Scripture for Sunday, June 25th, 2017
John 17:1-5
These words spake Jesus, and.....
1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Remarks on John 17
The chapter we have now begun is the most remarkable in the Bible. It stands alone, and there is nothing like it... We have here the only long prayer of the Lord Jesus, which the Holy Ghost has thought good to record for our learning. That He often prayed we know well; but this is the only prayer reported. We have many of His sermons, parables, and conversations; but only this prayer. We have here the prayer of one who spake as never man spake, and prayed as never man prayed,- the prayer of the second Person in the Trinity to the Father: the prayer of one whose office it is, as our High Priest, to make intercession for His people... We have here a prayer which is singularly full of deep and profound expressions; so deep, indeed, that we have no line to them. The wisest Christian will always confess that there are things here which he cannot fully explain.
- J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Vol. 4, pages 170-171, Baker: Grand Rapids, 1977, rpt.