The Great High Priestly Prayer of Christ

By Dr. Stanford E. Murrell

John 17 is one of the great chapters of the Bible as it records the longest prayer that Jesus ever offered during His public ministry. The saints have loved it over the years.“The words are as clear and calm as a mirrors, but the thoughts as deep and glowing as God's fathomless love to man: Hence all efforts to exhaust them are in vain” (Church Historian, Philip Schaff). Every Christian will enjoy being with Christ and listening afresh as the Lord prays for His people.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Aug 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312445147

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The Great High Priestly Prayer of Christ

THE GREAT HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER OF CHRIST

Chapter 1 A Petition for Glory

John 17:1

John 17 is one of the great chapters of the Bible as it records the longest prayer that Jesus ever offered during His public ministry. The saints have loved it over the years.

The words are as clear and calm as a mirror, but the thoughts as deep and glowing as God's fathomless love to man: Hence all efforts to exhaust them are in vain (Philip Schaff).

If in any human speech divinity is manifest and sublimity is joined to condescending humility, it is in this prayer (August Tholuck).

A prayer such as the world never heard nor could hear. Sentence rushes upon sentence with wonderful power, yet the repose is never disturbed (Heinrich Ewald).

The noblest and purest pearl of devotion in the New Testament (F. B. Meyer).

Neither in the Scripture nor in the literature of any nation can there be found a composition which in simplicity and depth, in grandeur and fervor, may be compared to this prayer. It could not be invented, but could proceed only from such a person as the one which speaks here. But it could be preserved and reproduced by a personality so wholly devoted and conformed to the personality of Jesus as the Evangelist (Ernest Luthard).

Luther said that John 17 is, A prayer wherein He discovereth both unto us and to the Father, the abysses of His heart and poureth forth its treasurers. Plain and simple in sound, it is yet so deep, rich and broad that no one can fathom it.

John Knox, during his last illness, directed his wife and secretary that one of them should every day read to him, in a distinct voice, this chapter.

Melanchthon, one of the great Reformers, when giving his last lecture before his death, said on John 17, There is no voice which has ever been heard, either in heaven or in earth, more exalted, more holy, more fruitful, more sublime, than the prayer offered up by the Son of God Himself.

No one has ever seriously studied John 17 and remained the same. Here is Christ, the Great High Priest, praying for Himself, for His disciples, and for His church. Jesus acts as a Mediator between man and God and God is in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.

To set the background for this prayer, several points might be observed.