John 17:1-5

John 17:1-5 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “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. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

In the days before his death, Jesus has been building a strong foundation of faith in his disciples' hearts. He tells them several times not to be afraid. Jesus says He is going to prepare a place for them and in his Father’s house are many rooms. When they ask where He is going, He says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. He shows them the way to live victoriously through faith as the way to the Father: If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He tells them He will send the Holy Spirit to give them power and authority over sin, to bring all that He has taught them to fruition in their lives, and to fill them with resurrection life: When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. Jesus came to glorify the Father by bringing many children to his household. Therefore, He also tells them He understands they expected him to rule and reign as head of an earthly kingdom giving them positions of power in the present age, but He came as a sacrificial lamb to offer himself for the sins of all mankind. And He asks his disciples to forsake all else and to follow him to the cross, to become his love servants, soldier of the cross who would face tribulations for the sake of the gospel: They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. He knows they will leave him for a little while at the time of his death because they lack strength in themselves to resist the evil one, so He warns them ahead of time. They cannot believe such events will happen, and even though He is frustrated with them at times, He comforts them, saying: But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. (Re-read John chapters 14-16 for these scriptures.)

Now in the last moments before He goes away, Jesus turns his face to the Father, the One He serves, the One He loves above all else, the One He obeys and gives all his allegiance to in all He says and does, saying, Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. All who believe in Jesus up to this very day believe in the Father God as Creator of all things, and all who believe in Jesus as the Christ have eternal life because Christ obeyed the Father. Just as Jesus turned to the Father and sought his will, so do we. We look to the Father, for where else would we go for the words of life? HE IS OUR LIFE: He gave us life THROUGH THE SON. The salvation message starts and ends with the Father who sent his only begotten Son that just as Jesus said: he (Jesus) might give eternal life to all those you (God) have given him. 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. (John 3:16) Jesus received authority from Father God over all men SO that WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM might have eternal life. No man can have eternal life with the Father outside of Christ's redemptive work on the cross. Faith in Jesus and his fulfillment of God's new covenant with his creation makes us one with the Father and unites us with Christ in his death and resurrection. As his blood-bought children, we are adopted into God's family; subsequently, we cry Abba Father, and as children of God we accept his holy calling upon our lives. We gladly yield to his will and follow him.

All who believe in Jesus as their Savior find assurance in God as their Father. Since He is our Father, we have confidence He hears and answers our prayers and petitions in the name of his Son. Jesus is glorified in the presence of God because the Father honors his salvation work and accepts his sacrifice for all sin forever. Many scriptures confirm this relationship. We have read Christ's own confirming words throughout John, but we find evidence of our security in Christ throughout the Bible. We often point people who are struggling to Romans, especially chapter eight. People often quote, There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but to make those words our own, we must also believe: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:1 & 35-39) As Mom likes to say, "We know what a conqueror is, but through Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit alive in us, we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS!" That puts us in the category of radical faith, sold-out believing, no whining, no but's added, no questions or doubts attached: I have decided to follow Jesus, and I am not turning back. I am going to say to God, "May my life glorify you!" I am going to pray this prayer in faith by the power of the Spirit at work in me: Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21) Bless you beloved of God!