22Jesus’ Prayer and the Eternal Plan of God  (John 17:1&-5)

“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.” (17:1b–5)

Though unthinkable to the disciples, the death of the Messiah was an essential and deliberate part of God’s eternal plan. Even though Jesus had told them clearly that “the Son of Man is going [up to Jerusalem to be killed] as it has been determined” (Luke 22:22), they did not fully understand what He meant (Mark 9:32; Luke 9:45). Moreover, they objected to what little they did understand—as this startling scene from Matthew’s gospel demonstrates:

It was not until after the resurrection that the disciples finally understood why Christ’s death was necessary—in order that He might be the perfect substitute for sin, reconciling sinners to God through the cross (2 Cor. 5:18–21). Only then did the disciples come to realize that His death had been central to the divine plan all along. On the day of Pentecost, none other than Peter announced that Jesus Christ was “delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God [being] nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men” (Acts 2:23). His sentiments were echoed in the apostolic prayer of Acts 4:27–28: “For truly in this city [Jerusalem] there were gathered against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur” (Acts 4:27–28). In fact, the reason the Old Testament prophets had been able to predict the Messiah’s death with such vivid accuracy was because it had been part of the divine plan from the beginning (Acts 3:18; cf. Gen. 3:15; Isa. 53:1–12; Dan. 9:26; 1 Peter 1:20–21).

The salvation plan of God was formed in eternity past, before the beginning of time, when He purposed to save a remnant of the human race He would yet create and whom He knew would rebel against Him (Eph. 1:4–5; cf. Matt. 25:34). The plan itself was guaranteed by the promise of God. As Paul explains in Titus 1:2, salvation is “the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago.” The phrase “long ages ago” literally means, “before time began,” indicating that redemption has always been part of God’s sovereign plan (cf. Heb. 13:20). In eternity past, He made a promise to save those whom He had chosen; the fulfillment of which is absolutely certain since “it is impossible for God to lie” (Heb. 6:18; cf. Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29; John 14:6, 17; 15:26). But to whom was that promise made, since there was no one but God before time began?

The answer to that question is introduced in 2 Timothy 1:9, which states that God “has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.” (The phrase “from all eternity” is identical in Greek to the phrase translated “long ages ago” in Titus 1:2. In both cases, the literal rendering is “from before time began.”) God’s promise to save His own was made in eternity past “according to His own purpose and grace,” independent of any outside influence. Because there was no one beside the triune God, it was a promise He necessarily made to Himself.

More specifically, as Jesus’ beautiful prayer in this chapter indicates, this divine promise was made from one member of the Trinity to another—from the Father to the Son. As a tangible expression of His infinite love for the Son, the Father promised Him a bride (cf. Rev. 19:7–8), a company of redeemed sinners who would honor and glorify the Son forever. In eternity past, the Father recorded their names in the book of life (Rev. 13:8; 17:8), and pledged them to His Son as a gift of His love. Thus, Jesus could pray, “Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me” (17:5–6). A few verses later, Jesus again underscored that believers are a gift from the Father, given out of His love and for the purpose of His Son’s glory: “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (v.24).

Earlier in the gospel of John, Jesus had already made reference to the fact that believers are given to Him by His Father. After He fed the five thousand, He told the crowds, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out …. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:37, 39). He further taught that “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (v. 44). According to God’s sovereign design, the Father draws to the Son those whom He has chosen to redeem, in keeping with His eternal promise. The Son, in return, receives and protects all those whom the Father draws. Because they are a gift to Him from the Father, He would never refuse them or allow them to be lost. He will raise them all to eternal glory.

Sinners, then, are saved not because they are inherently worthy of salvation, or wise enough on their own to choose it (cf. Eph. 2:1–10), but because the Father lovingly draws them for the purpose of giving them as a gift to the Son. In response to the Father’s love, the Son eagerly receives all those who are drawn because they are a gift from His beloved Father. The Son opens His arms to sinners, not because they either deserve to be embraced or seek such, but because He is exceedingly glad to receive the gift His Father prepared for Him from before time began, and then sought and saved.

Romans 8:29–30 provides additional insight into the glorious salvation purposes of God: “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” When the Father, in eternity past, decided to redeem sinners, He did so with the ultimate intent of conforming them into the image of His Son (cf. Phil. 3:20–21; 1 John 3:2). Because they will be like Christ in their glorified state, the redeemed will forever be a supreme tribute to the Son—reflecting His perfect goodness and proclaiming His eternal greatness.

First Corinthians 15:24–28 foretells the remarkable conclusion to God’s sovereign plans. There Paul writes,

The day is coming when Jesus Christ, the true Lord of Lords, will reclaim the universe that rightfully belongs to Him. He will reign by His Father’s authority until He subjects every enemy to Himself, including death (vv. 25–26). When that takes place, at the end of time, the Son will hand His kingdom back over to His Father (v. 24), and will Himself “be subjected to the One [the Father] who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all” (v.28). The Son will give everything, including Himself and those who are in Him, back to His Father. Thus, the Father’s love gift to the Son will be reciprocated by the Son, and the redemptive purposes of God, which were formed in eternity past, will be fully and finally realized. God will be “all in all” (v.28) and salvation history will be complete.

The humbling but marvelous reality is that believers are secondary within the scope of God’s eternal plan. The Father’s primary concern is the honor of the Son whom He loves and desires to see glorified. That is why, in eternity past, He promised to redeem a segment of sinful humanity whom He would give to the Son to worship and exalt Him forever.

The Son’s primary concern, likewise, is the honor and glory of the Father. Because of His perfect love for the Father, He receives the Father’s gift with infinite joy—gladly embracing every sinner whom the Father draws. Moreover, He considered the Father’s gift so precious that He “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil.2:7–8). He did this that the eternal purposes of God might be fulfilled in Him (cf. Eph. 3:11)—purposes that will finally culminate when He gives all things back to His Father at the end of the age (1 Cor. 15:25–28). (For a further discussion of this subject, see my foreword, “Divine Immutability and the Doctrines of Grace,” in Steven J. Lawson, Foundations of Grace [Orlando, Fla.: Reformation Trust, 2006], 7–20.)

It is with these eternal purposes in mind that Jesus came to His Father in prayer on the night before His death. He knew that the Father had predetermined to redeem a people whom He would give to the Son as His bride. He also knew that the redeemed would reflect His glory (John 17:22; Phil. 3:20–21; 1 John 3:2), bear His image (Rom. 8:29), and praise, glorify, and serve Him through all eternity. Likewise, He knew that their names were written in the Book of Life (Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:15; 21:27), and that He had come into the world to pay the redemptive price to purchase them from the slave market of sin (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 1:18; Rev. 5:9). He was fully aware that the hour had come for Him to do all that had been planned from before the foundation of the world.

Thus when Jesus asked the Father, glorify Your Son, He was asking that the eternal plan of redemption be consummated exactly as it had been sovereignly ordained. Significantly, this was Jesus’ only request for Himself in His entire prayer (cf. v. 5)—that the Father would grant Him the glory that would be His through His death, resurrection, ascension, and coronation, just as it had been planned in eternity past. The fact that the Son shares the Father’s glory affirms His deity, since God will not give His glory to another (Isa. 42:8; 48:11).

The Lord’s request was a sincere affirmation of the promise His Father had made to Him in eternity past. The plan had always been that the Son would be glorified through the redemption of sinners. Thus Jesus’ request for glorification was a prayer that God’s eternal purposes would be fulfilled in the cross exactly as God had decreed. Ironically, what would appear to men to be a moment of supreme shame would in actuality be the moment of Christ’s highest honor—as God’s marvelous plan of redemption was perfectly realized. In fact, it is through the cross that all of God’s saving purposes are made possible. Jesus will forever bear the scars of the cross (John 20:27), thus being forever marked with the honor of His accomplishment there.

But Jesus was not merely seeking His own glory; His perfectly righteous request was that by His sacrifice the Son might glorify the Father (cf. Rom. 6:4). As Leon Morris explains,

The cross displayed God’s glory like no other event in history, revealing His righteousness, justice, and holiness in requiring the “precious blood” of His Son, “a lamb unblemished and spotless” (1 Peter 1:19) as a propitiation for His holy wrath against sin (Rom. 3:25). At the same time, it dramatically demonstrated His grace, mercy, and love in the sending of His only Son to die for the sins of the utterly undeserving (Eph. 2:1–10; cf. 1 John 4:9–10). “What God has accomplished in Jesus Christ, “ notes Thomas Schreiner, “displays both the justice and love of God because God’s holiness is vindicated in the cross, while at the same time his love is displayed in the willing and glad sacrifice of his Son” (Thomas R. Schreiner, “Penal Substitution View,” in The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views, ed. James Beilby and Paul R. Eddy [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2006], 92). The cross further displayed God’s power as He defeated sin, death, and Satan (Heb. 2:14; cf. 1 Cor. 15:54–58). Finally, the cross made clear the wisdom of God’s eternal plan of redemption— “the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8).

In these opening expressions, Jesus referenced four facets of the saving purposes of God, each of which centered on His glory-producing work of redemption at the cross—the right He possesses (to offer eternal life); the relationship He offers (which is eternal life); the requirement He meets (to pay for eternal life); and the reverence He deserves (having made eternal life available). As His prayer indicates, Jesus was fully aware that, like everything else, the next few hours of time had been sovereignly determined since eternity past and would have infinite ramifications into eternity future.

THE RIGHT HE POSSESSES

even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. (17:2)

In keeping with God’s eternal plan of salvation, the Son was given authority over all flesh (mankind) to grant eternal life to all those whom the Father had given Him. That authority, being granted to Him by His Father, was made possible through the cross. Though He submitted to His captors and allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross by wicked men, in reality it was He who had the authority. In dying for the sins of those who would believe in Him, He was given the right to grant eternal life to them.

Though His authority extends over all creation (cf. Matt. 28:18), it is clear that redemption applies only to those who have been chosen for Him by the Father. Only those whom the Father has given Him (vv. 6, 9, 24; 6:37, 39; cf. Acts 13:48; Rom. 8:29–30; Eph. 1:4–5; 2 Thess. 2:13;Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1–2) will receive eternal life. Christ’s authority to grant them that life is another aspect of His victory over the world through His death (cf. 16:33). That Jesus Christ is the source of eternal life is a central theme of John’s gospel (cf. 3:15–16, 36;4:14;5:21, 24, 40;6:27, 33, 35, 40, 47, 48, 51, 54, 68; 10:10, 28; 11:25; 14:6 and the apostle’s purpose statement for writing his gospel in 20:31), and one he reiterates in his first epistle (1 John 5:20).

Throughout His ministry, Christ manifested the divine authority His Father had given Him in a multitude of ways (cf. Matt. 11:27; 28:18). His teaching was characterized by divine authority (Matt. 7:29; Mark 1:22; Luke 4:32); as were His healings (Mark 5:38–43; Luke 4:39; 9:1; John 11:43), exorcisms (Matt. 10:1; Mark 3:15; Luke 4:36), and other miracles (cf. Mark 8:26–27; Matt. 21:19; John 21:3–11). He claimed the right to violate traditional Jewish customs (cf. Matt. 5:21–22, 27–28; 15:1–9; Luke 6:1–11; John 5:9–17), to cleanse the temple (cf. Matt. 21:12–13; Mark 11:15–17; John 2:14–16), to forgive sins and offer salvation in His own name (Matt. 9:6, 8; Mark 2:10; Luke 5:24), to receive worship from others (Matt. 14:33; 15:25; 28:9), and even to judge the world (Mark 13:26–27; John 5:22–23). It was because His authority clashed with that of the Jewish religious leaders that they were so often angered by Him, and ultimately plotted His death.

His death, too, was under His own authority. As He declared in John 10:17–18, “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” As the time of His crucifixion approached, Jesus did not relinquish the authority that His Father had given to Him. Rather, He anticipated the full authority He would have as a result of the cross. Following His resurrection, He knew that He would ascend to heaven where His Father would seat “Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He [would] put all things in subjection under His feet, and [would give] Him as head over all things to the church” (Eph. 1:20–22).

The fact that Jesus Christ alone was given the authority to grant eternal life, through His death on the cross, also underscores the exclusivity of the gospel message. It is only through Him that eternal life can be received. As Jesus had said earlier that evening, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). Though many may claim to offer eternal life (Matt. 7:13–14; 24:5), only the Son has actually been given the authority to grant it. As John the Baptist explained, “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:35–36).

THE RELATIONSHIP HE OFFERS

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (17:3)

In contrast to the pluralistic claims of contemporary religious culture, eternal life comes only to those who know (the Greek word implies not mere intellectual knowledge, but a deep, intimate love relationship; cf. v. 25; 10:14–15, 27) … the only true God (Jer. 10:10; 1 Thess. 1:9; 1 John 5:20; cf. 1 Cor. 8:6) and that is possible only through Jesus Christ whom He has sent (cf. 5:23, 36, 37; 10:36; 1 John 4:10, 14). As Peter boldly declared to the Jewish leaders, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12; cf. 1 Tim. 2:5).

The essence of eternal life is participation in the blessed, everlasting life of Christ (cf. 1:4) through union with Him (Rom. 5:21; 6:4, 11, 23; 1 Cor. 15:22;2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:3–4; 2 Tim. 1:1, 10; Jude 21). It is the life of God in the soul of man (Gal. 2:20). Because believers have Christ’s life in them, they also possess His peace (John 14:27; 16:33; cf. Phil. 4:7), love (John 15:10; cf. Rom. 5:5), and joy (John 15:11). The life that God predetermined to give the redeemed is a life of shared communion with Him.

Eternal life refers to a quality of life, and not just a quantity of life. It is much more than living forever; it is enjoying intimate fellowship with God both now and forever. It cannot be reduced merely to endless existence, since the unredeemed in hell will also live forever (cf. Matt. 25:46 where the same word, aiōnios, describes both the eternal life of the righteous and the eternal punishment of the wicked).

Because eternal life is a quality of life, it is not only a future possession, but also a present reality. In John 5:24 Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,” John wrote, “so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). Thus, believers enjoy eternal life even now as they experience the rich blessings that come through their personal and intimate fellowship with Christ (John 15:1–11; 1 Cor. 1:9; Eph. 1:3; Phil. 3:8–11; 1 John 1:3; 5:20). Of course, they will most fully experience that life in the age to come (Eph. 2:6–7), when they see Christ face-to-face (1 Cor. 13:12) and worship Him in the perfect, unending glory and joy of heaven (Rom. 8:19–23, 29; 1 Cor. 15:49; Phil. 3:20–21; 1 John 3:2; Rev. 22:3–4).

THE REQUIREMENT HE MEETS

I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. (17:4)

In God’s perfect plan, and in keeping with His perfect justice, the Son had to come to earth in order to save those whom the Father had given Him (Luke 19:10). As was noted earlier, the Father’s gift was so precious to the Son that He was willing to do whatever was necessary to receive it (cf. Phil. 2:1–11).

The Lord Jesus Christ glorified the Father during His time on the earth by having perfectly accomplished the work which the Father gave Him to do (cf. 4:34; 5:30; 6:38; 15:10). That work culminated in the cross, which He viewed here in an anticipatory way. Jesus was certain that the eternal promise of God would be perfectly accomplished, and that nothing could prevent the Father’s purposes from being realized. But His statement did more than merely reveal His own confidence in the plans of the Father. It also served as an example to the disciples—reminding them to trust in God’s sovereign working and take comfort in knowing that He was in control.

Additionally, this verse implies the truth of Christ’s impeccability (sinlessness). “Which one of you convicts Me of sin?” Jesus boldly challenged His adversaries (John 8:46). Paul described Him in 2 Corinthians 5:21 as “Him who knew no sin.” The writer of Hebrews declared that though He was “tempted in all things as we are,” Jesus was “yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15), and went on to characterize Him as “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners” (Heb. 7:26). Peter referred to Him as “a lamb unblemished and spotless” (1 Peter 1:19) and declared that He “committed no sin” (1 Peter 2:22). John said simply, “In Him [Christ] there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). Most significant of all was the Father’s affirmation, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Matt. 3:17; 17:5). Only by living a sinless life could Jesus be an acceptable sacrifice for sin.

When John the Baptist hesitated to baptize Him, Jesus told him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3:15). It was imperative for Him to live a life of perfect obedience, fulfilling all of God’s righteous requirements. Only One who was perfectly holy, just as God is holy (Lev. 19:2), could be the final sacrifice for sin (cf. Heb. 10:1–18). Through His death and resurrection, Jesus conquered death and provided eternal life to all who believe in Him. But in addition, His perfect life of obedience, the fullest expression of which was His willingness to die on the cross (Luke 22:42), is imputed to believers at justification (cf. Rom. 5:18–21). Though Jesus was sinless, God treated Him as if He had committed the sins of everyone who would believe in Him, so that believers, though unrighteous, could be treated as if they had lived Christ’s perfect life. Again, 2 Corinthians 5:21 succinctly summarizes that glorious truth: “He [the Father] made Him [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Christ’s willingness to be a sin-bearing sacrifice on the cross was the ultimate demonstration of His complete commitment to obey the Father, as well as the ultimate expression of His love for sinners (cf. John 15:13).

THE REVERENCE HE DESERVES

Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. (17:5)

Having accomplished everything according to the predetermined plan of God, Jesus knew that He would be exalted to the place where He had been before His incarnation—at the glorious right hand of His Father (cf. Mark 16:19; Eph. 1:20). With that exaltation in sight, Jesus expressed His desire to return to the glory of heaven. Therefore He asked the Father to glorify Him, together with the Father, with the glory He had shared with the Father before the world was. The apostle John described the eternal fellowship Christ had enjoyed with the Father in the prologue to his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word [the Son], and the Word was with (lit. ‘face-to-face with’) God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1–2). After an earthly life of submission and humiliation during the incarnation, Jesus was ready to return to the full glory that awaited Him at the Father’s right hand. It was time for His coronation, which Paul described in Philippians 2:9–11:

Jesus looked beyond the humiliation and suffering in obedience, His death on the cross (Phil. 2:5–8), to the glory that awaited Him upon His return to heaven. The glory He would receive was rightfully His, both by His divine title (as the second member of the Trinity) and by His perfect submission (since He had submitted to His Father perfectly). He also knew that His death would bring eternal life to all who would believe in Him, thus causing joy in heaven (Luke 15:7, 10) and adding voices to the eternal choir of those who will praise and worship Him forever. The contemplation of those marvelous realities enabled Him to rejoice in the cross, even though He despised the shame of bearing sin (Heb. 12:2) and the horror of being forsaken by the Father (Matt. 27:46). As those on the other side of the cross, removed from it by nearly two thousand years, believers must never lose sight of the glory and honor Christ deserves because of His redemptive work. What He endured on the cross is now the anthem of Christian praise and worship.

And it will be for all of eternity, as believers forever praise the Lamb who was slain (Rev. 5:9). Though the Gospels record His earthly life and ministry—including the agony and suffering of His passion—it must always be remembered that He is no longer on the cross or in the tomb. He is even now the glorified Son of God, seated at His Father’s right hand in power and glory (Rev. 1:13–20; cf. Dan. 7:13–14). The joy of seeing and praising Him in triumph awaits all those who love Him, while all who reject Him will be rejected by Him (Matt. 7:23; 25:41).

The glorious truth is that the cross made eternal life possible for all who sincerely believe in Jesus Christ (Rom. 10:9–10), and even before the cross all who genuinely repented of sin and trusted the forgiveness and mercy of God as their only hope (cf. Isa. 55:6–7). Were it not for the cross, there would be no salvation from sin for anyone in any age, no gospel of grace, no hope for this life, and no eternal destiny but hell. Without the cross, the eternal plan of salvation that God promised from before the beginning of time would never have come to fruition. The contemplation of those truths should cause everyone who knows and loves the Lord Jesus Christ to say with the apostle Paul, “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14).