This entry is in the series "Devotionals"
Devotionals
The Divinity of Jesus Christ Revealed


John 17:1-3 (KJV)
1
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes

WHAT DOES JOHN MEAN?
  • The Apostle John describes the gestures or looks of our Lord, as here, Jesus prayed an intercessory prayer. This was an occasion of which the visual impression was permanent, impossible to remove, and the Jesus' eyes toward heaven could not be overlooked...
Father, the hour is come

EXPLAINED IN GOD'S WORDS:
  • John 13:31-32 (KJV) 31 Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.
glorify thy Son

Put honor upon Thy Son, by countenancing, sustaining, and carrying Jesus through that "hour" which is to come... For God to give his glory to his only begotten son.
  • Isaiah 42:8 (KJV) 8 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

given

gavest: second-person singular simple past form of give​
him power over all flesh


EXPLAINED IN GOD'S WORDS:
  • Matthew 11:27 (KJV) 27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
  • Matthew 28:18-20 (KJV) 18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
give eternal life to as many as,

This means literally, "to all that which thou hast given him."

EXPLAINED IN GOD'S WORDS:
  • John 6:37-40 (KJV) 37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

this is

that​
life eternal, that they might


may

WHAT IS ETERNAL LIFE?
  • Eternal life means, "that they should know you (the Father)" and "and the one whom you sent (the Son)."
  • Eternal life means to know the Father and the Son.
  • This means, the Father and the Son are inseparable.
  • Either you believe in one and you believe in the two, or you deny one and you deny the two.
  • And this conforms to the teachings of the Apostles:
  • ACCORDING TO GOD'S WORD:
    • 1 John 2:22-23 (KJV) 22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. 23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
    • 1 John 1:3 (KJV) 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
    • 1 John 1:9 (KJV) 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
know,
etc,

This life eternal, then, is not mere conscious and unending existence, but a life of acquaintance with God in Christ.
  • Job 22:21 (KJV) 21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
thee, the only true God

the sole personal living God; in glorious contrast equally with heathen polytheism, philosophic naturalism, and mystic pantheism.

• Who is the Father and who is the Son?

The Father is the only true God, and the Son is Jesus Christ.
• The Lord Jesus Christ earlier said:
  • John 10:30 (KJV) 30 I and my Father are one.

Since the Father and the Son are one, and since the Father is the only true God, then the Son, Jesus Christ, is the only true God.



That fact is corroborated by this verse:
  • 1 John 5:20 (KJV) 20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent

This is the only place where our Lord gives Himself this compound name "Jesus Christ", afterwards so current in apostolic preaching and writing.

Here the terms are used in their strict signification—

"Jesus," because He "saves His people from their sins";

"Christ," as anointed with the measureless fulness of the Holy Ghost for the exercise of His saving offices
  • Matthew 1:16 (KJV) 16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
"Whom Thou hast sent," in the plenitude of Divine Authority and Power, to save.

The very juxtaposition here of Jesus Christ with the Father is a proof, by implication, of our Lord’s Godhead.

The knowledge of God and a creature could not be eternal life, and such an association of the one with the other would be inconceivable.​





Had this prayer not been recorded by the Apostle John, what reverential reader would not have exclaimed, Oh, to have been within hearing of such a prayer as that must have been, which wound up the whole of His past ministry and formed the point of transition to the dark scenes which immediately followed! But here it is, and with such signature of the Lips that uttered it that we seem rather to hear it from Himself than read it from the pen of His faithful reporter.





John 14:1 (KJV) Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.


1 Let not your heart be troubled, etc.

What myriads of souls have not these opening words cheered, in deepest gloom, since first they were uttered​
ye believe in God


absolutely​
believe also in me


that is, Have the same trust in Me. What less, and what else, can these words mean?

And if so, what a demand to make by one sitting familiarly with them at the supper table!

Compare the saying in John 5:17, for which the Jews took up stones to stone Him, as John 14:18
  • John 5:17 (KJV) But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
  • John 14:18 (KJV) I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
But it is no transfer of our trust from its proper Object;
  • it is but the concentration of our trust in the Unseen and Impalpable One upon His Own Incarnate Son,
  • by which that trust, instead of the distant, unsteady, and too often cold and scarce real thing it otherwise is,
  • acquires a conscious reality, warmth, and power, which makes all things new.
  • This is Christianity in brief.


John 5:17-20 (KJV)
17
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. 18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. 19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. 20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.

17, 18. My Father worketh hitherto and I work

The "I" is emphatic; "The creative and conservative activity of My Father has known no sabbath-cessation from the beginning until now, and that is the law of My working."
18. God was his Father

literally, "His own [or peculiar] Father," (as in Romans 8:32). The addition is their own, but a very proper one.
  • Romans 8:32 (KJV) 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
making himself equal with God
  • rightly gathering this to be His meaning, not from the mere words "My Father," but from His claim of right to act as His Father did in the like high sphere, and by the same law of ceaseless activity in that sphere.
  • And as, instead of instantly disclaiming any such meaning—as He must have done if it was false—He positively sets His seal to it in the following verses,
  • merely explaining how consistent such claim was with the prerogatives of His Father,
  • it is beyond all doubt that we have here an assumption of peculiar personal Sonship, or participation in the Father’s essential nature.
19, 20. the Son can do nothing of himself

that is, apart from and in rivalry of the Father, as they supposed. The meaning is, "The Son can have no separate interest or action from the Father."

for what things, etc.—

On the contrary, "whatever the Father doeth that same doeth the Son,"
likewise

"in the like manner." What claim to absolute equality with the Father could exceed this: not only to do "the same things," but to do them as the Father does them?



John 14:18 (KJV)
18
I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

18. I will not leave you comfortless

in a bereaved and desolate condition; or (as in Margin) "orphans."
I will come to you

"I come" or "am coming" to you; that is, plainly by the Spirit, since it was to make His departure to be no bereavement.




Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord. —Psalms 106:48 (KJV)


References





From Everlasting To Everlasting
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