#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

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#1529 John 16 Part 3 In The Name

 

23 And on that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete.

25 “These things I have spoken to you in figures of speech; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you openly of the Father. 26 On that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. 28 I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”

29 His disciples *said, “Behold, now You are speaking openly and are not using a figure of speech. 30 Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.” 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. 33 These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16: 23-33 LSB

John 16: 23-33 

V. 23 And on that day - He has told them that He is leaving life, that He is going to be cut off from the living,

made a sacrifice for sins. This has caused them sorrow, and He has told them that the world will rejoice, but their sorrow, that of the disciples, will be short lived, because He is going to rise from the dead. They will be so astonished at the resurrection, so overcome by what is the complete reversal of the natural as they know it, that they are basically left speechless. 

…14Just as many were appalled at Him—His appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man, and His form was marred beyond human likeness— 15so He will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him. For they will see what they have not been told, and they will understand what they have not heard. Isaiah 52: 14-15

V. 24 Until now you have asked for nothing in My name - All that is about to change. Christ is still our mediator, standing at the right hand of the Father, but picture this through the eyes of Judaism. The temple isn't just a beautiful building, that was never it's intent, it is a picture of Christ, the work of redemption. You have a room called the Holy of Holies, and in that room only the high priest could enter. It was behind a veil, and there stood the Ark of the Covenant, the representation of God being present with His people, to tabernacle amongst them. This is the footstool of God's presence, and none of the people on the outside of the tent, when it was in the wilderness, nor the temple, after it became a building in Jerusalem, could enter. This communicated the Holiness of God, the inability of man to approach, and so only the high priest entered once a year, and only in the prescribed fashion, as he was the picture of Christ, Who was yet to come. 

…6When everything had been prepared in this way, the priests entered regularly into the first room to perform their sacred duties. 7But only the high priest entered the second room, and then only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8By this arrangement the Holy Spirit was showing that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.… Hebrews 9: 6-8

14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.… Hebrews 4: 14-16

V. 25 But will tell you openly of the Father - The veil will be lifted, access will be granted through Christ, the great High Priest. It's easy to understate, but impossible to overstate the magnitude of what He is talking about. It is a gulf that time and space cannot contain, the human mind cannot process, so they have the temple, but it's so much bigger than that. Priests died who did not approach in they way prescribed, no one survived on their own merit. Christ was always the Key. In other words, the void, the separation, the veil, cannot be overcome by human means. It is an impossible distance, invisible to the blind eyes of men, and the otherliness of God, who can remark on such things?

5“Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”… John 14: 5-7

…50When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He yielded up His spirit. 51At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split. 52The tombs broke open, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised.… Matthew 25: 50-52

More on the temple

On the Tabernacle

V. 27 For the Father Himself loves you - They have communion with the Father now in Christ's name. You have been given a new name. I was a slave to sin, to a fallen world, and God purchased me out of it with the blood of His Son. Now I have been brought into this family, and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in me as proof of my of my adoption. I have a new name, a new life, access to the Father, not through any human priest, not by my works, not only once a year, but everyday, always and forever. As soon as I believed in Jesus Christ as Lord, and that God had raised Him from the dead, I had this unprecedented access, this acceptance. We are no longer outside the camp, no longer staring at a cloud from afar. We now cry Abba, Father. That is a most precious sort of audience.  

…8But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.… Romans 10: 8-10

V. 28 I came forth from the Father - Jesus origins were otherly. 

…34“How can this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. 36Look, even Elizabeth your relative has conceived a son in her old age, and she who was called barren is in her sixth month.… Luke 1: 34-36

V. 30 Now we know that You know all things - They believe Him when He speaks, but it hasn't been tested yet.

i. “They declared that their belief in the Divinity of His mission was confirmed. They were perfectly sincere. They felt that they had at last passed beyond the region where it would be possible to doubt. How much better He knew them than they knew themselves!” (Morgan)

V. 31 Do you now believe - Oh really, are you sure about that? People saying things with a confident sort of tone is no guarantee to the actual outcome, the reality that awaits them.

V. 32 For you to be scattered...and yet I am not alone - Their departure, though painful, was not unexpected. Christ has a much more dependable relationship with the Father, and because of their unique closeness in eternity, He is never really alone. Even at that point on the cross, when He cries, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Even looking at the back of the Father, that taste of darkness, of separation, is seen through, and looked beyond, for that glory that awaits Him. It is absolved in the knowledge of being guiltless and hope is held high by the eternal trust.  

V. 33 In the world you will have tribulation - Hard for us to accept, that is not the prosperity gospel, and no one ask for tribulation who has any sense at all, but it is the reality, and we are to trust in Christ all the more.

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#1528 John 16 Part 2 Now You See Me, Now You Don't

 

16 “A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.” 17 Some of His disciples then said to one another, “What is this He is telling us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” 18 So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.” 19 Jesus knew that they were wishing to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’? 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will cry and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. 21 Whenever a woman is in labor she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. 22 Therefore you too have sorrow now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. John 16: 16-22 LSB

John 16: 16-22

A little while, and you will no longer see Me - Christ is going to the cross, they will abandon Him, some will witness Him die, and then He will go to the grave. This is all part of God's prophetic time table.

…7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. 8By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and who can recount His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was stricken for the transgression of My people. Isaiah 53: 7-8

…25Know and understand this: From the issuance of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of distress. 26Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed. 27And he will confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of the temple will come the abomination that causes desolation, until the decreed destruction is poured out upon him.”… Daniel 9: 25-27

V. 16b And again a little while, and you will see Me - He is only going to be in the grave for a short time, and then He will come to them.

…39Jesus replied, “A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.… Matthew 12: 39-41

V. 18 We do not know what He is talking about - So much has gone over their heads these three years, and I can't laugh at them, but certainly with them. We are the same, coming to Christ at first with our perceived problems. We come with script in hand, and when He doesn't follow it or meet our demands, then we think He is not God, not the Messiah, and we look for another Christ. They have reached a point where they believe He is Messiah, but it still doesn't fit their narrative, yet it matches up to everything that has been said about Him, starting thousands of years before His arrival. Thankfully, as He has told them, He does not leave us comfortless. We have His word to show us what is going to happen and His Spirit to guide us in all truth. 

V. 20 But the world will rejoice - The disciples will be sad when Jesus goes to the grave, but the world will cheer, and this will be played out again at the end of the time of Jacob's trouble, when the world will exchange gifts to celebrate the death of God's two prophets. He has come to call the world to repent and some have said, "okay, but only this far and no more." Others have said, "how dare You call me a sinner, that makes people feel bad about themselves." Still others have said, "I have done good works, I am related to Moses and Abraham, I tithe, go to church or synagogue, if You will do this for me then I will believe." The world always loves to kill the messengers. Jesus is the ultimate mirror revealing the fallen state that no one wants to acknowledge.

…46“Woe to you as well, experts in the law!” He replied. “You weigh men down with heavy burdens, but you yourselves will not lift a finger to lighten their load. 47Woe to you! You build tombs for the prophets, but it was your fathers who killed them. 48So you are witnesses consenting to the deeds of your fathers: They killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.… Luke 11: 46-48

V. 20b But your sorrow will be turned into joy - It's the sort of pain that will not last and leads to something great.

V. 21 Whenever a woman is in labor she has sorrow - I have only witnessed labor, as men cannot be pregnant, but it looks excruciating. I have had a stone before and it buckled me to my knees while trying to pass it, and what a relief when it is out. It is a beautiful analogy that Christ is using, especially here in the gospel of John, where in John 3 we learned about being born again from Jesus' presentation of the Gospel to Nicodemus. It is only made possible, the new birth, if Jesus dies. He is the Seed of the woman that must be planted in the ground in order to grow this new vine. We are all still borns in Adam, but made alive in Christ. 

…23But Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25Whoever loves his life will lose it, but whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.… John 12: 23-25

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