John 17:13-19 English Standard Version

13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Our High Priest’s prayer continues and while I wish to move on to other prayers in the bible, the Spirit says “Not yet”.

Rather than going point by point with this section let us use the focal point of His prayer for us to study why He asked the Father to sanctify us.

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Sanctification:

Etymology:

The root is found in the Old Testament in the Hebrew verb qadhash, in the New Testament in the Greek verb hagoazo. The noun “sanctification” (hagiasmos) does not occur in the Old Testament and is found but 10 times in the New Testament, but the roots noted above appear in a group of important words which are of very frequent occurrence. These words are “holy,” “hallow,” “hallowed,” “holiness,” “consecrate,” “saint,” “sanctify,” “sanctification.” It must be borne in mind that these words are all translations of the same root, and that therefore no one of them can be treated adequately without reference to the others. All have undergone a certain development. Broadly stated, this has been from the formal, or ritual, to the ethical, and these different meanings must be carefully distinguished. (end quote)

There is no simple answer to cover all the broader usages associated with sanctify. What I would say is this, in this prayer it is a thing done to us and for us rather than a response to what is expected of us.

A key element of this prayer of sanctification is in verse 17. “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” This is why we hold our Bible to be the Holy Bible. Take it to heart.

• John 8:31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
• John 15:7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
• 1 John 2:14 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

John 17:6-10 English Standard Version

6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

In the beginning of this series on prayer I said that it was a blessing to pray for others. Here in the continuing prayers of our High Priest in John chapter 17 we find that our Lord and Savior has prayed over us specifically. Verse 9 states it plainly, not a prayer for the lost but a prayer for those of us who belong to Christ.

If we take nothing else away from this blessed prayer, let it be this. Jesus is glorified in us.

One of the most important blessings of prayer is to be reminded of who we are and what it means to be His. So much of what happens in the world wants to tear us down, demean us, humiliate us, and hinder our calling in Christ Jesus. It is prayers like this that remind us who we are and what it means to be chosen.

I think of it like this, I am weak but He is strong. How I feel about myself does not stop Him from being glorified. I am not more powerful than God and He is the One who has overcome the world. That means He has overcome the worldly parts of me, the flesh and its weakness.

John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

When He left He sent the best help. He does not leave us and it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that our Savior is glorified, overcoming our weakness.

We are not alone in this battle and the war rages on.

Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

That battle has been raging for nearly 2000 years. This prayer should be a reminder that we are on the winning side.