining eleven apostles. It is Thursday evening, after a long day of preparing for the Passover, wondering that the Lord Jesus Christ had not invited His mother or siblings to the Passover, but giving little thought in passing on a hectic day. A week ago last Thursday, the Lord healed the eyesight of blind Bartimaeus and his blind companion near Jericho. He then met, and you and He and the others dined with and spent the night with, the publican named Zacchaeus. That was interesting.
The next day, the Lord Jesus Christ and your companions joined with the procession of religious pilgrims making the day-long trek from Jericho to Jerusalem for the high holy day of Passover fast approaching. It was a strenuous walk, even for men like you, who were used to walking. Before entering Jerusalem, the Lord led you and the other apostles aside from the traveling group of pilgrims to spend the evening and the next day (the weekly Sabbath) with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in their home in Bethany. It was delightful and very relaxing in their comfortable home.
One week ago, on Sunday, you followed along as the Lord Jesus Christ rode into the city of Jerusalem on a never before ridden donkey colt He had requisitioned by right as the King of the Jews. You were thrilled by the multitudes of religious pilgrims in the city honoring Him in a variety of ways as He entered the city, fulfilling biblical prophecies by His triumphal entry, the crowd no doubt excited by the news that He had given sight to two blind men days before in Jericho. And you were there to witness it!
The next day, Monday, was a day full of memorable experiences for you and the others. It was yet another cherished occasion to witness the Master cursing a fig tree that had every appearance of being fruitful but bore no fruit. Then He proceeded to cleanse the Temple, something you remember Him doing several years ago on a previous trip to Jerusalem.
Later, you noticed a group of Greeks who wanted to see the Lord Jesus Christ approach your friend Philip, who took them to Andrew, who brought them to the Savior. It was then the Lord Jesus Christ cried out,
“Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice out of heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
Later, James, John, and Simon Peter mentioned to you and the others that they had heard that voice on the occasion of the Savior’s baptism by John the Baptist! And also on the Mount of Transfiguration! There was no doubt in your mind that they were right. It was the voice of God the Father. Before fatigue pulled you to sleep, you thought about being in the company of Abraham and Jacob and Moses and the prophets in being so privileged as to hear the voice of God!
Coming back to Jerusalem from Bethany the next day, you noticed that the fig tree the Lord cursed the day before was now withered. Incredible. Will wonders never cease? And that was only the beginning of a day filled with controversy. You and the others stood by as the chief priests challenged your Master’s authority to teach. You thought, “Will those old men never stop?” You marveled as the Lord Jesus taught several parables. Then you exchanged sarcastic facial expressions and rolled your eyes in disgust as the Pharisees and Herodians unsuccessfully tried yet again to ensnare your Lord in a controversy about paying tribute to Caesar. “Why do they insist on embarrassing themselves? They never win when they take Him on like that.”
Then the Sadducees jousted with Him about a resurrection question, and the Pharisees took another turn at Him, again, without success. The last event of the day filled with marvels was the Master pointing out to you and the others the widow casting her two mites into the treasury of the Temple. The day drew to a close on the Mount of Olives, one of your favorite places, near the relaxing and tranquil Garden of Gethsemane. Though you were all exhausted, you listened attentively as the Lord Jesus Christ discussed the destruction of Jerusalem. That was a troubling topic.
Then He began detailing His own Second Coming and associated signs. His Second Coming? You mulled over in your mind what that was all about. Then there were the warnings about false christs. But men claiming to be Israel’s Messiah was not something new. He also taught several parables urging you and the others to be vigilant and once more predicted His crucifixion. Why did He keep bringing up so unpleasant a topic as crucifixion, especially when He was held in such favor by the multitudes? That night you all slept in the olive grove on the side of the Mount of Olives, across the valley from the Temple.
Yesterday, Wednesday, the Lord accepted an invitation, and you all went to a feast in the house of Simon, the leper. It was so relaxing, and the food was well-prepared. Simon was such a good host. Surprisingly, Lazarus’s sister Mary appeared and anointed the Lord Jesus Christ’s feet as if for burial. Judas Iscariot, of course, objected to such use of something so valuable, but the Savior rebuked him for making such a comment about Mary. Stung by the Lord’s public rebuke of his public criticism of Mary, Judas reacted by reaching out to the chief priest and began conspiring with his men to betray the Savior. Of course, you didn’t know that at the time. At the time, it was just Judas making another of his occasional comments.
Thursday was expected to be a big day, and it was. It is possible that the Lord Jesus Christ once more exercised His kingly right of requisition when He dispatched you and another disciple to secure a room for the Passover. It was an upper room. You imagined how difficult that would typically be, with so many religious pilgrims in the city with their demands for space to eat the Passover. Yet, you both got it done, and you were able to secure the needed food. Perhaps the Galilean habit of eating Passover before the Judeans ate Passover helped out.[1]
Anticipating a wonderful Passover celebration, you and the others were stunned when the Lord almost completely disrobed to wash your feet, just as a common slave would have done. Peter protested, of course, because that is what he does. During the meal, the Master troubled you all by declaring that one of you would betray Him. But who? Then He instituted the communion of the Lord’s Supper, and Judas left the room.
The Master then stood and began a long discourse in the Upper Room, led you toward the Garden of Gethsemane as He continued speaking, and walked the group past the Temple still talking. Along the way, He stopped and began to pray. Of course, He prayed often. You had heard Him pray countless times. But this was different. This prayer is recorded in John chapter 17.
Referred to as the Lord Jesus Christ’s high priestly intercessory prayer, John chapter 17 is the second of two portions of the greatest conversation recorded in the Bible. Of course, the first portion of the conversation is the discussion with His eleven remaining apostles found in John chapters 14, 15, and 16. Christ’s prayer to His heavenly Father, recorded in chapter 17, concludes the greatest conversation recorded in the Bible.
Our Lord’s high priestly intercessory prayer is uttered to God, the Father, in three parts. The first part of His prayer appropriately features His requests for Himself. The second part of His prayer features His prayers for the remaining apostles. The final part of His prayer features His prayers for all future believers in Christ. To remind ourselves what the Savior prayed for Himself, allow me to summarize verses 1-5. Verse one records the Savior lifting His eyes to heaven and asking the Father, based upon the fact that the hour has come, to “glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.” Verse two acknowledges the authority granted to the Lord Jesus Christ by the Father, that He should “give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” Verse three records what is essentially a definition of life eternal, for someone to know the Father, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, who the Father sent. In verse 4, the Lord Jesus Christ summarizes His earthly ministry by declaring that He glorified the Father on earth and finished the work the Father gave Him to do. Verse five circles back around to the matter of Christ being glorified by the Father, with the Father, with the glory He had with the Father before the world was.
Verse six is the beginning of the second portion of the high priestly intercessory prayer, that portion of the Savior’s prayer to His Father. He made requests for His eleven remaining apostles. The verse reads,
“I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.”
This verse shows a smooth transition in the Savior’s request, from Himself to His disciples.
Consider portions of this verse with me:
First, THE LORD SAID, “I have manifested”
This phrase translates a single Greek verb, á¼janerá½½sa, “to make it clear, to reveal. The aor. sums up the work of the ministry and is parallel to v.4.”[2] In verse 4, the Lord said,
“I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”
Therefore, this word is the beginning of a pronouncement by the Lord that the portion of His mission to which He now refers, His assignment, if you will, has been completed. It is not likely that He here refers to His saving work being completed, but to that portion of His earthly ministry having to do with the training by instruction of His apostles. He has concluded His instruction of them.
As Well, HE SAID, “I have manifested thy name”
What is meant by this phrase “thy name?”
The concept of God’s name has far more significant implications than merely a word label that identifies the person to who it is being referred to. That would be the Western concept of someone’s name.
The Biblical concept of someone’s name has to do with that person’s character, that person’s essential nature and reflects the esteem with which others should regard that person. The Lord Jesus Christ is proclaiming that His task of revealing the essential nature of the Father, presenting the character of the Father, and reflecting the esteem with which the Father should be regarded, has been accomplished.
But indeed, the Lord Jesus Christ had not accomplished this task to the world since He was lightly regarded by the world when He was regarded at all. And that portion of the world we would call Jewry was hostile toward Him, in the main. Therefore, accomplishing this task of manifesting the Father’s name must be understood in a very restricted sense. Not only did the Lord Jesus not succeed in manifesting the Father’s name to very many people, but He also did not attempt to manifest the Father’s name to very many people. This aspect of His mission was to manifest the Father’s name to those men, the eleven remaining apostles. With them, He succeeded in performing the task assigned to Him by the Father.
Third, HE SAID, “the men which thou gavest me out of the world.”
Concerning those eleven men, the Lord Jesus Christ’s prayer to the Father provides essential information. Notice, again, how the Savior described them:
“the men which thou gavest me out of the world.”
Three observations can be made from this phrase, the first being implied:
What is implied, because it is logically necessary, is that before those eleven men were given to Christ, they were first possessed by God the Father. After all, one cannot give to another what one does not possess himself. Therefore, before God the Father could give those eleven men to the Lord Jesus Christ, for the Savior to possess, they must have been, in some sense, possessed by God the Father. But when were they, in some sense, possessed by God the Father? I will not take the time to establish it here, but the easily verified answer to that question is that they were possessed by God the Father from eternity past. Those eleven remaining apostles were the Father’s possession in eternity past. That is the first observation or implication.
Next, we observe that those eleven men are said by Christ to have been given to Christ by God the Father. When do you suppose the Father gave those men to the Son? We have only two options for our consideration: Either those men were given by God the Father to the Lord Jesus Christ in eternity past, or those men were given by God the Father to the Lord Jesus Christ when they trusted Him as their Savior when they were born again. But does this second option square with what is revealed in the Bible?
John 1.12-13:
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1.13 makes it impossible that this occurred when there was blood, when there was any will of the flesh, and when there was any will of man. So, this gifting from the Father to the Son could not possibly have taken place during the natural lifetimes of those eleven men. Therefore, they had to have in some sense been given by the Father to the Son in eternity past.
Finally, notice that these men were given to Christ “out of the world.” What do you think the Lord Jesus Christ was referring to when He used the word “world,” the Greek word being ká½¹smos? The word is used with seven different meanings in mind in the New Testament, with the context in which the word is used providing the key to its intended meaning:
First, ká½¹smos = the universe as a whole, Acts 17.24.
Second, ká½¹smos = the earth, John 13.1; Ephesians 1.4.
Third, ká½¹smos = the world system, Matthew 4.8; John 12.31; First John 5.19.
Fourth, ká½¹smos = the human race, Romans 3.19.
Fifth, ká½¹smos = the humanity minus believers, John 15.18; Romans 3.6.
Sixth, ká½¹smos = Gentiles in contrast to Jews, Romans 11.12.
Seventh, ká½¹smos = believers only, John 1.29; 3.16-17; 6.33; 12.47; First Corinthians 4.9; Second Corinthians 5.19
Allow me to read each of these verses, certainly too quickly for you to follow along in your Bible. Perhaps you can carefully review the passages when I post this sermon on our Church website, where you can take note of each of the verses I am about to read.
First, consider that Acts 17.24 reads,
“God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands.”
Do you think the Lord was referring to kosmos as suggesting the universe as a whole, as Paul used the term here?
Then, there is John 13.1 and Ephesians 1.4:
“Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.”
“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.”
Do you think the Lord used the word kosmos to refer to the physical earth, this planet we live on as the apostles used the term in these two verses?
Third, how about Matthew 4.8, John 12.31, and First John 5.19:
“Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.”
“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.”
“And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.”
Is ká½¹smos a reference to this evil world system we see operating, especially during this Covid crisis?
Fourth, there is the use of the word ká½¹smoV in Romans 3.19:
“Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”
Is ká½¹smos merely a reference to the human race as the Lord uses the word in our text?
Fifth, John 15.18 and Romans 3.6:
“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”
“God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?”
In these verses, the word suggests all humanity minus those who are believers.
Sixth, we have Romans 11.12:
“Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?”
Here the word kosmos suggests Gentiles in contrast to Jews.
Finally, John 1.29; 3.16-17; 6.33; 12.47; First Corinthians 4.9; Second Corinthians 5.19:
“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
“For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.”
“And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”
“For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.”
“To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”
When you carefully consider these passages you will conclude that the way the Lord Jesus Christ used the word ká½¹smos in our text shows that He had in mind the ká½¹smoV as being the evil world system of First John 5.19:
“And we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness.”
Fourth, IN HIS PRAYER HE SAID, “thine they were”
This phrase corroborates the implication I noted a few moments ago, when I pointed out that in order for the Father to give these men to the Son they had to first be, in some sense, in the possession of the Father. This phrase explicitly shows that to be the case.
The question, of course, is when these men were the Father’s. The reference is not to them being the Father’s by right of creation. Though the timing of when is the beginning, the sense of this passage has to do with redemption, salvation, and deliverance from sin, not creation.
Fifth, THE SAVIOR CONTINUED PRAYING, “And thou gavest them me”
Dá½³dookas is the aorist active indicative form of this Greek word for “give,” dá½·doomi. The Lord is expressing the Father’s giving of these men to Him as a completed action. May I suggest several questions for your consideration as a means of provoking thought? Do you think the Lord Jesus Christ would ever lose those the Father gave Him? Before you answer, consider John 18.9, which reads,
“That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.”
Do you believe the Lord Jesus Christ could ever lose what the Father gave Him? Before you answer, consider what the Lord said in John 17.12:
“those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost.”
Finally, if it were hypothetically possible for the Lord Jesus Christ to lose possession of one of His own, would that person not then revert to the previous owner, God, the Father?
So, you see, the notion of someone losing his or her salvation does not square with what we find in God’s Word.
Sixth, THE SAVIOR ENDS SAYING, “and they have kept thy word”
I find this to be a most interesting phrase because the Lord Jesus Christ is always true.
We know that one among those eleven men did waiver very much in the future. It was Simon Peter when he denied the Lord three times and again when the Apostle Paul withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed. Therefore, how do we reconcile what we know about Simon Peter’s conduct in the future with the Lord Jesus Christ’s statement that “they have kept my word”?
The clue to our understanding is in the form of the verb translated “kept,” thrá½³w. It is a perfect tense verb.[3]
“The Greek perfect tense stands alone in its function; English has no corresponding tense adequate for expressing the significance involved … This is the Greek tense of “completed action,” i.e., it indicates a completed action with a resulting state of being. The primary emphasis is on the resulting state of being. Involved in the Greek perfect are three ideas: an action in progress, it’s coming to a point of culmination, it’s existing as a completed result. Thus it implies a process but looks upon the processes having reached a consummation and existing as a completed state.”[4]
What does this mean? It means that when the Lord Jesus Christ looks upon His eleven remaining apostles, He does not look upon them as fallible and flawed men who are prone to error and shortfall. He looks at the total of their Christian life and salvation, from beginning to completion. Though He will shepherd them through their Christian lives, He looks upon them as a completed work, conformed to the image of Christ, as Paul wrote about in Romans 8.29-30:
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Is not the ending of verse six a tremendously encouraging way for the Lord Jesus Christ’s prayer to God for those men to begin? And is it not exciting to recognize that the Lord Jesus Christ’s way of looking at them during their flawed and inconsistent lives is the same way He looks at you and me in our imperfect and inconsistent lives?
To be sure, the Lord knows that you and I are works in progress, that our steps are halting, and our stumblings are frequent. That said, our exalted Savior also sees each of His own as finished products. He knows that, for all our inconsistencies and inadequacies, He is the Savior who compensates for and who makes up the difference between what God demands from us and what we Christians can provide.
Making up that difference, He could say about those men and can say about us, “they have kept thy word.” Does that not put to rest your fears of failure in the Christian life once and for all time? The Christian life is not you living for Christ, but Christ in you the hope of glory.
That said, why not come to Christ today?
Why not come to Christ now?
__________
[1] See the discussion in J. Dwight Pentecost, The Words & Works Of Jesus Christ, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981), pages 416-421.
[2] Fritz Rienecker & Cleon Rogers, Linguistic Key To The Greek New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Regency Reference Library, 1980), page 255.
[3] Bauer, Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2000), page 1002.
[4] Ray Summers, Essentials of New Testament Greek, (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman Press, 1950), page 103.
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Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church