The People Jesus Prays For
John 17:6-10
This morning we come again to that great high priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17. What a delight it is to hear the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ and to know that “He always lives to make intercession” for us (Heb. 7:25). In John 17:1-5, Jesus prays for Himself. He prays that He would be glorified through the cross so that in turn He would bring glory to the Father. In John 17:6-19, Jesus prays for the disciples. He prays that they would be kept secure in their salvation, and that they would be set apart from the world as they remain in the world. In John 17:20-26, Jesus prays for all future believers. He prays that we would be unified as a powerful testimony to the world that the Father sent Jesus and that He loves us. Jesus is praying that He be glorified; and through His glory, we all be glorified; and through that, God be glorified.
Today we will focus on John 17:6-10, but I want to read John 17:1-19 so you get the flow of this part of Jesus’ prayer. Children, listen to your Lord praying:
John 17:1-19
1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. 9 I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.
11 “Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 “But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”
Starting in John 17:6 Jesus makes a transition from praying for His glory to praying for His disciples. The transition is a natural one because Jesus’ glory and the glory that He would bring to the Father was directly related to His attaining the redemption of people through the cross giving them eternal life (John 17:2). That was the work that Jesus was sent to earth to accomplish (John 17:4).
So in John 17:6-10 Jesus shows what God has done for the disciples. It would be easy to spend a great deal of time on the details of these verses, but time will not permit. The “big picture” here is that Jesus has accomplished His mission to glorify God by giving eternal life to those whom the Father has given Him. These are the people Jesus prays for. The Father gave them to the Son. Jesus brought them eternal life through manifesting the Father’s name to them, giving them the Father’s word and securing their redemption and righteousness by becoming the substitute sacrifice for their sins. Jesus does the same for all whom the Father gives to Him. He does the same for us.
What has God done for those Jesus prays for?
1. The Father gave you to the Son (John 17:2, 6, 9-10)
Jesus has already said He gives eternal life to those whom the Father had given to Him (John 17:2). Now He repeats that idea of the Father giving believers to the Son again three times in our text:
6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
9 I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.
This is such a tremendous truth. You have been given to Christ because you belonged to God. Jesus says to His Father about the disciples, these 11 men He is with that night, that they are, “the men whom You have given Me out of the world.” What is the world that Jesus is talking about?
The world is the anti-God, satanically ruled system of evil and sin, composed of demons and all unredeemed human beings, who live in the kingdom of darkness. Now within this evil world system there are sinners who belong to God. Jesus says to His Father, “They were Yours, You gave them to Me.” They belonged to the Father before they were given to the Son.
Back in John 15:19, our Lord told His disciples, “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” Jesus chose you out of the world because even when you were still lost in sin and darkness, God claimed you as His own. Again in John 17:14 Jesus prays, “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” Even though you are in the world, you are no longer of the world because the Father gave you to the Son.
There are people throughout all of human history who are born sinners in the world, rebels against God, but still they belong to the Father; and in God’s time He calls them out of the world, they believe and become love gifts to His Son. You see, the Father is gathering a bride for His Son, purchased at the infinite price of Jesus’ blood. The Father gives us to the Son as His bride; that’s why the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, is a bridal city. All the redeemed of all the ages become the bride of Christ. The Father has given us to the Son as His eternal bride so that we can glorify Him forever.
So Jesus prays for those whom the Father has given Him. Secondly, we find that
2. Jesus revealed the Father to you (John 17:6)
Jesus prays in John 17:6, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world …” Jesus manifested the name of the Father to the disciples. God’s name comprises means more than just a title “God” it means all who God is: His person, His nature, His character, His attributes, His works. John wrote in his prologue, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him,” (John 1:18). Jesus revealed the Father as the incarnate Son of God. That’s why Jesus could say (John 14:9), “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
In Luke 10:21 Jesus prayed, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.”
Let me ask you today, have you seen God in Jesus Christ? Has the Son revealed the Father to you?
The Father gave you to the Son; Jesus revealed the Father to you; and thirdly,
3. Christ has given you His word (John 17:7-8)
Jesus says at the end of John 17:6 that the disciples had kept the Father’s word. In John 17:7 Jesus clarifies what He means by saying they kept God’s word, “Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.” How did that happen? How did they come to know this? In John 17:8 Jesus explains, “For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.”
Do you see the progression of their response to Jesus’ words? They received … they truly understood … and they believed. Jesus came so that they would know the truth, so that they would receive the truth, so that they would understand the truth and believe the truth. That is the response of all who belong to Jesus: they knew, they received, they understood, and they believed.
That’s why Jesus can say of them in John 17:9, “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.” The evidence that they belonged to God and not to the world was real: they knew; they received; they truly understood; they believed.
Have you received, understood and believed the words of Jesus?
This is true of those for whom Jesus prays: the Father has given you to the Son; Jesus revealed the Father to you by giving you His word; and fourth,
4. Jesus is glorified in you (John 17:10)
Jesus prays (John 17:10), “And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.”
We belong to Jesus because the Father gave us to Him. And we belong to the Father because Jesus purchased us with His own blood on the cross. Jesus prays for this group of men surrounding Him in these last moments before the crucifixion, describing them with these words: belonging to God, keepers of the word, convinced of the truth, believers in the person and mission of the Son, and those who glorify Him.
How can Christ say He is glorified in them? These are the very men who all will desert Christ that evening and some even deny Him. Because God is glorified in saving sinners, in justifying the ungodly, in restoring failures, and in using weak people. Jesus already sees you as who He is making you to be. You may not look glorious or feel like you glorify God but Jesus saved you glorify God. The apostle John wrote in his first epistle (1 John 3:2), “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
These are the people Jesus prays for.
Are you one of them? If not you can receive His word, understand it and believe on Jesus Christ today. John 1:12 says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”
