John 17:21-26
 
John 17:21 (KJB)
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
 
Jesus continues to pray concerning the unity of the Disciples which will eventually come to pass when the Holy Spirit is given on Pentecost. He also continues to reveal the intimate relationship that He has with His Father. He goes on to pray that all the Christians will be one in the Father and the Son. Jesus prayed that there would be total unity among all Christians. As the Christians continue to throughout the world preaching the Gospel, then the world will begin to believe that Jesus was sent by the Father. Of course, it will be only the Elect who will truly believe and some may believe intellectually but only the Elect will be able to spiritually grasp the truths of it. Jesus continues to impress upon His hearers the importance of the fact that God sent Him into the world. He wants people to know that He came from Heaven and was not just a preacher with an agenda nor was He just a prophet as some thought He was. He was the Son of God who came to die for the sins of His people. No prophet could ever atone for anyone’s sin, all they could do was preach the message. The sacrifice for sin had to be made by God the Son who was the only one qualified to pay the price because He was sinless and was able to put away the sins of all the Elect.
 
John 17:22 (KJB)
And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
 
Jesus had continually taught about His Father to the disciples and the glory of the revelation of God the Father is in view here. The glory would not be the same glory as Christ had in Heaven but the glory is the knowledge of the Father which Jesus gave them and which they will teach to others. In contrast to the knowledge the world has, the revelation of God the Father would be a glorious thing. The glory which they received would help bind them together in unity as the corporate body of believers and would be akin to the unity of the Father and Son. Jesus knows full well that even a saved person still has the sin nature and that is why we must be bound together on a spiritual level rather than a physical level. (2 Cor 5:16 KJV) Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. We no longer look at the physical make up of a person or what they were before they became saved. After salvation we now look at a person as the new man, not the old. (2 Cor 5:17 KJV) Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
 
John 17:23 (KJB)
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
 
Perfect - Bring to completion (Perfect tense passive voice)
 
This is another grand mystery which the believer has been gifted with. The Lord Jesus Christ indwells us and at the same time there is totally unity with the Father, which results in the believer being perfected in their soul and spirit. Unity is a result of the perfection or completeness in the body of Christ. If you notice that the word “perfect” is in the perfect tense which means it is a completed action in the past that is still in force at present. The word is also in the passive voice which means that the believer received that perfection from the Lord and is not gained by any type of works whatsoever. Jesus is revealing here that He indwells the believers while the Father is in Him, which means that combined with the Holy Spirit, the entire tri-unity is in the believer. Talk about a mystery revealed! Then Jesus prays that this unity of the brethren will result in them proclaiming that God the Father sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the world plus that God the Father loves the believer with the same strength of love that He loves His Son. In other words since there is a unity of the brethren, there will be a unity of the message which is to be preached. Those who proclaim messages which are not in keeping with the Scriptures, will disseminate confusion in the body of Christ. (1 Cor 14:10-11 KJV) There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. {11} Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. This is why it is so important that we preach what is in the Scriptures and not try to be so profound that we start to stray.
 
John 17:24 (KJB)
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
 
Here Jesus prays a prayer into the future as He looks beyond the trials of this world concerning the disciples and all Christians. He prays that they will be in Heaven with Him and that they will be able to behold His glory. While He was on earth, He laid aside His heavenly glory and the disciples only knew Him as a person but when they get to Heaven, they will see Him in His royal splendor befitting the King of the Universe. (Rev 1:17 KJV) And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: In John’s vision in Revelation, he saw Jesus and fell at His feet as dead because of His appearance. God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ were so intimate in nature that there was great love between them and here Jesus states that God the Father loved Him before the world was ever created. This shows you the great sacrifice God made, in love for the Elect, by sending His beloved Son to die for us.
 
John 17:25 (KJB)
O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
 
It is such a shame that the very world that God created and man whom He also created went into sin and as a result have not known God the Father. This is the result of spiritual deadness. It took the coming of the Son of God to reveal His Father to us and to make known to us that He sent His Son into this world with the full knowledge of the humiliation and degradation that He would suffer on behalf of the Elect.
 
John 17:26 (KJB)
And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
 
Declared - Made known
Will declare it - Will make known
 
Jesus never ceased to declare the name of the Father to the disciples and He also prays that in the future He will also declare the name of the Father. He declares it for the purpose of stating the fact that the love which the Father has for the Son will be in the disciples and all Christians. He then ends the prayer by stating that the love the Father has for the Son will be in the Christians and Jesus will indwell them also. He ends the prayer by stating that the entire tri-unity of the Godhead is involved with every believer by means of loving them and indwelling them. No believer ever needs to feel unloved or abandoned because that is just not a fact. It would be more of a satanic suggestion denying the truths of Scripture.

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