Father,
I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me. I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
John 17:24-26
John 17 [15.] I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
John 17 [20.] Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me. The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
John 17 [25.] Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me. I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
John 18 [1.] When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, into which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. Judas then, having taken a detachment of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all the things that were happening to him, went out, and said to them, “Who are you looking for?”
Meaning:
Jesus had prayed for all who would believe through the disciples’ word, that they might be one so that the world might believe (John 17:20-21; John 17:22-23). These closing verses of his prayer look to the future. He asks that his people be with him to see his glory, and he sums up his work and his purpose: that the Father’s love may live in them.
- “Father, I desire that they also... be with me where I am”
Jesus speaks with the confidence of the Son who knows the Father’s will. His deepest desire for his people is that they be with him. Earlier that evening he had promised, “I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also” (John 14:3). Heaven is above all being with Jesus.
- “That they may see my glory”
The disciples had already seen something of his glory: “We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). But that glory was partly veiled by his humanity and humility. One day believers will see him fully. John later wrote, “we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is” (1 John 3:2), and Revelation promises, “They will see his face” (Revelation 22:4).
- “For you loved me before the foundation of the world”
The glory Jesus has is rooted in the Father’s eternal love for the Son. Before creation, the Father and Son shared perfect love, and Jesus had asked to be glorified with the glory he had with the Father “before the world existed” (John 17:5). Believers are invited to behold that eternal, loving relationship.
- “Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you”
Jesus now calls God “Righteous Father.” The title fits a prayer that contrasts the world, which does not know God, with Jesus, who knows him perfectly, and the disciples, who know that the Father sent him. The Father is just in distinguishing between those who reject and those who receive his Son.
- “I made known to them your name, and will make it known”
Jesus had revealed the Father during his ministry, and he would continue to do so through the cross and resurrection and through the Holy Spirit. Knowing God is not a single event but a growing relationship.
- “That the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them”
The prayer ends with love. Jesus’ goal is that the Father’s love for the Son would dwell in his people, and that he himself would live in them. Paul describes this reality: “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5). The last words of the prayer, “and I in them,” express the closest possible union between Christ and his people.
The Significance of John 17:24-26
- The hope of glory
Believers can look forward to being with Jesus and seeing his glory. This hope sustains them through suffering and loss.
- Loved with the Father’s love
Jesus prayed that the love the Father has for him would be in his people. Christians can rest in the knowledge that they are loved by God with the same love he has for his Son.
- Knowing God more and more
Jesus promised to keep making the Father known. Christian life is a journey of growing in the knowledge and love of God.
Cross-References:
John 14:3: "I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also." Jesus' promise to bring his people to himself.
1 John 3:2: "we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is." Seeing Christ's glory.
Revelation 22:4: "They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads." The final vision of God's people.
Romans 5:5: "God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit" The Father's love dwelling in believers.
Conclusion: Jesus closed his prayer by asking that his people be with him to see the glory the Father gave him out of eternal love. He affirmed that the world had not known the Father, but he had made the Father known to his disciples and would continue to do so. His final desire was that the Father’s love for him, and Jesus himself, would live in his people.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible