These verses begin one of the most wonderful chapters in the Bible. It is a chapter in which we see the Lord Jesus Christ addressing a long prayer to God the Father. It is wonderful as a specimen of the communion that was always kept up between the Father and the Son, during the period of the Son’s ministry on earth. It is wonderful as a pattern of the intercession which the Son, as a High Priest, is ever carrying on in heaven for His people. Not least, it is wonderful as an example of the sort of things that believers should mention in prayer. What Christ asks for His people, His people should ask for themselves. It has been well and truly said, by an old divine, that “the best and fullest sermon ever preached was followed by the best of prayers”.
Taken, with editing, from Expository Thoughts on John, vol 3. Here are Ryle’s general comments on John 17:1-8.
It is needless to say that the chapter before us contains many deep things. It could hardly be otherwise. He that reads the words spoken by one Person of the blessed Trinity to another, by the Son to the Father, must surely be prepared to find much that he cannot fully understand, much that he has no line to fathom. There are sentences, words and expressions in the 26 verses of this chapter, which no one has probably ever unfolded completely. We do not have minds to understand the matters it contains. But there are great truths in the chapter which stand out clearly and plainly on its face, and to these truths we shall do well to direct our best attention.
We should notice, firstly, in these verses, what a glorious account they contain of our Lord Jesus Christ’s office and dignity. We read that the Father has “given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life”. The keys of heaven are in Christ’s hands. The salvation of human souls is at His disposal. We read, furthermore, that it is life eternal to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. The mere knowledge of God is not sufficient and saves no one. We must know the Son as well as the Father. God known apart from Christ is a Being whom we can only fear and dare not approach. It is God “in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself,” who alone can give life and peace to the soul.
We read further that Christ has finished the work which the Father gave Him to do. He has finished the work of redemption and wrought out a perfect righteousness for His people. Unlike the first Adam, who failed to do God’s will and brought sin into the world, the second Adam has done all and left nothing undone that He came to do. Finally we read that Christ had glory with the Father before the world was. Unlike Moses and David, He existed from all eternity, long before He came into the world; and He shared glory with the Father before He was made flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary.
Each of these marvellous sayings contains matter which our weak minds have not power fully to comprehend. We must be content to admire and reverence what we cannot thoroughly grasp and explain. But one thing is abundantly clear: sayings like these can only be used of one who is truly God. No such language is ever applied in the Bible to any patriarch or prophet or king or apostle. It belongs to none but God.
Let us for ever thank God that the hope of a Christian rests on such a solid foundation as a Divine Saviour. He to whom we are commanded to flee for pardon, and in whom we are directed to rest for peace, is God as well as man. To all who really think about their souls, who are not careless and worldly, the thought is full of comfort. Such people know and feel that great sinners need a great Saviour, and that no mere human redeemer would meet their needs. Then let them rejoice in Christ and lean confidently on Him. Christ has all power and is able to save to the uttermost, because He is divine. Office, power and pre-existence all combine to prove that He is God.
We should notice, secondly, in these verses, what a gracious account they contain of the Lord Jesus Christ’s disciples. We find our Lord Himself saying of them: “They have kept Thy Word. . . they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee . . . they have received [Thy words], and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me.”
These are wonderful words when we consider the character of the 11 men to whom they were applied. How weak was their faith! How slender their knowledge! How shallow their spiritual attainments! How faint their hearts in the hour of danger! Only a very little time after Jesus spoke these words, they all forsook Him and fled, and one of them denied Him three times with an oath. No one, in short, can read the four Gospels with attention and fail to see that never had a great master such weak servants as Jesus had in the 11 apostles. Yet these very weak servants were the men of whom the gracious Head of the Church speaks here in high and honourable terms.
The lesson before us is full of comfort and instruction. It is evident that Jesus sees far more in His believing people than they see in themselves, or than others see in them. The least degree of faith is very precious in His sight. Though it is no bigger than a grain of mustard seed, it is a plant of heavenly growth and makes a boundless difference between the possessor of it and the man of the world. Wherever the gracious Saviour of sinners sees true faith in Himself, however feeble, He looks with compassion on many infirmities and passes by many defects. It was even so with the 11 apostles; they were weak and unstable as water, but they believed in their Master and loved Him when millions refused to own Him. And the language of Him, who declared that a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple should not lose its reward, shows clearly that their constancy was not forgotten.
The true servant of God should mark well the feature in Christ’s character which is brought out here, and he should rest his soul upon it. The best among us must often see in himself a vast number of defects and infirmities, and must feel ashamed of his poor attainments in religion. But do we simply believe in Jesus? Do we cling to Him and roll all our burdens on Him? Can we say with sincerity and truth, as Peter said afterwards, “Lord, Thou knowest all things: Thou knowest that I love Thee”? Then let us take comfort in the words of Christ before us and not give way to despondency. The Lord Jesus did not despise the eleven because of their feebleness, but bore with them and saved them to the end, because they believed. And He never changes. What He did for them, He will do for us if we believe.