Devotional John 17: The High Priestly Prayer and Eternal Life Reflection on John 17: the definition of eternal life as knowing God, Jesus' prayer for our protection, and His existence before creation. Topics: Devotional, New Testament.

Devotional John 17: The High Priestly Prayer and Eternal Life

My devotional was on chapter 17 of the book of John.

Synopsis: In this chapter, Jesus, after speaking with His disciples, looks up to heaven and offers a high priestly prayer.

Observations

These were my observations:

1. Eternal life. In this chapter, Jesus defines what eternal life is: to know God, as the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom God sent. Once again, Jesus affirms here in an even more explicit way the necessary requirements to inherit eternal life. Furthermore, Jesus emphasizes that this is the only way to inherit the eternal life that He won for us—there are no other options!
2. Jesus prays for the protection of Christians. In this chapter, we realize that Jesus asks God to protect us from evil—since Jesus will return to be reunited with God the Father. For when He was here on earth, He protected us from evil. But now that He is leaving, He asked the Father to protect us from evil, because we (christians) are not of the world, but rather of God. He argues that we know God through the words and works that God glorified in Him, and that we accepted Him as the Christ of God. Therefore, He asks God to protect us and keep us from evil, because we meet the necessary requirements for that. He asks God to protect not only the apostles, but also all other Christians who will come to believe in God through the evangelization by the apostles. For Jesus knows that we will be hated by the world—for not being of the world—in the same way that He and God were.
3. Jesus affirms that He always existed even before the creation of the universe. For before creation, Jesus already existed in a perfect union of love with God and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, He also speaks to God, in this prayer, about His desire: which is that we too might join Him at the side of God the Father. Jesus’ desire is for us to unite in perfect communion with Him and God, so that He may be in us and God in Him. So that the world may understand that God sent Him and loved us as He loved Him.