“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word"

John 17:1-26 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible (link on links page)

The High Priestly Prayer

17 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, ² even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. ³ This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. ⁴ I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. ⁵ Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

⁶ “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. ⁷ Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; ⁸ for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. ⁹ I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; ¹⁰ and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. ¹¹ I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. ¹² While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

The Disciples in the World

¹³ But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. ¹⁴ I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. ¹⁸ As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

²⁰ “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; ²¹ that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Their Future Glory

²² The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; ²³ I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. ²⁴ Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

²⁵ “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; ²⁶ and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

So often the focus of Jesus prayer in the garden is on the words recorded in the other gospel accounts: Father if You are willing let this cup be taken from me , yet not My will but You will be done. Those are important words it shows Jesus obedience to the Father. As we read those other accounts though we are told that Jesus prayed for hours. He returned to find the desciples sleeping and went back and continued praying. In Luke 22 it says:

   And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, ⁴² saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” ⁴³ Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. ⁴⁴ And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. ⁴⁵ When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, ⁴⁶ and said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 

Jesus prayed very fervently for hours that night, to the point where His sweat became like drops of blood. But it wasn't Jesus concern for His own fate that caused Jesus to pray in agony. He began His prayer in submission to the Father, then He began to intercede for His disciples and for every believer that would ever live. It was this intercession that caused Jesus agony in prayer. When He sweat the drops of blood in the garden that night it was for everything you and I would ever face in our lives. Verses 20-21 say:

“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; ²¹ that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me."        We are those who believe through their word. What Jesus prayed and asked of the Father that night is for us.

Jesus Himself says of our prayers:  Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.(John 14:12-14)

If our prayers in Jesus name will be answered, surely Jesus own prayers to the Father will be answered for us.  Jesus prays that we as believers will be perfected in unity.  The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; ²³ I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.      He says that the world will know that the Father sent Jesus through this unity of believers. Throughout the 2000 years since Jesus prayed that prayer the church has been less than a faithful witness to the world of the unity we are to have in Christ. What the world sees in the church are divisions, denominations that can't agree with each other and even denominations that can't agree with themselves, having factions within their own denominations. The world sees these divisions and church splits and infighting and believes the church to be no different than the rest of the world. Jesus prayer is that we would be perfected in unity. Man cannot become perfectly unified with man by working at unity.   Jesus says that we are to be one as He and the Father are one. Individual believers and the church as a whole need to look to and become perfectly unified with the Father and with Jesus. When we see and share the glory of the Father and Jesus, when we see through a heavenly perspective all of our man made rules, traditions and preferences, the things that divide us, will fade away and seem unimportant. Then the church will become the reflection of Jesus that it is supposed to be. When we become perfected in unity the world will know that Jesus was sent by the Father. It may seem like an impossibility to us now. But if it were not going to be, Jesus would not have said it.

Jesus prayer continues:     Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.    Jesus prays that we would be able to be with Him, where He is, so that we would see His glory. There are many scriptures that tell us where Jesus is. Hebrews 8:1 says:     we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven.    After His resurrection, and His appearing for a time, in body, as proof that He was indeed resurrected, Jesus ascended to heaven to be with the Father. Jesus says that His desire is that we could be with Him, where He is. We see the Father's answer to Jesus prayer in Matthew 27:50-53:

 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. ⁵¹ And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; ⁵³ and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.  

The veil of the temple was torn in two. We now, through the finished work of the cross and the blood of Jesus have full access to the Father and Jesus in the heavenly realm. Hebrews 4:16 says: Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.     As we come boldly to the throne of grace we do indeed receive mercy for our need. We also though, will see at the throne, the glory of our risen Lord and Savior. We will see and experience the heavenly worship around the throne. 

When we see the glory of the Father and the Son in heaven our response then is to be the fulfillment of the last part of Jesus prayer recorded in our text: 

      “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; ²⁶ and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” 

So that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. If we have that love within us, the love of the Father and the love of Christ, we will take that love to this hurting world. Jesus prayed it so it will be.

Grant it Father, in response to Jesus prayer on my behalf this day, make this a reality in my life. Amen