Praying to His Father
Excerpt
As Jesus turns to address the Father his speech implies that he is taken up into the eternal presence (cf. Brown 1970:747). He speaks as if his work were already complete (for example, v. 4). Indeed, he even says, “I am no longer in this world” (v. 11, completely obscured in the NIV). But right after that he says, I say these things while I am still in the world(v. 13). He is right there with his disciples just before his death, but he is praying from the realm of eternity. Just as the book of Revelation reveals from a heavenly perspective the certainty of God’s unfolding will, so this prayer of Jesus shows that he is completely confident in the outworking of that will.
Whitacre, Rodney A. John. Vol. 4. Downers G
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