These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven,
and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son,
that thy Son also may glorify thee:
As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. Joh 17:1-4
and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son,
that thy Son also may glorify thee:
As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. Joh 17:1-4
“Father, the hour is come.” The hour; the hour of all hours the most important. What hour like that in interest, what hour so big with momentous issues on all the past, and on all the future! That was the central hour of all time’s hours. The confluence of the two eternities was at that time-point. That hour was the keystone of time’s huge arch, that arch which rests on the one side, and the other on eternity. Many hours in the world’s history are marked and memorable. The hour of the birth or death, the crisis-hour of one of the world’s great ones, a thinker, worker, statesman, or warrior; the hour which gave birth to and introduced some mighty revolution, which proved to be the birth or death hour of a nation, altering the destiny of millions of our race for weal or for woe, is important and to be marked; but what hour like this! an hour which had its bearing on the whole universe, and whose transactions were to effect eternally God and man, angels and devils. It was for this hour that the great clock of Time was set in motion at first. It was for this hour that the world was created and upheld; for this hour Heaven’s justice waited; in it sin was made an end of, and transgression was finished; in it the law of God was magnified, and made honorable; holiness was vindicated; the devil and his work virtually destroyed; death slain, and God’s chosen people saved with an everlasting salvation. The hour is come. The time was numbered to an hour. The betrayer had gone forth on his fell errand; the machinery of death was prepared, and the Victim was ready to bleed and die on the altar. And He it is who reminds the Father that the hour is come. It is Isaac that tells Abraham that it is time he should be laid on the wood and the knife be upraised. The Lamb of God says, It is time He should die, to take away the sin of the world. The hour is come: how solemn and how applicable are the words! This hour was long in coming, but it has come at last. The eye of many a priest and prophet, king and peasant, of the olden time, had been strained in looking earnestly across the intervening ages towards that hour; but, one by one, the eye of these men grew dim with age and closed in death, and still it came not.
(T. Alexander, M. A.)
(T. Alexander, M. A.)
Jesus Proclaims His Finished Work to His Father
"Consider what were the purposes of God which by the death of our Lord were answered, and which without it, as far as we can see, could not have been answered so that God was thereby glorified.
And first, I think, we must feel that hereby a mark was set upon the devil’s work, sin, which no other conceivable procedure could have set upon it. Its hatefulness to God; its exceeding atrocity; the fearfulness of being tempted to commit it; was hereby made intelligible to all—that nothing less than this agonizing torture inflicted on the Son of God could expiate it.
The next important purpose answered by the sufferings of our blessed Master, and the manifest carrying out of God’s will thereby, is their eminent adaptation to establish a spiritual kingdom as wholly distinct from a carnal one. His kingdom was manifestly not of this world. Pilate marveled that it could be called a kingdom at all, not comprehending the power of holy example, of hearty doctrine, of humble patience. Yet herein was our Father glorified, and hereby were won such glorious triumphs as worldly policy, or force of arms, or outward wealth and influence could never have achieved. For these do but for a while affect the present interests of mankind; whereas the patient endurance, the cheerful alacrity of our blessed Lord unto every good work, His humility, His meekness, His constancy, His love, His gentleness, His unexampled self-denial on all occasions, have left behind them solid and everlasting memorials—have in all ages of the world been the stay of sufferers, the comfort of mourners, the strength of them that wrestled with temptation, the hope of downcast, afflicted souls; and not only so, but have sanctified all the instrumentalities wherewith the purposes of this world are carried out.
Consider how entirely Christ, by His life and death, has shut out all shams and pretenses to religion,—has made it impossible for insincerity and worldliness to indulge in the flattering hope of entering in through the door whose posts and lintels are all sprinkled with blood. What is this blood, and what does it signify? It is the blood of the Lamb that was slain, of the only begotten Son of God, Who gave His life for our lives, due to God for sin." (Bishop Thorold, Penny Pulpit, No. 410, new series)
Note: As Jesus lays down this earthly life, and presents his finished work here to the Father, he begins to take up His mantle of High Priest and our Intercessor-and maintains that work even now-before the Father, for every child of God. He prays for us every day, this should be a great source of blessing, and assurance, that His eye is upon you, every moment. You are never out of His care.
Jesus Compared to Melchizedek-
Heb 7:21 (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)
Heb 7:22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
Heb 7:23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:
Heb 7:24 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
Heb 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"I Have Finished the Work Thou Gave Me"
"I do not think that here in this text our Lord intended to refer to the final and completing act—the blood-shedding which was remission. I believe He reviewed His life—the subjection, the pain, the obedience learned by the things He suffered, the teaching and the trial, the subjection to indignities, to time and space, to cold and hunger, to devils and to men—in the light of all these visionary recollections, He said: "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." This saying of our Lord—it is a very arrow of light gleaming across the burdened valley of our being—"I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." In this specialty, which was the Savior’s triumph, lies the ground also of the Christian’s consolation—specialty, I say, for God sets the work, God hems the work around with difficulties. We succeed, it is because He has aided us; we fail, it is because He would teach us; and thus often failure becomes the footstool of the highest success. It is an illustrious thought, and it is the bright, red light along the horizon of life, that every one has his appointed field. "Thou shalt choose our inheritance for us."
Sorrow is work. Was not His sorrow work? Sorrow is the rain which descends down to the very roots of our being. Sorrow has an influence on the heart like that of the atmospheric action on the hard rocks and hills: it loosens, it softens, it disintegrates, it levels, and from the mold it makes the flowers and the fruits of the heart, as the flowers and fruits of earth spread their bloom.
Temptation is work. Man does not see the victory or the triumph; but God does.
Faith is work. But this is our work in relation to God, and sympathy is work—our work in relation to man.
Think how Divine is work—in its lowest as well as in its highest form—to make something. Not one is forgotten before God. The fisherman going forth to the rivers, the ploughboy to the fields, the dairyman to the farmyard, the artisan to the shop, much-enduring man to toil. How Divine, how godlike is work—to draw the silken thread of Spirit through the hard needle of difficulty. (E. Paxton Hood, Sermons, p. 306)
And first, I think, we must feel that hereby a mark was set upon the devil’s work, sin, which no other conceivable procedure could have set upon it. Its hatefulness to God; its exceeding atrocity; the fearfulness of being tempted to commit it; was hereby made intelligible to all—that nothing less than this agonizing torture inflicted on the Son of God could expiate it.
The next important purpose answered by the sufferings of our blessed Master, and the manifest carrying out of God’s will thereby, is their eminent adaptation to establish a spiritual kingdom as wholly distinct from a carnal one. His kingdom was manifestly not of this world. Pilate marveled that it could be called a kingdom at all, not comprehending the power of holy example, of hearty doctrine, of humble patience. Yet herein was our Father glorified, and hereby were won such glorious triumphs as worldly policy, or force of arms, or outward wealth and influence could never have achieved. For these do but for a while affect the present interests of mankind; whereas the patient endurance, the cheerful alacrity of our blessed Lord unto every good work, His humility, His meekness, His constancy, His love, His gentleness, His unexampled self-denial on all occasions, have left behind them solid and everlasting memorials—have in all ages of the world been the stay of sufferers, the comfort of mourners, the strength of them that wrestled with temptation, the hope of downcast, afflicted souls; and not only so, but have sanctified all the instrumentalities wherewith the purposes of this world are carried out.
Consider how entirely Christ, by His life and death, has shut out all shams and pretenses to religion,—has made it impossible for insincerity and worldliness to indulge in the flattering hope of entering in through the door whose posts and lintels are all sprinkled with blood. What is this blood, and what does it signify? It is the blood of the Lamb that was slain, of the only begotten Son of God, Who gave His life for our lives, due to God for sin." (Bishop Thorold, Penny Pulpit, No. 410, new series)
Note: As Jesus lays down this earthly life, and presents his finished work here to the Father, he begins to take up His mantle of High Priest and our Intercessor-and maintains that work even now-before the Father, for every child of God. He prays for us every day, this should be a great source of blessing, and assurance, that His eye is upon you, every moment. You are never out of His care.
Jesus Compared to Melchizedek-
Heb 7:21 (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)
Heb 7:22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
Heb 7:23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:
Heb 7:24 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
Heb 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"I Have Finished the Work Thou Gave Me"
"I do not think that here in this text our Lord intended to refer to the final and completing act—the blood-shedding which was remission. I believe He reviewed His life—the subjection, the pain, the obedience learned by the things He suffered, the teaching and the trial, the subjection to indignities, to time and space, to cold and hunger, to devils and to men—in the light of all these visionary recollections, He said: "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." This saying of our Lord—it is a very arrow of light gleaming across the burdened valley of our being—"I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." In this specialty, which was the Savior’s triumph, lies the ground also of the Christian’s consolation—specialty, I say, for God sets the work, God hems the work around with difficulties. We succeed, it is because He has aided us; we fail, it is because He would teach us; and thus often failure becomes the footstool of the highest success. It is an illustrious thought, and it is the bright, red light along the horizon of life, that every one has his appointed field. "Thou shalt choose our inheritance for us."
Sorrow is work. Was not His sorrow work? Sorrow is the rain which descends down to the very roots of our being. Sorrow has an influence on the heart like that of the atmospheric action on the hard rocks and hills: it loosens, it softens, it disintegrates, it levels, and from the mold it makes the flowers and the fruits of the heart, as the flowers and fruits of earth spread their bloom.
Temptation is work. Man does not see the victory or the triumph; but God does.
Faith is work. But this is our work in relation to God, and sympathy is work—our work in relation to man.
Think how Divine is work—in its lowest as well as in its highest form—to make something. Not one is forgotten before God. The fisherman going forth to the rivers, the ploughboy to the fields, the dairyman to the farmyard, the artisan to the shop, much-enduring man to toil. How Divine, how godlike is work—to draw the silken thread of Spirit through the hard needle of difficulty. (E. Paxton Hood, Sermons, p. 306)
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou
hast given me; for they are thine.
And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou
hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. Joh 17:9-11
“They are Thine”
hast given me; for they are thine.
And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou
hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. Joh 17:9-11
“They are Thine”
"He had created them, selected them out of the many thousands of Israel, to be trained by His Son. The preparation they received under the minister of Jesus was altogether of God; and the variety of their dispositions, qualifying them for varied service and duty, was due to His wisdom and power. It is one thing to be God’s creatures, made originally in His image; it is much higher and grander to be God’s men, created anew in Christ Jesus.
“I pray for them.” The word pray here is a word which Christ Jesus alone uses in relation to His prayers. The Savior never uses the word ordinarily used to express prayers by man, but one which has the sense of authority in it, and which therefore it is not proper for us to use. How much, then, is involved in this announcement! Frequently in the course of social intercourse we say to a friend in difficulty or affliction, when we feel that our poor thoughts, counsels, or help can be of little or no avail, “I will pray for you.” Does that not include the highest thought, and the most effective aid that we can reach? What magnitude and depth of meaning, then, must there be in our Savior’s words, “I pray for you”! The Lord who prayed for these disciples intercedes for His people now. There is not a single day of our life, however full of duty, difficulty, or darkness, in which we may not derive encouragement and comfort from this gracious word of Christ."
(Biblical Illustrator)
“I pray for them.” The word pray here is a word which Christ Jesus alone uses in relation to His prayers. The Savior never uses the word ordinarily used to express prayers by man, but one which has the sense of authority in it, and which therefore it is not proper for us to use. How much, then, is involved in this announcement! Frequently in the course of social intercourse we say to a friend in difficulty or affliction, when we feel that our poor thoughts, counsels, or help can be of little or no avail, “I will pray for you.” Does that not include the highest thought, and the most effective aid that we can reach? What magnitude and depth of meaning, then, must there be in our Savior’s words, “I pray for you”! The Lord who prayed for these disciples intercedes for His people now. There is not a single day of our life, however full of duty, difficulty, or darkness, in which we may not derive encouragement and comfort from this gracious word of Christ."
(Biblical Illustrator)
Jesus Prays for His Own
In Christ’s own oratory we hear Him pray. But how wonderful! There is a tone of expectant faith in this marvelous prayer of assured trust, as if He knew that He was asking what was in His Father’s heart and thought. The Lord speaks as if He had already passed through death, and were pleading before the throne. He is glad to have authority only that He may use it to give life.
The Father’s gift to Jesus consisted in the men who followed Him, the word He spoke, the works He did, the name He bore. How careful the Good Shepherd was of those who had been given to Him! He prayed for them, He kept them, He entrusted them as His dying legacy to His Father’s care. Though He did not pray directly for the world, He was doing His best for it, in concentrating all His solicitude on those who were to be the messengers of His gospel.
In Joh_17:10 we are reminded of Luk_15:31.
Luk 15:31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
The very words which the father said to the elder brother are here appropriated by our Lord; and we are taught that we have the privilege of entering on the same inheritance of grace and power as our Lord had. He won for us, unworthy though we are, the privilege of saying, All thine are mine. If only we believed this, and lived as children in our Father’s house, how different life would become. (F.B. Meyer)
The Father’s gift to Jesus consisted in the men who followed Him, the word He spoke, the works He did, the name He bore. How careful the Good Shepherd was of those who had been given to Him! He prayed for them, He kept them, He entrusted them as His dying legacy to His Father’s care. Though He did not pray directly for the world, He was doing His best for it, in concentrating all His solicitude on those who were to be the messengers of His gospel.
In Joh_17:10 we are reminded of Luk_15:31.
Luk 15:31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
The very words which the father said to the elder brother are here appropriated by our Lord; and we are taught that we have the privilege of entering on the same inheritance of grace and power as our Lord had. He won for us, unworthy though we are, the privilege of saying, All thine are mine. If only we believed this, and lived as children in our Father’s house, how different life would become. (F.B. Meyer)
