Listen, Jesus Is Praying

We’re continuing in the upper room discourse, which is John 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 is the conclusion of Jesus’ time alone with His disciples in the upper room. I want to give you a simple outline of chapter 17, but it indeed follows the flow of Jesus’ prayer.

First of all, Jesus prays for Himself, verses 1-5. Then, Jesus prays for His disciples, verses 6-19. Lastly, Jesus prays for the church, verses 20-26, for you and me. Those are the three main divisions. He prays for Himself, His disciples, and then for the church. Another amazing thing about John 17, you and I are actually prayed for by Jesus in this chapter. Jesus actually prays for you and me in this marvelous prayer. It’s amazing!

Beginning in verse 1 down to verse 5, Jesus prays for Himself. “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said…,” now begins the prayer. “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3 And this is life eternal, that they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”

John records the words that Jesus spoke, and He lifted up his eyes to heaven. One of the ways the Jews would commonly pray in those days is to look up, and they would pray with their eyes open. I’m not really sure how we got this idea that we should close our eyes and bow our heads. The Jews prayed looking up and lifting up their hands. I have found myself at certain times outside praying alone, and especially at night when the stars are going off, meditating on God’s glory and greatness, His love for me, His goodness to me, and I love to look up at the starry skies, lift my hands to the Lord, and just begin to pour out my heart to God. What an awesome experience that is! We don’t always have to close our eyes and fold our hands; we can actually look up into the face of our Father.

How John knew what Jesus prayed is a mystery. Was he eavesdropping on the prayer, writing it down? Did the Holy Spirit just give it to him? Did Jesus go back later and tell him what He prayed? Because in such rapid succession, they’re going into the garden, Jesus is going to be arrested, betrayed, and crucified. We really don’t know, but my wild guess would be that somewhere in the vicinity, John sat and eavesdropped on this prayer that Jesus made. They’ve been in the upper room, and it could be they are still in the upper room or in transition from the upper room down to the garden of Gethsemane. Needless to say, the Holy Spirit recorded for us, through John, the words that Jesus prayed.

Jesus is addressing His Father where we have a clear indication of the Trinity—God the Father being prayed to by God the Son and the work of the Holy Spirit was so prevalent throughout the teaching that Jesus gave in the upper room, but He used that expression found in John’s gospel, “the hour is come,” verse 1. That hour that has come is the cross. It is the death of Jesus, the crucifixion for which He came into the world. In John 2, recorded only by John, the wedding in Canaan where Jesus performed His first miracle, and His mother said, “They have no wine.” Jesus’ immediate response to His mother was, “…what have I to do with thee?” What does that have to do with Me? “…mine hour is not yet come.” That was the first time in John’s gospel that He made that statement. All the way from that point to this point, “…mine hour is not yet come,” “…mine hour is not yet come,” now Jesus actually said, “the hour is come.”

The first thing Jesus asks of the Father is, “…glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.” In context of Jesus wanting to be glorified and to glorify the Father, it is in light of the cross. I believe, with all my heart, that all of Scripture culminates in the cross of Jesus Christ—all the Old Testament builds up to it, and all the New Testament looks back to it. Everything is about the cross of Jesus Christ. Even in the Christian life, we need to make sure that we don’t get far from the cross of Jesus Christ. We come to it to be forgiven, we stay there to learn to be forgiving, and we need to live our lives in the shadow of the cross. I believe that if we live the crucified life, it will glorify God. Jesus brought the most glory to His Father by His death upon the cross. That was what brought glory to God. When He says, “the hour is come; glorify thy Son,” He’s actually looking toward the cross in expectation that the cross would bring glory to the Father. I believe that if we live in the shadow of the cross and follow the message of the cross, our lives will also glorify the Father.

In verse 2, Jesus says, “As thou hast given him power over all flesh…,” this is in reference to God the Father giving to Jesus, God the Son, “…power…,” and authority, “…over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” Jesus is the dispenser of eternal life, and He gives that eternal life to those that God the Father has given to Him. Whenever you read about eternal life in the New Testament, especially in the gospel of John, (it’s one of his favorite themes) it carries the idea of quality not just quantity. In other words, it’s not just living forever and ever and ever. It’s a dimension of life, a spiritual quality, an abundant life. When the Bible says, “Whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life,” or eternal life, it means that you enter into a new quality of life. You begin to have eternal life the moment you are saved not when you die and go to heaven. The moment you are born again you have eternal life. That’s what the Christian life is—you’re living in the realm of eternal life. It’s a quality as well as a quantity because it is eternal, but it is spiritual life, and God gave them to Jesus.

In verse 3, Jesus says, “And this is life eternal…,” I love this! What is eternal life? “…that they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ,” referring to Himself, “…whom thou hast sent.” How does one have eternal life? By knowing Jesus Christ and knowing the Father who is the true God. That is eternal life, having this quality of life that comes through a relationship by personally knowing God through Jesus Christ.

In verse 4, Jesus says, “I have glorified thee on the earth…,” speaking of His earthly life and ministry, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” You say, “Well, how can He say He’s finished the work when He hasn’t gone to the cross, died, resurrected, ascended, or hasn’t been glorified?” He makes this statement in faith. He knows it’s a done thing. He knows that He is going to go to the cross. He knows He’s going to be crucified and die, and He’s also speaking of the fact that He accomplished what the Father sent Him to do during His earthly ministry.

In verse 5, Jesus says, “And now, O Father,” by the way, each time He uses the word “Father,” it is the word Abba, used in a state of infancy. It’s like “Daddy” or “Papa.” When we pray, He said, “Say our Abba,” our Father, and Jesus gave us that example in His High Priestly prayer. “…glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” I don’t want you to miss that at the end of verse 5. Jesus is asking the Father to reinstate Him to His preincarnate glory. Did you know Jesus pre-existed Bethlehem? Did you know before you were conceived in the womb of your mother you did not exist? That is kind of hard to think about—there was a time when you were not you, when you were not here, but at the moment of conception, you began to exist. Jesus existed before Bethlehem! Not only that, Jesus existed before creation. You say, “Well, how far back does Jesus go?” Don’t miss this—He is eternal. He always has been and He always will be. There was never a time when Jesus Christ did not exist.

That’s not what the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe or teach. They believe that God created an angel, Michael the Archangel, who became Jesus, that Jesus is not divine or God, and He is not eternal. That’s not what the Bible teaches. In John 1:1 John said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In the Greek it’s, “and God was the Word.” You say, “Well, what’s the Word that is in the beginning? In John 1:14 it says, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” The Word of John 1:1 is Jesus Christ.

Let me tell you three things about John 1:1. Jesus Christ is the eternal Word. “In the beginning was the Word.” Jesus Christ is the personal Word. “… and the Word was with God,” the word “with” means face-to-face. In eternity past, God the Father and God the Son knew fellowship in heaven, and there was also God the Holy Spirit. The third thing we learn from John 1:1 is Jesus is the divine Word. It is very, very powerful in the Greek. It actually says, “And God was the Word.” He’s the eternal Word, the personal Word, and the divine Word. I quoted verse 14, He’s the incarnate Word. “And the Word was made flesh…,” John says, tabernacled among us. That word “tabernacled” means pitched His tent among us.

The other night my daughter and I were out in the backyard with my granddaughter. We were sitting around a little gas fire pit. My daughter says to little Madison, “Hey, maybe Papa will let you pitch a tent and sleep in his backyard some night,” and yeah, that’s cool. I’m fine with that. My grandkids can pitch a tent and sleep in it. I said, “I won’t sleep in the tent with you. I don’t do tents anymore.” Fresh out of high school I went to Hawaii and lived in a tent for three months, right on the beach, North Shore of Oahu. That delivered me from tents for the rest of my life! Boy, when I got out of that tent…it was a pup tent no taller this (showing half his height), and I spent three months in it. Well, when I got out of that tent I said, “Never again will I sleep in a tent, Lord willing.”

Jesus actually came down and tabernacled or pitched His tent among us. He’s the incarnate Word, and if you jump down one more verse, John 1, He’s the revealing Word. No man has ever seen God at any time but the only begotten Son whose in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. That word “declared” means to exegete, where we get expositional preaching from. It means to declare, to make known or to make clear. Jesus is eternal.

What Jesus is doing in this prayer, and this is the first stand-out point, He’s saying, “…the hour is come; glorify thou me…with the glory I had with thee before the world was.” A very clear and powerful statement for the eternality of Jesus the Son of God. He is divine. He is the eternal Word. He has always been and always will be. That’s why Jesus could claim, “I am,” ego eimi. He’s the eternal God, and He’s praying that He can go back to the Father and have that eternal glory. A great cross-reference for verses 1-5 is Philippians 2, where Jesus emptied Himself and took on Him the form of a servant and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. What He emptied Himself of was not His deity. Never at any time did Jesus cease being God, but He emptied Himself of the outward display and demonstration and the use of His attributes for His own purpose. The only time Jesus used His divine attributes during His earthly ministry was when it was led by the Father, guided by the Father, in the will of the Father, and in the purpose of the Father. That’s why when satan said to Him, “If you’re the Son of God,” actually, “Since you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread.” That wasn’t God’s will. He could’ve turned those stones into bread. I would’ve made it a giant grinder! Forty days with no food, munch munch munch. I would’ve had a Double-Double In-N-Out Burger made right on the spot! That wasn’t God’s plan for Him. It wasn’t in the will of the Father, so He didn’t use His divine attributes. Does that mean He wasn’t divine? No. It just means He only used it as the Father directed and led Him to use His divine attributes. Now He’s praying that He can go back and have that glory. Remember when Jesus was transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration in the gospels? His glory shined through the veil of His humanity. That’s the preincarnate glory that He was wanting the Father to bring and allow Him to be back in heaven with His Father.

Now Jesus begins to pray, verses 6-19, the longest section, for His very disciples to be apostles. He says, “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world,” He’s referring to His disciples. “…thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.” These men were given to Jesus by the Father. They belonged to the Father, they were given to Jesus, and He mentions that they have kept thy word. So, “thou gavest them me,” the same is true of us, “and they have kept…,” or obeyed, “…thy word.” That’s what really makes a disciple, keeping God’s Word. Verse 7, “Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou has given me are of thee. 8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.” Very clearly we see Jesus of divine origin, that Jesus came from the Father, and the disciples understood and believed that. He says, verse 9, “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” That doesn’t mean Jesus doesn't love the world or care for the unbeliever, but it just so happens that at this moment He is praying for His own disciples not for the unbelieving world. Verse 10 says, “And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.” There’s a reference to Judas Iscariot, and the Scriptures that are fulfilled is Psalm 41:9. It’s a prophetic Psalm of David where he was prophesying, “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.” It was a prophecy of Judas Iscariot. “And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil,” or literally from the evil one. These are some amazing petitions, and we’re going to go back over these verses. Verse 17, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

Back in verse 11, Jesus asked the Father to keep them through thine own name. You can imagine Jesus, “I’m going to leave them. I’m going back to heaven, and they are going to face a hostile world.” Jesus’ love for them was that the Father would protect and keep them. When He prays for the church, He’s going to pray that they be kept, preserved, watched over. He wanted the Father to keep them. It’s interesting that He said in verse 12, “…those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost.” The only one that was lost was the son of perdition, and that was a fulfillment of prophetic Scripture.

Why was Judas lost? Listen very carefully. It was because Judas wasn’t given to Him from the Father. He was never a real disciple. He was never a true believer. He was a false disciple. One of the mysteries, again it’s a mystery this morning I preached on verses I don’t know and understand and can’t explain and here we go again, but one of the mysteries is didn’t Jesus know that Judas would betray Him? Yes. “Well, why didn’t He kick him out of the gang? Why did He let him hang out with Him?” I don’t know. We’ll have to ask Jesus when we get to heaven. The whole story of Judas Iscariot, Jesus knew who Judas was, but why wouldn't Jesus say, “Oh, no, no, no. I know what you’re going to do. I’ve read Psalm 41. I’m not going to trust you,” and just kick Judas out of the group? I don’t know. He certainly knew all things, and He was aware of what Judas would do, but even in Judas’ exercise of free will and his betrayal of the Son of God, God overrode that for His glory in that Jesus would be arrested, crucified, and He would die for the sins of the world. Judas, motivated by satan, really played into the plan, purpose, and program of God.

Remember that when you look at this world. When it seems like evil is prevailing and wickedness is getting the upper hand, and the world is getting darker, and what’s going on? God is in control. Amen? God knows what He’s doing. Nothing can thwart the plan of God, nothing! No matter how bad or dark times get, or crazy the United States gets, or whoever the next president is of our nation—I keep reminding myself that because as I anticipate this coming election I say, “God, You’re on the throne. God, You’re on the throne. It would be nice if You’d rapture us, but Lord, I know You’re on the throne.” We really do have to believe that. Even though Judas would betray Him, Jesus knew, but Judas was never a true disciple. In the epistle of John it says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” The fact that they went out from us indicates that they were not of us is what it actually says.

So many times we say, “Wow! That person backslid,” or “They turned away from Jesus,” or “They renounced their faith.” That’s what we call apostasy, a falling away. Anyone who truly apostatized has never been regenerated, never truly been born again, and is not a real believer. Now, that’s not up for me to determine because only God knows the heart. It could be a temporary lapse, and they could come back to the Lord. I don’t know, only God knows the heart. Don’t assume that a person is saved, and when they fall away that they lost their salvation. You’re reading into the situation. That’s not necessarily true. It may be that they never had eternal life to begin with, but they really needed to be saved from the beginning, which is the truth for Judas, that it were better that he’d never been born. He was called the son of perdition.

In verse 13, Jesus says, “And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” Now He prays for them to have His joy, and “I have given them thy word,” I love that. Notice the Word that Jesus gave was the Word from God the Father, and He spake only the words that God the Father gave Him. “…and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” This is why the world hates us as believers and hated the disciples. “ I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil one,” referring to satan. God doesn’t take us out of the world, one day He will at the rapture and that’ll be glorious, but He leaves us in the world and protects us. We don’t go out of the world; we’re in the world but not of the world—love not the world neither the things in the world. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

In verses 17-19, Jesus speaks to the Father about the Father sanctifying them. “Sanctify them…,” that is, His disciples. How would God sanctify them? “…through thy truth…,” and what is truth? “…thy word is truth.” This is one of the great verses in the New Testament that very clearly and powerfully teaches that one of the chief ways that God sanctifies our lives is through His Word. You get this and you’ve got something to really hang onto.

Let me explain sanctification. You’ve heard me say from time to time that salvation has three tenses: past, present, and future. A Christian has been saved, a Christian is being saved, and a Christian will be saved. Do you remember that? Most of you remember that. A Christian has been saved—that would be justification. God declares you righteous—positional righteousness. A Christian being saved—practical righteousness or sanctification. The future tense, will be saved, is total salvation or sanctification—glorification. There are different terms that can be used to describe these three stages of salvation; justified, sanctified, glorified, positionally righteous, practically righteous, totally righteous. Listen to me very carefully. All three of these tenses; past, present and future, can also be described as sanctification. Don’t let me confuse you, but I want you to understand this. The moment you are saved and justified positionally, you are sanctified. There’s a sense that every Christian is set apart and holy; we’re all sanctified in the positional sense. The second present tense is practical; that is, progressional sanctification.

Not every Christian has the same degree of sanctification. The word sanctify and holy come from the same root word. They mean the same thing—to be set apart and holy. Have you ever met some Christians that are kind of like, “Woah! Are you even saved, Dude? Man, you’re pretty wild. Are you sure you’re a Christian?” They may be born again, but they haven’t progressed very far in their sanctification. Maybe they’re just a baby Christian, and it’s going to take time. Sometimes they have been a Christian for years, and they’re still pretty unholy. Then there are those who get saved, read the Bible and they surrender to Jesus and grow in the Lord! They’ve been a Christian for just a year and they’re living a life of holiness and sanctification. They flush their drugs down the toilet. They don’t drink or do anything of the world anymore. They’re completely changed and transformed. It seems like Boom it just happened overnight. That’s what you call progressing in sanctification very rapidly. We all come in different degrees. God’s desire is that we grow in sanctification.

The present tense of sanctification, and I forgot. I was going tell you that all three are sanctification, but we’ll come back to that. The future tense, glorification, is total sanctification. So, you have positionally sanctified, practically sanctified, and totally sanctified. The overarching term is used for all three. I hope I haven’t thoroughly confused you, but I want to go back to the one in the middle, practical sanctification. How do we progress and grow and become more holy? The answer is in the verse we just read. You got me started on this whole thing…through thy Word. How do I become more like Jesus? And, by the way, the goal of sanctification is likeness to Jesus Christ. How does it happen? The B-I-B-L-E yes, that’s the Book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E.

Do you know that people can get saved and go to church for years and never grow. One of the biggest reasons why is because they never read or study their Bibles. I can’t tell you how many times over the years I’ve had in the churches I’ve pastored, people come and say, “Pastor John, I was in this other church for 20 years, and I’ve grown more under your teaching in this church in the last year than I did 20 years in the former church.” That’s because they’re getting fed and taught the Word of God. Not that it all has to be dispensed by me. I believe that if you pick up (and you should) your Bible and just read the Bible, study, and meditate on the Word, you’ll grow! I believe that if you don’t do that you won’t grow. People come to me all the time, “Wow! I’m really struggling as a Christian. I’m just battling this and battling that. I’m just not growing.” “Do you spend time reading your Bible?” “Oh. I’m too busy. I just have other things. I’m really getting hammered. I don’t have time for my Bible.” If you don’t feed on the Word of God, you will not grow as a Christian.

Let me tell you something else. There’s no way you can become a mature Christian without a knowledge of God’s Word. God doesn’t bless ignorance. God doesn’t sanctify an empty head. You can’t just go, “Oh, Lord, just grow me and bless me and fill me and use me. Oh, God. I’m not going to read my Bible, Lord, because I just don’t like reading my Bible, but Lord, just bless my life.” It’s like, slap that dude! It ain’t gonna happen, Buckaroo! If you want to grow, if you want to develop as a Christian, if you want to become mature, if you want to find freedom over sin, if you want to be more holy, which is sanctification, then Father, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” Why do we make such a big deal about the Bible in our church? Because this is the way God sanctifies us. It’s not the only way. Trials can be used to sanctify us. God uses trials to break off the rough edges and to make us more like Jesus. The chief means by which God sanctifies us is through His Word, trials, the Holy Spirit, prayer, other believers, but the chief means is the Word of God transforming the child of God into the image of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. So, if God puts a hunger in your heart tonight to be more like Jesus, to grow in your Christian life, and not to be a carnal baby Christian your whole life, then take up God’s Word and take advantage of the Bible studies, all of the books and other ministries we have to teach the Bible and grow in the Word of God because that’s God’s chief means of which He sanctifies His people. In verse 18, Jesus says, “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.”

Now, in verses 20-26, Jesus prays for the church, beyond the disciples, beyond the group of 11, all the way to us tonight. You are in this prayer. He says, “Neither pray I for these alone,” that is, His disciples, “but for them also which shall believe on me through their word,” do you know where this Christian movement started? With Jesus, His disciples, and we’re here tonight. Isn’t that awesome? All the way down from Jesus to the disciples to us. There are three petitions. The first is in verses 21-23, that they may be one. “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even…,” and here it is, “…as we are one.” This is not an organizational unity, this is a spiritual unity. He’s not saying that they all may be one denomination, that they may all go to one church. He’s saying that they are spiritually becoming one. I believe Jesus is praying for the formation of the body of Christ, the church, the bride, of which He would be the head, and we’re recipients of that prayer. We’re part of that body. The oneness is not organizational but spiritual.

A lot of people misquote and misinterpret that and think that it means we all have to gather in one big stadium with other Christians, hold hands, and sing Kumbaya. I don’t think that’s what He’s saying. I can appreciate different denominations. I can appreciate different styles of worship, different churches. If you go to a church and they’re orthodox in what they teach and believe, they sing hymns and all wear suits and ties, and they don’t clap but they’re believers—praise God for our brothers and sisters in Christ! Amen? If you go to a church that’s a little more liturgical with stained glass, they play an organ, and it’s a little more formal, but they’re orthodox, they’re born again and love Jesus, they are part of the body of Christ—praise God for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen? You go to a church in Africa and they meet in a hut, playing their little drums and dancing around the goats and pigs and you say, “Whoa, this isn’t how we do it at Revival.” You’re in Africa, lighten up, Dude! It’s got a different style, a different flavor. If you go to the African jungle, don’t expect them to have a Christian haircut and wear a Christian suit and tie. “Where are their wingtips? They’re not believers. Where’s the stained glass?” “…that they may be one,” we’re one in Jesus. Let’s not fight over the style of our worship or what denomination or organization you’re from. I mean, the oneness is that we have a oneness in Jesus Christ, and we love our Methodist brother, our Presbyterian brother, our Lutheran brother, our Episcopalian brother, and our brothers and sisters in different denominations and persuasions. We accept them as brothers and sisters in Christ. Don’t think that we’re the only true church. “We’re the church of the narrow gate and the straight way,” or “We’re the deeper life holiness club,” or “We’re kind of us four, no more, shut the door,” kind of a thing. That’s not the unity that Jesus was praying for there. Let’s not quibble or fight over style of worship, church government, or other issues. “…that they may be one, even as we are one.”

Verse 23 says, “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou has sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” Jesus wanted them to be one so the world would know that He had sent them and that we would experience God’s love. I want you to notice as well in verse 24, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me,” again, He’s talking about what He said back in verse 5, “… glorify thou me…with the glory I had with thee before the world was.” He’s praying saying, “I want them to be with me. I want them to behold My glory, the glory I had with thee before the world was. “…for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.”

The first prayer was for unity. The second prayer was for glory. He says, “I want them to be with me in heaven.” I have to calm myself down here for a minute because this is one of my favorite verses in this whole chapter. It’s so awesome! I can’t tell you how many times at funerals that I’ve conducted for Christians when they die, I tell the people there in the service that there are three ways we know that they went to heaven. First, the price that Jesus paid, He died on the cross. Second, the promise that Jesus made, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” Thirdly, is our text. The prayer that Jesus prayed. When a Christian dies, how do we know that they go to heaven? Well, Jesus paid the price on the cross for their sins. Jesus made a promise, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” Thirdly, Jesus prayed a prayer. I want you to know, verse 24, you and I are in that prayer! Guess what that means? It means that God the Father is going to answer the prayer of God the Son, and it means that one day you and I, as Christians, are actually going to be in heaven, and we’re actually going to see His glory. Is that good or what! That’s why this verse is so amazing! Jesus actually prays, “Father, I want them to be with Me. I want them to see My glory.” You think the Father says, “Nuh, ain’t gonna happen.” I don’t think so. I think God the Father is going to answer the prayer of God the Son, and I think what begins with grace is going to end in glory. I believe with all my heart, one day I will see Jesus face-to-face, and I’m going to see Him in His glory. I’m going to see Him in His majesty. I’m going to see the cherubim and seraphim, the angels, the glassy sea, the rainbow around the throne. I’m going to see heaven! I’m going to be there! I’m going to walk those streets! I’m going to be with Jesus because He prayed for me, He prayed for you, that where He is we might be also. If you don’t get anything out of this prayer tonight, get this one point. Let it sink deep into your heart. Jesus prayed for you, that you will be in heaven, that you will see His glory, and I believe that prayer will be answered.

The third and last prayer is in verses 25-26, that they might have God’s love in them. Certainly, that has been fulfilled. We’ve experienced the love of God through the person of Christ. “O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou has sent me. 26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” So, Father, I want the love that You had for Me, I want it to be in them, and I want to be in them. Again, all of these, I believe, God the Father answered; that is, oneness, the body of Christ. Read Ephesians 4 where Paul said, “There is one body, and one Spirit…one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father…who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Then He prayed for us to see Him in glory that we may have His love and His love may be manifested in us.

I want to read one more verse, Romans 18:1, “When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.” That is the garden of Gethsemane. This is where, in a matter of hours, Jesus would be betrayed, arrested, tried, and crucified for the sins of the world. Let’s pray.