John 17: 24-26
We will now see Jesus' conclusion, His summary of His prayer:
Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am,
Jesus wants us to be with Him, wherever He is or will be; He wants us to be beside Him, He wants us to spend all our time with Him. That's how much He loves us. He wants us to joy and rejoice with and in Him in the Love that pervades everything He is and does.
and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me
To rejoice in His value, His worth, His importance, His magnificence.
because You loved Me before the creation of the world.
His glory, what gives Him that value, worth and importance is the Love that the Father has given Him, since before He decided to create. Love is what gives value and worth.
Righteous Father, though the world does not know You, I know You, and they know that You have sent Me.
Those in the World System have no idea of Who God is, or what He is like. Jesus came from the Father, and knows Him intimately. And we who belong to Him understand that the Father sent His Son Jesus into the world to save us.
I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known
Jesus has revealed to us Who He is, Who the Father is, and Who the Holy Spirit is; and He will continue to reveal this to His own throughout all the ages He calls people out to Himself, through His Holy Spirit Who He sends to live in us.
in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I Myself may be in them.
It's all about Love. Love is the center of Who God is and what He does. God loves Himself in His three persons, the Family, the Community that is our One God. And He loves His creation, all He has made. He loves Mankind, and gives us the choice whether to love Him back.
Jesus is praying for all of us, every one of us who has chosen to seek Him and to believe His Truth. He wants all of us, from His apostles and disciples through the ages to each of us today, to believe, to trust in the exact same Truth He taught His followers when He walked this Earth. He wants all of us to be one in our love for Him in believing Him, and our love for one another. This love is our basis of and foundation for all we believe, trust in and do in our moment-by-moment daily lives.
God's Truth sets us free from all the lies and deception all around us. What we believe and trust in affects how our daily lives function, whether we do well or are enticed to make poor choices. Jesus saves us from the punishment for our sins, but not the consequences of our decisions. These consequences are to teach us to obey His ways, the principles He has given us in His Word, the Bible.
Jesus asked His Father to protect us (v. 11), so that we can all be one. Let us all decide to formulate our thoughts around what is true, just, honest, pure, lovely, of good reputation, virtuous and worthy of praise (God's thought-list, Philippians 4:8), so we will view others in a positive frame of mind and love them with God's love in us, and choose to obey all God wants us to be and do.
Let's all be one, doing our best to "keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; in the one spiritual body; all being called in the same Hope; in One Lord, one Faith, the same spiritual Baptism [in being immersed into the same Body], into One God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Ephesians 4:3-6). Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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