Christ’s High Priestly Prayer: For Disciples Everywhere in Every Age

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will 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 have sent me. The glory that You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as We are one. I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me. Father, I desire that they, also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see my glory that You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know You, I know You and these know that You have sent Me. I made known to them Your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” -John 17:20-26 (ESV).

This section of the high priestly prayer of Jesus was for disciples everywhere in every age—all who, by receiving the Word would be saved. This means that Jesus prayed for you and me! He included all believers from the time he voiced this prayer on the night He was betrayed through all time since and into the future! Does it not make you feel extremely humbled, yet honored in a reverent way, and filled with gratitude?

Jesus prayed for unity, “that they may all be one.” The vision of believers being one had been expressed in John 10:16 and 11:52. Unity comes when we are in full agreement with the Father and the Son—just as Jesus and the Father were one. How we need this prayer for unity! An ideal unity exists between God the Father and God the Son, and it has been so since before the foundation of the world. This unity is having the same mind, the same purpose, the same love. Jesus prayed that we, too, might have that bond of togetherness. We should seek seriously to attain unity. Church disagreements and relationship problems are contrary to God’s will. The kind of unity Jesus prayed for is that which comes from regeneration and sanctification. When this deep unity exists, the world knows something is different about believers and they are drawn to the Word (the written, taught, preached word, but also Jesus the Word).

Jesus prayed that we would bring glory to the Father. The Christian’s life should always reflect the excellency of God’s glory. The believers were called Christians first at Antioch; this meant that they were “little Christs.” Their lives imitated Christ so much that they were named for Him. We, too, bear his name. Thomas ӓ Kempis wrote “The Imitation of Christ” in the fifteenth century, a devotional book translated and published more than any other book other than the Bible. One of his famous quotations has Jesus inviting: “Follow Me…I am the Way, the Truth, the Life. Without the Way, there is no going; without the Truth, there is no knowing; without Life, there is no living. I am the Way, you are to follow. I am the Truth, you are to believe. I am the Life you are to hope for.” Verse 23 of Jesus’ high priestly prayer for us assures us that the Father loves us as He loves Jesus: “For God so loved the world…” Jesus told Nicodemus when he came to Jesus by night. Continuing to focus on God’s love for every believer, verse 24 anticipates fulfillment as we come into our glory and share Christ’s glory. Someone has noted that the whole purpose of salvation is communicated in this verse. The world does not recognize God and the Son He sent, but disciples know and accept the truth (v. 25). The marvelous message will continue to go forth, and more disciples will enter the kingdom (v. 26). Please reread this prayer of Jesus for you and me, believers. And know, assuredly, that not only did Jesus voice that prayer on the night He was betrayed; but now, on the right hand of God in heaven, in His glory, He continues to make intercession for us! (Hebrews 7:24-25).