John 17: Jesus prays for his followers

• v.1-5 Jesus Prays to Be Glorified
• v.6-19 Jesus Prays for His Disciples
• v.20-26 Jesus Prays for All Believers

v.1-5 Jesus Prays to Be Glorified

v.1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

v.2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.

v.3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

v.4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.

v.5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

[Note: Jesus calls on the Father, for the Father gave him authority to grant eternal life in knowing God, that he be glorified (in what is coming) so he will glorify the Father by finishing his task.]

v.6-19 Jesus Prays for His Disciples

v.6-10 Jesus DECLARES who the disciples have become

v.6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.

– he has revealed Him to the disciples

v.7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.

– they understand it all comes from God

v.8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.

– his words from the Father have created belief in them

v.9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.

– he is praying for them specifically and only

v.10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.

– they now belong to the Father

v.11-15 Jesus ASKS for PROTECTION for them

v.11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.

– he’s coming home but they must stay and need His protection

v.12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

– he has protected them all except the betrayer

v.13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

– he’s coming home but prays so they may have his joy

v.14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

– they received his word, hear His call, and are now not of this world

v.15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

– he asks that they may be protected from the enemy

v.16-19 He ASKS that they be kept distinct and true

v.16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

– they are now not of this world

v.17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

– cleanse them and set them apart by the word, the truth

v.18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

– he has sent them into the world to continue his mission

v.19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

– I separate myself to the Father’s will so that they may do similarly

v.20-26 Jesus Prays for All Believers

v.20-23 He ASKS for the wider church, for UNITY

v.20,21 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

– he prays for the unity of future believers

v.22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—

v.23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

– it is that they receive His glory and know unity with the Godhead

v.24-26 He ASKS for them to be kept to eventually come to glory

v.24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

– He prays that they may eventually come with him to heaven

v.25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.

– our unity is known by them

v.26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

– they now know you, soon to be in them

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: