“…as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.” John 17:2.
Notice that Christ has received authority over all flesh. As God this thought seems odd, since God has already said that, “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine…” Ezekiel 18:4a.
The question becomes, why does Jesus have to receive authority over something He already owns?
The answer is that this is a different kind of authority. Before the sacrifice of Christ all of mankind was utterly lost, eternally separated from God by sin.
Jesus’ death on the cross completely expunged sin for those who would believe and accept that sacrifice as the vicarious payment for their sin. As a result it could be said from that standpoint that the Lord did not previously have authority over all flesh, even though all souls were His. The cross changed everything!
“…when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” Hebrews 1:3b-4.
Men have to have someone else die to gain an inheritance, but it is God’s strange economy that Jesus, God the Son, the One to inherit, had to die for it.
However without His sacrifice, there would have been nothing to inherit. But notice the size of the inheritance; “…You have given Him authority over all flesh.”
All flesh means all of mankind, ever, and specifically those who without knowing how it was to be done, accepted God’s word that a savior would come to settle the sin question. These are best described as those having the faith of Abraham.
“…just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” Galatians 3:6-7.
The Apostle Paul is quoting from Genesis 15:6 in the above verse.
Jesus even spoke of this kind of faith when He presented Himself to Israel.
“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” John 8:24.
What did these folks have to believe?
They had to believe that Jesus was He, the Messiah. If they had done so, they would have displayed the faith of Abraham, Moses, King David, or the disciples, anyone who accepted Christ for who He said He was, the Messiah.
So Christ’s authority over all flesh meant all of the Old Testament believers from Adam and Eve on through to the still future end of time.
Christ having given Himself as a sacrifice for sin and having received authority over all flesh; the way was open for Jesus to, “…give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.”
To all who wish to receive eternal life from Christ, again it is a matter of believing that He is who He says He is.
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name…” John 1:12.
“He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.” 1 John 5:10-12.
The verse also goes on to say that Jesus will give eternal life to as many as God gives to Him. Does that mean that God only gives Jesus so many people to be saved? The answer to that is no.
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9.
If God is unwilling that any should perish, who is it that God gives to the Son?
If you will read Romans 1:16-32, you will see that God reveals Himself by the things that are made, and by His Holy Spirit who teaches men through, Scripture, conscience, nature, and evangelists of the true and living God.
“It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” John 6:45.
Notice the two conditions here: a person must hear God, which they all do, but not everyone listens or cares what is being said.
They must learn. How often has someone sat through a lecture or sermon and not learned anything. I know that I have, you really need to care about the things being spoken of to really pay attention.
It is also possible for someone to hear but not learn because they did not agree with what was being said. The subject would not fit through their mental grid, so to speak, and was ignored.
But those who have heard and learned, come to Jesus because they have believed God’s testimony. There is no quota here; no one has been created destined to go to hell, men are free to choose their final destination.
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3.
The immediate meaning here is that salvation to eternal life is gained only by belief (“…everyone who has heard and learned…”) in the one true God, and Jesus Christ who paid for our sins.
But what is the meaning of eternal life, is it a state of eternal existence, immortality?
Consider the fact that the inhabitants of hell also have eternal life, and that life will continue until they are cast into the lake of fire where they will still be alive through eternity.
One may be tempted to say, yes, hell is eternal life, but hell is far different from eternal life in heaven. Technically, yes would be right, but this is not the whole answer.
Eternal life is not just a state of bliss in heaven because, if God were as obscure to us in heaven as He is here on earth, in time it would be just another place; a wonderful place yes, but eternity is a long time to explore something which is finite.
“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12.
We can only see God dimly as in a mirror, the ancient mirrors being made of brass or some other polished metal gave a poor reflection, which is what Scripture does, as wonderful as it is.
It shows us God but not as clearly as we will see Him when we stand before Him in heaven.
This is truly what eternal life in heaven is, to be a child and companion to the infinite God. To spend eternity with our Father who is so unfathomable that we will always find another facet of Him to marvel at.
“But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’” 1 Corinthians 2:9.
Hell, on the other hand, is called death, and when unbelievers are cast into the eternal lake of fire on Judgment Day, it is called the second death, see Revelation 20:13-15.
Why would this be called death and second death when people really will be living on for eternity? Death in this case is not just physical death as we know it; this death is eternal separation from God.
The atheist and existentialist philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre, is quoted as saying, “A finite point without an infinite reference point is meaningless and absurd.”
The quick translation is this; man without God is a joke. Though an atheist, he has hit the nail right on the head.
Life on earth right now is meaningless and absurd without God; men and women however, have the option of turning to Him for salvation or comfort.
We also as Christian’s have a God given task to perform for Him while here on earth. As a result, life in Christ has meaning and purpose. While there is life, there is hope.
For those in hell right now, there is no God, there is no purpose, and eternal life is meaningless and absurd.
When the ungodly are cast into the lake of fire on Judgment Day they will look upon the vast plain of nothingness and see Death and Hades symbolically cast in with them and the door slammed shut; they will know that the door will never be opened again, ever.
Doomed, they will truly be forgotten and without hope. Choose eternal life, choose Christ.
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3.
The only true God is as opposed to the many false gods of the world. There is only one true God, the eternal Creator of all things. God makes claim in numerous places that He is the only God. And men are capable of recognizing the difference between Him and their false gods.
Even Pharaoh’s own magicians admitted this during the ten plagues Moses brought upon Egypt. They were doing a very convincing job of imitating the plagues, until the third one, the plague of lice.
“Now the magicians so worked with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice on man and beast. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God.’ But Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had said.” Exodus 8:18-19.
“…that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3b.
This is the only place where the Lord refers to Himself using both names together. Jesus, meaning YAWEH is salvation, “because He saves His people from their sins” and Christ, meaning Anointed One, King – God’s King given authority to rule over mankind.
The placement of the name of God (“…the only true God”) and Jesus Christ together in this verse is again, a strong reminder of the deity of Christ.
“I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” John 17:4-5.
There must have been a remarkable sense of completion, perhaps, satisfaction when the Lord said these words. Except for the final hours, His death, Jesus had finished the work that the Father had sent Him to earth for.
He was finally coming to a point in time that He had been anticipating from eternity past; the completion of the task of revealing God to men and paying for the sin of the world.
In just hours it would be completely finished. His resurrection from the dead would be the visible proof that God was completely satisfied with what Jesus had done.
“…the glory which I had with You before the world was.” One could perhaps imagine the glory which the Lord had with the Father in a peaceful and sinless place; but to imagine a time before the world was, becomes something that the mind cannot fully embrace.
Here we see through a glass darkly, but imagine all of the things we will want to ask Him when we stand before Him face to face.
Imagine all the things we will see when we arrive.
Imagine a place with no sickness, disease, handicaps, separation, anxiety, or death. Imagine eternal, uninterrupted peace.
God’s Glory, John 17:2-5 (2nd of 2 parts) taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 5-12-13, updated on 3-16-18.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.