John
Chapter 17
John 17: This chapter contains Yeshua’s prayer to His Father before He goes to His death.
This prayer has three sections. In verses 1-5 Yeshua prays for Himself. In verse 6-19 Yeshua prays for His eleven disciples that were with Him. In verses 20-26 Yeshua prays for all of Israel.
(John 17:1 NASB) These things Jesus spoke; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee,
John 17:1: Keep in mind that they are not in the upper room. They are somewhere on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane.
Yeshua stops talking to the disciples and starts talking to His Father. He is speaking to the Father, but He is doing it for their benefit.
(John 17:2 NASB) even as Thou gavest Him authority over all mankind, that to all whom Thou hast given Him, He may give eternal life.
John 17:2: Yeshua, according to Scripture, has power over all flesh (Psalm 2:6-12, Daniel 7:13-14). He says all of those that the Father has given Him, He will give eternal life.
(John 17:3 NASB) “And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.
John 17:3: Eternal life is knowing the Father (Jer. 9:23-24, 31:33-34, Isa. 51:7-8, Psalm 119:77).
(John 17:4 NASB) “I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do.
John 17:4: Yeshua has finished His work of teaching and giving signs (John 9:1-4). He is about to enter into His work of redemption.
(John 17:5 NASB) “And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
John 17:5: Yeshua was His Father’s Word which became flesh and dwelt among us. He laid aside His glory for a time in order to accomplish His Father’s Will (Philippians 2:6-8). Now Yeshua is ready to return to heaven and to His glory.
The next 14 verses contain the section where Yeshua prays for His eleven remaining disciples.
(John 17:6 NASB) “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.
John 17:6: Yeshua has manifested the Father’s name (character) to those who the Father gave Him and they have kept His Word (Prov. 2:1-5).
The disciples were chosen by the Father. They were neither an accident nor a surprise. They were to know Yeshua and entrust in Him. They have done that.
John 17:7 NASB) “Now they have come to know that everything Thou hast given Me is from Thee;
John 17:7: The disciples understood who Yeshua is and where He gets His power (Matt. 16:13-16). They didn’t understand about His death and resurrection and His purpose. But they did understand who He is.
(John 17:8 NASB) 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.
(John 17:9 NASB) “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine;
(John 17:10 NASB) and all things that are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.
John 17:10: Yeshua has given His Father’s Words to them and they received His Words.
(John 17:11 NASB) “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.
John 17:11: Yeshua prays for His disciples to be kept in the Father’s Name (character) in order that they may be one, even as He and His Father are One.
(John 17:12 NASB) “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.
John 17:12: Yeshua kept all of them that Elohim gave Him. The one who was lost was Judas Iscariot. That was prophesied in the Psalms and elsewhere.
(John 17:13 NASB) “But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves.
(John 17:14 NASB) “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.
John 17:14: His disciples have His Word, or His Torah, written in their hearts and minds. Because of this, the world hates them (Prov. 29:27).
(John 17:15 NASB) “I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.
John 17:15: Yeshua does not want His people out of this world. He prays that we are kept from the evil one, or Satan (1 John 5:18).
(John 17:16 NASB) “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
John 17:16: We are aliens to this world because we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven (Philippians 3:20-21).
(John 17:17 NASB) “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.
John 17:17: Sanctify means “to set apart.” We are set-apart from the world by being obedient to His Words. We are not sanctified merely by hearing or saying His Words. We are sanctified from the world by being obedient to the Truth (Romans 2:13, James 1:22-25).
(John 17:18 NASB) “As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
(John 17:19 NASB) “And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
(John 17:20 NASB) “I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;
John 17:20: This prayer is not just for the eleven. He prays for all those who have faithfulness in Him and entrust in Him. He is praying for us on a continual basis (Isaiah 53:12, 1 John 2:1-2).
(John 17:21 NASB) that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.
(John 17:22 NASB) “And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one;
John 17:22: Yeshua has given us the same glory (approval) that His Father has given Him. He does this in order that we may all be one. He wants His people united just as He and His Father are united.
(John 17:23 NASB) 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.
(John 17:24 NASB) “Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world.
John 17:24: Yeshua wants us to be perfected in unity with one another. He wants the world to know that we are loved by the Father through the unity that we should have.
Yeshua asks that we be with Him and behold His glory (Isaiah 33:17). Yeshua wants us to have perfect fellowship with Him. We do not have perfect fellowship with Him through a give-and-take relationship. We have that through obedience to Him. That is Elohim’s purpose for His people.
(John 17:25 NASB) “O righteous Father, although the world has not known Thee, yet I have known Thee; and these have known that Thou didst send Me;
(John 17:26 NASB) 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.”
John 17:26: Yeshua has made the name (or character) of the Father known to them. Yeshua prays that the love of the Father be in all of us (Exodus 34:5-7).
Patrick McGuire
Copyright 2015
Patrick McGuire and Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly
All rights reserved, no portion of this Lesson may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews.
Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly
Fort Smith, Arkansas