2. Prayer I: Covenant
Jesus' prayer in John 17 is far more than a man visiting with God. Jesus is every word God speaks; Jesus is the Word by which the Father created the initial heavens and earth. This prayer spoken on the day of the cross is the same as the Word God initially spoke, except greater, for this prayer is the word that creates the New Creation, the Kingdom of God.It is an astonishing thing that these words hold so little place in Christian thinking. Yet they should be studied, not as "nice ideas," but as the foundation and the building blocks of all God intends in the new creation, a creation that is everything in substance, but is not yet known in appearance.
Lesson 2.1 Authority positions this prayer in its importance to God and shows how Jesus claims the authority of glory, that is, of fulfilling all the Father's desire in a job well done, as His right to speak this new creation.
Lesson 2.2 Age-Abiding Life investigates the one definition God gives us in the Bible of what eternal life is, that is, knowing the Father, and knowing Jesus Sent. The lesson also includes a full layout of the prayer from a couple of angles for the purpose of our understanding the power and impact of these words.
Lesson 2.3 Not of the World looks at the many times Jesus refers to the old creation in this prayer. We see that the world is in labor to birth the new creation - as a mother whose only thought regarding her child in the birthing is "get out of here."
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