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.” John 17:24-26
Jesus prays here that his disciples be “where he is,” that they might witness and exude his unabashed glory, the same glory he had with the Father before the foundation of the world. He also prays that they might know the Father like he knows the Father, and that they be loved by the Father as he is loved by the Father.
The word “desire” uttered by Jesus here involves his will for us and banks on the Father hearing and approving his request. There is every indication in Scripture that these “wishes” were granted, as Jesus says this in John 14:2-3.
2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
Consider the thief on the cross, he wished to be remembered when Jesus came into his kingdom. That request was granted at that very moment.
42 And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” 43 And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 23:42–43
Jesus also prayed for the fruit of his disciples’ labor, us, that we might be included in this exchange program.
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. John 17:20–21
I find these all inclusive verses the most encouraging in God’s word, topped off by John 3:16.
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16
If you believe in this compelling promise, you too have been invited into the same eternal fraternity, one in which we, along with Jesus, the disciples, and the thief, will partake of God’s glory forever in the Father’s house.
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