High Priestly Payer [Part 1]

John 17:1

When Jesus had spoken these words, He lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify You...

What had Jesus been saying immediately before Ch. 17? Jesus had told them that soon He would quit speaking to them in figures of speech because the hour was coming. I am sure they all wondered what hour. When the day [hour] would arrive, Jesus would no longer have to ask the Father on behalf of His disciples. Instead, they could go straight to the Father because they had loved Jesus and believed that Jesus came from God. Jesus told them that He had come from the Father, and now was preparing to go back to the Father. Out of these words, the disciples declared they understood, but I wonder. All they commented on was that they believed He came from God. Then Jesus gave them the hard words. In that hour, they would be scattered each to his own home and leave Him alone. But He assured them not to feel back because He was not alone. His Father was with Him. He had declared these things to them so that they would have inner peace even though tribulation was close at hand. In one last thought He told them that even though there would be tribulation, He had overcome the world. Yikes! I bet their minds were on fire. What did all this mean? Why would they leave Jesus alone?

It was after these words, that Jesus began praying for those who are and will be His own. Lifting up His eyes to heaven, He spoke to His Father telling Him the the hour had come. He asked that He might be glorified so that He might glorify the Father. Since the Father had given the Son authority over all flesh, He had gathered all those whom the Father had given Him so that they might know the Father as the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. Jesus had glorified the Father on earth by obedience to all the Father had asked of Him. Following this He asked the Father to glorify Him in the Father's presence with the glory He had before the world existed. Jesus wanted to go home. How hard this journey must have been for Him to leave all the glory of heaven to come to a world filled with sin, conflict, deceit, plotting, manipulation, and unbelief. But sadly He had His hardest hours yet to come. 

Father,

Give me a heart for You like Jesus had. Make obeying Your commands my number one priority. Use my life as a window for others to see Your glory. 

In His name,

Amen