HIS LAST WILL

Jesus wills us with His last, irresistible will to be with Him in His glory (John 17:24). "Father, whom you have given to me, I will that where I am they may be with me in order that they continually see my glory which you have given to me because you loved me before the foundation of the world." He wills us to join Him in Heaven because true lovers long to be together forever!

Jesus' will is more than want or desire and far more than a wish. Jesus no longer asks the Father. He expresses His will for us to the Father which, taken in the context of impending death, is more like His last will and testament (Godet, John, p. 903). "I will" (θελω) is a "quasi-imperative" (Hanna, Grammatical Aid, p. 180). He wills that we be with (μετ') Him. The preposition suggests being in close association with another person (BAGD, p. 508).

The verb θελω, when used of God in the Old Testament, refers, all but once, to the sovereign will of God, resolute and unbending. The resurrection power of the Son in perfect harmony with the Father gives life to whomever He wills (θελω, John 5:21). Jesus' will determines whether John lives or dies before the return of Christ (John 21:22). It is a matter of His will (TDNT, 3:47-48).

Jesus wills that we be with Him to continually see (θεωρωσιν) His glory. The present tense verb indicates an ongoing seeing not a one-time seeing. The verb carries the sense of being a spectator or observer of His glory (BAGD, p.360). We will see His glory continuously when we are with Him forever.

Here is not the glory Jesus had before the world began (John 17:5). Here is the glory the Father gives to the Son after He completes His saving work on earth. Jesus' pre-incarnate glory is nowhere said to be given to Him. His pre-incarnate glory is His by virtue of who He is as eternal God (Meyer, John, pp. 472-473). Jesus speaks here of His glorious reward proleptically, as if it has been given (δεδωκας) to Him already, so certain is He of the completion of His work. He wills us to see His glory, a glory certain yet not yet seen.

We will be with Him because He wills us to be with Him!

LOVED LIKE JESUS

Our unity as Christians demonstrates love, not our love but God's love! Jesus prays in John 17:23 that we might become perfected or completed (ωσιν τετελειωμενοι) into one (εις εν). The passive voice tells us the perfecting of our unity is done by God not us. The preposition "into" (εις) as opposed to the more common "in" indicates the purpose or result of a process (BDF, Grammar, p. 111). God's work of uniting believers as one is in a process of completion throughout life.

The purpose of our unity is that (ινα) the world might know (γινωσκη) true love. The content of the knowledge is introduced by a second "that" (οτι). Our unity shows that (οτι) God, the Father, sent Jesus (απεστειλας) and loved (ηγαπησας) the disciples of Jesus. A single "that" (οτι) governs both verbs, "sent" and "loved." (Morris, John, p. 736, fn 69). God's love for us and God's sending of His Son are a unit of thought. The sending of His Son proves the depth of His love for us.

The measure of the Father's love for us is the amount of His love for His Son. The adverb "just as" (καθως) compares His love for us to His love for His Son. Jesus says, "you loved them, just as you loved me." Both verbs are in the Aorist tense indicating an action that is undefined with respect to any process. The love simply is! The Aorist tense most commonly expresses His love as a simple fact without reference to any process (Burton, Moods and Tenses, p.19). We have been loved just as Jesus has been loved. His love is a fact! Count on it!

God, the Father, loves me like He loves Jesus. Mind boggling! How can we explain a truth like this?! We are so identified with Jesus that we are loved infinitely in Jesus. "I in them and you (the Father) in me," Jesus prayed. The depth of our union with Jesus expresses the depth of the Father's love for His Son.

Our unity shows God's love to this world.

THE ONE-NESS OF IN-NESS

Jesus asks the Father that we, as His followers, be one in Him. He asks not only for the disciples but also for those who believe through their message (John 17:20). His heart cry for us is our unity in Him. He prays "that they all (παντες) might be one, just as you, Father, (are) in me and I in you, that they, themselves, might also be in us, in order that the world might believe that you, yourself, sent me" (John 17:21).

There are three clauses introduced by "that" (ινα) in this verse. The first two ινα clauses express the content of the request while the third ινα clause introduces the purpose for the oneness (Rienecker, Linguistic Key, p. 256). It is possible that the second of the two content ινα clauses is actually in apposition to the first (Dana & Mantey, Grammar, p. 249) reinforcing and expanding the content of the request.

Our oneness is God's oneness. We are one as God is one. The expression "just as"(καθως) indicates essential oneness, a oneness of nature and purpose. Jesus is not asking for organizational unity, and He is not asking for the uniformity of conformity. The Father and the Son are different yet one. Their oneness controls their differences even as their differences stimulate their love. If God were one but not three, He could not love. If God were three but not one, He could not save. In eternity past, God must be three to have someone to love, and He must be one to be united in the plan of salvation. God's oneness of purpose is grounded in the possession of an inner reality of oneness. It is an ontological unity having to do with the very nature of God's existence. They are different but one, so we, too, are different but one.

The key is the preposition "in" (εν). The Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father, and we are in both! (plural pronoun -ημιν) Although impossible to fully grasp, our one-ness depends on our in-ness! We cannot be one with someone who is not in Christ. The preposition must not be understood simply as "belongs to" or "with" God. The theological implications are more profound than mere proximity or association (Turner, Grammar, 3:263). We are only one with each other because we share in the spiritual nature of the triune God. All other unity is not the unity Jesus asks from the Father on our behalf.

The purpose (ινα) is to show the world that the Father sent Jesus. The purpose is not exactly, or merely, evangelistic since people can believe that the Father sent the Son without trusting in the Son for personal salvation. However, our unity should be a visible witness to the world. We show the unity of God as we show unity among ourselves. We must not seek merely organizational unity or structural uniformity. The greater witness is spiritual unity of heart despite our differences in form and structure.

Father, help me to live as one with other followers of Jesus even with our differences - especially in our disagreements - to show the world our oneness of heart and purpose in Christ.

SANCTIFIED TO SERVE

Jesus uses the imperative mode to make His request for us to the Father when He says, "Sanctify (αγιασον) them in the truth, your word is truth" (John 17:17). His request for our sanctification arises out of the reality that we are not part of this world just as He is not part of this world (vs.16). Our otherworldliness leads to hostility from the world system and forms the basis of our sanctification.

Sanctify does not mean to purify which would be the verb καθαριζω (BAGD, p.387). Sanctify means to set apart for God, to consecrate or dedicate (BAGD, p. 8). The verb was frequently used in the LXX, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, for the sanctifying of priests to serve God and the sanctifying of the sacrifices for the worship of God (NIDNTT, 2:232). The priests and the sacrifices were set apart exclusively for God's use. Purity, of course, is the necessary result of sanctification because that which is sanctified must no longer be profane.

Jesus' sanctification is the basis for our sanctification (vs. 19). Jesus said, "I sanctify myself on behalf of them (υπερ αυτων) in order that (ινα) they, themselves, might be sanctified in truth." Jesus needs no purification. He sets Himself apart (sanctifies Himself) to carry out the Father's will. He is sanctified to die as our sacrifice for sin - an idea drawn from the Old Testament doctrine of sanctified sacrifices.

The truth found in God's Word is the means of our sanctification. We are sanctified in the sphere of truth (εν τη αληθεια). God sets us apart within the orbit of truth's influence so that truth defines our lives. God's Word is truth. "Your word" has the definite article (ο λογος ο σος), but "truth" does not have the definite article (αληθεια). The absence of the article is intentional. "Truth" and "Word" are not "convertible" terms (Robertson, Grammar, p. 768). The absence of the article does not make truth indefinite. Truth is qualitative. Truth describes the quality that defines the Word of God. We are sanctified as God's Word permeates our lives with His truth. We become God's as God's Word becomes ours. The more we immerse ourselves in God's Word, the more we set ourselves apart for God's work.

Service is the purpose of sanctification (vs. 18). Just as God sent (απεστειλας) Jesus into this world so Jesus sent (απεστειλα) us into the world. He was commissioned to die for us, and we are commissioned to live for Him (Carson, Farewell Discourse, p. 193). Jesus' purpose in sanctifying us is to send us out to serve Him in this world.

Jesus prays for our sanctification. He is not praying for our moral purity as much as He is praying for our consecrated service. Moral purity is a corollary to consecration. We are to live holy lives because profane lives render us useless for His service. We are sanctified to serve.

THE BELIEVER, THE WORLD AND THE EVIL ONE!

We face a world system (κοσμος) filled with evil. Often - too often - we wish to escape the evil in this world system, but that is not God's will for us during this age. Jesus intends that we stay in the world so long as the world is not in us. Jesus prays, "I am not asking that you (Father) remove them from the world but that you might keep them from the evil (one)" (John 17:15).

Is it evil or the evil one? The articular adjective in the genitive case (του πονηρου) can be taken as either neuter or masculine in gender. Some take it as neuter indicating generic evil that rules this world system (Godet, John, p.896). The prayer is that we would be kept out of an evil domain. Others understand the adjective as masculine referring to the Evil One - the Devil (Meyer, John, p.467). We are not to be kept out of the evil domain but from the power of the Evil One even as we remain in his domain. This interpretation fits the context better.

We hear an echo from the Lord's Prayer (Mt. 6:13) where Jesus taught us to pray, "deliver us from the Evil One." The verb "deliver" (ρυσαι) is different, and the preposition "from" (απο) is different, but the sentiment is parallel. The distinction between prepositions is not significant in this case, and the better contextual interpretation is that Jesus is talking about the Evil One not evil generically in the Lord's Prayer (Bernard, John, 2:573).

The preposition "from" (εκ) frequently used in John 17 indicates separation from what once had power over us (Robertson, Grammar, p.598). The phrases "from the world" (εκ του κοσμου) and "from the Evil One" (εκ του πονηρου) are parallel in John 17:15. Jesus says that we are not removed (αρης) from the world, but we are separated from the Evil One who controls and dominates the world. John will later write that we have overcome the Evil One (1 John 2:14) who controls the world. "We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in (the power of) the Evil One" (εν τω πονηρω, 1 John 5:19).

Jesus prays that the Father might keep (τηρησης) us from the Evil One. The verb can mean to keep as in "not lose" but is probably better understood as to keep as in "protect" (BAGD, p.815). The expression is only found in one other place in the New Testament - Revelation 3:10 (Bernard, John, 2:573). We are kept from "the hour of testing which is about to come upon the whole world," John writes in the Apocalypse. Once again the preposition "from" (εκ) is not an expression of motion signifying that we are kept through a period of time. The preposition indicates an absolute keeping - a separation - from the hour of testing coming upon this world. In the same way, we are separated from the power of the Evil One by His protection. The Devil has no power over us!

Jesus asks the Father to protect us from the power of Satan even as He leaves us in the domain of Satan. If Jesus asks the Father for our protection, surely the Father agrees, so we are secure in His keeping that separates us from the power of the Evil One. All who are His are kept by His power!

PRAYER THAT FILLS US WITH JOY

Jesus prayed to be heard. His prayer in John 17 was not silent but audible. He prayed out loud as the disciples listened. His prayer was for their benefit demonstrating for us that audible prayer leads to joy for those who listen.

How do we know Jesus prayed out loud in John 17? He said, "These things I am speaking in this world in order that they might possess My joy having been filled up in them" (John 17:13). The verb translated "I am speaking" (λαλω from λαλεω) means to speak in contrast to staying silent. The word referred to the physical act of making sounds in contrast to the inability of a deaf and mute person to make sounds (cf. Mark 7:35; BAGD, p. 463). Jesus prayed out loud not for His benefit or God's, but for the benefit of the disciples who were listening (Meyer, John, 3:467).

"These things" (ταυτα) that Jesus is saying could refer to the entire discourse (John 13-16), but most likely refer to the prayer itself (John 17). The present tense of speaking (λαλω) implies that He is continuing to express "these things" not that He had said "these things" in the past. Jesus was making the following requests to the Father as the disciples listened to Him pray.

• Keep them in your name (v.11)
• That they may be one (v.11, 21)
• Keep them from the Evil One (v.15)
• Sanctify them in truth (v.17)
• That they may be perfected in unity (v.23)
• That they may be with Jesus and see His glory (v.24)

The purpose of Jesus' prayer was that (ινα) they, and we by extension (see v.20), might possess (εχωσιν) His joy (την χαραν την εμην). What is the joy Jesus wants us to enjoy? It is the joy that Jesus Himself possesses (John 15:11; 16:24). Jesus' joy is the joy of His heart drawn from the obedient communion with the Father. It is the joy of knowing for certain that no matter what happens we are being kept by the Father, protected in His care just as Jesus was kept by the Father (Godet, John, p. 895). Jesus knew this joy even as He faced the cross. We, too, can experience His joy in the certainty of God's loving care for us.

The joy has filled us and is continuing to fill us up. The verb is a perfect tense (πεπληρωμενην) indicating a past filling with abiding results. The passive participle tells us that God does the filling that we enjoy. We do not fill ourselves with His joy. He makes us full of joy no matter our circumstances in life.

The joy we experience - His joy - is found in ourselves (εν εαυτοις). This joy is a joy we experience in our inner conscious person (BAGD, p. 212). We have an inner joy that comes from hearing Jesus pray for God's loving care sheltering us in this world. Nothing can happen to us outside of God's work of keeping us which produces in us a deep joy in our inner person.

We can follow Jesus' example in prayer for each other. All too often our prayers revolve around our health and wealth. Perhaps if we heard others pray for us as Jesus prayed for us, we would be filled up with Jesus' joy in our inner being! Perhaps if we prayed more for the things Jesus prayed about, we would experience more of the joy Jesus enjoyed!

IN HIS CUSTODY

Jesus keeps all He receives. The pattern of protection Jesus demonstrated for His disciples is the pattern we can expect for ourselves. "While I was with them, I, myself, was keeping them in your name which you have given to me, and I guarded them, and no one out of them was lost except the son of lostness, that the Scripture might be fulfilled" (John 17:12).

The two verbs for protection used here are probably used synonymously (NIDNTT, 2:135), although there could be slightly different shades of meaning between the two. The first verb (ετηρουν) meant to keep watch over or preserve (BAGD, p. 814) while the second verb (εφυλαξα) meant to guard or defend (BAGD, p. 868). Both verbs could be used for prisoners under the custody of guards.

The first verb (ετηρουν) is an Imperfect tense indicating action in progress or repeated action. Jesus was keeping watch over the disciples until this moment of His prayer for them. The second verb (εφυλαξα) is an Aorist tense indicating a summation of His guardianship. They were in His custody, and He lost no one out of the group (ουδεις εξ αυτων).

The exception (ει μη) was Judas. Jesus describes him as the "son of destruction" (ο υιος της απωλειας), an expression drawn from the Hebrew (Semitic) style of writing. The play on words with the previous verb (απωλετο) is hard to bring out in an English translation. Both words come from the same root meaning to ruin or destroy, and Jewish literature associated the word with the destruction of the world at the end of the age (NIDNTT, 1:463). The verb carries a sense of lostness and is used for the lost sheep and the lost coin in Jesus' parables (Luke 15:4, 8). People without God are lost. Lostness is the condition of their souls (NIDNTT, 1:464).

Judas and the "man of lawlessness" (2 Thess. 2:3) are both described as sons of destruction. It is a Semitic idiom like "sons of light" or "sons of darkness." The noun "son" (υιος) followed by the genitive expresses a quality or characteristic (Turner, Grammar, 3:207), not a prediction. Jesus stresses that lostness characterizes the condition of Judas more than He stresses lostness as the destiny of Judas (Morris, John, p. 728). A lost condition will eventually lead to a lost destiny. He is a ruined soul whose end is destruction apart from repentance. Judas is responsible for his choices, but those choices exhibit his characteristic condition as the son of lostness.

Jesus keeps us in His custody. We are "sons of God (υιοι θεου) being sons of the resurrection" (Luke 20:36). We are not sons of lostness just as the disciples were not! We are children (τεκνα) of God (John 1:12). Jesus holds His children in His custody forever. He will not lose a single one!