This week, we are looking at the prayer that Jesus prayed shortly before He went to the cross. Some call it, “The High-Priestly Prayer.” It’s found in John chapter 17.

There are three parts of this prayer. He prayed first for Himself (John 17:1–5), then for His apostles (vv. 6–19), and finally for future believers (vv. 20–26).

Let’s examine His prayer regarding himself.

John 17:1–5 (ESV)

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

Here, we have the Eternal Son praying to the Eternal Father. What do we see in this?

1. First, He began His prayer with the word, “Father.”  That is exactly how He taught his disciples to pray.

Matthew 6:9 (ESV)

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”

He calls Him Father three other times in this prayer (John 17:5, 21, 24) as well as “Holy Father” (v. 11) and “Righteous Father.”

As His disciples listened, there could be no doubt who Jesus was talking to.

2. Jesus knows that the moment of His going to the cross is at hand, “the hour has come.”

Many times His enemies had been unable to take Him because His hour had not come (John 7:30, 8:20).  But, now the time had arrived for the Lord to be put to death.

3. The Savior of the world now prays, “glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” He was looking ahead to His death on the cross. If He were to remain in the grave, the world would know that He was just another man. But if God glorified Him by raising Him from the dead, that would be proof He was God’s Son and the world’s Savior. God answered this request by raising the Lord Jesus on the third day and then later by taking Him back to heaven and crowning Him with glory and honor.

There is a mutual glorification. The Father glorifies the Son and the Son, by His obedience, glorifies the Father. There is a “glory dance’ between them.

Jesus explains how the Son will glorify the Father in the next two verses. Jesus glorifies the Father by giving eternal life to those who believe on Him. It brings great glory to God when ungodly men and women are converted and manifest the life of the Lord Jesus on this earth.

Jesus speaks more clearly how he has and will glorify the Father. “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”  As the Lord uttered these words, He was speaking as if He had already died, been buried, and risen again. He had glorified the Father by His sinless life, by His miracles, by His suffering and death, and by His resurrection. He had finished the work of salvation the Father had given Him to do.

4. Jesus offer the greatest and clearest definition of eternal life that you will ever find in the scriptures.

Eternal life is knowing the Father and the Son. The word, “know” (ginōskōsin) here in the present tense, is often used in the Septuagint and sometimes in the Greek New Testament to describe the intimacy of a sexual relationship (an intimate personal relationship) with Him. And that relationship is eternal, not temporal. Eternal life is not simply endless existence. Everyone will exist somewhere forever. But the question is, In what condition or in what relationship will they spend eternity?

So, eternal life is experiencing an intimate and personal relationship with the Father and the Son.

5. Lastly, Jesus speaks of the eternal existence He had with the Father.  “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”

John began his book by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1–3)

To make sure we know John is speaking of Jesus, he later says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14 )

Do you see now why I quoted C.S. Lewis yesterday, who says that if you look closely you will see the Holy Spirit dancing with joy between the Father and the Son?