The Upper Room

Intimacy with the Lord on the human front reached its zenith in the Upper Room, the scene of the Last Supper of our Lord with His disciples, the night before His crucifixion. Jesus’ final briefing for them to carry on His mission lies exposed for all to...

Context is important to understanding a story. In our passage of John 13-17, there are different levels of contexts. The first, of course, is the physical context, namely Jerusalem (12:12), during a supper (13:2), just before the Passover celebration (13:1),...

1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. The Upper Room discourse took place in the context of the...

1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. Twice we see Jesus “knowing” in this, the first part of...

2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him … Characters in the story come to the fore. Christ, of course, is front and center, and “His own” are there as well, that is, the disciples. The...

3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God ... Second on His list of things known was that “the Father” had assigned ownership to Him over all things. We already know...

… 4 got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. So begins the premium illustration of Philippians 2:7-8, the model for us to follow in our behavior toward one another. Imagine in your mind’s eye the Creator and...

5 Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Details that fill out the story, on the way to a great moral lesson of serving one another? True, but nothing the Lord did...

6 So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” First recipient in this normally routine domestic chore was Peter. Hardly would anyone have rejected such an offer of hospitality in that culture, being an expected courtesy from any...

7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” A young seminarian, bored with a minute point of theology, sardonically intoned to his professor, “I don’t see the relevance of this.” The man of God...

8 Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Stark relief, that’s what Peter provides to the Upper Room story. Almost the foil. In his honest, though impetuous reaction, he...

9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Peter has been much maligned by Christians for his impetuousness, and this may not be altogether misplaced. However, we must tread carefully lest we inadvertently judge...

10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” Contrasting most other NT documents, this Gospel writer spoke in picturesque story form with much...

11 For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.” Jesus knew Judas was going to betray Him. We know it already, because most of us have heard the stories of Jesus Christ repeatedly. Plus John had already made...

11 For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.” A second question arising from this verse is this: if Jesus knew Judas was going to betray Him, why didn’t He stop the betrayal. Jesus could have revealed the...

12 So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? When Jesus asked a question, He was not looking for information. Being the master teacher that He was, the...

13 “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. Meekness does not negate objective acknowledgment of one’s status. Christ had no problem acknowledging that He was in fact Teacher and Lord over the disciples. He provides the perfect example...

14 “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. Contemporary Christianity is in a backlash mode, like a pendulum swinging away from religious obligations to religious freedoms. After all, if we are saved...

15 “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Modeling is big in Christianity. Not the showing of fashions, but the emulation of behavior and attitudes. Our primary example is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, yet there are times when...

16 “Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. Had Jesus not begun this with the double “truly” we might miss the import of His statement. It is like He is saying, “Now listen...

17 “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. Blessing is what God loves to do. And throughout the teaching of Jesus, He talks about blessings. Probably the most well known teaching on this subject is the eight-fold blessing of the...

18 “I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’ Most incredibly ironic, “didn’t see that coming” plot twist ever written, is this story...

18 “I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’ Jew Testament use of the Old Testament at times challenges the interpreter of Scripture....

19 “From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. Prophecy at its most basic is simply telling ahead of time what will happen. With mere humans, some may have remarkable intuition, a sense of...

19 “From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. One of the unique phrases as recorded by John the gospel writer is Jesus’ use of “I am.” With simple, yet powerful imagery Jesus was the...

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” John 13:20 Ambassadorship befits those who follow Jesus—implicitly. We carry this responsibility because of our association with...

21 When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” Calm, cool and collected, Jesus seemed to be calm up until this point. But that was now changing. Though Son of...

22 The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking. We the readers already know what the principle support-actors in the play do not, namely which of them would betray the Master. They had no clue. In fact, the...

23 There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. Stark contrast with the betrayer, we find the disciple “whom Jesus loved.” Could this be the author’s method of making sure the reader sees the contrast. He knew Jesus loved him,...

24 So Simon Peter gestured to him, and said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.” Indications of an eyewitness testimony, John pictures for us the gesture of Peter. The two must have been some distance apart at the dinner table as they...

25 He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” John was in the privileged position, at the side of the Lord Jesus in the Upper Room, close enough to lean back against Jesus as they reclined around the dinner table, as was customary...

26 Jesus then answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Never one to give a simple answer, Jesus answers John (and Peter’s...

27 After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.” One cannot worship the risen Savior without contemplating His rejection and suffering. Dark and gloomy as it is, scenes like this passage weave the...

28 Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him. 29 For some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we have need of for the feast”; or else, that he should...

30 So after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night. No time to waste, the betrayer exited the intimate circle of fellowship—and fast was the fall thereof. Sometimes when the tares among the wheat have participated for so long in the...

32 … if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately. Finally, the fourth movement of glory is that God “will glorify Him immediately.” This is where things become concrete, where glory becomes tangible,...

31 Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him … With Judas now gone, the about-to-be-crucified-Savior-of-the-world begins to take His faithful disciples deeper in their preparation for His...

32 … if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately. Glory is what God is all about. Five times the word “glorify” appears in this and the preceding verse. The disciples were being introduced to an...

32 … if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately. Secondly, “God is glorified in Him.” “He has explained Him,” John writes in his account (John 1:18). The word “explained” means to fully bring out the...

32 … if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately. Finally, the fourth movement of glory is that God “will glorify Him immediately.” This is where things become concrete, where glory becomes tangible,...

33 “Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’” With great affection, Jesus refers to His disciples as “little children.” John, the Gospel...

34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” Love is central to Christianity, so central that even non-Christians recognize it as the “supposed” defining characteristic of those...

34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” Standard of love can be a self-defining, relative sort of thing. To love as you have been loved depends upon the love with which you...

35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Talk, liturgy, doctrinal correctness, morally faultless, known for wisdom—all are good things, but they do not mark us out as Christians. Many religions of the world...

36 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.” All the talk of love seemed to miss Peter, the consensus spokesperson for the twelve. Praise God for this character in...

37 Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.” Loyalty asserting, Peter asserts his fidelity. If anyone was devoted to Christ it was this man. Allegiance was his middle name. At least that is what he wants...

38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.” Second bomb dropping, Jesus gives the haunting assessment of Peter’s claims to loyalty. What could this brave disciple...

1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.” Never has there been a more timely message than this one. In the face of growing despondency and confusion, when everything looked to the disciples like it was going downhill fast,...

2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.” Heaven is going to be better than you or I can imagine. The Lord uses images from our experiences to describe our ultimate...

3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” Finally, Jesus assures them that His leaving them will only be a hiatus, a temporary situation. They could not possibly imagine life...

4 “And you know the way where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Simple language to convey a seismic change in thinking, Jesus simply says, “You know the way where I am going.” Yet they...

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." Ringing through the centuries, the centrality of the person of Jesus Christ for all of existence is proclaimed, and that by none other than Jesus...

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." There is one, and only one way to God, and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who lived in history. All roads do not lead to God,...

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." Philosophers seek the truth. Libraries on university campuses around the nation have written over the front entrance to their sacred halls, “Ye shall...

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Life ain’t nothin’ but a funny, funny riddle…”—so goes a catchy country song. Apart from Christ, our human existence can be confusing, frustrating,...

7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” They just didn’t get it yet, or we should say, they just didn’t get Jesus yet. Not quick studies, these disciples! But dare we judge them from the...

8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Philip’s turn, as Thomas slinks to the background, the third one of the disciples to venture an interaction with the Lord. Not wanting to be overly ambitious and risk rebuke, his...

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” Gently reproving Philip, the Lord challenges him that he should already know...

10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works." Yes, there was enough evidence linking Jesus to God, as Jesus indicated in...

10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Incredulity balanced with love, Jesus does not reject the disciples for...

11 “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.” Question gives way to command. “Why don’t you believe?” gives way to “You should believe.” Not strictly a command, but what is called a...

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.” Speaking to the future apostles (who they were going to be), not the present ones (who they are...

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.” Did Jesus speak generically when He made this promise concerning, “he who believes in Me,” in...

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.” One of the challenges of the Upper Room teaching is determining how much is aimed specifically...

13 “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” Pithy statements on prayer abound. Nothing is more simple and to the point, and “pithy,” than Jesus’ own...

13 “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” Martha had already concluded that Jesus had a special inside access to God, as she exclaimed to Him, “Even...

13 “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” The “anything in My name” covers a lot of ground. What are those things that would be appropriate requests?...

15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. Repetition is a key to interpretation. Jesus uses the phrase, “If you love Me…,” repeatedly in the Upper Room. The grammatical form is identical to the previous statements of our Lord, “If you ask Me...

16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever …” New presence, in light of Jesus’ imminent departure, will enable the disciples to carry on the mission, to carry the good news to all the world. This Upper...

16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever …” Ever wonder what the Trinity members say to one another, this mysterious one God who exists in three persons? If you find that unfathomable to contemplate, you...

16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever …” "Another Helper” will be given to us at the Son’s request. The third person of the Trinity is now in this world to be of assistance to us. Do you believe that?...

17 “… that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” Helper is synonymous with truth. That is the One the Father will be sending (in our...

17 “ … that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” Truth in the person of the Spirit, will be with us forever. In a world today where...

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” Great concern that good parents have for their children is to provide for them after they are gone. A well laid-out will with a wealthy inheritance makes a poor substitute for a father. Although in...

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” "Orphaned” is how Jesus described to His disciples their lives without Him. What a terrible thing to consider, life without the personal presence of God. For many people their religion views God only...

19 “After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. Oh, to have been there in the Upper Room with the disciples to see Christ in person, how could anything possibly be better than that? To...

20 “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. Trilogies occur not infrequently in Scripture. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the most central of course. But here we have the Father, Son and us. We take the liberty here...

21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” Young or unlearned Christians can stumble over this verse. Does not Jesus teach in...

22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” Unfortunate to have the same name as the traitor, this disciple presents the fourth and last question to their Lord in the...

23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.” Straight answers Jesus gave to the disciples in the Upper Room, though clouded emotions and thick...

24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. Making sure they don’t mistake what He is saying, Jesus repeats Himself in the negative. Before He said, “If anyone loves Me, he will...

24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. Word of Christ versus the word of the Father? Which is which? If Jesus Christ is God, then is not the word of the Father the same thing...

25 “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. Red letter Bibles are helpful for identifying the direct teachings of Jesus, but they are no more important than any other teachings found in Scripture. Some erroneously attribute more weight to...

26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. This verse adds two important truths to our understanding of the Holy Spirit. Let’s look at the...

27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” Surprisingly, this is the first time the word “peace” is used in the Gospel of John. He uses it one other...

28 “You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” Pushing the envelope, Jesus not only broke the news to the disciples in the Upper...

28 “You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I." Greater than the Son, how can that be? The concept challenges us on a number of...

29 “Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.” A young man went to buy life insurance for the first time. When he saw the face value suggested by the agent, he became quite excited, having never had that much money in...

30 “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me … " Jesus is absolutely pure of all evil, and gives no quarter to Satan. Jesus is connected to the Father, the God of Israel. To those who rejected Him,...

30 “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me … That Satan is still active in this world in made clear in many passages. We write about him, not to give him glory and undue attention, but to warn....

31 “… but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.” Everything recorded in the Gospels about Jesus demonstrates His love for His father. Intentionally. Everyone knows that Jesus...

31 “… but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.” Just as He followed the Spirit’s leading into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan at the beginning of His ministry (Matt...

1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.” Master teacher that He was, Jesus brought forward one of His farming illustrations. But we underestimate the divine Story-Teller if we fail to recognize the exquisite plot lines at various levels....

1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.” Spiritual growth, whether individually or corporately, is first and foremost God’s business. He not only is vitally interested, He is the primary cause of spiritual growth. As humans, we have a part,...

2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” Jesus, continuing with the vineyard imagery, speaks of the standard practice of pruning, common for increasing...

2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” One can imagine the Lord in the Upper Room speaking to His disciples, holding some fresh fruit in His hand. While...

3 “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” Ritualistic cleansing tempts the interpretation we might give this passage, but without merit, considering the context. The word “clean” occurs only in one other passage in the Gospel...

4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.” Fruitfulness the goal, abiding the process. It is popularly said today that the Lord does not command us to be...

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” Metaphors are more powerful than similes, both figures of speech. Similes, using words like “as” or “like” compare something...

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” Imagine John, the gospel chronicler, writing this account many years after the fact. He had apparently made it into his 90s,...

6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.” Theological debates rage over this verse. Three main interpretations are offered by those of differing...

6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.” Horror comes the thought of not being fruitful as a Christian! How can that even be possible for those of...

7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Among the great promises about prayer in the Bible, our passage contains Jesus’ simple invitation to “ask whatever you wish.” What a fantastic, wonderful...

7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” This being the key to prayer is not an overstatement. Every other verse on prayer in scripture subsumes under this over-arching principle. Many...

7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” So why does God leave the divine resources on hold until we ask for them? Why not just put them on autopilot and skip the middle step of asking? Then He...

8 “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” Reputation is important to God, that is, His reputation. Being created in His image, our main goal in life is to glorify God. We agree with the first point of the...

8 “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” "That the world might know that I love the Father,” is the ultimate fruit of our Christian lives (John 14:31). This is not a matter of verbally including a certain...

9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. Flowing love, from the Father to the Son, and now to us—why would any believer not want to abide in Christ’s love? Jesus’ love for us is exactly the same kind of love that the...

10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” So how do we abide in Christ’s love? We abide in His love by keeping His commandments. That is the pattern we have from Jesus...

11 “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” Joy is not automatic, nor does it depend upon circumstances. Rather, this is a supernatural joy that is completely independent of life’s circumstances,...

11 “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” The intimate circle of those who have forsaken all to follow Christ involves a fellowship of joy. While He spoke to the multitudes in parables, Jesus...

11 “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” Life to the full (John 10:10) can be had even when hard times come. The more we know that before those experiences arrive, the better position we are in...

11 “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” The words of Jesus echoed throughout Peter’s life, so that in his later years he encouraged the scattered, persecuted believers with these words, “…...

12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. How interesting, love as a commandment. So much has been written on it in Christian circles that a short devotional cannot do justice to this statement by the Lord Jesus Christ...

12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Christians often seem to squabble a lot within churches, among churches, between denominations and doctrinal persuasions. A common criticism today is that individual Christians...

13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. Well-quoted, but rarely lived out (or should I say rarely “died out”), this verse. It is the stuff of noble characters in fiction novels. But this should be normative...

13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” Love is the greatest of all Christian virtues (1 Corinthians 13:13) and in our passage, Jesus identifies the greatest form of love—giving one’s life for another person....

14 “You are My friends if you do what I command you.” Name dropping is the “art” of building oneself up by verbally associating with those of a higher status. In Canada, for example, most people can say they personally know or have met a professional hockey...

15 “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” When did Jesus call His disciples slaves? Well, maybe not in...

15 “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” We can’t help but remember Abraham, the “friend of God” (James...

16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” Theological debate rages between the so-called Armineans...

16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” "Appoint” means to lay hold of for a purpose. There is no...

17 “This I command you, that you love one another. Five times, count them. Jesus commands Christians to love one another. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34)...

18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.” Not a very hopeful prognosis, to say the least. But that is only if we pull this verse out of context. The disciples had already been promised a new home in heaven, a reuniting...

19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. "Hate speech” is a phrase bandied about today. If anyone disagrees with another’s life...

20 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” Quoting Himself, “A slave is not greater than his master,” Jesus...

21 “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.” Jesus had just raised the disciples to the status of friends (“You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves … I...

22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin." Now clearly, there was sin in the world already before this, as Paul later wrote, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world,...

23 “He who hates Me hates My Father also." Jesus-phobia, Jesus-hate. There is coming a day when we will see this in our western world, where we have long enjoyed a Judeo-Christian culture and morality, infused with the influence of the Bible. Increasingly,...

24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.” The Judge has spoken. The charge is hate. If Jesus had not come as Messiah, they would not have been...

25 “But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’” Many today invoke the word “hate” to project the most extreme judgment on the intentions of another person with whom there is disagreement. Much...

26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me …” Our western culture values the market place of free speech and public debate. Hatred blinds the mind of...

26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me…” We stand not alone in the quest for truth. God has a vested interest in the march of truth into the...

27 “… and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.” Chosen to be God’s instruments in propagating the truth, we followers of Christ have the inestimable privilege of joining with the Trinity in testifying about Jesus Christ....

1 “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling." Jesus used a common training tool with His disciples, telling them about the problems they will have, before they get there—so the surprise element won’t stumble them. In fact, the...

2 “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.” Persecution will run extreme, Jesus warns His disciples in the comfort and culinary enjoyment of the Passover...

3 “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.” Ignorance is no excuse, so goes the popular saying. And that’s true in spiritual things as well, if you think about it carefully. There is no excuse for not knowing God, for He...

3 “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.” Atheists assert there cannot possibly be a God. How could that be when there are so many evils in the world: wars, genocides, murder, extortion and sickness? That was the “argument”...

4 “But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.” No one wrote down what Jesus said while He spoke. Yet they needed...

5 “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 “But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Overwhelmed at His leaving them, the disciples were oblivious to even considering where He...

6 “But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart." Sorrow in itself is over-rated. True, there is genuine sorrow at the loss of things that are precious to us—that is inherent to our human nature. However, sorrow can be eclipsed...

7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you." "Read my lips,” says the Master. “Focus people, you are blinded by one of the truths I told...

8 “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment …” Conviction is that inner work of exposing a person to his own true nature. The world was already under God’s judgment and Jesus came to provide a solution....

8 “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment …” This work of conviction belongs to the Holy Spirit alone, not to any human being. Yet it seems to be in human nature the desire to displace the Spirit’s work....

9  "… concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me..." Main problem with lost sinners is not the specific sins they commit. Those are the symptoms of the deeper problem, namely the sin nature. When unbelievers sin (and sometimes sin in “big” ways), they...

10 “… and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me…” Righteousness in God’s terms resides not in a set of precepts, but in the life and person of Jesus Christ. He is the “Holy and Righteous One” (Acts 3:14-15). While the...

11 “… and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.” Judgment looms over the world of unbelievers. And it began with the judgment of Satan. The actual event that brought on this judgment was still future to the time Jesus spoke...

11 “… and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.” Fear of judgment runs deep in the human heart, a foreboding sense of coming up short of what God expects. That is what enlightens our understanding of what Jesus meant when...

12 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” Amazing as it was for the disciples to have sat under the Lord’s direct teaching—and amazement was a frequent experience of theirs—there was a whole lot more that Jesus could have...

13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” What a salve this truth must have been to the...

13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” Combined with the perfect recall Jesus told...

14 “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. The Holy Spirit’s role is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. Does this make Him lesser than the Son? Not in the least. The Spirit is fully God, just as the Son and the Father are...

15 “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.” Three in harmony, all working together, the Father, the Son and the Spirit (the “He” in our verse refers to the Spirit as understood from the...

15 “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.” Trinitarianism stretches our minds, and that makes sense. It goes against the propensity of humans to put God in a box, reduce Him to that which...

16 “A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.” Again Jesus tells them of His departure. This is certainly not a new thought (John 7:33); in fact, this subject dominated the Upper Room conversation (see...

17 Some of His disciples then said to one another, “What is this thing He is telling us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” 18 So they were saying, “What is this that...

19 Jesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’? Some people appear to be mind-readers...

20 “Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. Although experiencing heavy emotions at the thought of Jesus leaving them, that was nothing compared to what...

21 “Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. 22 Therefore you too have grief now; but I will...

21 “Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. 22 Therefore you too have grief now; but I will...

23 “In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.” Prayer is a most enigmatic Christian discipline, but it ought not be so. If there is one thing the...

23 “In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.” Whether “that day” refers to post-resurrection appearances of Christ or to post-Pentecostal life in...

24 “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. Upper Room teaching is not exhaustive, but it is profound. Jesus wasn’t saying everything there is to say about prayer at that time, but He is...

24 “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. Promise of answered prayer was not new to the disciples. Neither was the promise of joy. As early as John the Baptist, joy was presented as...

25 “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. Figurative language was a common educational technique for Jesus, the Master...

26“In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. Hard to take, but maybe it...

27 “… for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.” An interpretive issue arises in this verse that must not be left unaddressed. Is God’s love for us contingent upon our love for Him, as...

27 “… for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. Belief that Jesus came from God” is absolutely essential for a right relationship with God. True Christianity does not teach that Jesus the...

28 “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.” Relationship between the three persons of the triune God—that’s an issue which taxes the best intellects. Contrary to Muslim thinking (as...

29 His disciples said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. 30 Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.” 31Jesus answered them, “Do you...

32 “Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. The hour Jesus spoke of in John 4:23 when “true worshippers will worship the...

33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” That Christians will suffer in this world is abundantly asserted in the New Testament. Jesus here says...

33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” One might be hard pressed to take Jesus seriously, in context of all that was happening: “I have...

33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” Peace in Christ derives from the most relevant truth for our day, Christ is peace. The young unbeliever...

33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” Seven times in the New Testament this word for courage is used, and always in the imperative, a...

1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You …” John 17 is forever titled, “Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer.” Some have called it “the Lord’s Prayer,” as...

1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You …” The hour” had finally come, for the full revelation of who Jesus really was. From the time of the first...

1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You …” With the awaited time arriving, Jesus began with “Father,” the same as He taught His disciples to pray (Luke...

1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You …” Requesting glory for Himself, Jesus is the only person in the universe that escapes moral guilt for doing...

1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You …” High Priestly Prayer” is the title often given to this chapter. The high priest in the Jewish religion, was...

2 “… even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.” The request now for glory, that begins Jesus’ Upper Room prayer, does not arise out of a vacuum or a whim. He couches this request in the...

2 “… even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.” Authority given to Christ extends to all of creation, including the unseen spiritual angelic world. The writer to the Hebrews explains: “You...

2 “… even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.” Very specifically, and most importantly, Jesus was given the authority to grant eternal life. God’s relationship with His image-bearers is the...

3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Eternal life, what is that? Christians like to think of it as our spiritual fire insurance policy, our “get out of hell” card, a euphemism for...

3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” What would Jesus do,” was a popular saying a few years ago. But many used it to support any “good feel” activity or “politically correct” notion in...

4 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” Shining light on the true nature of God was Jesus’ goal. And truly that was needed, because since the fall in the Garden of Eden, the knowledge of God grew darker...

4 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” Shining light on God’s character so that people might see Him as He is – that is the work Jesus came to do. Everything about Jesus, what He taught, the miracles He...

4 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” Past tense is what Jesus used to describe the work of glorifying God. Yet He had not yet accomplished the greatest work assigned to Him, namely dying on the cross...

5 “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” Togetherness is unity, an important theme of this Upper Room. Unity begins, though, with the Father and the Son. The “work” of glorifying God is a...

5“Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” Glory, typically, is something we tend to think of in terms of brightness, an apt metaphor or depiction. To see God as He is would certainly be a...

6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.” The Name of God is the most significant word in all of Scripture. What is it that Jesus manifested on earth?...

6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.” The name of God was revealed to Moses in the burning bush story in Exodus 3:14, but He clarified shortly...

6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.” Atoning was what the religious leaders tried to do to Jesus when He “manifested” God’s name to them. To...

6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.” Election is the theological term used to label the teaching that God has selected some men for special...

6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.” God could have justly snuffed out the entire world, including the first man and woman. He graciously withheld...

6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.” God’s gift to Jesus Christ is you and me! Now that’s an interesting thought. We sometimes hear the derisive...

6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.” Action was the activity of the Lord Jesus Christ, not just verbal teaching. Taking the verse as a whole, we...

7 “Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You …” Cryptic is this saying of Jesus in the Upper Room, seemingly redundant: everything given to Jesus by God is from God. Though the original language leaves this verse somewhat...

8 “… for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.” Enigmatic might be the way to describe how the disciples first saw Jesus, difficult to...

8 “… for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.” Intriguing – the conversation between Father and Son, and the words given. What were these...

9 “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours …” Prayers of intercession begin with Jesus, and are a priestly function. While we see this sort of praying for others in the OT (Abraham,...

9 “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours …” Popular religion would have us believe that, “We are all God’s children,” emphasizing our commonality and unity with all people. If by...

9 “… for they are Yours; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. Community in its finest form, that is what the Father and Son experienced. While the Trinity is the most unique and central part of...

9 “… for they are Yours; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. Before anything else existed, God was all there was. Some modern atheists ascribe to the popular notion, “The cosmos is all there is,”...

9 “… for they are Yours; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. How was Jesus glorified in the disciples? We must first see that God was glorified and is glorified in His creation. The angels...

11 “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. His work on earth was finished; He was no longer part of...

11 “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are." Skin of an onion—composed of continuous peels, at...

11 “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.” He is gone, we are here. And now He asked His Father...

11 “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.” "Holy Father”—this is the only time in Scripture God is...

12 “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.” Like a farewell speech, Jesus outlines His final requests...

12 “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled." Keeping and guarding His disciples, even when they were...

12 “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.” One perished. Jesus kept and guarded all but one. Judas....

12 “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.” God’s ways are higher than our ways—and that perplexes...

13 “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.” Many Christians include in their prayer to God, “I come to You.” On the one hand, this seems odd in that God is everywhere present, and...

13 “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.” His presence is the place to be. God’s presence. “I come to You.” What do we find there? In the context of the Upper Room, we can see that...

13 “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. Jesus was all about joy, which at this juncture in His tenure on earth, might sound a bit macabre. But He has actually used that word four...

13 “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. More than human joy, that is what Jesus was talking about. A supernatural joy that completely overshadows human experience while not...

14 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” "Word,” that was the operative term in Jesus’ ministry, the “Logos.” The gospel of John begins with it, “In the beginning was...

14 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” We have seen that Jesus is “the Word” of God. In fact, at His second coming, He is pictured as riding on a white horse, “clothed...

14 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” The world today has it all wrong. If Jesus was such a non-threatening, non-judgmental, always gentle, accepting person, then why...

14 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” Christ and Culture” is the title of a book by theologian H. Richard Niebuhr (1951). Considering the relationship Christians have...

14 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” The world does not take too kindly to Christians. No matter how inoffensive we try to be, no matter how loving we are toward the...

15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. Well-known Christian phrase, “In the world, but not of the world” is one of those pithy statements that has stood the test of time, because it comes from the Upper Room...

15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.” Why do Christians resort to legalism, living by a list of do’s and don’ts? Fallen human nature compels us to think we can become good enough to regain God’s favor. Yet...

15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.” The evil one, that is the problem with being in the world. Ultimately the battle is not with other Christians or even with ourselves. It’s the devil. He has been in the...

16 “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” Reality check – we Christians are not of this world! Not the disciples in the Upper Room, not us today. God looks at the human population and sees two kinds or categories of people, those who are...

16 “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” Jesus was not of this world. He certainly did not run lock-step with the Jewish world. Yes, that was the world He lived in. Born to a humble Jewish woman, the circumstances of that birth were...

17 “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” What separates Christians from the world? Certainly, there is a spiritual separation, in that true believers are spiritually alive, while all others are spiritually dead. There may be cultural differences,...

17 “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” How does God sanctify His people? According to Jesus sanctification relates to the truth, particularly the truth of His Word. The word “Truth” is one of the important words used in the Gospel according to...

17 “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” The Bible is the Word of God, and it is the truth of God. While we agree with the saying that, “All truth is God’s truth,” the truth of the Word of God is different than other kinds of truth. There is much...

18 “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” Like Christ, like Christians. We are an extension of Him in this world, on assignment. Our being sent into the world is rooted in Jesus’ being sent into the world. We are carrying on...

18 “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” The apostle Paul referred to the twelve as “the apostles” (1 Cor 15:7, Gal 1:7), clearly speaking of them as a one-time, not to be expanded group with a unique authority. The term came...

18 “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” Preparation of the apostles was absolutely critical to the founding of the Christian movement. Their role cannot be overstated--thus Jesus spent considerable time preparing them and...

19 “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” How can Jesus sanctify Himself when He is already perfectly holy? The word for sanctify is “hagiazo” and is related to the holy “hagios.” One sanctifies oneself to...

19 “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” For you and me as believers, Jesus sanctified Himself. He was the Man on a mission to make us saints, both in position and in practice. He set Himself apart so that...

20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word…” Humility of Christ is on display in this Upper Room prayer. As God incarnate, it was certainly within His realm of ability to perform all the things He asks...

20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word…” Jesus’ intercessory prayer for His disciples showed a humble submission to the Father. In His incarnation, He placed Himself in a completely dependent role...

20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word…” Fourth of July is the day the United States celebrates as Independence Day, commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This is the most...

21 “… that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” Eavesdropping on someone’s self-talk can be fascinating. Movies reveal what a character is thinking by...

21 “… that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” The most intimate conversation between God the Son and God the Father, when it turns to His followers,...

21 “… that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” Fully divine, God in the flesh, that’s what Jesus was. Some Christians in their efforts to defend this...

21 “… that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” Christians speak of friendship evangelism, sports evangelism, coffee shop evangelism, child evangelism....

22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one…” Goal-oriented, God’s desire is for we believers to be unified. But it brings no glory to God if our unity means watering down of the truth. The modern...

22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one…” What does it mean for Christians to be united, even when there are strong and important disagreements? Doctrinal differences have often resulted in...

22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one…” Some Christians have so narrowly defined their circle of doctrine that they see themselves as the remnant, the extreme, very few, the faithful. They insist...

22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one…” We have seen in verse 21, a unity that bears witness to Christ being sent from God. Now looking closely at verse 22, we can see that there is a glory that...

22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one…” Another level of the received Glory points to the future. Just like Christ’s glory was veiled when He lived out His incarnation while on earth until after...

23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. "Them” includes us today. Jesus’ prayer in the Upper Room transcends future history, extending to all...

23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Connection to Christ and His mission is depicted with the imagery of our Lord being physically “in” us....

23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Enough about unity? No, we can’t say enough; this was a high point in Jesus’ teaching. And judging from...

23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. This speaks of intimacy and unity of the highest order, that is what is meant by the little preposition...

24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” Where is a certain intensity to Jesus’ prayer, “Father, I desire...

24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” Eternity in view, Jesus speaks of the foundation of the world and...

25 “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me…” Six times in this High Priestly prayer and fifty-three times in the Upper Room, Jesus speaks of His “Father.” The family relationship...

25 “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me…” Worldly ignorance of God is no excuse because sinfulness has blinded the eyes of fallen man, rendering him incapable of seeing or...

26 “… and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” “God”—that is not His name. That is the general term for deity, “Theos” in Greek, and “Elohim” in Hebrew. But His...

26 “… and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” Thirteen times in the Upper Room the “Name” is mentioned, eight of those times in reference to Jesus Himself, and...

26 “… and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” "I Am,” Jesus said on multiple occasions, taking the very name of God. He intentionally applied the revered,...

13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end … 17:26 “… so that the love with which You loved Me may...

1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end … 26 “… so that the love with which You loved Me may be in...