Most Christians are familiar with John 3:16—

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

It was out of love for “the world,” more specifically people in the world, that God sent His Son to save them. It was out of the same the love that the Son was obedient to His Father’s will; a will that found Jesus Christ suffering and dying on the Cross.

That singular outpouring of love and compassion happened over 2,000 years ago. What is Jesus doing now? In “the real Lord’s Prayer,” John 17, Jesus tells us exactly what He is doing at this very moment.

I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. (John 17:9)

Jesus’ work on behalf of sinners is completed. He died for them! There is nothing more to be done for sinful man. Now, Jesus is concerned with His own; He is praying for them and interceding for them in the presence of His Father.

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. (Hebrews 7:25)

1. A special request

As Jesus prayed for His disciples, He made two very important requests:

All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. (vs. 10, 11)

(1) Jesus prayed for His disciples, and for all believers, to be protected. In the strict context of this prayer, Jesus acknowledged that He was about depart this world but that His disciples were staying behind. Out of concern for them, He asked His Father to protect them in His absence. In the larger context, this is a concern Jesus has for all His people. Today, we are protected by God because He knows who we are; we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. When God looks down at the billions of people living on the earth, He can see all those who belong to Him, and because we are sealed by the Spirit and Jesus is praying for us, we are living under divine protection.

(2) Jesus prayed that we would “be one.” Jesus prayed that the Church would be in unity. He didn’t pray for unanimity and He didn’t pray for some kind of ecumenical movement. He wasn’t praying that all Christians would join the same church. His prayer—His great concern—was that all believers should be “as we are,” that is, Christians should live in the same kind of unity as that of the Father, Son, and Spirit.

What makes this request so powerful, apart from the fact that Jesus made it, is that the Father answered it. He answers every single prayer His Son prays. What does true unity look like? It happens when all believers, sealed by the Holy Spirit and made part of the family of God, assemble and have fellowship around the Cross. It has nothing to do with church doctrine or denominations. When we, as believers, have fellowship together, we need to understand that it is Christ that draws us together; we meet together because of Him; we have Him in common. This is not organizational unity but rather a unity based on relationships.

In the midst of this beautiful prayer, Jesus says this:

While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. (vs. 12)

It must have been with a tragic memory that Jesus mentions Judas Iscariot. The Greek words for “lost” and “destruction” are cognates and refer to a “final perishing.” The same noun is used in Mark 14:4—

Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume?”

Here it is translated “waste,” with the idea that something was not used properly and was ruined or lost. Judas was such a person. He was lost and his actions doomed him. The KJV translates the second half of verse 12 slightly differently than the NIV:

…and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

The “son of perdition” could point to two things: the person’s character, as in the example of Psalm 57:4, or a person’s destiny, as in Isaiah 34:5. In the case of Judas, given what we know about him, Jesus is probably referring to both. He certainly was a man of dubious character who, in the end, followed the dictates of that character.

We now come our Lord’s request concerning His disciples:

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. (vs. 15)

This is a great verse for so many reasons, not the least of which is that it shows Jesus knew how life was going to be for His friends, and for us, as well. His was no “pie-in-the-sky” theology! Jesus knew full-well the state of the world and what it was going to be like for them. For his part, John understood:

We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. (1 John 5:18, 19)

Verses 14 and 16 give the reason for this request:

I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. (vs. 14)

They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. (vs. 16)

None of Jesus’ disciples—then or now—are “part of this world,” Jesus is not part of this world, and therefore, since the world hated Him for that reason, so the world hates all those who follow Him for the same reason. Protection is absolutely necessary, given the hostility of the world to believers.

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. (vs. 17—19)

The idea of “sanctification” is something a lot of believers don’t understand. The simple fact brought out by Jesus’ prayer is that believers are not of this world, we are set apart from this world. This being “set apart” is what “sanctify” means. And Jesus tells us, as He prays to His Father, how we are sanctified: through the Word of God. The Word of God reveals the mind and the will of God, and as we read and study it, we discover what God wants of us and from us, and especially how He wants us to live. And those things are the things that set us apart from the rest of the world.

These two verses also reveal that Jesus has very distinct purpose for us: to be witnesses for Him in the world. He set Himself apart to be identified with us, and so it is only proper that we set ourselves apart to be identified with Him.

Up until now in His prayer, Jesus has been praying directly for His disciples, and indirectly for us—that is, we simply apply what Jesus has said regarding His disciples to our lives today. But with verse 20, His direction changes:

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message… (vs. 20)

It’s hard to believe, but some 2,000 years ago, Jesus was thinking about us! Jesus prayed for us then, and He continues to pray for us today, in Heaven, as our great Intercessor. His request, verse 21, is simple and already been answered: unity. Even while there are many denominations and shades of orthodox Christianity all over the globe, every born again person is a member of the Body of Christ.

I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. (vs. 21, 22a)

These are two remarkable statements! “I in them and you in me” is what true Christian unity is all about. Only God’s Holy Spirit can make us all one in Christ! And in verse 23, Jesus makes a statement that should encourage every believer:

May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Did you catch that? God loves us as much as He loves His Son! Statements like that one boggle our minds. What do with that knowledge? We ought to return that love in kind. We ought to treat God as the loving Heavenly Father He is, not like the inconvenient house guest He feels like sometimes.

God created the material universe, including the almost infinite variety of living things, both living on our planet and all those supernatural beings, but only man was given a free will, and even though man squandered and is squandering that free will on sin, God wants our fellowship. Of all the creatures God has created, He made us so He could have fellowship with us. No wonder He loves us so much!

As Jesus concludes His great prayer, He mentions something very precious to Him: His Father’s love:

I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. (vs. 26)

Elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus had said things like this:

I and the Father are one. (John 10:30)

If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. (John 14:7)

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. (John 14:9)

People, regardless of their faith or lack of faith, have this desire to know what God looks like. Jesus made it plain that the Father looks like the Son! There should be no doubt about what God thinks about things or what His opinion is concerning certain things because we have the historical record of Jesus’ thoughts and attitudes.

But beyond that, we read about the importance of the Father’s love. Jesus wanted us to experience the Father’s love as He did. We talk a lot about God’s grace and His mercy and His power to save, but in His prayer, Jesus made sure to ask His Father that His love would rest in all believers. If we correctly assume that God answered that prayer, then all believers need to be asking themselves a very pointed question: Am I manifesting God’s love? If not, why not?

Jesus Christ is our great High Priest, a truth bought out in the letter to the Hebrews. As such, He is praying for us right now, and God the Father is answering all of Jesus’ prayers right now. If we fail in our efforts to live for God, the fault is ours, not God’s. We have the advantage to live lives that continually reflect God’s glory.

And so he is able, now and always, to save those who come to God through him, because he lives forever to plead with God for them. (Hebrews 7:25, GNT)

There is no way we possibly fail with that kind of prayer support behind us.

A popular wall hanging. But is this prayer really “the Lord’s Prayer?”

A lot of people think the prayer that begins, “Our Father, who art in heaven…” is the Lord’s Prayer, but it really isn’t. Jesus used that prayer during His Sermon on the Mount to show His disciples how to pray, but the “Our Father” is not a prayer Jesus could ever pray Himself; Jesus could never pray, “Forgive us trespasses,” or our sins, because He had no sins to be forgiven. So Jesus could never pray this prayer.

John 17 contains the real Lord’s Prayer. In fact, John 17 contains the longest prayer recorded for us in the entire Bible! It’s a whole chapter long and it’s a profound prayer, from start to finish. We can learn a lot about the nature of prayer by studying how Jesus prayed.

1. A life of prayer

Like none other, Jesus’ whole life was a life of prayer. How many times do we read of our Lord going up the mountain to pray? Sometimes He prayed through the entire night. He prayed when He was being tempted by Satan. He prayed for others. He prayed for Himself.

He is praying right now. He is our great Intercessor at the Father’s right hand and He prays for us. Because of who He his, God the Father hears and answers every one of His Son’s prayers exactly the way He prays them. Of course, God always hears and answers our prayers, too, but not always the way we pray them. Sometimes we pray amiss; we pray for our will to be done, not God’s. But Jesus, the Son of God, always prayed perfect prayers.

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” (John 11:41, 42)

If we want to learn about prayer, let’s look at the Master Prayer.

2. Jesus prayed for Himself, John 17:1—5

It’s not necessarily wrong to pray for yourself. Sometimes it can be selfish and self-serving, but it doesn’t have to be. The fact is, before we can pray for others, we need to make sure we are right with God; we need to make sure our attitudes and thoughts and motivations are right. Before we can pray for the burdens of others, we need to pray for our burdens. So, praying for yourself doesn’t have to be selfish; it can be essential.

Jesus began His great prayer by praying for Himself:

Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. (verses 1, 2)

Notice what the first thing was Jesus prayed for: to be glorified so that He may in turn glorify God the Father. To “glorify” God is an interesting and complex idea. Essentially when we glorify God, we are making Him impressive to others. It has to do with God’s reputation, honor, status, splendor, riches, and prestige. When we give glory to God, we are not giving Him something He doesn’t already possess, we are acknowledging something already present in Him. When God glorifies someone He allows that person to participate in His divine radiance. When we glorify God, something we do and say points to some aspect of God’s nature and character that will leave an impression on those watching us. This is, in essence, what Jesus was asking for. Sinners could not see the Father, but they could see the Son, or more accurately, those who crucified Christ and those onlookers could see the Son. His prayer for glorification, among other things, was that all those people would see the Father’s glory in Him.

In John’s Gospel, we see this often in the relationship between the Son and the Father:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Jesus glorified His Father because He was the only Son and traditionally the only son receives everything from his father. All the Father possesses the Son possesses. This is what Jesus was asking for.

Jesus began with saying “His hour had come.” What did He mean by that? Back in John 2:3,4 He stated that His hour had not yet come. But now, with His Cross in view, the time had come for Jesus to deal with the sins of the world: it was now time to show the world how impressive His Father was in a way changing water into wine could never do. Now was the exact time when the world would see the love of God on full display on the Cross as Jesus took on the sins of the world.

We learn here that Jesus has all authority over everything on earth. Jesus had (and has) the power to force all creation bow down and worship Him, but that’s not what brings glory to God. What brings glory to the Son and to God is when a sinner responds to the call of salvation.

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (verse 3)

This is not only a fact, it is an offer given to every sinner. The offer of salvation goes out to every sinner; there isn’t one shut out. Who are the elect? Simply those who by faith accept God’s call.

Look at Christ’s definition of eternal life: to know God and Jesus. This refers to the kind of knowledge one possesses, not the amount of knowledge. A sinner must know the right things about the right people: God and Jesus Christ. Faith and belief are not enough for salvation. Faith and belief must be in God and Christ. Faith comes from one place:

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

Faith comes from the Word of God; from knowledge about God and Christ gleaned from the Word. This is why reading and studying the Bible are so important, and why attending a good Bible study is vital: the more you know about God and Christ as revealed in the pages of Scripture, the more sure you will be of your salvation.

I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. (verse 4)

This verse is not braggadocio. Jesus is summing up in a matter-of-fact way His mission on earth. At this point He had not yet been crucified, but since He is praying in the past tense, obviously our Lord’s mind was made up and He would not be detoured. It would be another two chapters before He would say, “It is finished,” but as far as Jesus was concerned, He was going to be obedient.

This verse is also the basis of His request in verse 5. Jesus had been completely faithful in His mission to bring salvation to sinful man. How faithful had Jesus been? Consider:

“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.” (John 5:19, 20a)

I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say. (John 12:50)

In verse 5, Jesus re-states His petition for Himself:

And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

When Jesus prayed “glorify me…with the glory…” He is referring to His status, specifically the status He had in the Father’s presence before His Incarnation. Jesus is not asking for special status or something more than He had before. This is the request from the One who gave up a lot, did His job well, and now He asked to be restored to His former status.

3. Jesus Reminds His Father, John 17:6—8

In verse 4, Jesus mentioned that He had completed the work God gave Him to do. But what exactly was the work? In these verses, the Son reminds the Father of what He did. We may wonder why Jesus felt the need to do this. Surely God knew what Jesus was talking about! While Jesus was praying to His Father, He was not praying in private. His disciples were nearby, probably listening as He prayed. So these verses were partly for their benefit.

I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. (verse 6)

There are a number of verses in this great prayer that are very suggestive:

• …to all those you have given him. (vs. 2)
• …to those whom you gave me out of the world… (vs. 6)
• …you gave them to me… (vs. 6)
• …for those you have given me, for they are yours. (vs. 9)

This is Jesus’ way of talking to His Father about the doctrine of “election,” and He wanted His disciples to hear. A lot of Christians are very uncomfortable discussing “election,” because they misunderstand it. They think because some are “elected” to salvation, some are not. This is not what the doctrine of election is about! The call of salvation goes out to all who are lost.

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13; Joel 2:32)

“Everyone” has the opportunity to get saved, but of course not all will take advantage of that opportunity. Those who do become “the elect,” those who do not remain lost.

Far from a cold doctrine, “election” is wonderfully warm. It ought to give those of us who believer great comfort and confidence. Don’t forget the context of this prayer:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

This is what Jesus had just told His disciples: you will have trouble. In that context, Jesus mentions numerous times in a prayer they overheard that they had been given to Him. It’s a comfort to know that if you are a Christian, you have been given to God. That’s the beauty of “election.” If you belong to Christ, He is praying for you because you belong to Him.

Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. (verses 7, 8)

Here the disciples are mentioned, but it won’t be until verse 9 that He begins to pray for them. In these two verses, Jesus says some good things about His disciples. Though far from perfect, they did see the light, according to Jesus. Jesus, the “living Word,” gave God’s Word to them and they accepted God’s Word through Jesus. Out of that Word, they came to believe. Again, we see the importance of the Word of God as it relates to belief and faith in God. One cannot come to God apart from the Word. One commentator has noted:

The disciples have been able through listening to the “words” of Jesus to keep God’s Word.

The word “accepted” or “keep” in the KJV, means a lot more than appears on the surface. It means to “guard” and “to communicate to the world” the revelation which God has entrusted to the Church. (Strachan)

The disciples, Jesus said, “knew” or “acknowledged” that the teachings from Jesus really came from the Father. We see here that there is a definite relationship between “knowing” God’s Word and “accepting” God’s Word. Or, we might say, between “knowing” and “doing.” The true believer knows God’s Word and puts into practice its teaching, as the disciples are commended for here.