The Glorious Exchange

take their Bibles and turn to
John chapter 17. John chapter 17 and even as you
are turning and we are gliding into John 17 into a new chapter
essentially what we find even as we turn the pages is that
Jesus himself is turning in a sense as it were from His focus on
his friends, his disciples, his beloved apostles. He’s turning
from them to God. He doesn’t leave them out. He
brings them along very graciously into one of the most intense
prayers in all of scripture. And he prays this prayer very
likely audibly in the hearing of all 11 remaining apostles. And he does so for a very specific
purpose, and we’ll see in a moment. This prayer is unique in that
it follows upon this great discourse which really began back in chapter
13, coursing all the way through chapter 16, And it fits is kind
of like a capstone, a finial, if you would, to the discourse
itself. These admonitions, these encouragements,
these warnings, these answers to simple men’s questions. And the interesting thing about
this particular prayer is none of the other gospel writers even
noted. None of the other gospel writers
even refer to it. That without the gospel of John,
we wouldn’t have one of the most amazing, most intense prayers
recorded in scripture, especially prayers of Christ. Now it’s true. If you know your gospels, the
other gospel writers do mention that Jesus prayed in this context. You know well that Jesus went
into the Garden of Gethsemane, and you know that because of
the synoptic writers, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But only Jesus,
or only John rather, records this prayer of Jesus. And that
while the other gospel writers allow room for this prayer, they
don’t so much as even mention this particular prayer. From
Christ we know, or from the other Gospels, we know that Christ
was given to prayer. He had a habit of prayer. He
had a heart for prayer. And we know and are reminded
of what an encouragement, what an admonition that is to us. That if Jesus Christ prayed,
how much more should we pray? I say it frequently at the Lord’s
table, when Jesus was there at the table with his men, it said,
after he had given thanks, he broke bread. If there was ever
anyone who didn’t need to give thanks, if there was ever anyone
who didn’t need to pray, it would have been Christ, which really
tells us about the nature of prayer. It isn’t so much going
to God to get, as much as it is to going to God to commune. And that’s what Christ was doing.
As I said, this prayer, John 17, is the longest recorded prayer
of Christ in all of scripture. I pray your hearts would be encouraged
by it, not just this morning, but in the days and weeks to
come. John chapter 17. Jesus spoke these things and
lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour has
come. Glorify your son, that the son
may glorify you. Even as you gave him authority
over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him, he may give
eternal life. This is eternal life that they
may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have
sent. I glorified you on the earth
having accomplished the work which you have given me to do.
Now father glorify me together with yourself with the glory
which I had with you before the world was. I have manifested
your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world. They
were yours and you gave them to me and they have kept your
word. Now they have come to know that
everything you have given me is from you. For the words which
you gave me I have given to them and they received them and truly
understood that I came forth from you and they believe that
you sent me. I ask on their behalf. I do not
ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom you have given
me, for they are yours, and all things that are mine are yours,
and yours are mine, and I have been glorified in them. I am
no longer in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world,
and I come to you. Holy Father, keep them in your
name. the name which you have given
to me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was
with them, I was keeping them in your name, which you have
given me. And I guarded them, and not one
of them perished, but the son of perdition, so that the scripture
would be fulfilled. But now I come to you and these
things I speak in the world so that they may have my joy made
full in themselves. I have given them your word and
the world has hated them because they are not of the world even
as I am not of the world. I do not ask you to take them
out of the world but to give but to keep them from the evil
one. They are not of the world. even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you have
sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
For their sakes, I sanctify myself that they themselves also may
be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these
alone, but for those also who believe in me through their word. even as you, Father, are in me
and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world
may believe that you sent me. The glory which you have given
me, I have given to them, that they may be one, just as we are
one. I in them and you in me, that
they may be perfected in unity. so that the world may know that
you sent me and loved them even as you have loved me. Father,
I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me
where I am so that they may see my glory which you have given
me. For you loved me before the foundation
of the world. O righteous Father, although
the world has not known you, yet I have known you, and these
have known that you sent me. And I have made your name known
to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which you
loved me may be in them, and I in them. John chapter 17, what
a rich chapter. It was remarkable in beginning
the study of this chapter to find out that there are some
who take this as almost a heavy, negative, almost the same mood
as Christ manifested praying in the garden, a kind of a gloomy,
a sad prayer. I don’t take it that way at all.
Jesus Christ has overcome, He has been encouraging His disciples. He has been telling them that
they will have their joy made full in just a matter of hours.
Now, I would even say that so much as Jesus is looking forward
to this moment, Jesus is looking forward to His arrest and ultimately
to His crucifixion and then His burial and ultimately to His
resurrection. Jesus is not afraid of this moment. It’s this moment for which he
came. And so Jesus is not sad. He’s not despondent. Jesus is
resolved. This is solemnity in action. He’s no doubt serious minded
here, but he’s not morose. He’s not sad. He’s not caught
off guard. Gospel writers. rather gospel
commentaries looked at this and they’re not exactly sure where
to fit John chapter 17. John doesn’t tell us where this
prayer took place. We’re led to assume from John’s
gospel that it’s rather an unimportant issue but this doesn’t stop most
commentators from musing out loud on paper and suggesting
even exact locations. Some suggested that this prayer
took place still in the upper room, that all the discourses
were in the upper room, they never really departed, they talked
about leaving, Jesus bid them to come with him, and yet still
they’re there in the upper room. It’s entirely possible. That’s
probably the most natural way to take all of these pieces of
data as we course from chapter 13 all the way into 17 some suggested
that on their way out Jesus stops and pauses sometime before he
gets to the Mount of Olives others suggested that similarly that
it was on the way to Gethsemane but not in Gethsemane they’ve
got to they’ve got to separate these prayers and I think that’s
right It’s a completely different prayer that he prays here from
the content of what he prays in the Synoptic Gospels. Others said, and one in particular
was very adamant about this point. He said it this way, it’s inconceivable
that it should have been spoken anywhere except under the circumstances
suited to its unapproachable solemnity. Let me unpack that
for you. He says this prayer is so great and so noble and
so intense and so solemn, it could only have been prayed in
a place perfectly fitted for that occasion. And so he suggests,
because of that, that it’s the temple courts that just as they
begin to go out, they pause in the temple courts and they gather
in prayer and Christ lift his eyes to heaven. He goes on to
conclude that nowhere could the outlines of the future church
be more fitly drawn than in the sanctuary of the old church. The only thing I would say to
that is that for John who seems to capture every crucial detail
for John to leave out that little point would be monumental. So we conclude that the precise
location even the precise timing of this prayer is left by God
as a complete mystery to us. We know that Christ prayed. We
don’t know where. We don’t know exactly when, except
that it was after the discourses and before the prayer in Gethsemane. For those of you who enjoy digging
into the structure of this chapter, if you look at verses one through
five, Jesus really prays for himself and ultimately for God’s
glory. It’s almost universally maintained
that the structure is really pretty plain in this entire chapter. There are three sections. The
first is in verses 1 through 5, as I said. The second is in
verses 6 through 19. Here he prays for his immediate
disciples, his apostles. He prays for them. They are literally
the foundation of the New Testament church and they are going to
need his prayer even as we heard. And then finally he prays for
future believers and I would suggest to you that what he’s
really praying for is the church up to and including us. When we speak about the source
of this prayer I would I’ve already said it, I believe that this
prayer was spoken aloud, I believe that John heard this prayer,
I believe that the other apostles heard Christ in prayer, and this
was hugely impactful of them. But it’s also not only quite
likely, but it’s almost, it’s almost inconceivable that the
Holy Spirit would not have also augmented John’s mind since he
wrote this gospel nearly 50 years after the events of this very
evening. John would have needed divine assistance even to recall,
but to recall down to the very syllable this prayer required
divine assistance. I believe that Jesus prayed this
prayer out loud. I don’t believe that The Holy
Spirit just gave John the contents of this prayer as he did at other
occasions He let the writers of Scripture in on things that
they hadn’t attended personally in order that they could tell
of them But in this case, I believe that Jesus prayed out loud I
believe that the prayer served a number of different purposes
not only for Christ to commune with his heavenly father but
also to instruct, to teach his disciples how to pray. Praying,
after all, is a learned behavior. Prayer is precisely what Jesus
does as a model to the disciples, and he does so, I believe, here. So the prayer that he made, the
prayer that he uttered, he uttered out loud in the hearing of his
apostles, for their purpose, for their growth, for their own
development, for their own comfort, for their own benefit. none other
than Augustine said, the prayer which Christ made for us, he
has also made known to us. Being so great a master, not
only what he says in discoursing to the disciples, but also what
he says to the father in praying for them is for their edification. In other words, he says this
prayer is for you and I. This prayer is instructive to
us as well as to the apostles. Let me say just a word or two
about the nature of this prayer before we really begin to get
into it. It is, as I’ve already said, one of the most intense,
one of the most profound, deep prayers recorded in all of Scripture. J.C. Ryle, whose commentaries
we all seem to enjoy at various times, It is the most remarkable
chapter in the Bible. It stands alone and there is
nothing like it. A prayer which is singularly
full of deep and profound expressions, so deep indeed that we have no
line to fathom. The wisest Christian will always
confess that there are things here which he cannot fully explain. So Jesus, finishing his discourse,
immediately following not only the institution of the Lord’s
Supper, but the washing of his disciples’ feet, calls his friends
together. Just now, hours before he will
be crucified, he gathers them together as a family, as a band
of brothers, and he goes before the throne of grace for his own
sake, and for their sake. It’s a son talking to his father,
but it’s the eternal son talking to the everlasting father. It has been called the high priestly
prayer. And I would suggest to you that
while I think that’s a fine title, I think that this prayer could
well be called the Lord’s Prayer. Instead of that other traditional
prayer known by that name, that prayer could be more accurately
called the Disciples’ Prayer because Jesus was teaching them
specifically how to pray. This prayer. This prayer, however,
is truly the Lord’s heart-to-heart communion, His prayer, to the
Father. I want to go back to those first
five verses this morning and I want to begin to look at what
I have entitled a glorious, not a glorious exchange, the glorious
exchange. I want to unpack that for you
for a moment. Every once in a while I get the title just right. I
don’t spend a lot of time on it. This title This title is
significant. When you think of glory, and
you know that God doesn’t share his glory with others, the very
idea of glory is so bound up with God that the idea of pairing
that with an exchange is almost unthinkable. But there is an
exchange of glory in this chapter. as we’ll see in a moment. And
I would suggest to you that this is the glorious exchange. There are no others. There are
no other opportunities for God to exchange his glory with any
other except his son. I want to note a few things about
this passage as we get into it. Five times in these short five
verses occurs this word glory or glorify. We see the Father
as utterly magnanimous in this passage. He gave to Christ His
authority, verse 2. He gave to Christ a people, in
fact, all people, verse 2. He gave to Christ a mission,
His work, verse 4. I want to take you to the idea
of structure of this passage before we dive in headlong. This
passage is one of the I don’t point out all of these, I point
out very few of them. This passage is one of the clear
pictures of what is known as chiasm in the scriptures. The subject matter of verses
one through five ascend and then descend in reverse order. So that the content of verse
one, if you look at it, the content of verse one, father the hour
has come, glorify your son, matches the content of verse five. Father
glorify me. The content of verse two matches
the content of verse four. The son may glorify you even
as you gave him authority over all flesh. Verse four, I glorified
you on the earth. Which makes verse three the exact
center point of this entire section. But I want to point out lastly,
and this is just crucial, is that what we are allowed to listen
in on, what the Holy Spirit has preserved down to this day for
our hearing, for our consideration, for our edification, is a divine
transaction. You heard me right. This is a
divine transaction. This is almost the recitation
of a contract. You did this, now I do that. I did this, now you do that. Some of you have had occasion
to sit in on the reading of a contract, the reading of a will, the reading
of some formal document. This is the recitation of a contract. It is a review of the covenant
of grace made between the father and the son. And who else but
the son could speak to God in such language? To review the
father’s end of the deal so the son can collect on his portion
of the arrangement. That’s what’s taking place. What
you have here is proof, absolute proof of the deity of Jesus Christ. What mere man could stand before
his creator and say these things? I glorified you perfectly. Now you, in equal perfection,
glorify me. This is substantial proof of
the deity of Christ. Who else but God could speak
to the Heavenly Father in such a way, as one said, all this
rather is language that creatures could never use with God. It
stands on equal terms, it assumes merit, it claims rather than
asks, and even exchange glory for glory. Let me unpack that
for just a second. When he says equal terms, he’s
holding God the father to his end of the bargain. He’s coming
to God as God, not informing the father, but reciting the
terms of the contract. I have done what you’ve asked
me to do. You have done what you promised
to me. And now we need to ratify this
contract. We need to conclude this contract. It assumes merit. This is the
very thing that we’re taught from the very first moment as
believers that we never put God in debt. We never make God so
that He owes us anything. We never by a series of good
works earn merit with God. That’s exactly what Jesus Christ
here says. I did What you asked me to do,
I glorified you on earth, now you glorify me. And it claims
rather than ask. That’s what makes claiming on
our part so obnoxious. We don’t claim anything on God. Jesus claims. Jesus goes before
his heavenly father and he says, look, this is mine. It’s mine because of a divine
agreement from eternity past. I glorified you, you glorify
me. Both claim to have glorified,
both to be glorified, desiring even, expecting to be glorified
again. This is God the Son speaking
as only He could speak to God the Father. God doesn’t share His glory with
any. Isaiah 42.8, I will not give
my glory to another. Isaiah 48.11, my glory I will
not give to another. This is the Son speaking as only
the Son of God can speak to God the Father, it’s a contract. And I want you to note there
are two parts to this contract. In this glorious exchange, Jesus
Christ reviews the contract with His Father specifically in verses
one through two, glory for Christ’s anticipated work of redemption.
This is anticipated. He’s praying for God’s grace
to glorify Him in advance of the cross. But secondly, verses
4 through 5 speak of God’s glory for Christ’s completed work of
redemption. And He’s looking at it and speaking
of it as it’s already done. Because in a very real sense,
it was. Back, if you would, to verses 1 and 2. spoke these things
and lifting up his eyes to heaven. He began his prayer. We tend
to. Ignore. These bodily positions, we treat
them as unimportant, but if you can imagine this scene, how poignant
this must have been to his apostles as Jesus literally lifted up
his head looking heavenward. It isn’t mandatory, but those
things are significant at times. To bow our heads in humble submission
to God, to bend our knee, to close our eyes, to clasp our
hands together, those things all communicate something. Just as it does, there are times
when we’re praying and we look full forward, right? Especially
if we’re driving. There are times where instead
of bending the knee, we fall face down. There are times where
closing the eyes isn’t practical and we look heavenward, we glance
forward, we look even at others as we pray. There are times we’re
not only clasping the hands, but raising the hands as appropriate
as we bestow blessings on others. Jesus spoke these things lifting
up his eyes to heaven he said father the hour has come glorify
your son This is the son Coming before
the father. This is what Paul speaks of in
Galatians 4 6. This is the cry to Abba father
This is the prayer of the son the only son going before his
father his beloved heavenly father Now we’re within just minutes
of Christ’s arrest. The consummation, the period
of completeness has come. For many seasons, we’ve been
told throughout John’s gospel, it was not time. John 730, they
were looking to seize him and no man laid his hand on him because
his hour had not yet come. John 820, his hour had not yet
come, but now the time had come. His hour had come. And now his
time had come for God to glorify him. And he was going to do so
in a way that we might think is incongruous with this situation. He was going to glorify him by
the cross. He was going to grant Jesus Christ
the glory to face the cross. He was going to grant Jesus Christ
glory in the cross. As we look at the cross, the
cross is an instrument of torture. It’s an instrument of shame.
The world looked at it as a mockery of Christianity. But to Jesus
Christ, this was the path of glory. This was the means to
get to glory. So this prayer goes to the very
heart of redemption. And he prays for God’s grace
to attend him in this hour, this hour of man’s redemption, this
hour of the payment of their sin. One noted that a martyr would
perhaps go in prayer and pray for extra special measures of
grace to be able to sustain or to endure such a scene. But there
was more than this. He says the glorification of
Jesus in the passion was the divine acceptance of his sacrifice
by the Father. Jesus prays that having begun
this plan of redemption that now they are just moments away
from it. That God would see it through
to the very end, that he would glorify his Son in the cross. This too is contractual. As I’ve
already said, lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father,
the hour has come. Glorify your son. Why? That the
son may glorify you. We would call that, they would
call it in legal language, quid pro quo. You did this, I do that.
It’s an arrangement. It’s a contract. And what he
speaks of is this this work as a mediator, gathering the church
to him, going on their behalf to the cross to pay for their
sin. Glorify the son so that the son may glorify you. This was the authority that was
given to him from the heavenly father. And this is profound. Authority. Look at verse two,
even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom
you have given him, he may give eternal life. Now there is in
a sense where flesh in scripture does refer to the animal kingdom,
but here it’s speaking specifically, Jesus is talking specifically
about people. God has given to Jesus Christ
all people and he speaks of them as all flesh because he’s pointing
to a particular aspect of their being. It is the fallen human
creation that he’s speaking of. It’s man’s frailty that he’s
talking about when he mentions all flesh. It was a very common
phrase used in the Old Testament. It just refers to all of humanity. all flesh, all people, all races,
men and women, black and white, all are savable. But if you note
from the passage, he has given him authority over all flesh,
that to all whom you have given him, he may give eternal life. And there’s a separation there,
isn’t there? When We speak of eternal life here.
The authority of Christ is set in motion. It is bestowed upon
the Lord Jesus Christ to exercise his divine election in the gift
that the Father has given to him. Believers, it’s almost as if
they are given to Christ as a complete whole. And yet they receive their
eternal life in time throughout the course of life, throughout
the course of history. They receive their salvation
individually. Both things are true. One faithful commentator said
a distinction between the whole body and the particular individual
members is meant, the body is given to Christ in the whole
from all eternity. The members of that body are
called in time, separately, one by one, and eternal life is given
to them. The Son gives eternal life, and
the Son gives eternal life only to those who are given to Him. Jesus Christ. Has been given
divine authority from the heavenly father to draw all men to himself. But only those who come to Christ,
only those who believe in almighty God and believe in Jesus Christ
will receive eternal life. That’s what makes verse three
says it absolutely clearly. You have a definition, you have
a description of eternal life here in verse 3. It’s an explanatory
comment. Some people attribute this comment
to Jesus Christ. They say that Jesus Christ is
in prayer, He’s coursing through this, and this is just a comment
that He makes for the sake of those hearing Him. to clarify exactly what he means
by eternal life. We’ll come to that in a second.
Others said that this is one of the devices that the apostle
John frequently employs, is that if there’s any potential of confusion
here, John needs to step in and clarify for feeble human minds
what it is the Lord Jesus is speaking of. It does seem to
be a parenthesis, whether Jesus said it or where John said it.
It seems to be a quick, short, power-packed explanation of eternal
life, which Jesus has just mentioned. It does seem to be a parenthesis. And there are some things that
tip the scales in the favor of saying that this is John’s insertion
here. It would be different. unique
for Jesus to pause and explain eternal life. In the hearing
of his heavenly father, the heavenly father certainly knew what eternal
life was. It would be odd, different, unique
for Jesus to refer to himself for the first time in all of
John’s gospel, mind you, as Jesus Christ. He didn’t need to tell
the father who he was. He didn’t need to use his first
title. Beyond that, the flow of thought
between verses two and four is very natural, as I’ve already
pointed out. And so it seems that verse three
might just well be an explanatory insertion by the Apostle John. And in the end, you know what
I say? It does not matter. Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter
whether this is an explanatory insertion by John or whether
Jesus pauses for the sake of his apostles, mind you, before
whom he was praying, in whose presence he knew he was, for
whose purpose he was praying, in part. It doesn’t matter who
these words Attributed to we don’t necessarily need red letter
Bibles because in the end it’s all God’s Word And this is what
it says This is eternal life that they
may know, and that word know is not talking about an intellectual
knowledge, it’s talking about an intimate knowledge, oneness,
communion with God himself, the only true God. There are many
false gods. There’s Buddha, and there’s all
kinds of so-called gods throughout the history of mankind, but there’s
one true God. The one true God must be believed
on. Jesus says the only way to enjoy
eternal life is to look up to the one true God. Against the many false gods of
the heathen. Remember even Paul’s admonition
to the heathen of the the God without a name, to the unknown
God. Those were all false gods. Jupiter,
Buddha, Zeus, and all the rest. But there’s one true God. Jesus
had spoken of Him when He confronted the Jews, the one and only God,
John 5.44. That one God must be believed on, he must be known
intimately and deeply. And not only that, but Jesus
Christ must be believed on deeply and intimately. He must be known. You see the first part, the one
true God? That was the part that the heathen
didn’t quite understand. They even had gods without names,
statues to them. But the part that stumbled the
Jews was Jesus Christ. To know God, to know God deeply
and intimately, to know about His holiness, to know about His
nature, to know about His wrath, His hatred of sin, that to know God and to know God without
Christ is to cower in terror for the fury of Almighty God, And I would suggest to you that
until you’ve come to know the nature of that God, you’re not
even interested in knowing the Savior. To know the Savior without
really knowing the nature of the God who sent him. Is not to know the full Christ. But when we come to Christ. shamed of our sin, desperately
in need of a savior. We hear of his redemption. We
hear that he went to the cross for us. We hear that he loved
sinners. This is salvation. When we see that God hates sin
and hates sin so much that he sent his own son to die for us,
That is the very nature of salvation. That is the very nature of eternal
life. Jesus lifted up his eyes and
he pleaded with Almighty God. He came before God and he laid
out his requests and recited this covenant for all his apostles
to see. that he needed divine glory. He needed
God to attend to his going to the cross to bring sinners to
himself. And so he recites this beautiful covenant before his apostles. Jesus Christ anticipated His
work of redemption. He knew exactly what He was going
to. He was going to the cross for you and I. He was going to
the cross for sinners. He was going to pay, and He wanted
God glorified in that, and He knew that if God was glorified
in His going to the cross, that He too would be glorified as
a member of the Godhead. We’ll take up verses four and
five next Lord’s Day. But ponder the truth of this,
that from eternity past, there was a contract, a divine
arrangement between the Trinity, the members of the Godhead, as
they came up with a plan of redemption. And they sought to impart to
humanity the means of salvation, the only means of salvation.
That Jesus Christ would pay the sin for the sin of sinners. That Jesus Christ would glorify
the father in his death on the cross. And the father would glorify
the son in accepting it. What a glorious privilege. What
a glorious exchange to go before the throne of grace. Our merciful King, we humble
ourselves before this profound prayer so deep that we can only
begin to get a grasp of what Christ means standing there,
looking heavenward, reviewing the terms of a contract that
was made from all eternity, whereby he would glorify you
and you would glorify him. We are humbled to sit at the
feet of Christ and to hear him recite these things, knowing
what it meant, knowing that it meant him going to the cross
for our sin, knowing that without that there
would be salvation for none. Lord, we’re humbled. We pray
for your grace in the examination of our heart. Lord, if there
are those here who have not seen and wrestled with their own sin,
haven’t acknowledged their sinfulness, That sin is what sent Christ
to this moment, to the cross. This hour was for their sin. Lord God, we thank you for your
faithfulness in that, and we pray that you would bring sinners
to repentance, that they would know eternal life. It’s in Jesus’
name that we plead, amen.