20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, 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. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Commentary
Vs. 20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word”
Here the Lord Jesus Christ praying as our High Priest to God the Father now prays for all of us who will believe in Him through His disciples Word that is only found in the Gospels and the N.T. Faith then in the Lord Jesus Christ must then be conformed to His Word found there.
Vs. 21 “that they all may be one, 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.”
Jesus continues His prayer for us all who believe and will believe in Him, that we all be one, that is one people, one nation, having one belief because we have one Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has sealed and sanctified us all by One Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:3-6; 1 Peter 2:9-10). And so Just as the Father is in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is in the Father, (thus both are inseparable), Jesus now prays that we all who believe in Him down through ages until His Return likewise be one in Us, that is one in the Holy Union of God (which we now are) and thus that we reflect both the moral and Spiritual Nature of God to one and to all so that the world maybe believe that God sent Jesus Christ to them when we bear witness to Him by rightly representing His Person to them.
Vs. 22 “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one”
Now some see this as a future glory that we receive when the Lord Jesus Christ returns and sets up His Kingdom here on earth, and thus when we the saints then receive our glorified bodies by which the world will then plainly see both the Lord Jesus Christ and us bearing God’s glory! There is though another sense in which we bear God’s glory and that is here and now by His Holy Spirit which seals and sanctifies us the moment we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. For every true Christian now bears that glory of the Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, that is His Person and Life by His Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us, and it is by Him that we are now also united with each other and God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior in heaven!
Vs. 23 “I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
The Lord Jesus Christ then is in us, just as the Father is in Him, so that we may be made perfect in one, that is one body of believers made perfect in one of whom the Lord Jesus Christ is the head! Thus, from praying for our sanctification (John 17:17) to now our perfection (vs. 23), which Jesus Christ has fully accomplished for us (Heb. 10:14), and is now being worked out in us and through us by His Spirit so “….that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
Vs. 24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
The Lord Jesus in soon returning to the Father in heaven now prays that all of us that the Father has given Him, (i.e. the elect) may be with Him eternally in heaven, so that we may behold His glory which God the Father has given Him; a glory then that no one on earth has fully seen, but all who are with Him in heaven now continually and fully see! For God the Father has loved His Son Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world, so much so that He has given us to Him, and so His desire is that all He has chosen may be with Him and see the glory which He Himself has given to Him!
Vs. 25-26 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Jesus now decries to His Righteous Father that the world has not known His Father, though He created them and all things and sustains them and all things, and yet they do not know Him, for if they did, they would believe in His Son. Therefore, Jesus the Son of God truly says that He knows His Father in heaven and that His disciples who believe in Him have known that He sent Him. Therefore, Jesus also says that He has declared His Father’s Name to them, to us all who believe in Him, so that the love which God the Father loves His Son may also be in us, and He in us! Thus, the Lord Jesus Christ in concluding His High Priestly prayer concludes with a prayer that the love of God be in us all who believe in Him! For what is more foundational to being a disciple of Jesus Christ than that!
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.
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