Proverbs 19:21 Acts 4:27-28 John 17:1-5
The Heart of our Faith
The passage we will be examining today is possibly one of the most significant of all the prayers of Jesus because it gives us an in-depth view of what our Saviour regarded as central to the Gospel. It comes at the end of the farewell discourse in which Jesus endeavoured to prepare his followers for what lay in store for them. As such it is a prayer of consecration, both for himself and the work which he, as God incarnate, was about to complete, as well as a prayer for the disciples and the Church which would come into being through their message and ministry of reconciliation that he would continue to do in and through them as the exalted King of the universe.
This first introductory section, verses one through five, seems to have been written in a chiastic form in which the first verse and the last verse correspond like in a mirror image, the second and the fourth do the same, pointing to the central verse as the main focus. A chiasmus was a literary device which was meant to convey to the reader what the author thought was most important. So, we will first examine the verses as they parallel each other and then we will examine that which is the kernel or central part of these five verses.
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,
A. “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
B. 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
C. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
B. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
A. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Both verses 1 and 5 address the glory of Jesus. The first glory has reference to the cross and the resurrection and the last glory points towards the ascension and enthronement of Jesus at the right hand of the Father. Now, there are a few things I’d like to point out in these verses.
But before we do, I’d like you to notice that Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven. Why would that be important? Well, because posture is important. Too many folks have discarded all forms of biblical symbolism and embraced other non-biblical forms…such as the well-known evangelical prayer slouch (or the hair washing position). You know, we hear the words, “let us pray” and everyone assumes the slouch position. But Jesus looks up, raising his eyes toward heaven…not because God is up there as opposed to down here, but because his posture speaks of God’s majesty and his exalted status as well as the open nature of the relationship between them.
Of course, there are times when our eyes ought to be downcast and not lifted up. Common practice indicates that looking down when addressing another signifies shame and guilt, so this is the appropriate posture for us when we are convicted of our own sinfulness and depravity. But that is not the case here when Jesus addresses his Father. All I’m trying to say is that different postures mean different things…an open adoration of God’s majesty or a humble confession of our brokenness.
Now, let’s look at the parallels: the first thing I would like you to notice is the word “hour”. Jesus said, “Father, the hour has come…” Note that he is in the hour, so this time refers to something current and anticipatory, emphasising God’s perfect timing and his perfect will. The date and time of the crucifixion was not random. Besides the fact that it was part of God’s eternal decree and purpose, it was also accomplished at a time when the event would mirror both Creation as well as the Exodus, with Jesus dying as the spotless Lamb during the Passover Festival – which is a well-known image – but Jesus also “rested” on the seventh Day or the Sabbath Day in the tomb once his re-creation work was finished and he rose from the dead on the Festival of First fruits, a biblical festival celebrating the first harvest of crops. Had Passover been on any other day of the week, this would not have been the case.
The Scriptures repeatedly show that the events of life, whether mundane or profound, are not determined by the will of man, but are rather appointed by a loving yet sovereign and almighty God. For instance, in Acts 4:27-28 we read: “…for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” It seems the early followers of Jesus had no problem connecting their current events, good or bad, with the gracious will of God.
Scripture presents God as the one upholding all things by the word of his power. Unfortunately, the modern Church tends to be more deistic then theistic, as if God has abdicated his role as universal ruler or absented himself from his creation. As if God is somehow removed or distant or worse, indifferent. But Scripture teaches us that as nature obeys his commands and that as demons are subject to him, both heaven and earth are his jurisdiction and therefore under his control.
In this verse, Jesus indicated that the most challenging hour of his incarnate life was an event both decreed and agreed on long before it took place. This “hour” that had come had been predetermined by the Triune God…both its onset as well as its outcome, yet by freely entering into that hour, Jesus confirmed his willingness to be the instrument through whom God’s love for the world would be demonstrated. (Romans 5:8) He was neither forced nor coerced…he gave his life of his own free will, having both the authority to give it as well as the authority to take it back again. (John 10:18)
Then the final thing I would like you to notice in verses 1 and 5 is the word “glory”. As I mentioned earlier, in verse 1 the word refers to his death and resurrection. The cross was the ultimate demonstration of God’s loving character and, as such, it was a revelation of God’s glory in terms of his redeeming love and power. It was how the sovereign goal to restore the broken fellowship between God and humanity would be achieved. By taking our sins upon his own sinless self, Jesus as the spotless sacrificial lamb, became the doorway into the sheepfold…the entrance back into Paradise…the way into eternal life…our re-entry into his glorious presence.
But the glory of the Son does not end there. In verse 5 Jesus used the same word, but this time he was referring to his ascension and enthronement. He said, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” At the incarnation, Jesus took upon himself the form of a man without discarding the divine. (Philippians 2:6-7) In other words, while Jesus never ceased to be God, in his incarnation, he actively chose never to live as more than a man. As such his glory was veiled while in the flesh and only those to whom it was given could truly say that they had beheld his glory…the glory as of the only begotten son of God. (John 1:14)
However, the fullness of the glory that he had with God before the world existed was restored at his resurrection, ascension, and enthronement. So, in these two verses we see that the glory of Jesus relates to both his humiliation as well as his exaltation.
Now, let’s look at verse 2 and 4. The atoning work of Jesus ties in neatly with the theme of restoration, but it is explained in terms of what has been given by God the Father to God the Son. Note how many times the word “give” is used in verses 2 and 4. (2) “…since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.” (4) “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” So, let’s look at what is given to Jesus and what is given by Jesus.
The first “give” has to do with authority…an authority given to Jesus by the Father so that he might give that which the Father wanted to give to those whom the Father gave to Jesus. Or stated otherwise, as Jesus has been given all authority in both heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18), he is able to give the gift of eternal life to those whom God has given to him. In like manner, Jesus gives the Church the authority to bring that gift to the nations so that we, in turn, may give what he has given to us to those whom God has given to Jesus. (See John 20:21)
Now, we can get a bit lost with who is giving what to whom, but the important thing to note here is the interconnectedness in the relationship of the Father and the Son as well as the interconnectedness in our relationship with God through Jesus. In everything he did in his incarnated state, Jesus remained committed to doing and asking for only that which God had given or had promised to give. As an aside, this is the key to effective prayer…ask for nothing more than what God has clearly promised in his Word.
So, we learn here that the work of Jesus was to glorify the Father by revealing and demonstrating his loving character, which includes everything from the moment of his incarnation through to the moment of his exaltation. But here in these verses, Jesus made a clear distinction between the work done before his ascension and the work done after his enthronement. In verse 4 he said that he finished (or accomplished or completed) the work the Father had given him to do, clearly anticipating the cry from the cross, “it is finished”.
As such the work of Jesus in terms of redemption and reconciliation is both final and complete. There can be no more sacrifice or offering for sin. And yet the result of this finished work continues in time through the medium of the Church. Those whom we disciple come into the kingdom by virtue of what was secured for them on the cross. They believe because they were given to Jesus by the Father. Their names were indelibly engraved in the palms of Jesus’ hand with the very nails which pinned him to the tree. And so, the finished work of Jesus is continually applied throughout the ages by the Church.
Which leads us to the central and focal point of this chiastic structure in verse 3. “And this is eternal life,” Jesus said, “that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” As we have already seen, both the glory and the work of Jesus had a common goal…the gift of eternal life. But what is important to note here is our Lord’s definition of this life. Eternal life is defined as knowing the only true God and knowing Jesus as the one ‘sent’ by him. Of course, this is not a mere intellectual acknowledgement of his existence…that kind of general knowledge of a god is shared by everyone according to Paul in Romans 1.
No, this kind of knowledge is specific. It is knowing the only true God as well as the one who was sent by that one true God to redeem sinners. This kind of knowledge can only be attained through special revelation given to us in the Scriptures and in Jesus. It is a knowledge based on a relationship with God founded upon the reality of his Person…a knowledge closely defined by the use of the words “only” and “true”.
According to Augustine, God created us for himself, so that our heart is restless unless (or until) it finds its rest in him (Confessions, 1.1), which tells us two things: Human beings are created with an innate longing for God and consequently true peace and fulfilment can only be found in a relationship with him. However, it also tells us that this relationship, if it is to be the source of eternal life, must be very specific. It must be a relationship with the one true God through the one sent by him, namely, Jesus.
The knowledge Jesus alludes to in this verse is the kind of knowledge that differentiates between the biblical God and the gods of human invention. It is a knowledge that is only satisfied with him as he has revealed himself. Those who seek the divine outside that specific realm of God’s special self-revelation will endlessly grope and search for things that can never satisfy. Although they may appear to be content for a time, and may even say they are fulfilled, the emptiness will return time and time again if the God-shaped vacuum is repeatedly filled with what is temporary and false.
So, by using the chiastic literary structure, Jesus revealed that which is the heart of Christianity. Eternal life based on a biblically informed relationship with the one and only true God…a life only made possible by believing in the one who was sent to purchase it with his own blood. The final prayer of Jesus’ incarnate life centred on this one single reality even as he faced the hour of his most intense suffering…a suffering that would give eternal life to those given to him by the Father.
But, as we will discover later when we expound the rest of this passage, Jesus was not just praying for his final work of atonement…he was also praying for those through whom he would continue to apply that which he had achieved on the cross. His principal point throughout this prayer was to make eternal life available, and for this reason, the principle point of his Church ought to be the same. We, dearest beloved breathren, exist to be the bearers of the greatest gift of all time…the gift of eternal life.
Which begs the question: if one was to examine the behaviour of the modern Church, would one be led to believe that this is the principle point of our existence? In his book, Eternity in their Hearts, veteran missionary and well-known author Don Richardson wrote: “Significant numbers of non-Christians have proved themselves ten times more willing to receive the Gospel than Christians have been to share it.”
What is the focus of your life as a follower of Jesus? Does it mirror the focus of Jesus’ life? Everything we do in life has eternal consequences. But how much of what we do daily is of any positive eternal value? If we were to stand before our God, whose character is demonstrated chiefly through the one event that revealed most clearly that his main priority was to make a life-giving relationship with him possible…if we were to stand before his God, would we be able to say that our main priority is the same as his?
If the very heart of our faith is that we might know and make known the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, do we even have a pulse?
Shall we pray?
© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2024
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