Jesus Prays for His Disciples on the Mount of OlivesBible World
17:4John 17:4
I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Spoken with eyes lifted to heaven in His last prayer with His disciples just before betrayal and the cross, Christ declares to the Father that He has glorified Him on earth by finishing the work given Him to do. He glorified the Father by manifesting His name and revealing His character and infinite love to a world without true knowledge of God, directing attention away from Himself to God as the source of His power. That finished work was a life of self-denying toil and righteous character that fulfilled the covenant for fallen humanity, gathering those who would continue His work, and the sacrifice of His death that opened the way to God, broke the tomb and ascended as conqueror to send the Holy Spirit. It stands as the pattern for every believer, each given a distinct work to glorify God by manifesting Christ in spirit, speech and action until the same words can truthfully be said at life's end. Believers answer that prayer by being sanctified through the truth and becoming one with Christ as He is one with the Father, which brings the sinner's salvation and makes plain to the world that God sent His Son.
Prayer Setting and Occasion
John 17:4 belongs to Christ's last prayer with His disciples, spoken with eyes lifted to heaven after His final instruction to them. It was uttered just before betrayal, trial and crucifixion, as He went forth to the last battle with Satan with the suffering of Gethsemane close at hand. In that prayer He declared that He had glorified the Father on earth by finishing the work the Father gave Him to do, and the prayer was for His disciples in every age. It belongs to His intercessory prayer to the Father just before trial and crucifixion.
It was prayed in the upper chamber on the night of the Passover supper after Judas withdrew, when the oppressive shadow lifted and peace returned. It was spoken to faithful followers alone and not before the multitude who could not understand such sacred truths. It was the burden of His soul poured forth in words of comfort, counsel and prayer in John 15, 16 and 17. That instruction was meant to prepare them for the work appointed them and to help them face future trials and temptations, assuring them He would not leave them ignorant of His purposes and reminding them of His love.
It is a high-priestly prayer joining humanity to God and earth to heaven, offered as a consecrated high priest in His farewell prayer shortly before He left His disciples. Though adored by angels, He prayed as a human suppliant, seeking grace from the Father and then imparting assurance and hope, identifying His interests with fallen humanity and offering the prayer on humanity's behalf. It was prayed for His church and for His disciples and for all who would believe through their word, presenting possibilities for Christian growth as believers strive to answer it. It does not confine spiritual gifts to the apostles while withholding them from believers.
The prayer was not fully understood and appreciated by the disciples until after the resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit. Yet its words were imprinted on them, repeated again and again to stay their hearts, and stayed with them through disappointment and trial. Through their testimony those words have spread over all lands to live through all ages to comfort the desponding and give peace and hope to believers.
The prayer illustrates His ministration as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary after His sacrifice for humanity was completed. Uttered in the hearing of His disciples, it is a sample of the intercession He continues to make within the veil in heaven for all who receive Him and believe on His name, even unto the ends of the earth, and it is a lesson for guiding action. It shows His desire that all should be saved through faith in Him and is full of instruction of the highest type. In that continuing intercession on behalf of ministers and the church members entrusted to them when clothed with filthy garments and needing pardon for sin, He shows the Father His bruised hands bearing the wounds of cruel spikes and pleads that He has graven His church, the names of those who believe on Him, upon the palms of His hands, so that His atoning sacrifice may come up before God for them as they humbly fast and pray with sincere repentance.
Christ's Completed Earthly Work
“I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” is Christ’s declaration to the Father that He had glorified Him on earth by completing the work given Him, spoken in His final prayer with the disciples before betrayal, rejection, condemnation, trial and crucifixion, when the suffering of Gethsemane was close at hand and prayed for His disciples in every age. The great object of glorifying the Father’s name was kept ever before Him, and His joy was that all His humiliation and suffering would glorify that name. His life’s aim was to receive from the Father and give through teaching and unselfish service what would save people from sin and turn them toward righteousness, and His life and mission fulfilled the Father’s purpose. That completed work is joined with the mission to give eternal life through knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, after which He asks to be restored to the glory He had with the Father before the world was.
He glorified the Father by manifesting the Father’s name to the men given Him out of the world and revealing His character, likeness and infinite love to a world lacking knowledge of God. This He did by giving the disciples the words the Father gave Him, which they received and kept, so that having power over all flesh He gives eternal life to as many as the Father gave Him, which eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. He directed attention away from Himself to God as the source of His power so that people glorified God, made the Father known to His disciples so that God’s love would be in them and Christ would be in them, and at the close of His instruction, lifting His eyes to heaven before going forth to the last battle with Satan, declared His earthly work finished by manifesting the Father’s name and gathering out those who were to continue His work among men. He revealed the Father’s character and likeness without dimming its glory, and neither His words nor His actions perpetuated sin, though He declared His work finished while the great conflict still lay before Him.
He could say this as His earthly mission neared its close because He had subordinated everything to the Father’s will, emptied Himself, and served rather than acting for self, demanding honor, or seeking His own status. His whole life on earth was given to teach how to work as devoted, consecrated missionaries for God, to reveal God’s character and manifest His name to the men given Him out of the world, a work finished before crucifixion, breaking the fetters of the tomb, ascension, and intercession as Mediator. He completed the work by living on earth with a righteous character and righteous life that people could follow as an example, thereby fulfilling the conditions of the heavenly covenant and agreement concerning fallen humanity. Those who believe in Him are secured as the reward and promised reward of His work; He is glorified in them, His church continues and is to carry toward completion the work He began, and when finally redeemed the redeemed will be His glory through eternity, for He had gathered those who would continue His work among people.
His finished work was a life of self-denial, toil, privation and suffering devoted to doing others good and saving them from ruin, enduring and persevering to the end rather than seeking comfort, ease or a better position. Brief as His public ministry was, it was complete and accomplished: He taught truth, gave spiritual food by presenting the bread of life, fulfilled what He promised, and performed all He promised. That ministry interpreted the gospel by doing good — sympathizing with the weary, heavy-laden and oppressed, feeding the hungry and healing the sick, and by loving words and kindly deeds making souls glad in the truth. It was complete in impressive truths taught, in spiritual food daily imparted as the bread of life to thousands of hungry souls, in presenting the words of life in such simplicity that a child could understand, in manner so impressive that hearers caught intonation, emphasis and gestures, and in a path at every step marked by deeds of mercy so that wherever He went health sprang up and happiness followed, the blind and deaf rejoiced, and His words opened to the ignorant a fountain of life in abundant, continuous blessings.
That work involved the sacrifice by which He would bear the world’s sins and give humanity another opportunity for eternal life, undertaken by One who left the royal courts in pity to save perishing souls. His life of humiliation and conflict was completed in His death on the cross as a criminal for the sins of the whole creation, suffering separation from the Father under the weight of the world’s sins, when the way to God was opened and the temple veil was torn so people could approach God without sacrificial offerings, priestly service or earthly priests because Christ became the eternal priest, then ascended to heaven and took His place at God’s right hand. Finishing the work did not bring immediate departure, for after breaking the fetters of the tomb He lingered on earth after resurrection so the disciples would become familiar with Him in His risen and glorified body, proving He is a living Saviour no longer to be associated with the tomb but thought of as glorified before the heavenly universe, ready for leave-taking. He then ascended to His Father’s throne, returning as a divine conqueror with trophies of victory to the heavenly courts to send the Holy Spirit.
At the close of that work He asked the Father to honor Him with the honor and glory He had with the Father before the world was, laying the disciples’ burden on the Father to take charge and keep them while He passed through betrayal, the bitter cup trembling in His hand in excruciating agony in Gethsemane, and crucifixion. That request presents the glory as His recompense and His own recompense for His conquests, fulfilling the Father’s promise that He would see His seed, prolong His days, and that the pleasure of the Lord would prosper in His hand. That recompense is glory in His ransomed church as the chief source of His glory, through whom the manifold wisdom of God is made known to principalities and powers in heavenly places. His finished work led to ascension as cause for rejoicing because it enabled Him to give followers guidance and protection in a special sense through the Holy Spirit.
Father Son and Salvation
The prayer shows that Christ and the Father are two distinct persons, and the oneness He asks for His followers is patterned after the oneness between Himself and the Father. That unity does not erase individuality and does not destroy the personality of either, for God and Christ remain distinct personages even while they are one. The same unity is to exist between Christ and His followers, though they are scattered over the world, so that their oneness makes plain that God sent His Son to save sinners and stands as the great unmistakable proof of it. Such oneness requires giving up one's own way for His way and working to be one with Christ in order to fulfill God's purpose in all its height and depth.
The finished work is joined to having power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the Father gave Him. Eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, received through His word and teaching, for He came from heaven to give His life so that people might receive eternal life through His word. He carries out that giving by manifesting the Father's name to those given Him out of the world and by giving them the words the Father gave Him, which they receive and keep, and by making the Father's name known to the disciples. His declaration that He glorified the Father on earth by completing the work given Him stands in the prayer spoken when the hour had come for the Son to be glorified that the Son might glorify the Father, after which He asks to be restored to the glory He had with the Father before the world was.
That declaration fulfills the Father's promise that He would see His seed, prolong His days, and that the pleasure of the Lord would prosper in His hand. This completed work is the science of heaven and the mystery of godliness, springing from the united purpose of God and Christ to save the fallen world. These words are to have due weight upon the heart at all times and in all places, and it is the privilege of believers to understand their full meaning, for those who grasp it are brought up onto a higher plane of action. In asking again for the glory He had before the world was, He claims His own recompense for His conquests, whose chief source is glory in His ransomed church through whom the manifold wisdom of God is made known to principalities and powers in heavenly places, and the finished work led to His ascension as cause for rejoicing because it enabled Him to give His followers guidance and protection in a special sense through the Holy Spirit.
The honor of God and of Christ is bound up with the perfection of His people's character as God's image is reproduced in humanity. Christ glorified God by living in vital connection with God as the source of strength, and His overcoming is the pattern believers must follow by centering their thoughts on God and overcoming the evil tendencies of the natural heart in order to win the crown of life. That life is free from self-deception, self-sufficiency, self-indulgence, self-love, and shows that without correction by the Holy Spirit natural tendencies hold the seeds of moral death, while vital connection with God gives power to resist temptation to sin. Receiving the true knowledge of God set forth with the making of the Father known requires true knowledge of self as a sinner in utter helplessness, renunciation of all self-trust and self-sufficiency at the beginning of the Christian life and at every advance step heavenward, continual reaching of the heart after God in earnest confession of sin and humbling of the soul, and clinging with the grasp of faith to Christ as the mighty Deliverer in order to lay hold on divine power outside of oneself for help against peril, self-indulgence, self-love, and temptation to sin.
The chapter shows the breadth of His mercy and love, which He is ready to give to all who walk before Him in obedience and humility. It points to the advantages He purchased for the human race by His sacrifice, so that in temptation and trial people can claim power in His name. It belongs to the Saviour's prayer just before He left His disciples for the struggle in Gethsemane and is a reminder of the high value He placed on human beings, whom He purchased at the sacrifice of His life, with a teaching that is to be lived out.
Example for Believers Work
“I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” is the pattern for every believer and the example for the close of life-work, for each person has been given a distinct work and talents to use and improve wisely together with God. Glorifying God on earth means finishing the work He gives to do and manifesting His name and manifesting Christ to the world in spirit, speech and action, with unity and Christlike character making His work and the power of the Gospel visible. To be able truthfully to say these words when life-work ends requires becoming acquainted with God as Governor of heaven and Lawgiver and with Jesus Christ as His representative sent into the world, perfecting character as Christ perfected His character for humanity to show that God’s law can be kept in a sinful world and overcome by sharing in the divine nature. It requires being cleansed of self-exaltation, practicing obedience to Christ, being wholly sanctified and overcoming evil tendencies, for only thus can one represent the faith professed and show what it means to follow Jesus, and seeing Christ and being translated requires a decisive change of character. Glorifying God in this way means filling mind and lips with His praise, living so that life practice shines as a light before the world, gaining an intelligent knowledge of what true religion means, and searching the Scriptures that testify of Christ.
This is God’s plain will for teachers and for those who minister in word and doctrine and are acquainted with present truth, and God means just what He says in it. Their work is to uplift the only true God and proclaim from Scripture the truth God has given and the warning message for this time, rather than exalting human theories and wisdom or inventing theories without Scriptural foundation. It is their privilege to believe every word of John 13-17 exactly as written and to live it out before fellow ministers, understanding in it by conversion the philosophy of genuine missionary work. As Christ finished His assigned work by doing all the Father commanded Him, those who today minister for Him in word and doctrine are expected to do the work He did, preaching His Word under the Holy Spirit’s working, living a perfect human character as His example, leaving the churches which know the truth to go into the harvest field to establish new churches and present the word of truth to those in ignorance of God’s warning message.
His finished work was a life of self-denial, toil, privation and suffering devoted to doing others good and saving them from ruin, enduring to the end rather than seeking comfort or ease. He denied Himself, persevered to the end, and laid down His life to impart life to others, blessing the world with the example of a pure and perfect life of self-denial and self-sacrifice for the joy of seeing souls eternally saved in the kingdom of God, teaching truth as He taught and working to save the lost. His example calls His followers to self-denial and perseverance as laborers together with God to continue the work He began and left in the hands of His believing disciples at His ascension, accepting toil, hardship, humiliation, sorrow and tribulation rather than seeking ease or a better position. They are to live according to His example and teachings with lives marked by truth, goodness and righteousness as lights in the world, revealing to the world only what God has seen necessary to reveal rather than speculating on things He has withheld, even when faithfulness separates a person from brethren and friends and when those who profess righteousness yet know not God put a wrong meaning on the testimony. At the end of such lives they can sincerely say that they have finished the work given to them.
Glorifying God in this way means doing one’s best with a heart emptied of selfishness and filled with the love of Christ and the Holy Spirit so that Christ is revealed in spirit and words and acts. It is lived out by esteeming others better than self, appreciating one another, helping and strengthening one another with words of hope and cheer that make hearts glad, ceasing backbiting, criticizing, accusing and weakening one another’s hands, speaking words that bring happiness and not harsh sharp words that make others sad and discouraged, and teaching children to live together peaceably as God’s little children, for where love for one another is missing God is not glorified in the life. It calls for more real, genuine piety, for more diligent searching of the Word kept as a storehouse of truth, for keeping the mind able to speak a word in season to the oppressed, the sorrowful, the afflicted and those ready to perish, and for souls to be like a garden whose waters fail not, refreshing all around. It calls for seeking the Lord more earnestly and giving self to the Lord as a whole sacrifice with confession of sins in brokenness, weeping and prayer, and with apportioning means and putting it into circulation by giving back to the Lord His own portion to advance His cause and supply deficiencies. Time and strength available for that appointed work are reduced when health is damaged through harmful habits, leaving less ability to serve God and bless others, so health and strength are to be preserved for service.
As Christ glorified the Father on earth by representing Him and revealing a love without parallel and demonstrating the Father’s infinite love in all His works, with untiring work complete as He prepared to leave the earth, His followers are to reveal that love in their lives so that He may be glorified in them. They are to become like Him so that His great love for the world is seen in them and their oneness through Him binds them heart to heart, living the life that is the pattern for all His children. That finished work makes unity the badge of discipleship and calls God’s people to be united in accomplishing one great work with combined consecrated effort, beginning in the home where the works of Christ are to be done and an unchristlike course must not grieve the Spirit of God. God measures church members by what they are in the home, and obedience there extends its influence to the church, making believers on earth a symbol of the family in heaven whose lamp burns brightly and whose light shines before men so that others glorify the heavenly Father, and the life of believers is thus to glorify God and honor the Redeemer.
Answering Prayer Through Unity
John 17 is to be read, studied, committed to memory, and made the rule of life and the creed of the church, with every verse giving essential instruction and eternal principles for prayer and life. Its words belong to the prayer Jesus spoke with eyes lifted to heaven just before His trial and crucifixion, and they call for living so that character honors God and life shows the fruit of obedience to truth. Its lessons from John 13 through 17 are of deep import and hold the richest promises, demanding more real, genuine piety in light of great light received and more diligent searching of the Word. Its truth calls for faith laying hold of the promises and for honest effort rising to meet it in order to enter the city, to be remembered because time is short amid increasing crime and satanic power, and to be valued by the truly converted more than any worldly favor.
Preserving the unity taught in that prayer brings people into the Father's love, leads to the sinner's salvation, and eternally glorifies God, which is Christ glorifying the Father on earth and finishing the work given Him to do. That oneness is to be carried into practical life by believers scattered the world over, making plain to the world and standing as the great unmistakable proof that God sent His Son to save sinners. Entering that close relation to Jesus requires taking every wrong standing between a person and God or between a person and brethren out of the way, with sins confessed and forsaken. Answering the prayer requires reading and practicing God's Word, taking self sternly in hand, correcting thoughts, words and acts, giving up one's own way for His way, letting God build character while counting human judgment small, and setting a right example that does no wrong so others take knowledge of having been with Jesus.
That unity is believers becoming one with Christ as He is one with the Father, without destroying the personality of either, for God and Christ are two distinct personages who are one. It is the wonderful representation of believers united to Christ and to one another by the true work of grace in the heart, becoming partakers of the divine nature and escaping the corruption that is in the world through lust. In it they are changed from sin to holiness and loved by the Father as He loves His Son, a privilege of enduring union that opens the source of rich and eternal happiness outliving all earthly sinful enjoyment. Believers answer the prayer and fulfill God's purpose in all its height and depth by being sanctified through the truth, living it with meekness, sympathy, kindness, tenderness and love, striving for the possibilities of Christian growth it presents, and binding themselves to Him in saving a lost world.
Carrying out this instruction begins in the home, where the works of Christ are to be done and an unchristlike course must not grieve the Spirit of God. God measures church members by what they are in the home, and obedience there extends its influence to the church, making believers on earth a symbol of the family in heaven whose lamp burns brightly and whose light shines before men so that others glorify the heavenly Father. That finished work makes unity the badge of discipleship and calls God's people with every thread of selfishness removed to reach God's standard by united, combined consecrated effort in one great work. God's work is one, so medical missionary work and the ministry are joined as one work and separation between them shows the Holy Spirit is not working on hearts, while disunion, variance over little misunderstandings, disagreement in counsel, and speculative theories present the opposite of what God desires and show the prayer has not been given special weight.
Answering the prayer means entire consecration and giving self wholly to God's service as a whole sacrifice, which makes certain work for eternity and is the only hope of obtaining in this world a fitness for heaven. Those who answer it are brought up onto a higher platform by being purified, refined and sanctified, feel the worth of souls for whom Christ died, and realize the peril of doing nothing to bring souls to Christ. It requires seeking the Lord more earnestly with genuine piety, hearing and obeying Him speaking from His Word, keeping the mind as a storehouse of truth, confessing sins in brokenness, weeping and prayer, and living out Christ's command to love one another as He loved with humility and no faultfinding. Such a life apportions means and puts it into circulation by giving back to the Lord His own portion to advance His cause, becomes like a garden whose waters fail not refreshing all around, speaks a word in season to the oppressed, sorrowful, afflicted and perishing, and witnesses that God sent His Son and loves the world.
Spoken with eyes lifted to heaven in His last prayer with His disciples just before betrayal and the cross, Christ declares to the Father that He has glorified Him on earth by finishing the work given Him to do. He glorified the Father by manifesting His name and revealing His character and infinite love to a world without true knowledge of God, directing attention away from Himself to God as the source of His power. That finished work was a life of self-denying toil and righteous character that fulfilled the covenant for fallen humanity, gathering those who would continue His work, and the sacrifice of His death that opened the way to God, broke the tomb and ascended as conqueror to send the Holy Spirit. It stands as the pattern for every believer, each given a distinct work to glorify God by manifesting Christ in spirit, speech and action until the same words can truthfully be said at life's end. Believers answer that prayer by being sanctified through the truth and becoming one with Christ as He is one with the Father, which brings the sinner's salvation and makes plain to the world that God sent His Son.
Prayer Setting and Occasion
John 17:4 belongs to Christ's last prayer with His disciples, spoken with eyes lifted to heaven after His final instruction to them. It was uttered just before betrayal, trial and crucifixion, as He went forth to the last battle with Satan with the suffering of Gethsemane close at hand. In that prayer He declared that He had glorified the Father on earth by finishing the work the Father gave Him to do, and the prayer was for His disciples in every age. It belongs to His intercessory prayer to the Father just before trial and crucifixion.
It was prayed in the upper chamber on the night of the Passover supper after Judas withdrew, when the oppressive shadow lifted and peace returned. It was spoken to faithful followers alone and not before the multitude who could not understand such sacred truths. It was the burden of His soul poured forth in words of comfort, counsel and prayer in John 15, 16 and 17. That instruction was meant to prepare them for the work appointed them and to help them face future trials and temptations, assuring them He would not leave them ignorant of His purposes and reminding them of His love.
It is a high-priestly prayer joining humanity to God and earth to heaven, offered as a consecrated high priest in His farewell prayer shortly before He left His disciples. Though adored by angels, He prayed as a human suppliant, seeking grace from the Father and then imparting assurance and hope, identifying His interests with fallen humanity and offering the prayer on humanity's behalf. It was prayed for His church and for His disciples and for all who would believe through their word, presenting possibilities for Christian growth as believers strive to answer it. It does not confine spiritual gifts to the apostles while withholding them from believers.
The prayer was not fully understood and appreciated by the disciples until after the resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit. Yet its words were imprinted on them, repeated again and again to stay their hearts, and stayed with them through disappointment and trial. Through their testimony those words have spread over all lands to live through all ages to comfort the desponding and give peace and hope to believers.
The prayer illustrates His ministration as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary after His sacrifice for humanity was completed. Uttered in the hearing of His disciples, it is a sample of the intercession He continues to make within the veil in heaven for all who receive Him and believe on His name, even unto the ends of the earth, and it is a lesson for guiding action. It shows His desire that all should be saved through faith in Him and is full of instruction of the highest type. In that continuing intercession on behalf of ministers and the church members entrusted to them when clothed with filthy garments and needing pardon for sin, He shows the Father His bruised hands bearing the wounds of cruel spikes and pleads that He has graven His church, the names of those who believe on Him, upon the palms of His hands, so that His atoning sacrifice may come up before God for them as they humbly fast and pray with sincere repentance.
Christ's Completed Earthly Work
“I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” is Christ’s declaration to the Father that He had glorified Him on earth by completing the work given Him, spoken in His final prayer with the disciples before betrayal, rejection, condemnation, trial and crucifixion, when the suffering of Gethsemane was close at hand and prayed for His disciples in every age. The great object of glorifying the Father’s name was kept ever before Him, and His joy was that all His humiliation and suffering would glorify that name. His life’s aim was to receive from the Father and give through teaching and unselfish service what would save people from sin and turn them toward righteousness, and His life and mission fulfilled the Father’s purpose. That completed work is joined with the mission to give eternal life through knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, after which He asks to be restored to the glory He had with the Father before the world was.
He glorified the Father by manifesting the Father’s name to the men given Him out of the world and revealing His character, likeness and infinite love to a world lacking knowledge of God. This He did by giving the disciples the words the Father gave Him, which they received and kept, so that having power over all flesh He gives eternal life to as many as the Father gave Him, which eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. He directed attention away from Himself to God as the source of His power so that people glorified God, made the Father known to His disciples so that God’s love would be in them and Christ would be in them, and at the close of His instruction, lifting His eyes to heaven before going forth to the last battle with Satan, declared His earthly work finished by manifesting the Father’s name and gathering out those who were to continue His work among men. He revealed the Father’s character and likeness without dimming its glory, and neither His words nor His actions perpetuated sin, though He declared His work finished while the great conflict still lay before Him.
He could say this as His earthly mission neared its close because He had subordinated everything to the Father’s will, emptied Himself, and served rather than acting for self, demanding honor, or seeking His own status. His whole life on earth was given to teach how to work as devoted, consecrated missionaries for God, to reveal God’s character and manifest His name to the men given Him out of the world, a work finished before crucifixion, breaking the fetters of the tomb, ascension, and intercession as Mediator. He completed the work by living on earth with a righteous character and righteous life that people could follow as an example, thereby fulfilling the conditions of the heavenly covenant and agreement concerning fallen humanity. Those who believe in Him are secured as the reward and promised reward of His work; He is glorified in them, His church continues and is to carry toward completion the work He began, and when finally redeemed the redeemed will be His glory through eternity, for He had gathered those who would continue His work among people.
His finished work was a life of self-denial, toil, privation and suffering devoted to doing others good and saving them from ruin, enduring and persevering to the end rather than seeking comfort, ease or a better position. Brief as His public ministry was, it was complete and accomplished: He taught truth, gave spiritual food by presenting the bread of life, fulfilled what He promised, and performed all He promised. That ministry interpreted the gospel by doing good — sympathizing with the weary, heavy-laden and oppressed, feeding the hungry and healing the sick, and by loving words and kindly deeds making souls glad in the truth. It was complete in impressive truths taught, in spiritual food daily imparted as the bread of life to thousands of hungry souls, in presenting the words of life in such simplicity that a child could understand, in manner so impressive that hearers caught intonation, emphasis and gestures, and in a path at every step marked by deeds of mercy so that wherever He went health sprang up and happiness followed, the blind and deaf rejoiced, and His words opened to the ignorant a fountain of life in abundant, continuous blessings.
That work involved the sacrifice by which He would bear the world’s sins and give humanity another opportunity for eternal life, undertaken by One who left the royal courts in pity to save perishing souls. His life of humiliation and conflict was completed in His death on the cross as a criminal for the sins of the whole creation, suffering separation from the Father under the weight of the world’s sins, when the way to God was opened and the temple veil was torn so people could approach God without sacrificial offerings, priestly service or earthly priests because Christ became the eternal priest, then ascended to heaven and took His place at God’s right hand. Finishing the work did not bring immediate departure, for after breaking the fetters of the tomb He lingered on earth after resurrection so the disciples would become familiar with Him in His risen and glorified body, proving He is a living Saviour no longer to be associated with the tomb but thought of as glorified before the heavenly universe, ready for leave-taking. He then ascended to His Father’s throne, returning as a divine conqueror with trophies of victory to the heavenly courts to send the Holy Spirit.
At the close of that work He asked the Father to honor Him with the honor and glory He had with the Father before the world was, laying the disciples’ burden on the Father to take charge and keep them while He passed through betrayal, the bitter cup trembling in His hand in excruciating agony in Gethsemane, and crucifixion. That request presents the glory as His recompense and His own recompense for His conquests, fulfilling the Father’s promise that He would see His seed, prolong His days, and that the pleasure of the Lord would prosper in His hand. That recompense is glory in His ransomed church as the chief source of His glory, through whom the manifold wisdom of God is made known to principalities and powers in heavenly places. His finished work led to ascension as cause for rejoicing because it enabled Him to give followers guidance and protection in a special sense through the Holy Spirit.
Father Son and Salvation
The prayer shows that Christ and the Father are two distinct persons, and the oneness He asks for His followers is patterned after the oneness between Himself and the Father. That unity does not erase individuality and does not destroy the personality of either, for God and Christ remain distinct personages even while they are one. The same unity is to exist between Christ and His followers, though they are scattered over the world, so that their oneness makes plain that God sent His Son to save sinners and stands as the great unmistakable proof of it. Such oneness requires giving up one's own way for His way and working to be one with Christ in order to fulfill God's purpose in all its height and depth.
The finished work is joined to having power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the Father gave Him. Eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, received through His word and teaching, for He came from heaven to give His life so that people might receive eternal life through His word. He carries out that giving by manifesting the Father's name to those given Him out of the world and by giving them the words the Father gave Him, which they receive and keep, and by making the Father's name known to the disciples. His declaration that He glorified the Father on earth by completing the work given Him stands in the prayer spoken when the hour had come for the Son to be glorified that the Son might glorify the Father, after which He asks to be restored to the glory He had with the Father before the world was.
That declaration fulfills the Father's promise that He would see His seed, prolong His days, and that the pleasure of the Lord would prosper in His hand. This completed work is the science of heaven and the mystery of godliness, springing from the united purpose of God and Christ to save the fallen world. These words are to have due weight upon the heart at all times and in all places, and it is the privilege of believers to understand their full meaning, for those who grasp it are brought up onto a higher plane of action. In asking again for the glory He had before the world was, He claims His own recompense for His conquests, whose chief source is glory in His ransomed church through whom the manifold wisdom of God is made known to principalities and powers in heavenly places, and the finished work led to His ascension as cause for rejoicing because it enabled Him to give His followers guidance and protection in a special sense through the Holy Spirit.
The honor of God and of Christ is bound up with the perfection of His people's character as God's image is reproduced in humanity. Christ glorified God by living in vital connection with God as the source of strength, and His overcoming is the pattern believers must follow by centering their thoughts on God and overcoming the evil tendencies of the natural heart in order to win the crown of life. That life is free from self-deception, self-sufficiency, self-indulgence, self-love, and shows that without correction by the Holy Spirit natural tendencies hold the seeds of moral death, while vital connection with God gives power to resist temptation to sin. Receiving the true knowledge of God set forth with the making of the Father known requires true knowledge of self as a sinner in utter helplessness, renunciation of all self-trust and self-sufficiency at the beginning of the Christian life and at every advance step heavenward, continual reaching of the heart after God in earnest confession of sin and humbling of the soul, and clinging with the grasp of faith to Christ as the mighty Deliverer in order to lay hold on divine power outside of oneself for help against peril, self-indulgence, self-love, and temptation to sin.
The chapter shows the breadth of His mercy and love, which He is ready to give to all who walk before Him in obedience and humility. It points to the advantages He purchased for the human race by His sacrifice, so that in temptation and trial people can claim power in His name. It belongs to the Saviour's prayer just before He left His disciples for the struggle in Gethsemane and is a reminder of the high value He placed on human beings, whom He purchased at the sacrifice of His life, with a teaching that is to be lived out.
Example for Believers Work
“I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” is the pattern for every believer and the example for the close of life-work, for each person has been given a distinct work and talents to use and improve wisely together with God. Glorifying God on earth means finishing the work He gives to do and manifesting His name and manifesting Christ to the world in spirit, speech and action, with unity and Christlike character making His work and the power of the Gospel visible. To be able truthfully to say these words when life-work ends requires becoming acquainted with God as Governor of heaven and Lawgiver and with Jesus Christ as His representative sent into the world, perfecting character as Christ perfected His character for humanity to show that God’s law can be kept in a sinful world and overcome by sharing in the divine nature. It requires being cleansed of self-exaltation, practicing obedience to Christ, being wholly sanctified and overcoming evil tendencies, for only thus can one represent the faith professed and show what it means to follow Jesus, and seeing Christ and being translated requires a decisive change of character. Glorifying God in this way means filling mind and lips with His praise, living so that life practice shines as a light before the world, gaining an intelligent knowledge of what true religion means, and searching the Scriptures that testify of Christ.
This is God’s plain will for teachers and for those who minister in word and doctrine and are acquainted with present truth, and God means just what He says in it. Their work is to uplift the only true God and proclaim from Scripture the truth God has given and the warning message for this time, rather than exalting human theories and wisdom or inventing theories without Scriptural foundation. It is their privilege to believe every word of John 13-17 exactly as written and to live it out before fellow ministers, understanding in it by conversion the philosophy of genuine missionary work. As Christ finished His assigned work by doing all the Father commanded Him, those who today minister for Him in word and doctrine are expected to do the work He did, preaching His Word under the Holy Spirit’s working, living a perfect human character as His example, leaving the churches which know the truth to go into the harvest field to establish new churches and present the word of truth to those in ignorance of God’s warning message.
His finished work was a life of self-denial, toil, privation and suffering devoted to doing others good and saving them from ruin, enduring to the end rather than seeking comfort or ease. He denied Himself, persevered to the end, and laid down His life to impart life to others, blessing the world with the example of a pure and perfect life of self-denial and self-sacrifice for the joy of seeing souls eternally saved in the kingdom of God, teaching truth as He taught and working to save the lost. His example calls His followers to self-denial and perseverance as laborers together with God to continue the work He began and left in the hands of His believing disciples at His ascension, accepting toil, hardship, humiliation, sorrow and tribulation rather than seeking ease or a better position. They are to live according to His example and teachings with lives marked by truth, goodness and righteousness as lights in the world, revealing to the world only what God has seen necessary to reveal rather than speculating on things He has withheld, even when faithfulness separates a person from brethren and friends and when those who profess righteousness yet know not God put a wrong meaning on the testimony. At the end of such lives they can sincerely say that they have finished the work given to them.
Glorifying God in this way means doing one’s best with a heart emptied of selfishness and filled with the love of Christ and the Holy Spirit so that Christ is revealed in spirit and words and acts. It is lived out by esteeming others better than self, appreciating one another, helping and strengthening one another with words of hope and cheer that make hearts glad, ceasing backbiting, criticizing, accusing and weakening one another’s hands, speaking words that bring happiness and not harsh sharp words that make others sad and discouraged, and teaching children to live together peaceably as God’s little children, for where love for one another is missing God is not glorified in the life. It calls for more real, genuine piety, for more diligent searching of the Word kept as a storehouse of truth, for keeping the mind able to speak a word in season to the oppressed, the sorrowful, the afflicted and those ready to perish, and for souls to be like a garden whose waters fail not, refreshing all around. It calls for seeking the Lord more earnestly and giving self to the Lord as a whole sacrifice with confession of sins in brokenness, weeping and prayer, and with apportioning means and putting it into circulation by giving back to the Lord His own portion to advance His cause and supply deficiencies. Time and strength available for that appointed work are reduced when health is damaged through harmful habits, leaving less ability to serve God and bless others, so health and strength are to be preserved for service.
As Christ glorified the Father on earth by representing Him and revealing a love without parallel and demonstrating the Father’s infinite love in all His works, with untiring work complete as He prepared to leave the earth, His followers are to reveal that love in their lives so that He may be glorified in them. They are to become like Him so that His great love for the world is seen in them and their oneness through Him binds them heart to heart, living the life that is the pattern for all His children. That finished work makes unity the badge of discipleship and calls God’s people to be united in accomplishing one great work with combined consecrated effort, beginning in the home where the works of Christ are to be done and an unchristlike course must not grieve the Spirit of God. God measures church members by what they are in the home, and obedience there extends its influence to the church, making believers on earth a symbol of the family in heaven whose lamp burns brightly and whose light shines before men so that others glorify the heavenly Father, and the life of believers is thus to glorify God and honor the Redeemer.
Answering Prayer Through Unity
John 17 is to be read, studied, committed to memory, and made the rule of life and the creed of the church, with every verse giving essential instruction and eternal principles for prayer and life. Its words belong to the prayer Jesus spoke with eyes lifted to heaven just before His trial and crucifixion, and they call for living so that character honors God and life shows the fruit of obedience to truth. Its lessons from John 13 through 17 are of deep import and hold the richest promises, demanding more real, genuine piety in light of great light received and more diligent searching of the Word. Its truth calls for faith laying hold of the promises and for honest effort rising to meet it in order to enter the city, to be remembered because time is short amid increasing crime and satanic power, and to be valued by the truly converted more than any worldly favor.
Preserving the unity taught in that prayer brings people into the Father's love, leads to the sinner's salvation, and eternally glorifies God, which is Christ glorifying the Father on earth and finishing the work given Him to do. That oneness is to be carried into practical life by believers scattered the world over, making plain to the world and standing as the great unmistakable proof that God sent His Son to save sinners. Entering that close relation to Jesus requires taking every wrong standing between a person and God or between a person and brethren out of the way, with sins confessed and forsaken. Answering the prayer requires reading and practicing God's Word, taking self sternly in hand, correcting thoughts, words and acts, giving up one's own way for His way, letting God build character while counting human judgment small, and setting a right example that does no wrong so others take knowledge of having been with Jesus.
That unity is believers becoming one with Christ as He is one with the Father, without destroying the personality of either, for God and Christ are two distinct personages who are one. It is the wonderful representation of believers united to Christ and to one another by the true work of grace in the heart, becoming partakers of the divine nature and escaping the corruption that is in the world through lust. In it they are changed from sin to holiness and loved by the Father as He loves His Son, a privilege of enduring union that opens the source of rich and eternal happiness outliving all earthly sinful enjoyment. Believers answer the prayer and fulfill God's purpose in all its height and depth by being sanctified through the truth, living it with meekness, sympathy, kindness, tenderness and love, striving for the possibilities of Christian growth it presents, and binding themselves to Him in saving a lost world.
Carrying out this instruction begins in the home, where the works of Christ are to be done and an unchristlike course must not grieve the Spirit of God. God measures church members by what they are in the home, and obedience there extends its influence to the church, making believers on earth a symbol of the family in heaven whose lamp burns brightly and whose light shines before men so that others glorify the heavenly Father. That finished work makes unity the badge of discipleship and calls God's people with every thread of selfishness removed to reach God's standard by united, combined consecrated effort in one great work. God's work is one, so medical missionary work and the ministry are joined as one work and separation between them shows the Holy Spirit is not working on hearts, while disunion, variance over little misunderstandings, disagreement in counsel, and speculative theories present the opposite of what God desires and show the prayer has not been given special weight.
Answering the prayer means entire consecration and giving self wholly to God's service as a whole sacrifice, which makes certain work for eternity and is the only hope of obtaining in this world a fitness for heaven. Those who answer it are brought up onto a higher platform by being purified, refined and sanctified, feel the worth of souls for whom Christ died, and realize the peril of doing nothing to bring souls to Christ. It requires seeking the Lord more earnestly with genuine piety, hearing and obeying Him speaking from His Word, keeping the mind as a storehouse of truth, confessing sins in brokenness, weeping and prayer, and living out Christ's command to love one another as He loved with humility and no faultfinding. Such a life apportions means and puts it into circulation by giving back to the Lord His own portion to advance His cause, becomes like a garden whose waters fail not refreshing all around, speaks a word in season to the oppressed, sorrowful, afflicted and perishing, and witnesses that God sent His Son and loves the world.