Jesus Christ is in Gethsemane, ready to be arrested and dragged off to face the Sanhedrin, a Roman governor, and the false judgment of men ultimately to be beaten and hung on a cross to die. Knowing the immense pressure He is facing, he lifts his eyes to heaven to pray. It is here we see Jesus transitioning from His earthly ministry where he walked around with us glorifying God by His works and His words to his present ministry of making intercession for us.
6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
I have manifested thy name (phaneroō) manifest -ed means to make apparent, make manifest, make openly known. One of the things that Jesus came to do was to put God on display for all the world. As he told his disciples, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father (John 14:). As he taught ‘ I and the Father are one’ (John 10:30) so it is very clear here in this prayer that Jesus saw one of his main purposes in coming to this earth was to be a personal revelation and manifestation of what God the Father is like. That is what it means when it says ‘thy name’. Remember, in Isaiah 9 the prophet foretold that Jesus would be called:
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
-The very names of God Himself. As fully God, Jesus manifested the Father, revealing his nature, attributes, and character. As fully man, he was incarnated to be a personal revelation of what the Father was like. He had done his job for those which God Himself had
gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; Before the world existed, before you or I were even born, we were elected by the Father to be saved. They were His by election, and God the Father gave them to Christ, and Christ purchased their salvation by His shed blood. This is another theme that is throughout the Gospel of John, as we have been studying. We are not born again of our own will (John 1:13-14, John 3) but we are chosen by Him, and drawn by Him to the point where we can become His (John 6:37, 10:29). The reality is, no matter how much we like to think we choose Christ, those who do choose Him have already been chosen from the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) and their names were written in the Lamb’s book of Life (Revelation 17:8). This is motivation for evangelism, because as we read in Acts 18:10, there are many in Corinth who are God’s people, but from a historic point of view, Paul remained in Corinth another year and a half because they still needed to hear the Gospel. It is those who have been regenerated that can respond to the gospel call.
and they have kept thy word. They were not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, for these disciples would soon lose faith and demonstrate this by abandoning the Lord. Jesus makes the point, however, that they have believed and obeyed His teaching. As we see in the gospels and the rest of the New Testament, they do not always do it perfectly. Certainly we can see that simple belief and trust is enough, and by this we will grow in sanctification and holiness. As we believe, trusting in Him alone, and abiding in Him we will bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
Included in that number so to speak were the disciples themselves. They were given to Christ by God. So therefore, they were of God as much as the works and the words of Christ were. By the power of the Holy Spirit, they would share an intimate relationship with God and Christ, in other words, like bride and groom they would be one. The key word here is that they have known (ginosko), that is, they have belief and have entered into an intimate relationship with God through Christ by which their entire person is identified. They are changed; similar to when one enters into a marriage covenant they are identified differently, as Husband and Wife. The wife even changes her name, similar to what we do when we become part of the bride of Christ we are identified as Christians. John goes into further detail:
8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
They (the disciples) heard the words that Jesus had spoken on behalf of the Father. The disciples, by faith, had received those words by putting them into practice. The word λαμβάνω (lambanō 2983) which is translated receive means to take, take hold of, apprehend, to take or receive from another; to take what is given; hence, receive, pointing to an objective reception. That is, they did not just listen, they heard and took hold of the teaching because they knew Jesus came from God. They have known (ginosko)- that the Lord Jesus came from God the Father, indeed, that He was God Himself. Therefore, they allowed this belief to influence them and change them into His followers. This knowledge led to true belief (pisteuo) which is described as a fully convinced acknowledgment, a self-surrendering fellowship, and a fully assured and unswerving confidence. In other words, the disciples were fully convinced that Jesus Christ’s words were the words of the Father, and thus they surrendered to Him, having a fully assured confidence that God had sent Jesus. This belief, this faith in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit caused them and causes us to have an entirely new identity (2 Corinthians 5:17) having been saved from sin and death (Ephesians 2:1) to good works (Ephesians 2:10) if we will abide in Him (John 15), bearing fruit in keeping with our receiving His Word, knowing Him and being associated with Him, thus demonstrating our belief is true.
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
The Lord Jesus Christ makes intercession for those who are His, those who have been given Him by the Father. Jesus is our great High priest that lives forever to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). In the pattern of God’s chosen people, those whom He has drawn near to Him by His election of them he will save to the uttermost. These who are chosen, elected by God, are those that Jesus prays for, even if they are not yet converted. Jesus does not make intercession for the world, that is, those who are not chosen from the beginning of the world. We can be assured that if we are chosen, Jesus is making intercession for us in much the same way as we witness here forever. He prays for us because we have been given to Him, and because we have been purchased by Christ, chosen by God, we are God’s people.
10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
All those whom God has chosen are His. God has given them to Christ, Christ has purchased all those whom God has chosen through His shed blood and resurrection from the dead. We glorify God and Christ by believing on Him, by having faith in Jesus Christ alone. It glorifies Christ to give us an entirely new identity (2 Corinthians 5:17). It glorifies Christ to save us from sin and death (Ephesians 2:1). It glorifies Christ when we do the good works He has prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10) It glorifies Christ when we will abide in Him (John 15), bearing fruit in keeping with repentance by the power of the Holy Spirit and with the pruning of God.
11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
What was going to happen in just hours was a such a certainty that Jesus prayed as though it had already happened. He knew that he was going to be arrested, tried, beaten, crucified, and dead only to rise again. He knew that the disciples would be facing persecution, even martyrdom without His physical presence. He prayed to the Father that he would first and foremost keep them in His name. This is the promise of eternal security; those who have been called will remain in Christ until the end. This is the promise and the benefit of the intercession of Jesus Christ on our behalf. To put it like Christ did, no one, and no thing can snatch them (us) out of his hand. Paul, in Romans, puts it like this:
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And it is a profound mystery that Jesus presents regarding the unity of the trinity and the unity of the body of Christ. We are called to unity in Christ- and though we often fall short, it is a process by the power of the Holy Spirit that binds us together as one body working all together to glorify Christ by our love for one another and by bearing fruit for Him. It should be a reflection of the unity of God the Father and Christ- a unity of purpose, a unity of love, and certainly a unity of mission. Our purpose and mission as the church should be to bring glory to God and this happens when we are unified in truth. We demonstrate this unity by using our gifts to build up and equip one another to become fruit-bearing Christians. And we do this because we love God supremely, and we love one another.
An important note: this unity should never be at the expense of truth (v.17) in other words, we should never compromise God’s Word so that we can agree with one another, rather, our unity should be based in the truth of the Word of God. We cannot compromise or change God’s Word so that we can agree with others who identify as Christians or as part of the church. In this day and age, many people accuse people who love Jesus and who cling to His word of being divisive. The truth is, God’s Word is divisive, and it separates those who are being saved from those who are not. There are many subjects that have come up in recent years with certain denominations that have caused the true church to split from the apostate church. Anglicans, ELCA Lutherans, and, most recently PCUSA Presbyterians have stood against the word of God, and then have called for unity. 1 Corinthians 5 says that we cannot even eat with such people.
The unity that Jesus prays for, and continues to intercede for us to have is needed with His departure. In this world, we will have trials and troubles. Without the power of the Holy Spirit, and the unity of brothers and sisters in the church, we would be destroyed. Jesus has left the world physically, but He lives forever to make intercession for us. He also has given us life by His Spirit and brothers and sisters to prop us up when we fall down. And this unity displayed brings great glory to God as we walk out our life in His truth.
