Or, Jesus Prays for Divine Unity and Joy on Earth
Scripture: John 17:11b-16
Date: March 30, 2014
Speaker: Sean Higgins
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Man is born to trouble as sparks fly upward. For disciples of Christ, the world constantly pokes the fire. Jesus knows the condition of the world. Jesus endured the hatred of the world. And yet Jesus does not pray for His disciples to be taken out of the world. He wants something else for them first.
John 17 may be the most treasured chapter in the Fourth Gospel. Hearing Jesus pray for His disciples, for us, is gold. But some of what He asks for is just contrary to our way of thinking, including His first petition on behalf of His men.
He started by praying for His own return to glory (verses 1 and 5). Then He began to pray for His disciples. He came to give eternal life as He manifested God’s name to the people whom the Father gave Him out of the world (verse 6). These given-ones were the Father’s, the Father gave them to the Son, the Son came to save them by laying down His life to give them life. That’s why He prays for them (verses 6-11a) and the two petitions (11b-16, 17-19) depend on His relationship with these given-ones.
What is surprising is that Jesus doesn’t take them back to the Father with Him. Jesus is “no longer in the world” (verse 11), He is “coming to” the Father (verse 13), but He prays for the disciples to be protected in the world rather than to be removed from the world. Jesus prays that they will not be defeated in battle, not that they would be rescued out of it.
We are in a battle. God established hostility between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent in Genesis 3. No man lives outside the conflict zone even if he lives without consciousness of the sides. God rules over the war for His own ends and, again, He chooses soldiers to fight on earth before bringing them to heaven. Our mission, which God chose us to accept, is to remain in enemy territory in order to live in and manifest His name. He keeps (protects) us in the world as He keeps (leaves) us in the world.
In John 17:11b-16 we see four pieces of Jesus’ first petition of protection for His disciples.
After ten and a half verses we come to the first thing that Jesus asks His Father to do for His disciples. Jesus prays that His Father would protect the disciples for the purpose of unity.
Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. (John 17:11, ESV)
The Holy part in Holy Father is particularly important for Jesus’ second petition that His disciples be sanctified (verses 17-19). In other words, the next thing Jesus asks for is that His disciples be made holy. The Son prays for His brothers to have the same character as their Father.
Before their sanctification, though, Jesus asks for their protection: keep them in your name . To keep is to protect, to guard. He desires that the disciples not be lost or separated or defeated. When He asks, keep them in your name , what does He mean? Why not ask the Father to keep them “in your power” or “in your wisdom” or even “in your love”? It was God’s name that Jesus manifested (verse 6) and, as I’ve mentioned, name condenses all of who God is into one. So keeping the disciples in God’s name includes His might and wisdom and love. But that’s not all.
Jesus asks, keep them in your name, which you have given me . This name-giving could be that the Father gave the Son content; “Go and tell them about Me.” It could also be that the Father gave the Son His character; “Go and represent Us.” I believe that this second option fits better for two reasons. First, eternal life is knowing “the only true God and Jesus Christ” (verse 3). Jesus didn’t come only to tell, He also came to show. Second, consider the purpose of our protection: that they may be one, even as we are one .
We can only make sense of this verse in the context of the Triune God. God’s name is “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (cf. Matthew 28:19). God’s name means all of who He is including divine unity between Persons.
This standard of unity is unapproachable except by God’s own name. Unless we’re kept “in His name” we’ll be divided. It is no wonder that our world is isolated, competing, bickering, and back-stabbing. The name of their god is Legion. They may serve many gods, but those gods hate each other. They may have only one god, but that means constant competition for the top spot. The name of our God, the Triune God, means unity among persons.
Our community happens “in the name,” in the word Jesus gave (verse 14), in the truth. Our convictions about God’s character enable communion.
The setting of this unity is unbelievable except by God’s own design. We will, no doubt, be unified in heaven. But Jesus prays for divine unity among His people now, on earth, living in the presence of haters. He has more to say about the effect of our unity in the world in verses 21-23. For now, the protection has the purpose of unity.
If there is not unity among disciples of Christ, we need to pray for God’s protection. The lack of unity makes us vulnerable to many dangers and is itself a great danger.
The reason that Jesus petitions His Father for the disciples is that Jesus was about to return to His Father from the disciples. Jesus prays because His personal earthly protection of the disciples was about to end.
While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. (John 17:12–13a, ESV)
Up to this point, Jesus Himself had been protecting His disciples. He had been with them . Among other things, He had been the primary target; He took the heat of hatred. With Him gone, the disciples would be exposed to attack, as He already explained to them (15:18-25).
Once He called them, He kept them in your name, which you have given to me , the same phrase repeated from verse 11. The name , the name given, the name manifested, is a big deal. His disciples lived in the sphere of God’s name, so they lived in the sphere of life. Jesus guarded them , a synonymous word for “keep.”
Someone might object, “What about Judas?” Especially to those reading John’s Gospel a few decades later, they might wonder how it could be said that Jesus didn’t lose the 12th man. The exception was the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled .
John already introduced the betrayer back in John 6:70, referring to him as a devil. He told about Judas leaving the upper room and his satanic betrayal in chapter 13 (especially verses 18 and 21-27). Jesus consciously acknowledges that Judas was never truly one of His in the same way as the eleven. Judas fulfilled the unique role of son of destruction or “son of perdition” (NASB), “son of ruin.” God foretold this betrayal in His Word (probably with Ahitophel as the type in Psalm 41:9) and the label puts Judas in a family of all those who reject the Son.
Having accomplished His work, Jesus said now I am coming to you . The petition fit Jesus’ pattern of protection and took on imminent urgency since He was departing from them.
Aware that the disciples are listening to Him pray, Jesus states what He wants for them as they hear Him. Jesus prays out loud for the purpose of the disciples’ joy.
[A]nd these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (John 17:13–14, ESV)
The I speak these things is present tense. In the next verse He says I have given them your word (verse 14), past tense. But now He’s describing the words He’s using in the world, perhaps all the words on this final night, and certainly including the words He’s praying. Why does He do it?
Jesus prays that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves . Jesus said a similar thing to the disciples in chapter 15 after the analogy of the vine and the branches. “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). He also told the disciples about when their “hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” That if they pray in His name, “you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:22-24).
In chapter 15 He called them to abide in Him, to be vivified through union with Him. Now He’s praying for them to be protected and unified with each other. The foundation of His joy is life in divine unity. He’s praying for our unity, so also our experience of His joy.
Jesus’ concern in such a prayer is not that the statistics on faithfulness be preserved, but that his disciples might share his joy. (D.A. Carson, 564)
He knows the context. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them . The word changed the disciples nature. It changed their relationship to the world. They are “in God’s name” now, and they share likeness with Jesus in a fundamental way. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world . The world hated Jesus because of how He reminded them of their sinful misery and isolation. Now the world hates His disciples. Yet He’s filling them with His joy among joyless people.
Jesus clarifies and specifies His petition. Jesus prays that the disciples would stay in the battle but not be defeated by the enemy.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (John 17:15–16, ESV)
He does not want them to come with Him to heaven, not yet, and not mainly because He needs to go finish putting the rooms together. Right here, on earth, is where unity counts. Here is where a certain sort of joyification happens. So, I do not ask that you take them out of the world .
But (I do ask) that you keep them from the evil one . The enemy is named: the prince of this world. The world hates and satan attacks. Though the phrase in verse 15 could be understood as “keep them from the (power of) evil,” most of the evidence sees this construction as applying to the evil one, the devil, the ancient serpent who seeks prey to devour like a lion. He is the “ruler of the world” mentioned by Jesus in John 12:31, 14:30, and 16:11. Even if it is not satan himself who comes after us, he certainly went after the eleven.
The Jesus repeats the entire second half of verse 14 in verse 16. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world . This reality prepares us for the next petition, yet the wrong stress on being otherworldly would make our sanctification moot. Verse 16 finishes the importance of being kept, being unified, being joyified.
God does not take his people out of the world, because he does not wish them to be effeminate and slothful; but he delivers them from evil, that they may not be overwhelmed; for he wishes them to fight, but does not suffer them to be mortally wounded. (John Calvin, 179)
We are in a battle. In this paragraph alone we see that we will be:
God does not allow us to give in to the world nor does He tell us to get out of the world. He allows for no bargain and provides no evacuation. This is battle.
This is all part of God’s plan. This is His strategy. This is Jesus’ prayer. He does not ask that the Father immediately snatch us out but that He would protect us for (and in) unity here. He does not ask that the world’s hate be tempered but that we will be joy-filled by His Word while we’re here.
The Father keeps us in the world as He keeps us in the world. He has us here because He wants us here. He knows its hard. He Himself endured the hatred and the brutality in flesh. He has called us to battle. He prays for our protection and that we would know divine unity and joy.
Christians who withdraw from the world in a wrong way fail to grasp why God keeps (leaves) them in the world: to manifest God’s name. Christians who withdraw from one another fail to grasp how God keeps (protects) them in the world: by living in His name in the community of disciples. Withdrawing from one another not only makes us more vulnerable in the battle, withdrawing itself is becoming like the world. Are there any withdrawal symptoms in your life?
Unity happens by grace or it doesn’t happen. Jesus prays that the Father will bring it about.
So, Christian, stay. Stay joyfully, and stay together. Be beaten because you cannot lose.