Jesus Praying for the Whole Family

By S. Lewis Johnson, Jr. [1]

Introduction

The final words of our Lord’s highpriestly prayer come before us now, and they, just as His other words in this beautiful prayer, touch upon abidingly significant truths. For example, He mentions things that have to do with heaven, and what Christian is not interested in his future home? Near the end of the prayer Jesus prays, “Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world” (v. 24).

And the nature of church unity, a subject of contemporary interest, is one of the emphases of His last words. Three times in the last paragraph He refers to things that touch the question in a specific way. Twice He prays that we may be one as He and the Father are one (cf. vv. 21–22). And then He prays that we may be “made perfect in one” (cf. v. 23). His words raise the question of the nature of church unity. The Apostle Paul speaks of unity “of the Spirit in the bond of peace” in Ephesians 4:3, which evidently has to do with the unity brought about by the baptism of the members of the body of Christ into the unity of the true church, a unity forged by the Holy Spirit upon faith in Jesus Christ. But is Jesus speaking of this unity? or does He have in mind some kind of outward organizational unity, as some interpreters would have it. [2]

And what is the nature of the mission of the church? Is it social welfare, as many professing Christians, usually liberal in their theology, and some well-meaning but misguided evangelicals, would have it? Or is it the evangelism of the world, and must all the resources and energies of the church be directed to reaching the lost? Well, who would seek to belittle evangelism? We are all interested in that, because it is a part of our Lord’s demands of us. On the other hand, it is very unwise to deny that there is a time and place for evangelism, and that there are legitimate prerequisites for effective work along these lines. Many years ago a leader in modern evangelism pointed out that it was very important that the apostles be prepared, be spiritually worthy, to spread the gospel. Having in mind their lack of spiritual wisdom and knowledge, he wrote,

Had the disciples gone forth as missionaries before the day of Pentecost, it would have been an overwhelming spiritual disaster, for they could have done no more than make converts after their own likeness and this would have altered for the worse the whole history of the Western world and had consequences throughout the ages to come. 

To spread an effete, degenerate brand of Christianity to pagan lands is not to fulfill the commandment of Christ or to discharge our obligation to the heathen. These terrible words of Jesus haunt my soul: “Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more a child of hell than yourselves.” [3]

The missionary activity of the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and of other cults illustrate the point convincingly.

Evangelism per se is not necessarily right, nor is it a reliable gauge of the health of a body of professing Christians. To evangelize error is wrong. And the panting activity of the sects and other fringe groups that are parasites on genuine Christianity make the point that sub-normal, misguided, and apostate bodies engage in missionary activity. It is one of the well-envisioned plans of the evil one, guaranteed to fool simple, but doctrinally soft, believers.

Our Lord prays “for them also which shall believe on me through their word” (cf. v. 20). The necessity of the doctrine of the apostles for effective and fruitful evangelism is insisted upon by our Lord Himself. And, sad to say, modern evangelicalism has neglected this pathetically with its courtship of modern psychology, emotionalism, and shallow theological thinking as food substitutes for the milk and meat of the Word of God.

“We want life, not doctrine,” is a cry of enough Bible teachers to destroy the heart and life of the church of Jesus Christ, were He not determined that the gates of hell should not prevail against her. There can be no true life without Christian doctrine. A great Christian of the earlier part of this century put it well when he said, “To be indifferent to doctrine is thus but another way of saying we are indifferent to Christianity.” [4] What is peculiar to Christianity is not its religious sentiment, its provoked feelings, but its message of salvation, that is, its doctrine.

We preach not just any “Jesus,” such as the one given us by the Mormons, the Witnesses, and the many liberals in mainline denominations, but the Jesus Christ given to us in the inspired Scriptures of His apostles. We are not free to preach any Jesus that comes to our mushy fancy. We are free only to preach Him whom they preached,—“Jesus Christ, and him as crucified” (the original text of 1 Cor. 2:2 lays stress on the participle denoting the character in which Paul preached Christ).

The highpriestly prayer is not for the world, so Jesus says (cf. v. 9), but it is not limited to the apostles. There are “other sheep” (cf. 10:16), who are not yet of the fold, and He must bring them, too. This prayer is one of the means by which they shall be brought. The whole family of God is the object of our Lord’s prayerful concern. Those for whom He offers the saving sacrifice He must bring, and He does not rest until they are all with Him where He is.

The outer circle of our three concentric circles, then, contains the remainder of the entire family, and these are our Lord’s primary concern in the final sentences of His petition.

The Prayer for Unity

The Concern of the Prayer: The Church apart from the Apostles (John 17:20).

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

The final section of the prayer contains two parts. In the first our Lord prays for the church universal apart from the apostles (cf. v. 20). In the second He prays for the church universal including the apostles (cf. vv. 21–26). Unity is one of the major themes of the last paragraph, being mentioned at least three times, but it is not a new theme, for He has already mentioned it (cf. v. 11).

The last section begins with these words, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe (lit., are believing, or perhaps timelessly, believe [5]) on me through their word” (v. 20).

The phrase, “through their word,” is instructive, and it underlines at least two things. In the first place, there is no belief apart from the apostles’ word. One thinks of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 4:15, in which he refers to the source of the faith and life of that church, “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” And then there are his words to the Thessalonians concerning the working of the word of God in them when he ministered it to them, “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thess. 2:13). It is plain that Paul considered the Word of God as a necessity for salvation.

One of the older Christians put it this way, “There are no Christians, in any age whatever, who do not owe their faith to the word of the apostles.” [6] How important it must be in the eyes of Christ, then, to preach the Scriptures.

And, second, if it is true that there is no belief apart from the apostles’ word, it is also true that faith does come from that word and not the words of our philosophies, religious books, or spiritual experiences. “Preach the Word” is the touchstone of true evangelism.

The Content of the Prayer (John 17:21-23).

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

What emerges from our Lord’s prayer is a desire that the disciples be one in the sense in which the Father and the Son are one, and this unity is to have as its aim the faith of the world. A question comes to the reader’s mind at once. In what sense could the unity of the believers be compared with the essential unity of nature and being that characterizes the unity of the Godhead? That would be an impossibility, for we are always human and never divine. The comparison can only be made if the unity referred to is a functional type of unity, that is, a unity seen in the ministry of the mediatorial Son, in whom the Father and Spirit lived and performed the mediatorial works (cf. 5:19, 36; 14:10, etc.). The Son, although coequal and coeternal with the Father in the Godhead, is during His mediatorial work dependent upon the Father for His words and works. And in a similar way the Father and the Son indwell the disciples through the Spirit, and they will become the sphere of the divine activity (cf. 14:12; 15:1–17). It is in this sense that He prays for unity, that is, the unity of a perfect reliance upon God as the tasks of the church are carried out.

This kind of unity may be contrasted with other types often thought to be the goal of our Lord’s prayer. He does not pray for unanimity. Absolute agreement of thought does not and probably never will exist as long as the church is on earth. Unanimity would lead to something like a pope and the spiritual totalitarianism of that system.

The unity is not that of uniformity, such as a uniformity of practice, or ritual. That may exist without any deep unity at all, as one may see in a denomination with both liberals and conservatives in it. Further, would that kind of unity bring to the world the conviction that Christianity is the truth? It is extremely doubtful that it would.

The unity is not that of the union of organizational affiliation. That, too, may exist without unity, as the continuing divisions in religious bodies indicate. There is no real hope of spiritual progress in the ecumenical movement, the National Council of Churches, and the World Council. Their concerns are not primarily biblical and spiritual, but unbiblical and social. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said that throwing all the ecclesiastical corpses into the same grave will not bring about a resurrection. That is true.

What our Lord is really speaking about is unity, the unity of oneness of inner heart and purpose that comes from the possession of a common life in Christ. It is the unity that was enjoyed by so many of the saints of the past, who nevertheless lived in different earthly communions. It is the unity of Paul the Apostle, a member of the original Believers Chapels of the early church (!), Augustine the Romanist, Wycliffe the proto-Protestant, Luther the Lutheran, Calvin the Presbyterian, Wesley the Methodist and Moody the independent. The words of our Lord’s desire are that “they all may be one” and “in us” (cf. v. 21–22). It is an essential functional unity, for they are to be “one.” And it is a universal unity, for “they all” are to be involved. And it is a celestial kind of unity, for it is to be “in us.” It is helpful to think of a circle and to remember that two points on its circumference come to be nearer to one another the nearer they come to be to the center of the circle. And, if we think of Christ as the center of the circle, then the nearer any two members of the family come to Him, the nearer they come to be to one another. The guide to Him is the Word of God. Thus, the nearer our lives conform to the pattern set out in the Word, the nearer we come to Christ and to one another. How important, then, is the Word!

The Consequences of the Prayer (John 17:21, 23).

Our Lord prays that “the world may believe that thou hast sent me,” hoping that the unity of the disciples may bring that to pass (cf. v. 21). In verse twenty-three it is that the “world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” This belief and knowledge is to come to pass not simply from the unity, but because of unity in the Godhead, by which Christ is produced in us to His glory. He hopes that the world will see the “glory” given to the disciples, the glory of a regenerative sonship, which is based upon the glory of the eternal, timeless generation of the Eternal Son (cf. v. 22).

Summing up the import of the section, Hoskyns writes, “What the incarnate Son of God had once been to the Jews, the Church is now to the world—the incarnate charity and glory of God.”7

The Purpose of Glory

The Content of the Purpose (John 17:24).

The petition continues:

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

The “glory” mentioned is that of the glorified Son of Man, not His eternal glory, since it is a glory “given” to Him. And it appears to be the glory of manifesting the Father’s Name, that is, the revelation of who and what the Father is.

And Jesus wills that the disciples “be with me where I am” (cf. 14:3). The word rendered in the Authorized Version by “I will” (θέλω, thelō) often has the sense of wish as, for example, when Jesus asks the impotent man by the pool of Bethesda, “Wilt thou be made whole?” (cf. John 5:6). But here in John seventeen there is a peculiar majestic and authoritative quality about its use. Moule comments, “The accent is as absolute, with the autocracy of eternal love, as when He said to the leper, ‘I will; be thou clean,’ and to Peter, ‘If I will that he tarry till I come—follow Me.’”8 One of His last words, then, has to do with the perpetual companionship of the Son and His own, that they may enjoy the glory of the Messianic God-man.

Too much can hardly be said about the words “be with me where I am,” and when they are joined with His determination that this relationship come to pass, then we can only marvel at the certainty of experience of eternal communion with the Son of God. One thinks of the many passages in the Word of God that refer directly or indirectly to such a time. “And so shall we ever be with the Lord” are Paul’s comforting words to the Thessalonians (cf. 1 Thess. 4:18). “Heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” are his words to the Romans (cf. 8:17), just before he reminds them that they shall be conformed to the image of his Son in the experience of glorification (8:29–30). In 2 Corinthians 5:7–8 Paul encourages the Corinthians by declaring to them that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (cf. 2 Cor. 5:7–8). To the Philippians the apostle writes that he has a desire to depart and be with Christ, “which is far better” (Phil. 1:23), a very emphatic clause that literally means something like more by much better (πολλῷ μᾶλλον κρεῖσσον, pollō mallon kreisson). And, finally, our Lord promised the dying, repentant thief that he would be with Christ in Paradise that very day of the crucifixion (cf. Luke 23:43).

What could more beautifully express the total commitment of Jesus Christ to perpetual, loving companionship with His elect ones? And what could be more expressive of absolute and ultimate love than the desire to spend eternity with them? Kindness and regard have different degrees. We may have a perfectly genuine high regard for some of our acquaintances and a perfectly genuine delight in the enjoyment of time with them, but to have to spend all of our time with them would be quite difficult, in fact, impossible.

Our feelings and sense of enjoyment might be much warmer for others, who are more than acquaintances, but friends of long standing, with whom over the years we have enjoyed much common and edifying spiritual experience. We long to enjoy fellowship with such friends, but even with them we would not look forward to spending our lives with them, week by week, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute in constant personal relations. Even with the closest of friends that would be oppressive, and our hearts and nerves could not stand it.

One of my dearest friends is one of the elders in Believers Chapel in Dallas, Texas, a man whom I have thought of as the finest elder that I have ever known in any evangelical church. We have been very close through the years in the work of the Lord, but I do not think I could live with him, nor could he live with me, as I am sure he could confirm.

No, it is only in one relationship that we can truly say that we can be with another for time and for eternity and that relationship, of course, is the relationship of marriage. Two hearts meeting fully and completely and made one in love find the prospect of perpetual communion sweet and uplifting. In fact, it is not only a sweet and uplifting thought to look forward to perpetual companionship, it becomes a necessity if the two minds and hearts are to find rest and satisfaction.

One can see by illustration, then, what it means for our Lord to will that we be with Him for eternity. What love He must have for His saints! In fact, it is the absolute affection and love of perpetual companionship in heaven. That He desires to share His eternity, His eternal person, with us is staggering, in fact, overwhelming.

He has prayed that the Father restore to Him the glory that He had with the Father before the mediatorial work began (cf. v. 5; Phil. 2:5–11), but even the happiness and bliss of that is insufficient for Him, if we are not there with Him, we who are mere frail and finite creatures, once mortal and rebellious and with no claim upon Him at all. [9] The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of one of our Lord’s motives in His work of the cross as “the joy that was set before Him” (cf. Heb. 12:2). This is a part of that. Moule puts it this way:

The Heaven of the throne itself, let us boldly say it, will not content our incarnate God apart from the glad, responsive intimate presence of His redeemed. Such is the love of Jesus that He finds us necessary to Him there, and for ever. We cannot understand it. But we can believe it. [10]

The Consequences of the Purpose (John 17:24).

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

The consequences of the purpose of the disciples’ eternal communion with the Son are that they may behold His glory, an eternal glory given Him by the Father by reason of the Father’s eternal love of the Son. It is the glory of the eternal sonship, involving the display of the glorious attributes of deity. The wonder of it is beyond our comprehension in our present state, of course, but there are glimpses of it as Moule expresses:

Eternal as the Father, He is eternally of the Father, as stream is perpetually born of fountain, as day of sun. Eternally the paternal Love, unbeginning and unfathomable, is upon Him and about Him. Eternally the filial Love, in its glorious response of co-equal greatness, goes forth to the Father, and delights to glorify the Father to those who, in the Son, are children of God. [11]

For the sense of “behold” (θεωρῶσιν, theōrōsin) see another occurrence of the word in chapter twenty, verse six, where it is used to describe Peter’s pondering of the significance of the grave clothes of our Lord in the sepulchre after the resurrection. To behold the glory may imply that we shall experience something of it, for that seems essential for an understanding of it, but perhaps the thoughts are beyond our finite minds, while we are in the flesh.

The Promise of Revelation

The Content of the Promise (John 17:25-26a).

O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it:

What we come to here is what Hoskyns calls, “pure eschatology,” [12] that is, eschatology having to do with the future unfolding of the glory of the divine Name to the disciples.

Our Lord here addresses the Father as “righteous Father.” He regards the Father as “righteous,” while resting in the beauty of the Son, His sinlessness, and the Son is completely aware of the fact that righteousness and peace meet in the perfect sacrifice that He is about to offer.

There is, of course, great comfort in the knowledge that the Father is a holy Father and particularly when we are in the midst of trials of our faith. What a comfort to know that, when we are called upon to go through some of the deep waters of the experience of God, He is a “righteous” Father and, therefore, there is no reason to think that there is something cruel in what we must go through. Clouds and darkness may oppress us in the midst of difficulties, but it is comforting to know that there is nothing unrighteous in our sufferings.

The statement that He will declare to us the Father’s Name probably refers to a deeper manifestation of all of His divine attributes and nature (cf. v. 6; 16:13–15). What a glorious future is before us!

Hoskyns thinks that three epochs in the history of the church are before us here. The first is that of the original manifestation of God’s glory to the original disciples through the incarnate Christ. The second is the manifestation of the Name of God through the apostles to the church and through the church to the world, from whom come other sheep of His fold. The third is the final and eternal manifestation of the love of God to His people in the ages to come of heaven. [13]

The Consequences of the Promise (John 17:26b).

That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

These words are a magnificent prayer and at the same time a magnificent revelation of the Godhead. And all of the knowledge of the Name is to lead to divine love, the love that the Father has shown the Son. That is not the love of modern shallow sentimentality, but the love of intimate communion in the accomplishment of the mediatorial task of atonement and redemption with eternal consequences. Theology is the science of God, and here it soars to its proper rest and conclusion in the love of God. Moule declares,

The man who learns that science in the school of the Spirit finds not only that he ought to love God, but that God inexpressibly loves Him. And this He finds not anywise, but in ‘the Son of the Father’s love.’ United by faith to his Saviour, and seeing his Saviour as the Beloved Son, he ‘knows and believes the love of God,’ and finds it to be nothing short of the paternal tenderness of the Blessed Father, who, loving the Son immeasurably, loves unspeakably the man who He beholds ‘joined to his Lord, one spirit.’ That Father’s deepest love is on him, nay, it is ‘in’ him; it lives and moves within the soul, formative, creative, an inward light and fire. [14]

The last words, “and I in them,” reveal the basis of the presence in us of the love of the Father. It is ours, because the Son is ours. Our representative has not only won our redemption in His sufferings, but He has won for us the eternal love of the Father! Thus, theology leads to the love of God, the knowledge of His love for us through the Mediator now and forever, and of our responsive love toward our great and loving Triune God. Hallelujah!

Conclusion

What indescribable blessings! Unity in the life of God, glory with the Son. Ever increasing revelation of God’s name, His nature and attributes, leading to ever deeper experience of God’s love!

And as for the basis of it all? There are two sides to that, according to our Lord. From the divine side He has referred to the gift of the saints to Him from the Father (cf. vv. 2, 6, 9), that is, their divine election. That is the source of all of their blessing.

But, then, there is also a human side to keep in mind, for our Lord has referred to those who “believe on Me through their word” (cf. v. 20). These two sides must be kept in balance. Our salvation originates in God the Father, and it comes to be ours through the instrumentality of a divinely given faith, which is at the same time a faith that is exercised by us.

A question is appropriate. Have we believed on Him? Have we believed that the Father has sent the Son to accomplish our redemption (cf. vv. 21, 23, 25)? And have we rested our spirits upon Him and His work for time and for eternity? And if we have not, what better time is there for doing that than right at this moment?

Notes

1. Bible teacher Lewis Johnson has been associated for many years with Believer’s Chapel in Dallas, Texas. He is Professor Emeritus of New Testament Exegesis at Dallas Theological Seminary and also served as Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. This is the seventeenth and concluding article in a series of expositions on The Upper Room Discourse.
2. John M. Frame has contended that our Lord does refer to organizational unity. He has also, rightly I believe, argued that denominationalism is due to sin. Therefore, we should all join together in a Reformed church body. He would like that body to be a body like the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. I would prefer Believers Chapel. What would the Scriptures say? John M. Frame, “Guidelines for Church Union,” The Presbyterian Journal (August 24, 1983): 8-10; idem, Evangelical Reunion: Denomination and the Body of Christ (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991), 21–63 and passim.
3. A. W. Tozer, Of God and Men (Harrisburg: Christian Publications, Inc., 1960), 35.
4. Benjamin B. Warfield, “The Right of Systematic Theology,” Selected Shorter Writings-II, ed. by John E. Meeter (Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1983), 226–27.
5. C. K. Barrett The Gospel according to St. John, 2d ed., (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978) 511.
6. John Brown, An Exposition of our Lord’s Intercessory Prayer (Minneapolis: Klock & Klock Christian Publishers, 1978 [reprint of 1866 ed.]), 143–44.
7. Edwyn Clement Hoskyns, The Fourth Gospel, ed. Francis Noel Davey, 2d ed. (London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1947), 505.
8. H. C. G. Moule, The High Priestly Prayer: A Devotional Commentary on the Seventeenth Chapter of St John (London: The Religious Tract Society, 1907), 181.
9. Moule, The High Priestly Prayer, 188.
10. Moule, The High Priestly Prayer, 188–189.
11. Moule, The High Priestly Prayer, 195.
12. Hoskyns, The Fourth Gospel, 506.
13. Hoskyns, The Fourth Gospel, 506.
14. Moule, The High Priestly Prayer, 218–219.