'The Great High Priestly Prayer' Ch. 17 (Keswick Convention 1973) — Eric J. Alexander

The Great High Priestly Prayer in John 17

We turn this morning to John chapter 17, which Bishop Ryle has called the most remarkable chapter in the Bible, adding with great wisdom, "...we have no line with which to fathom its depths.". Shortly before his death, Philip Melanchthon, Martin Luther's colleague, lectured on the 17th chapter of John and said, "...there is no voice which has ever been heard, either in heaven or in earth, like this prayer offered up by the Son of God Himself.".

And there is no question that one can scarcely read this chapter, as I'm sure you've been finding as you've been, as the General says, doing your homework before this morning. It's almost impossible to read it without a great sense of the wonder and awe that comes through words like these.

And as we study it, we shall inevitably discover that we are indeed out of our depth here. We have no line with which to fathom it. However, we shall turn together to the 17th chapter of John to have, as it were, a scratch on the surface.

Jesus as High Priest and Intercessor

The Lord Jesus has finished His discourse to the disciples and now turns from instruction to intercession, thereby, as John Calvin points out, giving a great example to ministers of the Word, that it is by watering the good seed with prayer that power and thrust comes to the Word of the living God.

And this is what our Lord does. He turns from instruction to intercession. It has been customary to call this prayer the great high priestly prayer of Jesus, and it is certainly helpful and illuminating for us to see our Lord here in the role of the great high priest.

That is a theme which is, of course, so fully and gloriously worked out in the epistle to the Hebrews. He is distinguished from all other priests in that He is both priest and sacrifice. He is both the offerer and the victim.

And He is about to bear the sins of His people in His own body as the sacrificial victim, and now before He comes to the place where this is to be done, He bears the needs of His people before the Father as the great high priest and mediator.

The nature of this prayer, therefore, takes on the two activities of the great high priest. It is both consecration, Jesus says, I consecrate Myself, and it is intercession. He is consecrating Himself to be our sin bearer, and He is lovingly interceding for us as our mediator.

Now before we come to the detail of the chapter, Bishop Ryle draws attention to one great value of this prayer which it seems to me very vital not to neglect. He says it is wonderful, this prayer of our Lord, as a pattern of the intercession which the Son, as a high priest, is ever carrying on for us in heaven.

And I have no doubt that this is one of the great blessings we ought to derive from this prayer and from studying it together. We don't think nearly enough of our Lord's present intercessory ministry.

We concentrate a great deal on His finished work, His past ministry, and on that work which is still to be consummated by His glorious return in person and in power. But there is a work which our Lord Jesus Christ is doing now, beloved, for His people.

He is making intercession for us, and our salvation in the present tense is closely knit with this. How is it that He is able to save to the uttermost all those that come unto God by Him? It is because He ever liveth to make intercession for us.

Now that's what this prayer is a pattern of in many ways. What is this intercessory ministry which is patterned here? Well, do you remember how the high priest's ministry in Exodus chapter 28 is symbolized for us, and the ministry of our Lord is symbolized here in Exodus 28, in the rather strange clothing that Aaron was prescribed to wear, whereby he had a shoulder piece with the names of the people of Israel engraved on two stones and put on his shoulders, do you remember?

And then he had a breastplate on which, again, the names of the people of Israel were engraved on stones and embedded into this breastplate. And he was to bear the names of the people of God before God on his shoulders and on his heart.

Now you see the symbolism. This is God's picture book. This is God's visual aid, as it were. And the people of God were to be upheld before God by name, by their names indelibly written in stone. And the names of the people of God are upheld before God, and they lie near to the heart of God.

That's what this means, and we ought to lay hold of this blessed truth that this morning the names of every one of us as the Lord's people in this tent are engraved on the heart of God. And our concerns lie close to his heart.

The Hour of Christ's Suffering

Well now, the words with which the prayer begins in John 17, 1, Father, the hour has come. Provide us with the real background to it. There, of course, a reference to the fact that Jesus is on the threshold of his suffering and passion.

That phrase, the hour, or sometimes in John, my time, is the hour of his consummation of his ministry. And it's a phrase that comes very frequently, but until now that phrase has always had not yet attached to it.

You get it beginning, for example, in John chapter 2, do you remember, in the story of the wedding at Cana, when Jesus says to his mother, woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come.

And all through John's gospel this not yet is added to the phrase mine hour, but here Jesus says the hour has come. And it's particularly impressive to notice how it is the Lord himself who declares the hour has come.

He is, in other words, not harried to the cross when it suited men. He is striding, as it were, with a regal majesty to the cross, moving with the perfect timing of the God who is directing the whole universe on its course.

And as he comes into the presence of the Father for his disciples, having in measured tones spoken to them about all that lies before both them and him, it is he who now declares the hour has come. And you see the whole world of men and devils, all the Pilates and Caiaphases, all the Prevaricators, the Jews and the Romans, they all had to wait, as it were, on the wings of the scene of history until God came and said, now.

And this is the real background of this. It's the picture of our Lord moving to the cross, which you get coming out in the language of the apostles in their prayer in Acts chapter 4, for instance. And they ask the Lord for the kind of poise in their own spirits which is in the heart of Jesus as he comes and says to the Father, the hour has come.

You remember how they pray in Acts 4, truly in the city there gathered together against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and people of Israel, to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined to be done.

Father, the hour has come, says Jesus. He prays as the Son of God and as the King of glory. Now one cannot but feel that it's almost unseemly to analyze this prayer in the seventeenth chapter of John.

But there are three areas on which the prayer of our Lord concentrates, conveniently set out, if you have the RSV, in three paragraphs. And the themes of these three sections are as follows. In the first section, verses one to five, our Lord is focusing his prayer upon the glory of the Son and of the Father.

And in the second section, verses six to nineteen, his prayer is focused upon the well-being of the disciples in the world. And in the third section, verse twenty to the end, the prayer is focused on the unity of the future church, universal.

The glory of the Son and the Father, the well-being of the disciples in the world, and the unity of future believers in the church, universal. Well may we turn to the first of these sections, verses one to five, the glory of the Son and the Father.

The Glory of the Son and the Father

It is sometimes said that Jesus is here praying for himself as he begins, Father, the hour has come, glorify thy Son. But that could be a misleading idea, I would suggest to you, as if there were some kind of self-seeking in our Lord's praying.

The burden on his heart on these first verses is the glory of the Godhead and the accomplishing of salvation. And this will be not by self-seeking, but by self-sacrifice. So we need to rid our minds of any idea of a self-seeking if we say our Lord is praying here for himself.

The petition that Jesus makes in these first verses concerns the glorifying of the Father and the Son. Twice he prays for his own glorification. In verse one, Father, the hour has come, glorify thy Son.

And again in verse five, now Father, glorify thou me in thine own presence. And twice he relates that prayer to the glorifying of the Father. Again in verse one, glorify thy Son that thy Son may glorify thee.

And in verse four, I have glorified thee on the earth having accomplished the work which thou gavest me to do, and now glorify thou me. So there are these two concerns in the heart of our Lord. And there are two questions that we need to ask of these verses.

First, what is this glory of which Jesus speaks? Glorify thou me with the glory I had with thee before the world was. He wants the glory to be manifested, and that's the first question. What is this glory of which Jesus speaks?

And the second question is, how is this glory manifested, or how is the Father glorified in the Son? Well the first of these two questions, what is this glory of which Jesus speaks? The glory of God in Scripture is, of course, the outshining of his character.

It is the luster of what the Shorter Catechism calls, and I hope you have read the Shorter Catechism, it calls his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. And it is the outshining of these characteristics of God which is his glory.

And Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 tells us that Jesus is the brightness, the effulgence of this glory. So God is glorified when he is manifested, and when he is manifested in his Son, we read, the Word became flesh, and we beheld his glory, because the fullness of God dwelt in Jesus Christ.

Now the second question, where is that glory of God to be seen, and particularly, how is the Father glorified in the Son? It's what is answered in these verses. And there are five things that these verses have to teach us about this, and I take them, as it were, in historical order.

Christ's Eternal Glory Shared with the Father

Where is the glory of God of which Jesus here speaks to be seen? First, you will notice that the glory of God was shared by Jesus with the Father in eternity. Verse 5, Now, Father, glorify thou me in thine own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made.

Now that's really very striking, you see, because God specifically says in the Scripture that he will not share his glory with another, and yet the Lord Jesus says he shared it from all eternity. Now my friends, we cannot pretend to understand what this means, what this glory that Jesus shared with the Father before the foundation of the world was.

Let me simply pause long enough to point this out to you. Could there be a clearer claim to deity in the Scripture than this? Can there be any remaining doubt in our minds of what the Lord Jesus Christ Himself claimed in His position with the Father, in His nature?

He shared the glory of the Father before the world was made. I say again, we can't understand what this is like. We are like kindergarten children in the university here. But Jesus shared this glory with the Father before the world was made.

The Veiled Glory of the Incarnation

Secondly, this glory was veiled in the flesh of Jesus in the world. Verse 4, I glorify thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which thou gavest me to do, so that the Lord Jesus has been manifesting this glory as He has come into the world and as He has done the work that the Father gave Him to do.

Now that is, of course, what Jesus is speaking about when He tells, what John is speaking about when He tells us in John 1, 14, we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father. But of course, that was a veiled glory.

You will notice that our Lord does not divest Himself of His glory when He comes into His flesh and is born in Bethlehem. He veiled His glory. And Wesley is therefore right when he sings about veiled in flesh, the Godhead see.

But in His flesh, our Lord manifested the glory of God in a veiled way. He does it in a veiled way because, of course, men in the world couldn't have stood it if the glory of God had not been veiled. It would have been impossible for them to have looked upon Him.

And sometimes it seems as if that is almost beginning to happen and the veil is wearing very thin. You remember of the transfiguration, for example. When our Lord goes up the mountain and suddenly He is transfigured, He is metamorphosed before them and it seems as if the veil which is hiding His glory is becoming thin and they come before Him and bow before Him.

He is shining with glory. You get it in some other places too. It's very significant, I believe, that when you see these men coming in the garden to take Jesus, do you remember? And they come and say, we are seeking Jesus of Nazareth when Jesus challenges them.

Now, they're facing Him at this point. You see, they say, He says to them, whom seek ye? They say, we seek Jesus of Nazareth. And He suddenly confronts them and He says, I am He. Now, do you remember what you read after that?

They fell back. Why do you think these men fell back? Not with fear. They were there with some soldiers to take Him away. They fell back. Now, I tell you why they fell back. I think it was because when He declared Himself, I am, something of the glory began to break through.

But lustrous and blinding, though that glory was to men, it was the glory of His humiliation and was pale compared to the light inaccessible, which was His in eternity. It was veiled in the flesh of Jesus in the world.

The Cross as the Revelation of God's Glory

Thirdly, it was revealed in His saving work on the cross. This is supremely where Jesus is, where Jesus says the Father is to be glorified in the Son. The hour, you see, and the glory are welded together.

I have glorified thee on earth, having finished the work thou gavest me to do. What was that work? Well, that's the work that's described in verse two. It is the giving of eternal life to men and bringing them to know God.

Thou has given Him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom Thou has given to Him. Where was that work finished and accomplished? It was finished and accomplished at the cross, where Jesus cries in triumph, it is finished.

Now, the glory of God is revealed in the saving work of Christ, because nowhere is the character of God more fully displayed than in His cross and resurrection, where He displays His holiness, His justice, His love, His tender mercy towards the children of men.

Now, this is why in the book of Revelation, that book of unveiling, you discover that in the center of the glory of heaven, what is it that's in the center of the glory of heaven? It is the figure of a lamb as it had been slain.

Now, that's where the glory of God is manifested, says Calvin, as in a splendid theater, the glory of God is manifested in the cross of Jesus. Fourthly, this glory is unveiled in His ascension into heaven.

Christ's Ascension and the Hope of Glory

That is the point of the prayer in verse five. And now, Father, glorify Thou me in Thine own presence with the glory I had with Thee before the world was made. This is a prayer for our Lord's entering again into that same glory which He shared with the Father before the world began.

And yet, in a sense, if you think carefully, it's not entirely the same glory. For when the Lord Jesus ascends into heaven, it is now as the God-man, and it is as the God-man that the Lord Jesus is glorified in His ascension, so that not only His deity, but His manhood is vested with the glory of God.

And that means that Christ is our forerunner entered into the glory to bring us to glory. It's Christ's ascension into the glory, which as the God-man, you see, which gives us the hope of glory. And He is engaged in this work now, in His ascended might and triumph with His finished work, bringing many sons unto glory.

And we have that glorious hope of the end day for the children of God, which is not the immortality of the soul. That's not the Christian hope. The Christian hope is the resurrection of the body. And a glorified body is possible because the Lord Jesus has had His manhood, as well as His divinity, clothed and vested with glory.

Well, that leads us to the last of these five places where the Son glorifies the Father. It is shared with the Father in eternity. It is veiled in the flesh of Jesus. It is revealed in His saving work.

It is unveiled in His ascension into heaven. Could anything be more wonderful than that? Ah, but beloved, there is something still more. If you look at verse 10, if we may intrude into the second part of the prayer.

For you notice that now in the meanwhile, there is another place where this glory is to be seen. All mine are thine and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. That's what the work of grace should do, you see.

It should bring the glory of God into the life of the believer. There is coming a day when we shall behold His glory. But in this day, Jesus says, I am glorified in them. That is the burden of our Lord for the glory of the Father and the Son.

The Father's Gift of Believers to the Son

Will you turn with me now to the second section of the prayer? The well-being of the disciples in the world. Verse 9, our Lord points to the constituency for which He is now praying. In this section, I am praying for them.

I am not praying for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine. First, will you notice the description that Jesus gives of these men to whom He has revealed the Father? And He spends some considerable time describing them.

This is very wonderful. They are, first of all, the Father's possession. In verse 6, I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were. In verse 9, I am praying for them.

I am not praying for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine. And believers are described by our Lord as the Father's possession. They belong to thee. Now, they are not only the Father's possession, but in the second place, they are the Father's love gift to the Son.

Do you see that? In verse 2, for example, since thou hast given Him power over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom thou hast given Him. Verse 6, I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world.

Verse 9, I am praying for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me. And again in verse 24, Father, I desire that they also whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am.

Now, have you noticed, I wonder, this very remarkable series of givings which there are in John's Gospel? First of all, the Son is the Father's love gift to the world. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son for the world.

Secondly, believers are the Father's love gift to the Son. Thine they were, thou gavest them me. Now, do you grasp what this means? Can you think of this? It is the picture, you see, of the Son. It's the picture of the Lord Jesus being given His bride by the Father.

Thine they were, thou hast given them me. And believers are the Father's love gift to the Son. Do you know that gorgeous little picture you have in the Church of England wedding service where the wedding begins, I think it is, with the minister saying to the assembled company as if he didn't already know, who giveth this woman to be married to this man?

And the Father, with varying degrees of reluctance or willingness, says, I do. And there He leads the bride. And you notice what happens. He brings the bride up and He presents her. The Father comes with the bride, you see, to the bridegroom.

Now, it's a glorious picture because she belongs to Him. But He comes and this is how the bridegroom gets his bride. And it is a blessed picture. I think we ought to incorporate it into the Church of Scotland.

But it's a glorious picture He has. The bridegroom gets his bride because the Father comes and He takes this most precious gift of His and He presents it to him. And He says, there you are. Now, beloved, that's how Christ gets His bride.

That's how the Lord Jesus gets His bride, which is the church the Father takes you. You who belong to the Father whom He has chosen out of the world, He takes you. And, oh God, this humbles us down into the dust.

He takes you and He presents you to the Lord Jesus. And He says, there is my love gift. I cannot fathom that. Can you? That's something that sent me into an absolute bewilderment of heart and mind. But it's what the Holy Scripture tells us.

It's what the Lord Jesus says. He has gained His bride because the Father has come and taken the believer and presented us to the Son. But do you notice further, what about the Son's love gift to the believer?

Oh, the giving there is in the whole of the Godhead and in the family. That's why the essence of the love of God shed abroad in our hearts is giving, not getting, but giving, you see, because it's the very fiber that seems to be making the Godhead what it is.

What's the Son's love gift to the believer? Well, in verse 2, it's eternal life and the knowledge of God. Since thou hast given Him power over all flesh to give eternal life to all thou hast given Him.

And it's the Father's name. Do you notice in verse 6, I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world. He has shown them all the glory of the Father's character, you see. And then in verse 8, it's the Father's word that He gives to them.

I have given them the words which thou gavest me. You can't get away from this, you see. The Father has given the bride to the Son. He has given the word to the Son and the Son has given the bride. And He gives eternal life to them.

And He gives the Father's name to them. And then the Father gives Him the word and He gives the word to the believer. Oh, the giving. The blessed, blessed donations that there are from the heart of God to us.

But what about the believer's love gift to the Father and to the Son? Verse 6, thine they were thou hast given them me and they have kept thy word. And verse 8, I have given them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them.

And knowing truth that I came from thee, I believe that thou didst send me. What is it that we can give? God knows there is so little we have to give, is there not? But what we give to Him is our obedience.

They have kept my word and our faith. They have believed. But now having described them, Jesus goes on to pray for them. And His prayer is, of course, supremely a prayer for their sanctification or holiness.

And the central theme is pointed up in verse 17. Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth as thou didst send me into the world. So have I sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be consecrated in the truth.

Perseverance in the Keeping Power of God

Now let me simply use the time we have to point out to you what seem to me to be the three main elements in the sanctification for which Jesus prays in these verses. Sanctification, of course, just means to make holy.

And the three elements that I see in these verses in our love for the well-being of the disciples in the world are first perseverance, Father keep them, and then separation. They are not of the world.

If they were of the world, the world would love its own, but they are not of the world. Thirdly, consecration, verse 19, that they also may be consecrated. In the truth. Well, now first perseverance, and we are really scratching on stuff, aren't we?

Do you know that my dear brother, Jervis Angel, who is sharing in the young people meetings, is going to be doing John 17 in the young people's meetings this morning. So that if you find that I haven't dealt with some of these things, you could just nip around to stand outside the young people's tent afterwards, and you could listen in to Mr. Angel, and you might well find that angels tread, I was going to say where Alexanders only can rush in.

Let's look then at perseverance. Verse 11, 12, and 15, Jesus speaks of the need of the disciples to be kept. And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I'm coming to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one.

I have kept them, verse 12, while I was with them. They needed kept, you see. I kept them in thy name, which thou hast given me. I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

He was not one of them. He was not of them. He didn't belong to the vine, but those whom thou hast given me, I have guarded them and kept them, he says. And then again in verse 15, I do not pray that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one.

Now, beloved, it's a very wonderful thing to me that our Lord not only prays for the disciples in this connection, Father, keep them, but He actually lets them hear Him pray for their security. Now, do you see why He does that?

He's praying aloud. That's, of course, why we have the prayer of John 17, and He prays for them because the Lord is not just concerned about your security, He's concerned about your serenity, and He lets them hear Him pray, Father, keep them.

He does the same thing for Simon Peter, of course. You remember Simon, Simon, he says, Satan has desired to have you that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you. I have prayed for you.

That's why it's a very important thing, not just to pray for people, but to tell them that you're praying for them. I think the Lord means us to do that. If it's true, if it's true, I tremble when I think of the number of people who have promised and covenanted to missionaries, we'll pray for you.

And they do for a week, but if it's true, we need to tell one another as the Lord told Peter, and as He here told His disciples, or allowed them to hear, I will pray for you. Now, do you see from this the quite vital truth which derives from our Lord's prayer and His burden for the disciples of what the perseverance of the believer depends on?

What is it that the perseverance of the believer depends on? How can you be sure that you will endure to the end, that you will be kept and guarded from the world, the flesh, and the devil? Well, the answer is it's in the keeping power of God.

That's what it depends on. Now, you see, I think the Lord may have particularly been ministering to Simon Peter's need in this connection, for Peter had quite the wrong idea about perseverance. In chapter 13, verse 37, you remember, he says, Lord, I will lay down my life for you.

He says, you're a bit disturbed about what's going to happen to the disciples, he said, and you're talking about us being scattered. He says, don't have any fear, Lord, you can count on me. I'm the persevering variety.

Oh, how little the man knew his own heart and name. But, you see, perseverance in the Christian life is not, Lord, you can count on me, but, Lord, there is nothing else in the world that I can count on but that you are able to keep that which I have committed unto you.

It's Paul's testimony in Philippians 3 .3, we glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. That's why Jesus prays in verse 11, Father, Holy Father. Now, do you notice he is appealing to the Lord's fatherly grace, to that fatherly grace which will not deny his child any good thing, to the holiness in the Father's character, that is to everything that God is by nature.

And he says, Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me. And it's not now, I believe, the disciples that Jesus is referring to when he says, thou hast given me, but the name of the Father.

Now, do you see what this means? The Father has given his name to the Son, that is his nature. And the Lord Jesus has manifested all the nature of God. And this is why they wanted him to stay, you see.

They wanted to know the security of the Lord Jesus. They had known his shepherdly care in their lives. They had known his hand stretched out when in their folly they would have run ahead of him in the energy of the flesh.

They had known his hand behind him when through lack of faith they would have lagged back from him. And they knew something of the glorious keeping power of the Lord Jesus. Ah, but he says, that was the name of the Father that he gave to me.

And now he says, Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me. I have guarded them when I was in the world, but now I come to thee. Keep them. And the name of God is the character of God, and our security lies in that.

We had our prayer conference in May at Mabledon in Kent, a lovely house in the Kent countryside. And there, there is a great high tower in the house, and carved on that great tower are the words, The name of the Lord is a strong tower.

The righteous runneth into it and is saved. That's the perseverance of the believer. And our perseverance depends upon this, upon what God is and what God does. I have kept them, I have guarded them. Father, he says, keep them.

You know, some of the great hymns have got this quite wonderfully. Top Lady has it right in his great hymn, A Debtor to Mercy Alone. Do you know that hymn? In the last verse he has the line, Yea, I to the end shall endure.

Now, why is he so sure? Some people tell me that sounds a bit cocky to me, that, you know, I to the end shall endure. Shades of Simon Peter. Well, Top Lady gives us the answer in these words. Listen to them.

The work which his goodness began, the arm of his strength will complete. His promise is yea and amen and never was forfeited yet. Things future nor things that are now nor all things below or above can make him his purpose forego or sever my soul from his love.

My name from the palms of his hands eternity will not erase. Impressed on his heart it remains in marks of indelible grace. Yea, I to the end shall endure as sure as the earnest is given. More happy, but not more secure, the glorified spirits in heaven.

Now, specifically, Jesus prays for their perseverance in the face of all the pressure and power of the evil one. In verse 15, I do not pray that thou should take them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from the evil one.

Not in the absence, you will notice, of all the pressures that they are to face, but in the face of them. You remember the Psalmist's great testimony. Thou preparest a table in the presence of mine enemies.

Separation from the World

Well, there is their perseverance and, secondly, their separation. The whole thought of sanctification and holiness in the scripture, and Jesus' great theme here, as I believe, is sanctify them in thy truth.

The theme of sanctification and holiness in the scripture is rooted in the idea of separation. And linguistically, that is what the word really means. So, in verse 6, the disciples are those thou gavest me out of the world.

And this is the negative side of that separation. But it's a very important thing to see that there are two sides to the separation of which the scripture speaks. Thou hast given them me out of the world.

And we are, in this sense, separated, translated out of one kingdom into another. We are cut off, as it were, from all that for God. And that's the second element in the separation. It's a positive element.

We are separated unto the gospel. We are separated from the world, from sin and the evil one, unto the Lord Jesus Christ. But here, it's specifically their separation from the world that Jesus is speaking about.

The word world occurs 19 times in this chapter, if you take the trouble to count. And it's obvious that the disciples' relation to it is a crucial factor in our Lord's intercession for them. And this doctrine of separation sanctify them.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Thou hast given them me out of the world. This doctrine of separation is one which we eclipse or neglect at our great peril. Because there is to be a distinctiveness about the believer's life, which is a reflection of the distinctiveness of the life of Jesus.