The Climax
“Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, will be with Me where I am …….” John 17:24
As John followed and listened to Jesus, he certainly did not carry a laptop or even a notepad and pen. And yet, at least seventy years after, John records this final prayer of Jesus. The prayer is carefully structured, point after point is well developed until it finally leads to a crescendo, to the ultimate blessing. Nothing seems to be missing! Certainly, this cannot be attributed to John’s memory. We must remember that the prayer was not only for the early disciples, the prayer includes us and is meant for us as well. It is therefore the Holy Spirit who ensured that through John we too would have this prayer.
There are several high points in the prayer:
- It is time for the glorification of Jesus
- He was given the authority to give eternal life to those who believed Him
- He was sent by God on a mission and He has completed His work
- He brought the Word, the Truth, direct from God to all His followers
- It is through the Word that the disciples are sanctified and set apart from a world where evil exists
- Jesus entrusts His disciples into His Father’s care so that they will know the love which both He and His Father have for all followers
- Jesus prays that His disciples would have the perfect joy which He Himself had
- He wants His followers to be one with Him and with the Father – “That they also may be one in us…”
In addition, Jesus wants one more thing! That they would “be with Me where I am; that they may behold my glory….”
Then and only then will all His followers have a perfect understanding of Who Christ is, of the relationship between Him and His Father, of all that the Father has given Him, of how the Father has loved Him from “ the foundation of the world”. They will see Him in all His glory and really understand what Christ gave up, even if only temporarily, to bring salvation to mankind. Then imagine the response of love cutting deep into the hearts of the disciples in ways which were before unimaginable, even impossible.
Read the prayer (ch.17)seriously and see how it will impact your life.
- Al Jones