Title: I AM THE GATE
Author: Andrew Nugteren
Company: Private

On the Death of a King 
Text: John 17:1-5
Readings: 
•	Daniel 7:9-14 
•	John 17:1-5 
It's an historic occasion, brothers and sisters - the very first worship service in this new congregation, which we hope, by God's grace, will be established in this part of the city. All the planning has come together; our prayers have been wonderfully answered; and it is certainly my prayer, as I know it is yours, that the name of our Lord Jesus might be advanced in our efforts - that his kingdom might be extended and that we might see people come to understand who the Saviour is and bow to him in true worship and adoration. We do not do this for ourselves, brothers and sisters. This is not first and foremost, a personal preference or a matter of convenience. We do this for our Lord. Let his name be honoured and praised in our midst. 
Well, then, let's start out as we intend to go on. Let's begin these services of worship here in the southwest by focusing our attention on our Lord and on his desires for us and for all his people. To this end, we begin a series of sermons on what has been called the high priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that during his life and ministry on earth, Jesus prayed and prayed frequently. Even when he was extremely busy, with many public demands being made upon him, precisely for that reason, he would rise up early in the morning, before the light of day, and spend time communing with God the Father in prayer. He would pray before meals and at least at one point, he gave the disciples extended instruction on how they should pray. But the prayer before us in John 17 is the only prayer of our Lord that was overheard by 11 disciples and recorded at such great length. There are aspects of this prayer that strain human understanding and we would foolish to say that we can plumb its depths exhaustively. But Jesus knew that he was being overheard and he wanted his prayer inscribed in Scripture so that we could gain as much encouragement from it as the disciples no doubt did as they heard it and pondered its significance for many years later. 
Interestingly, and appropriately also for us, Jesus prayed this prayer after he had instituted the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in the upper room in Jerusalem and just prior to his arrest and crucifixion. So since we celebrated the Lord's Supper together last Sunday let's look now at the opening section of Jesus' prayer in verses 1-5. I say "section" because the prayer can be divided up into three main parts - the first five verses, in which Jesus is focusing on himself and his work in relation to God the Father, a second section in which he prays for his disciples and a third in which he prays for those who will become Christians at a later time. 
If there is something that stands out in particular at the beginning of the prayer, it is the dignity and glory of Christ our Lord. He was born to Joseph and Mary bereft of his glory that had been his from eternity. He became a bondslave, says the Scripture - a man who learned obedience through the things that he suffered. He was a man of sorrows - a man who had no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, says the prophet. When he began his ministry, they said: Who does this man think he is? Isn't he the son of Joseph the carpenter? When he claimed to be more than that, the Pharisees said of him that he had delusions of grandeur and very shortly he is going to be accused of blasphemy before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem and before Pilate. But in spite of those things, and I will argue, through those very things, there is expressed in this prayer a dignity and majesty to Jesus Christ that almost defies understanding. 
What do I mean by that? Well, consider first his sovereign control over these events. In September last year, the entire world was shocked at the untimely death of Diana, Princess of Wales. We heard of very little else in the news for a period of weeks on end. Of course, one of the reasons why the world was so stunned at the death of Princess Diana is because it was one of those senseless events for which there is no emotional or spiritual preparation. It just happens. And for Diana also this was true. She may have been famous and powerful in this world but death is the great leveller of all. That car accident was something that happened to her and over which she had no control whatsoever. 
Some have thought that Jesus died in the same way. Events took over and he was caught up in them. Of course, the reports of Jesus' day would have been not nearly as flattering, and Elton John was not there to sing about the sad event, but with the benefit of 2000 years worth of hindsight, some would say that it was an untimely death of a person who gave the world so much. Taken away at the age of 33 by people who did not understand his significance. Jesus was swept away by events beyond his control. 
But nothing could be further from the truth. As he begins his prayer, he says: Father, the hour has come. This is the hour for which Jesus had been preparing and teaching his disciples for the last three years. He had set his face towards Jerusalem knowing full well what awaited him there and he had tried on more than one occasion to get this through to his disciples but still they do not understand. But not only that, this is the hour that the whole world had been waiting for from the fall of our first parents Adam and Eve. This was the time when the seed of the woman would decisively crush the head of the serpent. Yes, he would be bruised in the process but the victory he would win would be the most significant event in the history of the human race. This was what the prophets had foretold and what Elijah and Moses and all the saints who had exercised faith in the promises of God were even now, in heaven, looking forward to with anticipation and awe. Now was the time when the Son of Man would be presented before the Ancient of Days and receive power and dominion and a kingdom that would never be destroyed. This was the hour predicted by Daniel. Heaven and earth were poised for this divine victory ever the devil and the powers of hell were appalled. 
But Jesus is no pawn in the service of greater powers. Jesus knew that he had control over all people or all flesh - as the Greek has it in verse 2. To someone looking on and not understanding, he was just a man - Jesus of Nazareth - a good person who would be tragically killed after a mockery of a trial. But consider: Jesus had absolute control over all flesh. He gave to Pilate the breath he used to give the order for crucifixion. He gave to the soldiers the strength that they needed for driving the very nails into his hands and feet. This was the Son of God, who was present at Creation and from whom and through whom and to whom are all things, says the Scripture. When Jesus laid down his life, it was a deliberate act of self-sacrifice - like no other act of sacrifice that has ever been seen. No one else could say: When I lay down my life I do so possessing absolute control over the very ones who kill me. It is no accident that this prayer comes on the heels of his statement to his disciples at the end of chapter 16: In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. 
Brothers and sisters, boys and girls, we cannot understand the death of Christ until it dawns on us that Jesus was ready to die and willing to die and in complete control over every event that happened to him. The death of this king was planned and carried out by the king himself in exhaustive detail. 
But why? Why did Jesus do this? If he had absolute control over all flesh - why did he not only let this happen - but plan it to happen this way? Well that brings me to my second observation: His glorification of God the Father. Jesus is very clear about this. He says in verse 1: Glorify thy Son, that the Son may glorify thee. Again, this is a staggering statement. Jesus knew that this event of his death by crucifixion and later his resurrection from the dead would actually glorify God the Father. When people came to understand this event, they would be absolutely staggered by it, for this was not just an act of God the Son as he willingly lay down his life. This was an act of God the Father - who sent his Son and wanted him to do this. 
We can imagine, perhaps, a person who lays down his life in sacrifice for his friends and we can praise this as an act of love. Didn't Jesus say: Greater love has no man than this than to lay down his life for his friends. But what about those amazing words in John 3:16 - God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. As one theologian has said: Let's not forget the significance of that little word "only". Let's not forget it, for it conveys material for a host of hymns of praise. God not only gave his son - this was his only son. I think of those words in Genesis 22 when God gave the command to Abraham: Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac - and offer him up as a sacrifice. How Abraham's heart must have wilted with every poignant word. These were like arrows in his soul. Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and offer him up. And God did that knowing that he would provide the sacrifice in the place of Isaac, and knowing full well that one day he would do the same with his own son, only in this case, there would be no substitutionary lamb - for his only son was the lamb and there would be no staying of the hands that drove the nails in his hands and feet. Not this time. 
Can you see why Jesus said in the eve of his death: Glorify thy Son, that the Son may glorify thee? When we see the crucifixion of Jesus rightly, we have to bow our heads and praise God. It is God the Father who deserves the glory and the world needs to hear about it. Brothers and sisters how can you not praise him, when you know that God gave the Son for you? It was for you, in all your rebellion and sinfulness. You were not the friends of God - you deserved something else entirely. But God sent his Son for you and when Jesus said: The hour has come - God the Father was just as ready for this event as he was. 
That brings me to my final point and this concerns his gift of eternal life. There is another staggering statement in verse 2 [read]. What does that mean? It means that Jesus did not die in order to make salvation possible for those who would decide to exercise faith. For those interested in theological terms, that's called Arminianism and it's not taught in the Bible. On the contrary - there were people entrusted to Jesus by God the Father and it was for these that Jesus lay down his life. So this authority that Jesus has over all mankind will be exercised in such a way that he will give eternal life to all those already given to him by God the Father. It's all one way traffic, brothers and sisters; it's all one way traffic. It comes from God to us - always from God to us. 
Let me put it this way: Jesus did not die for humanitarian reasons. He did not die to glorify man or to make people say how wonderful the human spirit is. He did not die because he had compassion on people who were suffering and wanted to show how much he cared. If that were all we could say then his death was of no effect whatsoever. Of course, Jesus had compassion and love for those who were suffering, but his death did more than show this. His death enabled him to grant eternal life to his people. But what is the point of that, some might say? What's the advantage of this life going on forever and ever? In fact, advocates of euthanasia would argue most strenuously, that they couldn't imagine anything worse than this live going on endlessly. Ah well, to all such cynics, we need to point out an interesting fact about the Greek language. In Greek, there are two words for "life". The first word, bios, is the term from which we get the English word biological, and it means life as we experience it - this life with all its pain and its struggle. In fact, it is acknowledged in Scripture that this bios of ours is often not very much to write home about for other reasons as well. For example, in Luke 8, in the Parable of the Sower, Jesus makes reference to the pleasures of this life which choke out spiritual awareness and growth. No, if eternal life were eternal bios, with all of its heartache and sinfulness, the advocates of euthanasia might have a point. But there is another word for life in the Greek - the term zoe. If bios is life extensive and natural, zoe is life intensive and spiritual. This is life with God - life on another level entirely from what we have currently experienced. This is life without any sin and without any pain. And, you guessed it; Jesus came to give us eternal zoe! 
You say, if only I could know that for sure. I want so much for this to be true, but in this life there are still tears and sorrow and heartache. And I am still hurting. It is the zoe I want, but it's the bios I'm stuck with. But look at verse 3 [read]. Notice that Jesus does not say: This makes eternal life possible - to know God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. He says: This is eternal life. If you know God and you know that he sent Jesus Christ because he loves this world and if you know who Jesus is and why he laid down his life and you know this personally - then you have eternal life. You already have that wonderful spiritual life that Jesus came to give you. And your biological life is something exterior and secondary. So brothers and sisters, when your biological life comes to an end, all your sorrow and heartache will be taken away from you by God the Father. It will be like the stripping away of the battered, misshapen, encrusted oyster to expose the priceless pearl within. 
To become a Christian is so easy. All you need is to know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. That's all. This is eternal life. Let me say that you would have to be absolutely mad not to know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. I want to push you, pull you or do anything I have to do to make you renounce the insanity of unbelief. The Bible says that the fool says in his heart, there is no God. And that's right. What a foolish thing to say: there is no God.
Do not hesitate or make excuses. Believe. Know God and Jesus Christ and eternal life is yours. Let me read again the words of the Saviour [read verses 1-3]. Amen.