The Hour Is Come
Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 18th May service and hymns are below.
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Our principal verses are:
Jhn 17:1 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:
Jhn 17:2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Jhn 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Jhn 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Jhn 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
The Hour Is Come
In John chapter 17 we embark upon one of the most remarkable and profound passages in the whole of Scripture. Every believer reading this chapter must surely feel they are standing on holy ground for the majesty of the subjects involved and the blessedness of those things requested from God by our Lord Jesus Christ. As we enter into this chapter let us do so with excitement and humility, and let us note this fact; there never was a request made by the Son of God that was not abundantly granted by His loving Father.
From ministry to prayer
Having finished His sermon in the previous chapter the Lord Jesus moves from ministry to prayer. He had ministered by explaining to His disciples why He had come from His Father and that soon, having accomplished all righteousness, He would return to His Father. He assured them of His success and encouraged them to trust Him as they waited for the Holy Spirit of promise. He said, ‘be of good cheer; I have overcome the world’.
The real ‘Lord’s Prayer’
Now, in their hearing and for their further blessing, He prays to His Father. Our Lord prayed often to His Father and also taught His disciples to do so. He taught them to pray what we call, ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. But John 17 is the Lord’s own prayer. Of all the prayers offered up by our Saviour in His lifetime this is the only one recorded in its entirety. The Holy Spirit has preserved it for us and communicated it to the church for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness.
Our High Priest
The entire chapter has come to be known as ‘Christ’s high priestly prayer’. In it the Lord intercedes first for His Apostles and then for His whole Church. He introduces these petitions by looking forward to His own glorious entrance into the Father’s presence. He speaks to His Father about receiving and repossessing His own glory, ‘the glory which I had with thee before the world was’. This points us to the covenant of grace and peace which the Lord Jesus had come to fulfil and by which achievement His glorious return to heaven was assured.
Spoils won in battle
The prize for the Lord overcoming the world, satisfying the righteous demands of holiness and fulfilling the terms of the everlasting covenant of peace was His own glory and the glory of His body, the Church. The Saviour’s intercession is founded upon the entitlements gained by completing the work His Father had given Him to do, His work as the God-Man Mediator. Christ’s requests for His church are sought upon the basis of His finished work on the cross and His precious blood. These requests will not and cannot be denied.
Our Substitute before God
Our Saviour willingly and successfully went to the cross to atone for the sins of God’s elect. Our sin was laid upon Him. He bore our grief and carried our sorrows. He ‘bare our sins in his own body on the tree’ and died in our place. Despite His personal purity and having no sin of His own, He became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. This is called substitutionary atonement.
A people kept
Upon the basis of His atoning sacrifice the Saviour prays to His Father for the preservation of the Apostles in this world, the salvation of His redeemed people yet to be born and the effectual gathering of His church together in heaven. He prays that all ‘whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory’. Our Saviour’s prayer is exclusively for God’s elect; all those the Father committed into Christ’s care, all for whom His blood was shed and all the Holy Spirit bestows with faith, calls in power and saves by sovereign grace.
‘The hour is come’
John chapter 17 is a unique glimpse into the mystery of godliness, the coming into the world of Christ the God-Man and the eternal purpose of Almighty God in the work of grace and glory. Tomorrow, God willing, we shall have a brief overview of the whole chapter then concentrate on the opening verse with particular reference to the Lord’s glory and what He means by ‘the hour is come’.
Amen
Our hymns are below.
Hymn 1
Gadsby Selection 771
Knowledge of Christ. Phil. 3. 7-10; John 17. 3
R. Burnham L.M.
1
To know my Jesus crucified,
By far excels all things beside;
All earthly good I count but loss,
And triumph in my Saviour’s cross.
2
Knowledge of all terrestrial things
Ne’er to my soul true pleasure brings;
No peace, but in the Son of God;
No joy, but through his pardoning blood.
3
O could I know and love him more,
And all his wondrous grace explore,
Ne’er would I covet man’s esteem,
But part with all, and follow him.
4
Lord, may I bear my every loss;
Be patient under every cross;
Never may I my Saviour blame,
Though I’m despised for his dear name.
5
Thus make me willing, glorious Lamb,
To suffer all things for thy name;
At last be where my Jesus is,
And rise to everlasting bliss.
Hymn 2
Gadsby Selection 129
“Thine is the kingdom.” Matt. 6. 13; John 17. 2
J. Hart 104th
1
Ye souls that are weak, and helpless, and poor,
Who know not to speak, much less to do more,
Lo! here’s a foundation for comfort and peace –
In Christ is salvation; the kingdom is his.
2
With power he rules, and wonders performs;
Gives conduct to fools, and courage to worms
Beset by sore evils without and within,
By legions of devils and mountains of sin.
3
Then be not afraid; all power is given
To Jesus, our Head, in earth and in heaven;
Through him we shall conquer the mightiest foes;
Our Captain is stronger than all that oppose.
4
His power from above he’ll kindly impart,
So free is his love, so tender his heart;
Redeemed with his merit, we’re washed in his blood;
Renewed by his Spirit, we’ve power with God.
5
Thy grace we adore, Director divine;
The kingdom, and power, and glory are thine.
Preserve us from running on rocks or on shelves,
From foes strong and cunning, and most from ourselves.
6
Reign o’er us as King, accomplish thy will,
And powerfully bring us forth from all ill;
Till, falling before thee, we laud thy loved name,
Ascribing the glory to God and the Lamb.
In John chapter 17 we embark upon one of the most remarkable and profound passages in the whole of Scripture. Every believer reading this chapter must surely feel they are standing on holy ground for the majesty of the subjects involved and the blessedness of those things requested from God by our Lord Jesus Christ.