In the final hours before His betrayal and crucifixion, Jesus lifted His eyes to heaven and prayed. This intimate prayer, recorded in John 17, reveals the heart of the Saviour as He prepared to accomplish the work of redemption. Pastor Léveillé explores the opening verses of this high priestly prayer, showing how Jesus displayed the goodness of God through perfect submission, selfless purpose, and complete surrender. These truths challenge believers to live with the same focus today.
Submit In The Sovereign Hour
Jesus stood at the threshold of the most difficult hours of His earthly life. Judas had already left to betray Him. Roman soldiers would soon arrive in Gethsemane. By the next day, He would face false accusations, brutal beating, and death on a Roman cross. Yet Jesus did not pray for escape. Instead, He embraced the moment, declaring, “Father, the hour is come.”
Throughout His ministry, Jesus had repeatedly said that His hour had not yet come. In John chapter 2, He told His mother, “Mine hour is not yet come.” Multiple times in the Gospel of John, the text notes that no one could lay hands on Him because His hour had not yet arrived. Now, in John 17, the waiting ended. The hour of redemption had come, and Jesus submitted fully to the sovereign will of the Father.
In this prayer, Jesus asked the Father to glorify the Son so that the Son might glorify the Father. The glory of God refers to His majesty and splendour. To glorify God means to show forth His goodness and greatness so that others may see it clearly. At the cross, the holiness, love, justice, and mercy of God would be perfectly displayed. The Father would glorify the Son through His sacrifice, and the Son would glorify the Father by revealing His love for sinners.
This mutual glorification reminds us that our lives should also point others to the goodness of God. Whether through acts of compassion, sharing the gospel, or enduring hardship with faith, believers can glorify God by demonstrating His character to a watching world.
Seek Eternal Significance
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. (John 17:2-3)
Jesus possessed power over all flesh, meaning complete authority over every person. He could have used that power to establish an earthly kingdom immediately or to crush His enemies. Instead, He chose to use it to grant eternal life to those who would believe.
Eternal life is more than simply living forever. It is knowing God the Father and Jesus Christ whom He sent. It is sharing in the very life of Christ. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
Pastor Léveillé illustrated this selflessness with the story of Nicholas Winton, a British stockbroker who set aside his own promising career in 1938 to rescue 669 Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Winton used his influence, resources, and time not for personal gain but to save lives. In a far greater way, Jesus used His divine authority to offer eternal life to all who would come to Him.
Believers today are called to seek eternal significance with the resources and opportunities God has given them. Supporting missions, sharing the gospel, and helping those in need are practical ways to participate in God’s work of bringing people to eternal life.
Surrender For Divine Glory
I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. (John 17:4-5)
Though the cross still lay ahead, Jesus spoke in the past tense: “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” His heart was so fully surrendered that the future obedience was already settled. He would complete the work of redemption because He was utterly committed to the Father’s will.
Jesus looked forward to the restoration of the glory He shared with the Father before the world began. The Apostle John later described this glory in Revelation 1, where the risen Christ appeared in majestic splendour, causing John to fall at His feet as dead.
This complete surrender challenges every follower of Christ. When God reveals His purpose, believers should embrace it with determination, speaking of His calling with confidence that, by His grace, it will be fulfilled. The glory of God must remain the highest priority in every area of life.
Conclusion
Jesus lived entirely for the glory of the Father. He submitted to the sovereign hour, used His power for eternal significance, and surrendered completely so that the goodness of God would be displayed at the cross. As His followers, we are called to reflect that same heart. May our lives, resources, words, and priorities make known the greatness and goodness of God so that others may come to know Him through Jesus Christ.
Let us pray that we would live on mission, allowing Christ to live through us, so that God would be glorified in the eyes of the world. Amen.
