#1530 John 17 Part 1 Flip The Hour Glass

 

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, 2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I glorified You on the earth, having finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. John 17: 1-5 LSB

John 17: 1-5

1A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.… Psalm 121: 1-3

The hour has come - The build up to this is His leaving, going to the cross, that seemingly shameful place, but it is in obedience to Holiness, critical to the redemption of sinners. It will start with the soldiers in the garden, then to the kangaroo courts, to the cross, and there He will say, "it is finished". He will be taken down from the cross and then taken to the grave. This will fulfill what was spoken by the prophets. He has told His disciples that He will come to them quickly, even that they will first be scattered, but He will rise again from the grave and present Himself to them. They will see His glorified form ascend back to where He came, the glory that He knew with His Father. I believe that sums up what He means by "the hour".

He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He did not open His mouth;

Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,

And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,

So He did not open His mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away;

And as for His generation, who considered

That He was cut off out of the land of the living,

That for the transgression of my people, striking was due to Him?

9 So His grave was assigned with wicked men,

Yet He was with a rich man in His death,

Because He had done no violence,

Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

10 But Yahweh was pleased

To crush Him, putting Him to grief;

If You would place His soul as a guilt offering,

He will see His seed,

He will prolong His days,

And the good pleasure of Yahweh will succeed in His hand.

11 As a result of the anguish of His soul,

He will see it and be satisfied;

By His knowledge the Righteous One,

My Servant, will justify the many,

As He will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore, I will divide for Him a portion with the many,

And He will divide the spoil with the strong;

Because He poured out His soul to death,

And was numbered with the transgressors;

Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,

And interceded for the transgressors. Isaiah 53: 7-12 

V. 1b Glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You - God, from eternity past, has called a people to Himself. They are not called on or of their own merit, but through the Son. They are a gift of the Father to the Son, purchased by the blood of Christ, redeemed from the slave market of sin. 

…8So do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me, His prisoner. Instead, join me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. 9He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began. 10And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel,… 2 Timothy 1: 8-10

That to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life - So strange reading passages like this when I was an Arminian. When I just breezed by, didn't think about what I was reading, didn't look at the sentences by study and context, it was easier. When you study it, when you really look at it, God the Father chose people specifically to give to His Son. Those are the people who come to believe, because He also grants them such faith as necessary to do so. We receive the life of Christ's eternal being because He died to satisfy the wages of sin that were owed to us.  

…13In my vision in the night I continued to watch, and I saw One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. 14And He was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. Daniel 7: 13-14

…26Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight. 27All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. 28Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.… Matthew 11: 26-28

…37Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me. 39And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day.… John 6: 37-39

…10Not only that, but Rebecca’s children were conceived by one man, our father Isaac. 11Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand, 12not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”……13So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” 14What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not! 15For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”… Romans 9: 10-15

The only true God - This is eternal life, knowing God, and this is through His Son that He sent into the world. 

This is eternal life. The author here defines eternal life for the readers, although it is worked into the prayer in such a way that many interpreters do not regard it as another of the author’s parenthetical comments. It is not just unending life in the sense of prolonged duration. Rather it is a quality of life, with its quality derived from a relationship with God. Having eternal life is here defined as being in relationship with the Father, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom the Father sent. Christ (χριστός, Christos) is not characteristically attached to Jesus’ name in John’s Gospel; it occurs elsewhere primarily as a title and is used with Jesus’ name only in 1:17. But that is connected to its use here: The statement here in 17:3 enables us to correlate the statement made in 1:18 of the prologue, that Jesus has fully revealed what God is like, with Jesus’ statement in 10:10 that he has come that people might have life, and have it abundantly. These two purposes are really one, according to 17:3, because (abundant) eternal life is defined as knowing (being in relationship with) the Father and the Son. The only way to gain this eternal life, that is, to obtain this knowledge of the Father, is through the Son (cf. 14:6). Although some have pointed to the use of know (γινώσκω, ginōskō) here as evidence of Gnostic influence in the Fourth Gospel, there is a crucial difference: For John this knowledge is not intellectual, but relational. It involves being in relationship. - Precept Austin

V. 4 I glorified You on the earth - He had a very specific mission, a long list of prophecies to fulfill with His coming. Jesus was the crucial part of salvation. God made Adam and Eve responsible creatures in the garden, and gave them a clear instruction of what not to do. He gave the law also through Moses, "do this and you will live", but our first parents fell, seeking human autonomy, doubting the One they knew to be their Maker. Israel displayed man's inability to keep the law, and this law ran in parallel with the sacrificial system, pointing to the satisfaction which could only be met in Christ's life and death. The law taught us our inability, and the sacrificial system showed us our need. It was not animals who were made in the image of God though, and not them who caused the fall, and so the blood of animals could only teach.

…4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me. 6In burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight.… Hebrews 10: 4-6

V. 5 Before the world was - Before time there was only eternity, there was life, and that was in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There was this, I don't have enough words probably, but sort of community. Before time, space, and matter there was eternal life in the Godhead. This was a glory that existed before all else was spoken into being. This is part of the hour, after all is accomplished here, the Son returns to the glory that was His before anything was made. 

NET NOTE - with Yourself - Or “in your presence”; Grk “with yourself.” The use of παρά (para) twice in this verse looks back to the assertion in John 1:1 that the Word (the Λόγος [Logos], who became Jesus of Nazareth in Jn 1:14) was with God (πρὸς τὸν θεόν, pros ton theon). Whatever else may be said, the statement in Jn 17:5 strongly asserts the preexistence of Jesus Christ. It is important to note that although Jesus prayed for a return to the glory he had at the Father’s side before the world was created, he was not praying for a “de-incarnation.” His humanity which he took on at the incarnation (John 1:14) remains, though now glorified. - Precept Austin

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.… John 1: 1-3

…12But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God. 14The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.… John 1: 12-14