It still surprises me, and indeed saddens me, when I come across Christians, sometimes of longstanding, who have never read through their whole Bibles. That simply ought not to happen!. I am a great advocate of the principle that when it comes to the Bible there should be no NO GO and no Not GONE…
“And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me”. Now, in our 13th study in this precious prayer we actually come to the first of Jesus’ specific requests for his disciples. Previously I said that there are four requests…
John 17:9-10 “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. We are now in our twelfth study in this great prayer and we have still not actually come to the first of…
John 17:9 “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.” As we have seen, there are three sections to the prayer, in each of which, the focus of Jesus‘ praying is different. In verses 1-5 he prays for himself;…
John 17:7-8 “Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.” I so love the…
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.” John 17:6c In these opening verses of the second section of Jesus’ great prayer, before expressing his desires for his disciples, he gives us…
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me…” John 17:6b We now come to something that is, without a doubt one of the key emphases of the contents of Jesus’ prayer – both for the apostles with him…
Having prayed for himself – though actually the first part of his prayer only contains two requests – verses 1 and 5 – both asking for the Father to glorify the Son, Jesus now turns to the largest section of this prayer and prays for his disciples who are, as we saw in our opening study in this prayer, actually walking with…
“And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” We have seen what glorify means; it means to pour and heap honour and praise. So Jesus is praying that the Father would pour and heap honour and praise on him. Now were that…
In our last study we spent some time considering and weighing up the meaning and significance of the word glory that is, in so many ways, at the heart of much of this prayer. That’s certainly true as we move into verse 4 and then 5. “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work…