The Gospel of John 17:1-26

This is John 17. This is the entire chapter 1 through 26. And just to hit the slides here first, this is right after the Last Supper. Location-wise, the upper room is not certainly, but most likely, here at the southwest quadrant of Jerusalem. The floor, as we've shown in previous weeks, the floor area where the upper room was is very likely the one that's available for view now. The upper structure over the top of it was added later. So here's the upper room and then the path from here on out probably up the Kidron Valley, although other possibilities are there. up the Kidron Valley and then up to the Garden of Gethsemane.

We mentioned previously a Gethsemane is just the word for an olive press. So that's what that is about. So the Garden of Gethsemane up here in this location. So Jesus went there in order to at first pray, and he had several sessions of praying, but this prayer here doesn't seem to match up with the ones that are recorded in the other Gospels called the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. So it very likely was one as he was approaching the Garden of Gethsemane. That's what's in these words. The other difference is that it appears that a significant content, if not all of it, of this prayer is something that was recorded by John and uniquely by John.

It's not shown in the other Gospels. Here's the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus would have been headed. These are old trees, but not as old as the time when Christ was there. This is another view of some younger trees and flowers and such. A view of the Eastern or Golden Gate that's now sealed up. The Muslims did that because they figured that would stop the Messiah from coming.

Good luck with that. So, at any rate, we'll go from the slides to your handout here. We got the handout on a pedestal which we do on the Sundays where we've got the Lord's table set up so feel free to grab hold of that. So we got the words of John chapter 17 likely spoken on the way and I would say during the last part of on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane.

We have other records from Matthew and Luke from when Jesus prayed to the Father in private So Jesus would frequently go out privately. So this is the longest prayer of Jesus recorded. Because other times he would go out and he would pray, you know, sometimes all night to the Father. But there's nothing recorded because he'd go out privately.

This one is an exception. And so it's a rare intimate look of the relationship between Christ and the Father in a time just hours before Christ would be crucified. The crucifixion would be 9 o'clock the next morning. The trial would begin about 6 AM. So this would be just hours before the time when Christ would be crucified, a very rare and special moment here.

It's often called the high priestly prayer, but what we're finding in the book of Hebrews Hebrews 4.14 to be exact, although other places refer to it. Christ's ministry as our Great High Priest is in the heavenlies. And so this doesn't exactly fit that timing-wise, but yet it is one where Christ is coming to the Father regarding Himself and the disciples and us. So, at any rate, with that, let's take a look here at John 17, verses 1-5.

Jesus spoke these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you, even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him he may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do. Now, Father, glorify me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."

I've got one question to ask, and that is, Jesus has continued to talk, and talks in this passage about things the Father has given Him, and the Father sent Him, and He's returning to the Father, and He does what the Father says to do, and He says what the Father says to say, Why would he do that if he is the son and essentially equal with the father? Why would there be all this talk about what the father did and what the father sent him to do and what the father says and all those things? Why that?

He's still 100% human, and in this different context, this is a unique moment. Well, and yes, and let's make sure we clarify on that. He is 100% human and 100% God. Okay, so yeah. Okay, other thoughts? He's still the second part of the Trinity. Pardon? He's still the second part of the Trinity.

Why all this, everything is what the Father sent me, Everything is what the Father said to say. Even the disciples, the ones the Father has given Him. Yeah? position, and his intimate relationship with the Father in becoming a man, as Tom said. So now in his human form, he has to, like us, communicate with the Father in a different way. Even though he's not 100% God. He is fully God, and yet he's in a position in subjection to the Father. Was it some sort of an accident where he just kind of, whoops, here I am. Lo and behold, here I am on earth. Is that how it happened?

Plan before the foundations of the earth. Plan before the foundations of the earth. That long. That far ahead. So smoothly, otherwise. Yeah, here it was planned long ago. Does that seem a little odd? I mean, God's going to create this earth and everything on it and say it's very good in the end, and yet there was this plan to send Jesus to die. How could that be good? Yeah.

And if you extrapolate from that, you can also say that evil and all the things that are currently happening on the earth were also known, or there would not be a need for Jesus. Yeah, let's say that Adam, you know, he made all the right decisions. You know, would there be a need for Jesus to come? So what you're telling me then is that God created the world knowing full well that Adam would sin.

Is that what you're telling me? Yeah, okay. It seems very odd to us. I mean, it would seem very odd to me that I would ever send my son to be crucified. That's not in God's thinking and plan. That's not the way he had it planned. So yeah, it does seem odd to us, at least to me as a human, that that would be his ultimate, ultimate plan. Yeah, if you think about it, here is this incredibly painful event, and here's the son who I mean, nobody is twisting his arm and saying, hey, you've got to go down there and do this thing, you know.

And they decide this before God says, let there be light. It's kind of amazing. So God has decided between the Father and the Son, and what's interesting is at this point the Father and the Son are the ones seeming to make the decisions, although we know there's the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit also would play a role. Okay, let's take a look here.

So one of the things that we can see in this passage, and we're going to see some more of it, is the word glory and glorified and related words like that. What's glory? Okay, the Shekinah glory, that would be the expression with Israel, right? But what is glory itself?

The radiant essence of who God is. God's essence is fundamentally radiant. Fundamentally radiant. We just yesterday completed our Revelation Intensive. And one of the things that is amazing is just the immensity of God's glory to the point that no longer any sun, we don't need that because the glory of the Lord will light up the new heavens and the earth. Just rather astounding, just His glory is sufficient.

Right? Yeah, Roy? Does that mean that it was hidden? Pardon? Was this radiant essence hidden from us? Ah, let's ask that question. That's a very good one. Right now, right here on planet Earth, is God's radiant essence hidden from us? You said that he is a God by himself, and certainly that he will reveal himself. Okay, and let's ask this question, why doesn't God just kind of show up, you know, show up here in the lobby and just say, hey, you know, I'm here, you know, good to see you guys.

Yeah? We're looking at the type of radionescence that would exceed immeasurably the 58 megaton. Yeah, one question is what capacity would we have to see and observe. Pardon? It's like seeing without my glasses. It's like, whoa! This is beyond our capacity to take in.

Twice in the book of Revelation, towards the end, John the Apostle, there in the heavenly scene, begins to worship an angel. And immediately, each of those angels says, whoa, stop, you know, worship God, not me. And is John worshiping an angel because he's messing up? Or what's going on there? Well, the angel in his own statement said, I am a fellow servant like you. Okay. And that's true. But why is it that John would bow down to this angel? Is he starting an angel worship practice? Or what's going on? There's glory there, and that's only shared and secondary glory to the glory of the Lord. But why would he begin to worship the angel, even if it's secondary glory?

It was intense. And here's John who is so out of context, based on having spent his life living on this kind of a world, Here is John, seeing this angel, and even though it's secondary glory and shared glory from the Lord, it is so intense he's got no calibration for any of it. Which also makes it even stranger because he was there at the Transfiguration when he was basically bowed down like the others. Yes, so he saw that then, but here in the context of heaven, he's got no calibration for what's maximum glory. The glory that he's seeing in this angel, which is a secondary and shared glory, is a glory so intense that he thinks, well, this must be God. No calibration for it at all.

So here, what you see here, the words that he has, glorify your son, your son may glorify you. And he continues on, not only in this passage, but subsequently, talking about this glory and glorifying. Glory is not a commodity, but glory is not only an entity that we can describe, the radiant essence of who God is, it's also something in action, glorify, glorified, glorifying, yeah. So if the angels have glory, do you think the fallen angels, obviously they did have, do you think they still have?

Because the Scripture says that Satan can imitate an angel of light. That's a very good question. Does Scripture give us any insight on that? Do any of the fallen angels, and Revelation 12 says about a third of the angels fell, do any of the fallen angels have God's glory. Wouldn't it be tarnished by sin? Certainly. Let's ask this question. Are you made in the image of God still? All these people walking around that are unsaved, are they still made in the image of God? Yes. Tarnished by sin.

Interesting. Do we have an answer for the, is there glory in these other beings? Satan can appear as an angel of light. What's interesting is that the angelic beings, Satan included, do appear to have some authority and power. Very interesting. I don't know that I can think of a direct answer to your question, but it would be something like residual The capacity the capacity though tarnished and diminished still there. Let's let's check one other thing though Satan is opposite God, but is he equal? No, and that's one thing Satan in spite of his his insane fascinations Okay, and I'll call it that in spite of his insane fascinations. He is still a created being and And certainly he is opposed to God, but he is in no way God's equal.

God's character, okay? Is Satan omnipresent? Is Satan omnipotent? Is Satan omniscient? No. So there are aspects of God's character Satan doesn't have and never will have. And we could go on down the list. Is Satan just? Is Satan holy? No. Not even sort of, right? So he doesn't have it. And there is there is a possible error that Christians can fall into of thinking of Satan as equal and opposite. Alright, let's take a look here at something else.

So the glory that Jesus had with the Father existed from before this present world was spoken into existence. Jesus had taken on humility in coming to earth to be born of woman. That was about to be reversed and Christ's death on the cross was a part of the great reversal So let's ask this question. Was it glorifying for Jesus to die on the cross? Yeah, let's think about it. I mean, first you look at it and say, oh heaven, there's this horrific thing. Just unimaginably painful. And not just on the physical level or just the nails going in. Unimaginably painful. But how could that be glorious? What are the ways that dying on the cross could be glorious?

Pardon? So that we could all be saved. So that we could be saved, okay? So He paid the price for our sins. And you're right. Why would that be glorious? Because He would be doing His Father's perfect will. Alright, so this is the Father's will and it's something that He and the Father had agreed to before God said, let there be light. Yeah. Obviously, if he wasn't the first fruit, there wouldn't be any other fruit. Okay. Yeah. If he's the first fruit, then there's others, but he has to be the first fruit. Okay. Pardon? It shows his love. It shows his love.

Remember, glory is the radiant essence of who God is and his love a part of who he is. Yes, and it's a satisfaction of God's justice, isn't it? All the sins of the whole world were paid for so that as justice being a fundamental aspect of who God is, the radiant essence of who God is including His justice. And is there anything else, or are we done with the list? Pardon?

Took care of the sin issue. Yeah, once for all. And it says sin issue once for all. And as a matter of fact, wherever in Christendom, and I use that term explicitly, wherever in Christendom there is error in the understanding of that, It is a lack of understanding that it's once for all. We're going to see that in Hebrews several times starting with chapter 7 into verse 10, excuse me, chapter 10. It's once for all.

Jesus, when he was on the cross, what's translated, it is finished, is actually an accounting term that means it's all paid. It's given in the perfect tense, a completed past action ongoing results into the future. So here's Jesus just saying one word It's all paid, completely done.

And the error that Christians in Christendom make is thinking that it's not all done. That we've still got some other purgatory to go through. We've still got some additional ways we have to pay for our sins. You know the Crusades? The soldiers were told that you're going down to fight to pay for your sins. Wrong answer, right? Wrong answer. Other thoughts? Yeah, Roy?

The sin is offensive. I mean, it has to be handled. He can't do nothing because it's offensive to him. But from his perspective, he would satisfy her. And I think what I like most of all, he's not above what he asks from everybody else. And when you read scripture, you know, he said the greatest love is to die for another person. And he did it. He did it, and there's no question.

As a matter of fact, as I go through, I keep discovering new ways that Christ accomplished things on the cross. Another one that's glorious is His death on the cross was also paying for the bride price for us. It's something in our culture we don't have a practice like that, but the bride price that He paid for us was His death on the cross. So there are numerous ways that Christ accomplished things, and He's just hours away from doing this phenomenal event that we continue to discover.

Oh, that happened, and that happened. He died on the cross to separate us from the law, and from the world, and from the nature. That was another accomplishment on the cross. Is that glorious? Yes. So we see glory keeps having, as we discover more and more, keeps having greater and greater dimension. Let's look now at the next part.

The hour in verse 1 was the hour or time of Christ's glorification through death. We brought that up because the first time he started talking about the time or the hour, my time or my hour has not yet come, is in chapter 2 when he turned the water into wine. Mary comes up and says, hey, fix this. And he says, my hour is not yet. And he keeps, he's even at that time where, okay, he did this wonderful thing of turning gallons and gallons of water into wine, but he is still at that point looking forward to that time when he would be crucified.

For all, certainly you look at him, he has this horrifically painful event, but for all it would accomplish, he's looking forward to that time. Next year, Christ is given ultimate positional authority. Now this is key because a lot of people will say, well you know, I don't see Christ doing anything. And they don't see it. So what we have here, Christ is given ultimate positional authority which will be implemented in the future.

Hebrews 2.8 which we saw some weeks back, for in subjecting all things to Him, He left nothing that is not subject to Him, but now we do not yet see all things subjected to Him." We don't see it yet, right? So it's a positional statement, and the position is to be implemented over time. When Christ comes back again, returns to earth with you and with me, Will he be done having all things subjected to him?

Still not. And what's left, when Christ reigns on the earth, you say, here's this glorious time. The Kingdom of Israel will go all the way to the Euphrates River. He's going to reign as the King of Israel and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords over all the Gentiles. And we'll be there with Him. It will be a phenomenal time. In the Gospels, Jesus talks about sitting at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The curse is lifted from the earth. So what's left? What's left to be subjected to? Pardon? One is there is a final rebellion, that's part one. And then it's the White Throne Judgment. There is also the last enemy, this is 1 Corinthians 15, the last enemy to be subjected is death. Last one. So even when the Millennial Kingdom begins, that will not be the full and entire subjection of all things to Him. The last enemy is death. There will be death during the millennium. But at the end of this present heavens and earth, that will be the end of it.

Here is 1 Corinthians 15 through 26, But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, after those who are Christ's at his coming.

Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and authority and power, for He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. Last one. That's it. Okay, let's look at the top of page two then.

Jesus, in this passage, defines eternal life, knowing God, and the way to know Him is by believing. By the way, does eternal life simply mean that it lasts forever? Is that what it means? You're going to live forever. You're around forever in the lake of fire, aren't you? But that's not what he's talking about, right?

So what is eternal life? is knowing Christ. So eternal life is not just about this life that goes on and on and on. It's not simply a matter of extending on and on through time and beyond time. It is eternal life because He is life, and it's knowing Him.

And this, by the way, is a key distinction. Have you ever heard somebody say, well, there's something good in all religions, or all religions are basically the same, or they all worship the same God, which is a bunch of nonsense. But one key distinction is, in Christianity, as the Bible teaches it, knowing God and knowing Christ is absolutely essential. In Islam, God is unknowable. Major distinction.

You want to know God? Forget Islam. That's not going to get you there. Not going to happen. So a very key distinction in what the Bible teaches, knowing God personally is absolutely critical. You must know Him. In Islam, forget about it. You're never going to get there. You don't know Him. You can't know Him. He's unknowable because He didn't reveal Himself. He revealed what you need to do. Principle of law.

Yeah. So this knowing, is it revealed knowledge or is it learning knowledge? Ah, let's ask about that. Because this is also an important question. We said knowing is very important. Knowing Him, is it revealed knowledge or learned knowledge? We can't learn everything about God, that's why I ask. You're always at some level lower than the top.

Let's think about this, because we don't know everything exhaustively, but yet God has very intentionally revealed Himself. And even this set of chapters we've been going through talks about God's disclosure and Jesus' disclosure, intentional revelation. So God discloses Himself. Let's ask this question. Can we know about God from what God's revealed? Not exhaustively, but truthfully. Yeah, we can know about God, again, not exhaustively, but truthfully because God has revealed Himself in His Word. Is that all God intends? Okay, here's the data. So there is knowledge about him which he has revealed. He also desires that we have personal and experiential knowledge of him as well. My hard drive at home, it knows about God. But it doesn't know God. So that's where it isn't good enough to just have a data dump. Okay, I'm going to download the data about God. Okay, got it, good. That's not sufficient. There's also a need for a personal and experiential knowledge about God.

Yes. Ah, yes. And very good you bring that up. What do you mean by that? Okay, so what is revealed to us about God is something that we place faith in, confidence in, trust in, personally, such that it has personal relevance, and we have a personal relationship with the Lord. Right? Yeah? When you say eternal life, does that mean Christ? Yes. Does that go back? Yeah, let's think about this. Does the Bible reveal things about our spiritual standing and things in the spiritual realm before our time? It does, doesn't it?

Including what Jesus prayed in verse 5. And by the way, He's not done talking about before He said, let there be light. So when He uses the term light, that is the kind of light He meant. Yeah, what he's praying in this prayer is we've got an invitation to step into the relationship between the Father and the Son from before God said, let there be light.

Wow! I mean, before you and I came into existence. This is some pretty incredible things to contemplate. So eternal life isn't just everlasting life in terms of time that keeps going on, but it's also an insight into we being with the Lord, we knowing Him, and we see in this passage, we step into spiritual life that extended before God said, let there be light. He knew us from the foundation of the world or even before God said, let there be light.

Amazing. Think about this. We teach regularly at Holly Hills, you've been identified with Christ in his death, burial, resurrection, ascension and seeding. Those five things. And so here is God. Now is the unbeliever identified with Christ in those five things? The unbeliever doesn't get that.

So in order for you to be identified with Christ, almost 2,000 years ago now, in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding, God had to know that you were going to be saved. And then take you and spiritually place you there at the cross, there in the tomb, there at the resurrection, there at the ascension, and it is seeding. And make the effect of that identification real and implemented now that you believed. So he takes you and takes you back in time to those points of identification and then brings the results of that back into now.

This is a God who is not limited by time. Not even close. This is amazing stuff. Time is not an issue. This is Jesus saying, before Abraham was, before Abraham existed, I am. Present tense. He sees it all as present tense. It's all now. No challenge to him at all. How can God prophesy things that haven't happened yet? Piece of cake. It's all right now.

Alright, let's continue to take a look here. So John 17, 6 through 12, I manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of this world. Who's that? The disciples. And as we're soon going to see here, disciples but not Judas. They were yours and you gave them to me and they have kept your word.

Now, they have come to know that everything you have given to me is from you. For the words which you gave me I have given to them, and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from you, and they believe that you sent me. I ask on their behalf, I do not ask on the behalf of the world, but of those whom you have given me, for they are yours, and all things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I have been glorified in them. I am no longer in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world. And I come to you, Holy Father, keep them in your name, the name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in your name which you have given me.

And I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition, so that the scripture would be fulfilled. One of the things that comes out in this passage, over a dozen times you have some form of the word give. Some form of the word give. And just, not always, but just about always, it's the Father giving to the Son. Gifts, right? The Father giving to the Son. Why all the talk about the world? Why does that matter? What's that?

Yeah, that's where we are. That's where Christ came. This is where the disciples were selected out of the world. Now, a couple of things. Does the world, as it's used in this prayer, always mean exactly the same definition? I see Stan going, uh-uh. What do you mean by that? The people that exist in the world, and I think the word is, I can't think of what the word, brief word is, but it means the existence of this world. OK. And another world would be one of the three enemies that we deal with. Yeah.

In other words, you have the world in a sense of kind of the universe. And and often it's used here in the sense of the earth, the earth, the planet. So there's that, but then there's also the world as the world system, which is under the power of the evil one, which is under the prince of the power of the air. So the word world is used in both senses here.

Now, something else we've got to address about this, I am no longer in the world. What? He's still there. So what's going on, and by the way, this kind of statement happens more than once in this prayer. What's going on that he makes this statement, I am no longer in the world? He's no longer interacting with the world system. Well, certainly he's not doing that, but in fact, he never was subject to it, ultimately, the world system in the evil sense.

But let's think about this here. What's he saying here? The world. Okay, except has that happened yet? He's still yet to go on the cross. He's still yet to be buried, and yet to be resurrected, and yet to be ascended. And the bottom line is for another almost two months, the disciples are going to see him off and on. here on this planet.

So how can you say, you know, it's like I'm no longer in the world, and he's still in a body like this, you know? How can you say that? He's not of the world system? Certainly he's not of the world system, but in fact he's never been subject to that, right? So what's he telling them?

God already knows this, but he's preparing himself for that departure, that separation from his disciples and his worldly contacts. And he's preparing himself for his mission, that he's going to accomplish his mission. Spiritually, his mind is no longer here on earth. He's setting himself there.

There's something else, and that is, it's used actually even way back in the Old Testament, the prophets would say it. There's a term that's called proleptic or future-present. That is, something that is in the future but is so certain as to its passage, it's stated as in the present. This is going to happen, but instead of saying it's going to happen, it is so certain of occurrence that we say it's already done.

So here's the, I'm no longer of the world, I'm no longer here. Well, the bottom line is he's going to leave, right? But it'll be another, almost two months, fifty days. Yeah, but see, it's a manner of speaking he actually does several times in this chapter. It's a manner of speaking. And I say that one of the terms is proleptic. It's speaking ahead of the actual time with the understanding that the fulfillment of it is so certain that it's spoken as if it were already done. We have expressions like that.

One example, somebody's really ticked off at somebody and they'll say, you're dead. Well, they aren't dead, otherwise we wouldn't be talking to them, right? But what are they saying? You're as good as dead, it just hasn't happened yet. And so we even in our language have some of that kind of manner of speaking, where we say something is so certain as to its happening that we put it in the present or even the past tense. And he does that here. Consider it done. Yeah, that's a good way to put it. Yes.

So is that a verb form or is that just something they get out of context? It's not a verb form. It is out of context, something that is recognized. And again, the term commonly is proleptic. That's correct. In other words, a prophet, and you'll find this in the Old Testament, the Old Testament prophets would say something in the present or even the past tense. And the idea would be, it is so certain of occurrence that I'm stating it as if it has already happened or is happening.

And so Jesus in saying these kinds of things was not breaking into some new pattern. It is only in the context, it's not some special thing you look up in a lexicon and it's this verb form. So it's only by context that we know that that's the case. Yeah, Roy? Yes.

And the reality is the disciples, soon to be apostles, are going to spend some time, years if not decades, ahead. One of the things we pointed out in our Revelation Intensive is, here's John, who is, so far as we know, the last apostle to die. And who was the first apostle to die? James. Acts chapter 12, his brother. So you have the two brothers are bookends. The first to die and the last one to die is James and John. Okay, let's take a look here. In this passage, Jesus begins praying for eleven of his disciples.

Judas is the son of perdition, verse 12. That's a Hebrew expression. Son of means like in character and close in relationship to. And perdition is another expression for hell, perishing, destruction. So He is like in character and close in relationship to destruction.

Jesus tells the Father and His disciples know and believe that the Father sent Christ and that He was and is the source of all of what Christ does and says. Jesus prays to the Father about His disciples who are in the world but not of it, asking that these disciples be kept in the Father's name.

Now what does it mean to be kept in the Father's name? I mean, you go and put the letters of their names in between the Father's name? Yeah, when we say, like for example, we will pray regularly in Jesus' name, okay? That's for everything that He is, okay? We're praying in that, and we have the authorization from Christ to pray that. And so to be kept in the Father's name, that means there is a special divine protection and guard over these guys.

Does it mean that they're never going to slip or fall? No. Does it mean nothing will ever happen to them? No. What does it mean to be kept in the Father's name? If it means you're never going to slip and fall, if it doesn't mean that, if it doesn't mean you're never going to have anything bad happen to you, What does it mean to be kept in the Father's name? Pardon? Yeah, and guarded in what sense? Okay, so here's the, in the Father's person, there is a special guarding, they won't go home until it's time. They won't go home until it's time.

Part one. And part two is while you would see failure, in fact it would only be hours and Peter would do what? He would deny Christ. It would be hours and he would deny Christ before the sun came up on the rooster crowed. Yeah. He was kept because, let's ask this question, did he fail? Yes. Was his failure an ultimate wipe out? No. As a matter of fact, was that failure used by God? Yes. So even the failures, even the dangers are to be used by God.

Now, let's ask this question. If you are kept in the Father's name, does that mean nothing bad is ever going to happen to you? Very interesting. Yeah, so I think that's one thing. Christians need to get it straight in their head that it doesn't mean in the Christian life that nothing bad is ever going to happen. And that everything is going to work out just the way I want.

Alright, let's take a look on down here at 17, 13 through 19. But now I come to you and these things... By the way, is He coming to them right now? It's proleptic, isn't it? These things I speak in the world so that they may have my joy made full in themselves.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. You sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

For their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they themselves also may be sanctified in the truth." What are some of the themes you see in that passage? Thirteen through nineteen. What are some of the themes that you see coming out repeatedly? Identity with Christ is one. And we continue to see that in the passage. Sanctify.

What is that? This is set apart for God's intended and holy purpose. So why does he have to pray to sanctify them? What's the significance of that? They're going to be challenged and persecuted and questioned. Does God allow that to happen to people that He loves? He uses them, he's there to support them. He helps them through it.

Here, in this context, they didn't understand what he was saying, but one term would bring this up. Ah, okay. So there was something yet to be done in their lives in terms of that setting apart. Did they understand at this point in time, did they understand what their assignment was soon to be? No, they didn't. They didn't even understand what was about to happen in the next few hours. No comprehension at all.

But, one of the things that this says is being sanctified, being set apart for God's holy and intended purpose is a process. And are we going through a sanctification process? Yes, we are. And that's something else we'll see farther on down in Hebrews. There is both a positional sanctification as well as a process and experience aspect of sanctification. God has both of those things in place and in action.

I think it's also interesting that he refers to the evil one in just a matter-of-fact way. And it's the evil one that has caused him to go to the world and to go through all this future pain and suffering. And yet, it's just a matter-of-fact, the evil one. I mean, it's just a self-existent fact that he's the evil one. He's the evil one.

By the way, is there any doubt about who that is? This isn't some secret code. We've got no question. This is the serpent of old. This is the evil one. This is Satan. This is the devil. All those things John twice kind of gives a multiple list so that you have no doubt about who it is. It's also part of God's plan. Yeah. That's why it's so matter of fact. Is Satan an oops? Is Satan a big oops where God just wringing his hands, pacing the floor of heaven and saying, now what am I going to do? Is Satan just one big oops that just got out of the bag? No. Yeah, right? Yeah. Yeah. None of this was some big secret. God is not surprised.

And what ultimately is going to happen to the evil one? He will be in the lake of fire. And one of the things we pointed out in the Revelation intensive, and that doesn't mean that he has charge of hell. He has no special place. He doesn't call the shots. He's not the king of hell. None of that. He's just one of the guys. And it's not good for him. It's not going to turn out well. So, okay. Well, we've run out of time. Either that or I've got tinnitus. Let's pray, okay?

Lord, we do give You thanks for Your Word and this intimate prayer between Christ and the Father. And Lord, we do look to You in this for things that We share in things that are an amazing thing that we actually have a share in and a part in in the relationship between Christ and the Father. That's just rather astounding. But we thank you for it, even though it will take for eternity for us to understand it. And we just do give you thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.