I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those...

John 17 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

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.

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.

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.”

Romans 8:34 says:  Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.  Hebrews 7:25 says:  He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. So we have this assurance that we who live today as followers of Christ, live with the benefit of having Christ Himself intercede for us. He who opened blind eyes, healed the sick, caused the lame to walk and raised the dead back to life and He who forgave sins, intercedes for us, in whatever circumstances we are in. It says He always lives to make intercession for us. It is not just now though as we live and walk through the circumstances of our lives that Jesus prays and intercedes for us. Long before we were born, long before our parents, our grandparents, many generations ago, when Jesus lived as a man, He prayed and interceded on our behalf. Today’s text, John 17 is the prayer of Jesus just before He was arrested, to be crucified for our sins. It is the prayer He prayed in the garden, while the disciples fell asleep. It was this prayer, His intercession on our behalf, not asking that the Father would take the cup of the crucifixion from Him, which Jesus anguished over, praying for hours, to the point that His sweat was like drops of blood.

Jesus prayed on behalf of the disciples who had been with Him, saying:    “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; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. 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… now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. 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. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.”     Then that same night, nearly 2000 years ago, Jesus also prayed for you and I. He continued His anguished intercession on our behalf:    “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, 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 in Us, so 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, just as We are one; 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. 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 didn’t only pray a prayer of intercession on our behalf. He lived a life of intercession. His very reason for coming to live here on earth was to redeem sinners, to reconcile us to God and restore us to all that God intended from the beginning. As Hebrews 7:25 says since the resurrection Jesus lives to intercede for us, so too was His life an act of intercession. The greatest act of intercession known to man is Jesus going to the cross to die for our sins. There on the cross, in the midst of the greatest act of intercession, He prayed the eternal prayer of intercession on our behalf, saying:  "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."  (Luke 23:34)     There too, on the cross, Jesus made an eternal declaration, He said: “It is finished.” (John19:30)    All that He came to do, every prayer He prayed, every promise He declared, His life and His death as intercession for us, was/is finished. It is eternally complete and accomplished in the cross.

Jesus prayed that we would be with Him, where He is, so that we may see the glory He has been given. That prayer too is finished, complete and accomplished in the cross. It is not only a future promise of life with Him in heaven, but because of the intercession of Christ, all that He prayed, all that He declared and promised, all of the glory of the kingdom of heaven is ours even now. That’s the glory that God intended for us from the beginning.   “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity.” That: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You for the finished work of the cross, Your greatest act of intercession, through which every prayer and every promise spoken on our behalf has been eternally accomplished.   Amen.