John Lesson 43

Introduction

The words that Jesus taught his disciples when he taught them how to pray as recorded in Matthew chapter six and the Sermon on the Mount. However, in our study today, we want to look at the words that Jesus expressed from his own heart. And what is really the Lord’s prayer. It’s in John chapter 17. We encourage you to get your New Testament and to open with us and read together and study as we let the Bible speak. The Gospel of John gives us the most extensive account of the conversation that Jesus had with his disciples just before his death. In fact, if you’ve been with us in studying the Gospel of John, you know from chapter 13. We have already studied four chapters that dealt with these words that Jesus uh gave to his apostles, exhorting them concerning his death and the fact that the Holy Spirit would come upon them.

1. Father, the Hour Is Come

Chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, and now we’ve come to chapter 17. And these words also were spoken just before he went out into the garden where he was betrayed by Judas and then taken and tried and later put to death. But actually, chapter 17 are the words that Jesus spake to his heavenly father. For in this chapter is recorded the Lord’s prayer, that is his own words and expressing his feelings and his thoughts to the Father. In verse 1, these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. Let the Son be exalted, even that the Son may exalt the Father. Jesus knew that his death was coming, and it would be the crowning point of his work while on earth.

And the fact that he would die for all men, the Father would be glorified, for he made the plan of salvation for all. That in Christ Jesus would be redemption. Ephesians chapter chapter 1, verses 3 through about verse 14. But also the Son would be glorified, as God would raise him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places. He’d be far above all principality, power, might, and dominion, and every name that is named. That’s in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 20 through 23. And so the actions that are described in verse 1 are actually reciprocal. The Son would glorify the Father, the Father would glorify the Son. But it’s also interesting or noteworthy that Jesus said the hour is come. Now we’ve been pointing out as we’ve gone through the gospel of John how this expression is common to the book.

For Jesus to say, man hour. Actually, we’ve talked about four different places where he said, Man hour is not yet come. At the time of his first miracle being worked, recorded back in John chapter 2 and verse 4, he told his mother, man hour is not yet come. And then in John chapter 7, verse 8, and also in verse 30, and in John chapter 8 and in verse 20, Jesus said, Man hour is not yet come. The hour is not come. What did he mean by this? Well, simply, Jesus knew that he had come to die for mankind. And when he spoke about his hour, he was speaking about his death. Now that tells us a great deal about Jesus Christ and his mission. For example, it tells us that when he died, it was not just the will of wicked men.

It was not just because evil men wanted to put him to death. But rather Christ Himself came and knew that he would die and fulfilling God’s plan of eternal life. And though wicked men wanted to put him to death, they could not put him to death until the time was fulfilled, until it was in God’s time that he should die. Until it was in the time that Christ had fulfilled his mission on earth. And now as this time has come, Jesus could say, Mine hour is come. Back in chapter twelve, whenever Jesus had come into Jerusalem, you remember what we call the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and had laid the palm trees branches out in front of him as he came in. In John chapter twelve he said in verse 23, the hour is come, that the sin of man should be glorified.

2. Eternal Life to As Many As Thou Hast Given Him

And then in verse 27, Father, he said, What shall I say? My soul is troubled, but shall I say save me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour. He knew that he must die and for this cause he’d come into the world. And in chapter thirteen and verse one, even so the verse Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father. So Christ knew that he must die. And now as he prays to the Father in chapter 17 he says the hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified. Now in verse two he said as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him and this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent this life eternal that men might have fellowship with the Father to have life eternal is to know the Father through Jesus Christ.

That’s the purpose he came to this world that men might be saved from their sins, that they may have a relationship with the Father that they may have life eternal. Now you notice in verse 2, where he said, even as you’ve given the Son power or authority over all flesh, God gave the Son all authority. That’s what Jesus said in Matthew twenty eight in verse 18. All authority has been given unto me, both in heaven and in earth. And then he commissioned his apostles to go teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So it is that the Father gave the Son all authority. But notice the expression Jesus prayed, his father says, even that the Son that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

Now this expression might seem to some that God has actually given certain ones to be saved. It is sometimes used by our friends who who teach God’s election of individuals, and Calvinism actually says that only individuals that God has elected will be saved, and they alone, and all others cannot be saved, no matter what they might wish or want. That we’re all totally depraved, and unless God has elected you to be saved, there’s no way you can be saved. We don’t read a verse like John 17 and 2 as though it is a proof text. But Jesus is really saying that God has granted eternal life through Christ. And he has given some to Christ. But look at the expression, really, even back in John chapter 6, that Jesus spoke about some being given to him by the Father.

You see, salvation is by grace. And if anyone is to be saved, it is by the gift of God. But this does not exclude man’s choice in the matter. Even in John chapter 6 and verse 37, Jesus had said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. But how do you come to the Father? The ones that the Father has given to Christ shall come to him, but how do you come? In verse 44 of John 6, Jesus said, No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. And I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God.

Every man therefore that the Father, uh every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. Now if you want to be given to the Christ, and in turn be granted eternal life, then the process, according to John chapter six, verses forty-four and forty-five is to come into the Father by being taught of God. It’s not that God has elected you and you can’t help yourself, but the process is that you be taught. You choose. And as he said here, you can hear and learn of the Father. And as you hear and learn of the Father, so you can be saved. God has not elected certain individuals to be saved, and they alone. What God has elected or chosen is the plan of salvation through Christ Jesus.

We sometimes say it this way. God has chosen the plan, not the man. He won’t exclude anyone who would listen to the word, who will hear, and who will learn, and he will obey. In fact, in the Great Commission, Jesus said in Mark chapter 16, verses 15 and 16, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. And so if you want to be given to the Lord and in turn be granted life eternal, then come to the Word, listen to the gospel when it’s preached, believe it, and obey it. And you will, in that sense, then be given unto the Son, and He will grant you life everlasting.

3. This Is Life Eternal

But what is this life everlasting? In verse three, he describes that those who have it have a relationship with the Father. They know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Life eternal sometimes is described by those who would teach that weren’t saved, always saved. They teach it as though it is a possession that we have right now, and therefore, since we possess it, we cannot lose it. But Jesus nowhere describes life eternal as a present possession. Those who have it do have a different quality of life. As they come to relationship with the Father, as he describes here in John 17 and 3, so it is that they have all spiritual blessings, even while on this earth. Ephesians 1 and verse 3 would say that all spiritual blessings are in Christ Jesus.

And they have life, and that more abundantly. John chapter 10 and in and in verse 10. But we do not have a possession in such a way that cannot be lost. If we’re going to have life eternal, we must continue in the faith. Continue in this relationship with the Father. You see, the truth is that while we are in this earth, we uh while we’re on this earth, we are blessed. But life eternal is in the world to come. In Mark chapter 10, verses 29 and 30, Jesus described it that way, how that that in this world, though man may leave houses and brethren, and uh in this world he may have have much persecution, but he says he shall receive in hundredfold in this time, houses and brethren and sisters, mothers and children and lands with persecutions.

But in the world to come, eternal life. Eternal life is not now. Eternal life as a possession is that which we shall be blessed with in the world to come. And so that’s why Paul wrote in Titus chapter 1 and verse 2, that he was in hope of eternal life. We live today in hope of eternal life. And Romans 8 24 says that hope that is seen is not hope. We have hope, it serves as the ankle the soul. And that hope is of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, ready to be revealed in the last time. That’s the language of 1 Peter chapter 1, 4 and 5. And so understanding that eternal life is something that is promised of the future and in the world to come, then let us take heed lest we fall from grace.

Lest we so live that we lose that promise of life everlasting. That’s the wording in Hebrews chapter 3, where in verses 12 through 14 the apostle said, Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from believing God. But exhort one another daily while it is called a day, lest any of you be heartened to the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. And that’s Hebrews 3, 12 through 14. He then describes how that some of the Israelites, even though they had a promise of Canaan, they lost it because of unbelief. And so can we fall away through unbelief. In chapter 4 of Hebrews and in verse 1, he adds, let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

4. I Have Finished the Work

Do you have life eternal? Do you have that relationship with the Father? Do you have the promise of the world to come, eternal life as a possession? Then continue in the faith. Don’t fall back through indifference and unconcern. Don’t become an unbeliever by failing to keep his word faithfully. You continue studying with us in just a moment. We’re going to verse 4. We’re going to talk about how that the mission of Christ indeed has been fulfilled. And John 17 and verse 4, we continue studying the prayer that Jesus expressed to his heavenly Father just shortly before he was betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, tried and then crucified. And in verse 4, he said, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

I believe that’s an important, interesting statement that Jesus made. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Did Christ really fulfill his mission? There’s a popular doctrine taught today that in reality denies the statement that Jesus is here making. We sometimes refer to it as the doctrine of premillennialism. And it’s a very popular doctrine, surely you’ve heard of it, for there are those who believe that when Jesus Christ came the first time, that he came to establish his kingdom. But the world was not ready for that kingdom, and therefore he was crucified and returned to heaven. And then in the interim period or the parenthesis period, which we’re now living in, they call it the church age. But there are people today who are looking for Christ to return the second time.

And you’ve heard no doubt the look, uh the search for the rapture, the time of the rapture to come and the seven year tribulation, and then Christ will reign on the earth for a thousand years, or at least that’s the way the theory goes. There aren’t some who are confused and certainly disagreed as to whether the rapture comes before the tribulation, in the middle of the tribulation, or at the end of the tribulation. But nevertheless, they’re all agreed that there’s going to be a reign of Christ on earth for a thousand years. Now, as I said, that’s a very popular doctrine. But I want you to consider in light of John 17 and verse 4, that it’s based on a faulty foundation. It’s based on the premise that Jesus Christ did not fully accomplish in his first coming all that he intended to accomplish.

5. Premillennialism Denies Many Important Truths

And yet Jesus said in John chapter 17 and 4, I have finished the work that thou gave us me to do. And the fact that he was to die was known to Christ even when he came to the earth. He knew that his hour was come. He knew the time of his death was approaching. And this was the very purpose for which he came into this earth in John chapter 12 and in verse 26. The theory of premillennialism actually denies many important truths that are taught in the Bible. For example, number one, the theory of premillennialism makes Old Testament prophecies invalid. In Daniel chapter 2, Daniel had interpreted the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, that in the time of the fourth kingdom from Nebuchadnezzar, and that would make it the Roman Empire.

That in the days of these kings God would set up a kingdom that would never be destroyed. Actually, according to Daniel and by inspiration, the kingdom of God was to be established in the time of the Roman Empire, at the very time that Jesus was on earth. Now, if Jesus did not establish his kingdom at that point in time, you see what that does to prophecy? It says that Daniel made a mistake, that the prophecies were wrong. Secondly, premillennialism limits God’s power. For it says that the reason the kingdom was not established the first time is because the world wasn’t ready. It says that Satan had too much control of the earth and that wicked men were not ready to accept Jesus Christ as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

And so in that sense, if the Satan was able to thwart the purpose and plan of God, it limits the power of God. But if if Satan could thwart the purpose of God, the first coming, what’s to say that he wouldn’t thwart it the second coming? Jesus Christ thought the time was fulfilled. And that’s what he said in Mark chapter 1, verses 14 and 15. The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. And in Mark chapter 9 and verse 1, he said, there are some of you standing here who will not taste of death till you see the kingdom of God come with power. The kingdom of God is going to come, and it’s going to come in the lifetime of some of you.

Now, did it come? Or did Jesus make a mistake? Or was God’s power really limited? But thirdly, the theory of premillennialism dethrones Jesus Christ. When God raised him from the dead, Peter preached in Acts chapter 2, verses 29 through 36, that he raised him to sit on David’s throne. And then in verse 36, he says that God hath made him both Lord and Christ. In Revelation 7 here and verse 14, he is called the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Is he now king? Is he now ruling? In Zechariah chapter 6, verses 12 and 13, the prophet had said that he would sit on his throne as king and also serve as priest. Now, all who believe in Christ certainly recognize the teaching in the book of Hebrews that he is the high priest.

He is serving as our priest now. Is he not also serving as a king now? The prophet said that he would. That at the same time he saved as a priest, he would serve as a king. Indeed, the scriptures declare that Jesus Christ was raised to sit at the right hand of God, Ephesians 1 verses 23-23, and that he is far above all principality, power, might, dominion, every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. What more could Christ be over than what he is now over, according to Ephesians 1, verses 20 through 23? Or indeed, to deny that Jesus is now king of his kingdom is to dethrone Jesus Christ. But a fourth problem in an era of premillennialism is that it seeks an earthly throne.

Now that’s what the Jews sought for. They crucified Jesus Christ because he did not fit their idea or their concept of what the king would be like. He did not come in some royal apparel and he did not gather about him an earthly army to fight the Romans, and he did not try to set up his throne in Jerusalem on earth. The Jews were expecting that. Today, premillennialists are looking for the same type of thing and the same kind of kingdom that the Jews were looking for. But Jesus Christ said, My kingdom is not of this world. He did not come to establish an earthly material kingdom. Jesus Christ came to establish a spiritual kingdom. Before Pilate in John chapter 18, verses 36 through 38, he said to Pilate, My kingdom is not of this world.

If it were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews. In Luke chapter 17, verses 20 and 21, he said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation, neither shall they say, Lo here or lo there, for lo, the kingdom of God is within you. It is a spiritual kingdom. That’s why he told Nicodemus in John chapter 3, verses 3 to 5, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He talked about a spiritual birth. You want to be in the kingdom of God? In John 3 5, he said, Except a man be born of water in the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. But one who is born of water in the spirit is a citizen of God’s kingdom, a spiritual kingdom.

The theory of premillennialism today actually makes the church a substitute. It says that the church today was not always in God’s plan. The kingdom was in God’s plan. But since the world was not ready for the kingdom, that Christ returned to heaven, and in the parenthesis period, God established the church. Now that makes the church an afterthought of God. But it’s something that he devised after Christ came to the world and found that the world wasn’t ready for him. But in Ephesians chapter 3, verses 10 and 11, the apostle there reasoned that to the intent that now the principalities, powers and might, that Jesus Christ is now in the kingdom. He said to the intent that now to the principalities of powers in heavenly places might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The church is according to the eternal purpose of God. It’s not something to divise, sort of at a last minute, as an afterthought. But also the theory of premillennialism makes the New Testament wider sound confused. They wrote as though Christians of the first century were citizens of the church, and were citizens of the kingdom. In fact, addressing the church of Colossae in Colossians chapter 1 and in verse 13, the apostle talking to these Christians, members of the church, he said how that God had delivered us from the power of darkness and had translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. He spoke of them as being in his kingdom. Here were citizens purchased by the blood of Christ in the kingdom of the Lord. Was it established or was it not established?

Those who look for his kingdom yet to be established on earth, where Christ will reign for a thousand years on earth, would have to say it wasn’t yet established. But the New Testament writer, the Apostle Paul, thought it was established. That’s the language, Colossians 1 13. And also in Revelation chapter 1 and in verse 9, the Apostle John spoke of himself as being a companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. He thought himself that he was in the kingdom. And in Revelation 1, verses 5 and 6, and also chapter 5, verses 9 and 10, he spoke about those who had been purchased by the blood of Christ, through his precious blood, being made a king, and the American Standard says a kingdom and a priesthood.

Christians are in the kingdom. They’re citizens of his kingdom, subject unto the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. The kingdom you see is a spiritual kingdom, not an earthly one. But you know, lastly, as we make the points here concerning the theory of premillennialism, the greatest flaw of all is that those who teach this idea or this theory have the wrong purpose for the death of Jesus Christ. Did Jesus Christ fulfill the work God gave him to do as he prayed in John 17 and 4? Did he die on the cross according to God’s plan, even before the foundation of the world? Or did he die because the world wasn’t ready for the kingdom? Now you cannot preach it both ways. But those who teach premillennialism usually try to.

On the one hand, they will tell us that salvation is by the death of Jesus Christ, that he died for the remission of our sins. But when they start talking about the kingdom of Christ, they will tell us, well, the reason he died was because the world wasn’t ready for the kingdom. But in the Sermon of the Apostle Peter in Acts chapter 2, verses 23 and 4, Peter spoke about how that Christ, him being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death because it should not, it was not possible that he should be holding of it. And then he went on, quoted some scripture, even from the Psalms, that it predicted the death of Baal and the resurrection of Christ.

The death of Christ was not something that just happened by the will of wicked men, that was devised as an alternate plan after Christ got to the earth and found it too wicked. But the death of Jesus Christ was by the foreknowledge of God, by the determinate counsel of God. His death was essential. Even the prophets have predicted long before his coming. Isaiah 53 speaks about a suffering Savior. In Psalm 22, David foresaw how that his hands and his feet were pierced. Indeed, Jesus Christ was crucified according to fulfillment of scriptures. The kingdom of God has been established. Jesus said that that kingdom was a spiritual kingdom. And in Mark chapter 9, verse 1, he said there are some of you who are standing here who will not taste the dead till you see the kingdom come with power.

Conclusion

How’s the kingdom to come? With power. Now we find out when power came, we can know when the kingdom was established. We turn to Acts chapter 1 and verse 8 after the ascent after the resurrection of Jesus Christ and just before his ascension into heaven. He told his apostles, ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Whenever the Holy Ghost came upon them, power would come. In Acts chapter 2, we read how that on the day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost came on the apostles. With that power came. With the power of the kingdom was established. The kingdom is in existence. Are you a citizen of it? Have you obeyed the Christ? Jesus fulfilled the work God gave him to do.

Now it’s up to you and to me to choose to obey him and to become a citizen of his kingdom. May the grace and peace of our Lord be with you until we study again.