2019.08.30 Hopewell @Home ▫ John 17:1-5

Read John 17:1-5

Questions for Littles: To whom does Jesus now speak, after what He told the disciples in John 16:15-33 (John 17:1)? What does He say has come? Whom does He ask the Father to glorify? For whose glory is the Son’s glory? What has the Father given to the Son (John 17:2)? What does the Son give? To whom? What is this eternal life that the Son gives (John 17:3)? What does verse 3 call God? What does it call Jesus Christ? What has Jesus done unto the Father (John 17:4)? What has He finished? What request does He repeat in John 17:5? What does He specifically mention about the glory here? 

The doctrine of the Trinity is not some extra theology that gets added to Christianity later on. It is at the absolute heart of it.

We like to focus upon ourselves, so we tend to focus upon getting eternal life. Sometimes, people even get upset at the idea that the Lord only intends to give eternal life “to as many as [the Father] has given [the Son].” But there it is in black and white in John 17:2.

Even in His human nature, the Son has authority over all flesh. Where did He get this authority? The Father. For what purpose did the Father give Him this authority? So that He could give eternal life. To whom? Not to all flesh. But only to those whom the Father had given Him.

But what was the purpose of this giving of authority and people? And what is the purpose of giving them eternal life? You have to back up to John 17:1: that the Son might glorify the Father. This has been the entire purpose of Jesus’s mission of preaching and showing that He is the Redeemer-King who has come into the world (John 17:4). And as He goes to the cross, Jesus says that He has finished this work.

But, if no one gets saved. If no one gets sanctified. If no one makes it to heaven. Then the purpose will remain unfulfilled. So Jesus prays, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son.” It is all for the glory of Christ. And it is all by the glory of Christ.

As we see (John 17:5) that Jesus who died for us is the Son who is the glorious God from all eternity, He completes the work in us of applying to us true eternal life: to know the one true God, and to know Jesus Christ—who is the one true God, but who has been sent by the Father for our salvation.

What part does seeking to know the glory of Christ have in your private/family/corporate worship?

Suggested songs: ARP110B “The Lord Has Spoken” or TPH212 “Come, Thou Almighty King”