The Audience John Is Writing To
Something extraordinary happens in verse 20.
Jesus has prayed for Himself.
Then He has prayed for the eleven disciples standing near Him.
Now His prayer reaches across history.
Jesus says: “I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word.”
That includes the first believers in Jerusalem.
The churches planted by the apostles.
Believers throughout the Roman Empire.
Christians through twenty centuries of history.
People from every tribe, language, nation, and culture.
And if we belong to Christ…
It includes us.
Before the arrest.
Before the scourging.
And before the nails.
Before the empty tomb.
Before Pentecost.
And before the apostles preached their first sermon.
Jesus prayed for the people who would one day believe because their testimony had reached them.
John allows us to hear Jesus pray for His future Church.
And what He asks tells us what matters most to Him.
John 17:20-26 NASB
“I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one; just 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 also have given to them, so 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 You loved them, just as You 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. “Righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; 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.”
Key Focus of the Passage and Jesus’ Character
The focus is the unity of Christ’s people, the Church’s witness to the world, the glory believers share in Christ, and Jesus’ desire for His people to be with Him forever.
Jesus reveals Himself as:
- the Intercessor for future believers,
- the source of Christian unity,
- the revealer of God’s glory,
- the beloved Son,
- and the Savior who desires eternal fellowship with His people.
This final portion of Jesus’ prayer reveals both what He wants from His Church and what He ultimately wants for His Church.
The People in the Interaction
- Jesus
- God the Father
- The eleven disciples
- Every future believer
- The world that will hear the Church’s witness
That final group includes generations Jesus’ disciples could not yet imagine.
What Happened in the Scene
Jesus expands His prayer beyond the apostles.
He prays for everyone who will believe through their testimony.
His first request is: “That they may all be one.”
He describes this unity by pointing to His own relationship with the Father: “Just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You.”
Why does this unity matter?
Jesus says: “So that the world may believe that You sent Me.”
He then speaks about the glory He has given His people and again connects it with unity.
Jesus prays that believers may become perfected in unity: “So that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”
Then His prayer reaches an astonishing climax: “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am.”
Why?
“So that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
Jesus concludes by declaring that although the world has not known the Father, He knows Him, and His disciples have recognized that the Father sent Him.
Finally: “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.”
The prayer that began with glory ends with love.
The Deep Theology of Jesus’ Prayer for Us
“Not for These Alone”
This phrase deserves to stop us.
Jesus knows the Cross is hours away.
Yet His thoughts reach beyond the room.
Beyond Jerusalem.
Beyond the first century.
Toward us.
There is something deeply personal about realizing that our existence as believers was already within the scope of Christ’s prayer before Calvary.
We did not surprise Him.
The Church was not an afterthought.
Jesus knew His death would produce a people who would extend across generations and nations.
And He prayed for them before they existed.
“Through Their Word”
How will future believers come to faith?
Through the apostolic message.
This is crucial.
Christianity does not rest upon constantly changing private revelation.
It rests upon the historical witness entrusted to the apostles concerning Jesus Christ.
They saw.
They heard.
And they testified.
Their testimony became the foundation of the New Testament.
Everyone who believes today ultimately stands downstream from that witness.
The Church remains apostolic when it remains faithful to the apostles’ message about Christ.
“That They May All Be One”
Unity is Jesus’ first request for future believers.
That tells us how seriously we should take it.
Yet we must understand what Jesus means.
He is not praying for superficial agreement.
Or institutional sameness.
Or the disappearance of every secondary theological difference.
The unity Jesus describes is much deeper.
It is rooted in shared life with God.
“As You, Father, are in Me and I in You.”
Christian unity begins vertically before becoming horizontal.
We are united to one another because we are united to the same Christ.
Unity Does Not Mean Uniformity
The early Church contained remarkable diversity.
Jew.
Gentile.
Slave.
Free.
Male.
Female.
Rich.
Poor.
Different cultures.
Different personalities.
And different spiritual gifts.
Unity never required sameness.
The body of Christ is not powerful because its members are identical.
It is powerful because diverse members share one Head.
Biblical unity therefore does not erase distinction.
It brings different people into loving fellowship around the truth of Jesus Christ.
Unity Must Be Rooted in Truth
Jesus has just prayed: “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”
Then He prays for unity.
The order matters.
Biblical unity can never require abandoning biblical truth.
Unity detached from truth becomes mere agreement.
Truth detached from love becomes cold division.
Jesus prays for both.
A Church sanctified in truth.
And united in love.
Truth provides the foundation.
Love shapes how we stand upon it.
Unity as Evangelism
Jesus connects unity with mission.
Twice He says that Christian unity communicates something to the world.
First: “So that the world may believe that You sent Me.”
Then: “So that the world may know that You sent Me.”
This is extraordinary.
The relationships among Christians become part of the Church’s witness concerning Christ.
A divided Church can proclaim a message of reconciliation while visibly contradicting it.
A Christ-centered, truth-grounded, sacrificially loving Church becomes evidence that something supernatural has happened.
People who ordinarily would have little reason to love one another become family because of Jesus.
What Kind of Unity Does the World Need to See?
Not Christians pretending disagreements do not exist.
Not avoiding difficult conversations.
And not compromising conviction.
Rather:
Believers who disagree without hatred.
Correct without contempt.
Forgive offenses.
Refuse gossip.
Reject bitterness.
Serve one another.
Choose humility over pride.
And continue loving because Christ first loved them.
That kind of unity cannot easily be explained apart from the Gospel.
“The Glory Which You Have Given Me”
Jesus now says: “The glory which You have given Me I also have given to them.”
What does this mean?
Believers do not become divine.
Nor do we receive God’s incommunicable glory as though we become gods.
Rather, Christ shares with His people the glory associated with:
His salvation.
His presence.
And His character.
His mission.
His coming kingdom.
Paul later describes believers being transformed from glory to glory into Christ’s image.
The glory we receive is reflected glory.
Christ remains its source.
Glory Produces Unity
Jesus connects shared glory with unity.
Why?
Because pride produces division.
Christ-centered glory destroys pride.
When believers understand that everything they possess comes from grace, boasting disappears.
No Christian can stand at the foot of the Cross and claim superiority.
We were all rescued.
All forgiven.
All adopted.
And all dependent upon the same Savior.
Grace creates humility.
Humility protects unity.
“That They May Be Perfected in Unity”
Unity is both gift and calling.
In one sense, all genuine believers are already spiritually united in Christ.
Yet Jesus prays that this unity become increasingly mature and visible.
The Church grows into what Christ has already made it.
This requires work.
Patience.
Forgiveness.
Humility.
Truth.
Love.
Christian unity does not preserve itself automatically.
It must be pursued intentionally.
“You Loved Them Even as You Loved Me”
Pause here.
This may be among the most astonishing statements in John 17.
Jesus prays that the world understand: “You loved them, even as You loved Me.”
We should be careful not to flatten every distinction within the eternal relationship of the Trinity.
Yet we should not weaken Jesus’ words either.
Believers are welcomed into an extraordinary experience of the Father’s love.
The God who loves His Son eternally has set His saving love upon those who belong to the Son.
Christian assurance therefore reaches deeper than:
“God tolerates me.”
The Gospel announces:
In Christ, the Father loves His people.
The Father’s Love and Our Identity
Many believers know intellectually that God loves them.
Fewer live as though it is true.
We still attempt to prove ourselves.
Earn approval.
Compare ourselves.
Fear rejection.
Jesus anchors Christian identity in the Father’s love.
If our deepest identity becomes “Loved by the Father because I belong to Christ,” then human approval begins to lose its controlling power.
The same Gospel that produces unity with others produces security within ourselves.
“Father, I Desire”
Now we reach perhaps the most tender words in the prayer.
Jesus says: “Father, I desire…”
What does Jesus want?
Think carefully.
He does not first ask that His people become successful.
Or influential.
Or wealthy.
And comfortable.
His desire is: “That they also… be with Me where I am.”
Jesus wants His people with Him.
This may be one of the most beautiful descriptions of heaven anywhere in Scripture.
Heaven is not merely streets of gold.
Not merely freedom from suffering.
Not merely reunion with loved ones.
The heart of heaven is this:
We will be with Jesus.
The Savior Wants His People Near
We often speak about how much believers want to go to heaven.
John 17 reveals something even more astonishing.
Christ wants His people there too.
Our future with Jesus is not merely our desire.
It is His.
The Shepherd wants the sheep home.
The Bridegroom wants His bride.
The Savior wants the redeemed in His presence.
This transforms how we think about eternity.
We are not reluctantly admitted guests.
We are wanted.
“That They May See My Glory”
Jesus wants His people with Him for a particular reason: “So that they may see My glory.”
Throughout His earthly ministry, Christ’s glory was veiled.
Occasionally revealed.
At Cana.
On the Mount of Transfiguration.
Through His signs.
Most people saw an ordinary Jewish man.
One day the veil will be removed.
Believers will see Christ as He truly is.
John later writes: “We will see Him just as He is.”
The deepest longing of Christian hope is the unveiled vision of Christ.
Before the Foundation of the World
Jesus again takes us into eternity.
The Father loved the Son: “Before the foundation of the world.”
Before creation existed…
Love existed.
Before humanity…
Love existed.
Before salvation became necessary…
Father, Son, and Spirit existed in perfect fellowship.
This means love is not merely something God does.
Love belongs eternally to who God is.
And salvation draws us into that eternal love.
The Eternal Love Within the Trinity
John 17 gives us a breathtaking vision of reality.
At the center of everything is not cold power.
Not impersonal energy.
Not cosmic loneliness.
But eternal personal fellowship.
The Father loves the Son.
The Son loves the Father.
The Spirit proceeds in perfect divine fellowship.
Creation comes from that fullness.
Redemption brings sinners into communion with that God.
The Gospel is an invitation into divine fellowship purchased through the Cross.
“The World Has Not Known You”
Jesus contrasts His disciples with the world.
The world’s deepest problem is not lack of religion.
It is not knowing God.
Jesus knows the Father perfectly.
The disciples have recognized that Jesus was sent by Him.
The Church’s mission is therefore fundamentally relational.
To make the Father known through the Son.
“I Have Made Your Name Known”
The prayer closes where this section began.
Jesus reveals the Father.
His entire life has been revelation.
His teaching reveals the Father.
And His miracles reveal the Father.
His compassion reveals the Father.
And now the Cross will reveal the Father’s character more clearly than anything else.
Jesus adds: “And will make it known.”
His revelation will continue.
Through:
The Resurrection.
The Holy Spirit.
The apostolic witness.
The Church.
The knowledge of God will continue spreading across the world.
“That the Love… May Be in Them”
The final request of the prayer is astonishing.
Jesus wants the love the Father has for Him to be in us.
Not merely known intellectually.
Experienced.
Expressed.
Overflowing.
Christian love therefore has an eternal source.
We do not generate it naturally.
We receive God’s love and then extend that love to others.
The Church becomes a community where the Trinity’s eternal love begins to be visible in human relationships.
“And I in Them”
These are the final words of Jesus’ prayer.
“And I in them.”
What a conclusion.
Jesus began by praying: “Glorify Your Son.”
He ends: “I in them.”
The ultimate purpose of salvation is union with Christ.
Christ in us.
We in Christ.
The Father loving us.
The Spirit dwelling within us.
Believers united with one another.
And one day all of us physically present with Jesus beholding His glory forever.
This is where the Gospel is heading.
The High Priestly Prayer in One View
John 17 moves through three great concerns.
Jesus Prays for Himself
Glorify Your Son.
The Cross will reveal divine glory.
Jesus Prays for the Apostles
Keep them. Sanctify them. Send them.
They will carry the Gospel into the world.
Jesus Prays for Future Believers
Make them one. Let them be with Me.
The Gospel will create a worldwide family who will ultimately dwell with Christ forever.
Glory.
Mission.
Unity.
Eternity.
The entire plan of redemption appears in a single prayer.
Mood and Tone
The tone moves from intercession to unity to witness to love to glory to eternal fellowship.
The prayer ends not with the Cross directly, but with the destination the Cross will secure.
Christ and His people together forever.
What Jesus Reveals
Jesus reveals Himself as:
- the Intercessor for every believer,
- the source of Christian unity,
- the revealer of the Father,
- the eternal Son loved before creation,
- and the Savior who desires His people to be with Him forever.
The Response of Others
Future Believers
They come to faith through the apostolic witness and become part of the people Jesus prayed for.
The Church
It receives both a gift and responsibility: unity rooted in truth and expressed through love.
The Father
He is revealed as the One whose eternal love for the Son now embraces those united to Christ.
Jesus
Even with the Cross immediately ahead, His heart reaches toward generations of believers who will someday belong to Him.
The Lesson for Us in 2026
1. Jesus Prayed for Us Before We Were Born
Our place in His Church was already within His loving concern before the Cross.
2. Christian Unity Is Part of Our Witness
The way believers love one another communicates something about Jesus to the world.
3. Unity Must Remain Grounded in Truth
Christ never separates love from the truth of God’s Word.
4. The Father Truly Loves Those Who Belong to Christ
Our identity can rest securely in His love rather than human approval.
5. Heaven’s Greatest Treasure Is Jesus Himself
Christ’s desire is that His people be with Him and behold His glory.
Final Reflection
There is a moment in John 17 where the entire prayer suddenly becomes personal.
Jesus says: “I do not ask on behalf of these alone…”
And suddenly we realize: He is talking about us.
Before we knew His name… Jesus knew there would be believers like us.
Before we prayed our first prayer… He prayed for His Church.
Before we ever desired heaven… He desired that His people be with Him.
That may be one of the most beautiful truths in the entire Gospel.
We often think of salvation primarily from our perspective.
I believed.
I came to Christ.
And I want to be with Him.
John 17 pulls the curtain back farther.
The Father gave.
The Son prayed.
The apostles testified.
The Spirit gave life.
And eventually… we believed.
Our salvation is surrounded by divine grace from beginning to end.
And where is all of this heading?
Jesus tells us.
“That they… may be with Me where I am.”
The Gospel does not end merely with forgiven people avoiding judgment.
It ends with a family gathered around Christ.
Different nations.
Different generations.
And different languages.
Different backgrounds.
One redeemed people.
One Savior.
One glory.
One eternal home.
And at the center stands Jesus.
The One who prayed for us.
The One who died for us.
And the One who rose for us.
The One who lives within us.
And the One who wants us with Him forever.
So the question becomes:
If unity among believers mattered enough for Jesus to pray for it hours before the Cross, am I actively protecting that unity through truth, humility, forgiveness, and love, or am I allowing pride, preference, offense, or secondary differences to divide me from people Christ Himself has prayed would be one?
