The prayer of Jesus
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 (John 17:24).
In John 17:1, as the cross loomed before Him, the Son of God prayed to God the Father: “Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You.” The first mention of love in the Bible is not a man’s love for a woman; it is a father’s love for his son. We discover this in the opening verses of Genesis 22. We are told of the journey Abraham and Isaac took to the land of Moriah. And we learn of a father’s sacrifice and the love and devotion of Isaac as he submitted himself to the will of his father. Although Isaac was never sacrificed, he remains a remarkable illustration of Christ, in love, undertaking the Father’s will in the work of salvation. Christ’s love for the Father is seen in His life of service and in His sacrificial death. The Father’s love for the Son is seen in Christ’s resurrection and glorification.
It is in all the wonder of this love that we see the Lord Jesus has His Church upon His heart. Jesus had kept His disciples during His earthly ministry, and He prayed for them to continue to be held in the love of God as He returned to heaven: “I come to You Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are” (vv. 11-12). He did not pray for them to be taken out of the world. Instead, He asked the Father to keep and sanctify them by the word of God to be His witnesses in the world (vv. 15-18). The Lord Jesus also prayed for future generations of Christians: “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 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” (vv. 20-23). He prayed for you and me.
The culmination of the love of Christ is described in verse 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 incredible journey of divine love which began in eternity, and was fully expressed in this world, led back to glory. And it is the same love of Christ that will ensure one day “we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
In Hebrews 12:2-3 we read, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” In John 17, Christ looked beyond the cross to the joy of having His Church in His presence forever. We were in His heart. Today, from heaven, as He looks into this world where he expressed the love of God in His life and in His death, the Lord still embraces the one flock of God within His heart. And He rejoices that we, His people, respond to His love by recalling the pathway that led from glory to the cross. We remember the travail of His soul, and we rejoice in the glory of His resurrection and ascension. By faith, as we look up into heaven to see our risen glorious Lord, He is in our hearts. As we bow in worship to remember Christ’s love, we hasten in our hearts the day when we shall be brought by Him into the Father’s house (John 14:1-3).
