John 17:24, commentary and pictures

In His farewell intercessory prayer Christ expresses His will that those whom the Father has given Him be with Him where He is to behold the glory the Father has given Him, because the Father loved Him before the foundation of the world. Those given Him are those who receive Him by faith as personal Saviour, including the disciples then with Him and all who believe through their word to the close of time. To be where He is means to be with Him in His kingdom, in the Father's house and presence where He is the light. Beholding His glory makes them partakers of His glory, for having had fellowship with Him in self-denial and suffering they will have fellowship with Him in glory and reign with Him. Because Christ's relation to the Father embraces all who receive Him, the Father's acceptance of the Son includes them as God's children and joint-heirs with Christ, loved as the Son is loved.

Prayer Setting and Wording

John 17:24 is Christ's farewell intercessory prayer for His church, offered as consecrated High Priest in the upper chamber in His last moments with His disciples. It was spoken just before betrayal by Judas, Gethsemane, trial, rejection, suffering and crucifixion. It was given to comfort, counsel, instruct and prepare them for separation, disappointment and trial, and their future work and ministry built upon a divine Christ depended on the divine power it sought. It seeks spiritual blessings and loyalty to God, not riches or human honor, and those who faithfully do their duty may trust it is answered for them.

The prayer was spoken in the disciples' hearing, comprehends much in few words, and is a lesson to all trying to follow the Saviour. It is deep and full and broad as the earth reaching to heaven, joining humanity to God and earth to heaven, and shows the fullness and breadth of mercy and love waiting to be bestowed on all who walk in obedience and humility. It was not fully understood and appreciated until after the resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit. Then it became lasting comfort, peace and hope sustaining through disappointment and trial, and is to be received and acted upon in the simplicity of pure Christlikeness bringing unity.

The words Father, I will express His will, desire, claim and right. As Head He longs with tender inexpressible love for members of His body to be associated with Him where He is to behold His glory, and as Good Shepherd and human Brother He identifies His interests with fallen humanity, sharing infirmity and facing temptation without sin while petitioning the Father on His people's behalf. Having had fellowship with Him in sufferings they will have fellowship with Him in glory, which He claims as His right and recompense for His conquests. The promise is complete, assured and will be granted because His sacrifice is complete, so believers may trust it and seek completeness in Him.

Those whom the Father has given Him are those who receive Him by faith as personal Saviour, dear to His heart, purchased by His blood at sacrifice of His life. They include the disciples then with Him, children who belong to Him, all who believe through their word to the close of time, and all who accept truth and suffer reproach for His sake. He knows their lives, burdens and sorrows, watches over them, lives to intercede for them and keep them from evil and sanctify them through truth, and comes to their aid in greatest need. No one given to Him is called to walk alone, for there is only one way to heaven in walking in His footsteps and doing His works even as He did His Father's works.

Being With Christ Forever

Christ wills that those given to Him by the Father be with Him where He is to behold the glory the Father gave Him because the Father loved Him before the foundation of the world. This hope belongs to His last prayer for His people, offered just before His trial, which reveals what His followers are to be in the world as overcomers sanctified through truth, united with Christ and one another, and bearing good fruit. That glory is shared with believers through His participation in humanity and His promises to them, and with the rest of His prayer the whole chapter presents essential instruction and eternal principle to be studied, believed, practiced and lived out so that a powerful influence goes forth from commandment-keeping people.

Their being with Him is the joy He looks forward to, His claimed recompense for His conquests, the recompense of His work in His ransomed church, and the reward of His workers. After His resurrection as He ascended He turned from the angels waiting to welcome Him because His heart was with the disciples He had left on Olivet, and He still does not forget but remains with His struggling children on earth in their battle with the destroyer and against temptation. After His ascension He makes this desire known as a request before the angels worship Him, that they share His presence, and the church beholding His glory is the chief source of His glory through which God's manifold wisdom is made known to heavenly powers.

Where He is means in His kingdom right around and about Him, in the Father's house and presence, the glory of the Father's presence and house which He had with the Father before the world was. It is the brightness of heaven where the Lamb is the light of the New Jerusalem, the unapproachable splendor of the Father and Son's converse together, and there they will see Him as He is after having known Him in humiliation and sacrifice and trials and test. Beholding Him makes them partakers with Him of His glory, and this hope makes Him their love and crown of rejoicing and hope and comfort and makes them willing to make entire sacrifice for truth even to die at their post. His prayer also asks that they be kept from evil and sanctified through the truth, for He lives to intercede for all who believe, and the great joy of the overcomer will be to be in the presence of Christ, whose eternal glory and gain and enjoyment is prepared only for those for whom it has been prepared. Even angels were not admitted to the interviews between Father and Son when the plan of salvation was laid, so human beings who try to intrude into the secrets of the Most High who inhabits eternity show ignorance of spiritual and eternal things and should instead humble themselves and plead with God to teach them His ways while mercy is still heard.

The gift is received by coming to Him in humility and faith, becoming as little children to enter the kingdom, accepting Him personally as Saviour, valuing the price He paid, and cooperating rather than resisting, and He has done everything necessary for them to be there through His death and continuing ministry as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary to redeem, keep from sin, present faultless, and fit them to be with Him. His prayer seeks spiritual blessings and loyalty to God, not riches or human honor, holds out human possibilities and the privilege of living in covenant relation with God in wonderful far-reaching expressions and rich promises that every person can understand and personally appropriate, and those who faithfully do their duty and entrust their souls to Him may trust it is answered for them and He Himself will show the humble and contrite the rich glories of His kingdom. Those who refuse His words and fail to value and accept what is placed within their reach will miss it, will be called in the day of the Lord to answer for refusal of the great gift, and will be unworthy to share His place when He comes in glory and unable to look upon His face. His words set the conditions of cleansing from moral defilement, confessing and forsaking sin, washing robes of character white in the blood of the Lamb and reflecting His image, and they come as the voice of the Redeemer whose tones thrill through every part of one's being.

Beholding and Sharing Glory

Those given to Christ are to be with Him to behold the glory the Father gave Him, and that promise means they will one day see Him face to face. They will see Him as He is after having known Him in humiliation and sacrifice and in trials and test. When the prayer is answered and the redeemed are home with Jesus, they will see and appreciate the love of the Father and the Son more fully, with glorified bodies and purified hearts, praising God for redeeming love.

That glory is His divinity and oneness with the Father from the beginning, and the unapproachable splendor of the converse of the Father and Son together. Above all it is character, His character given Him by the Father, which He gives to believing followers so they may be one even as He and the Father are one and be made perfect in one and complete in Christ. It is shared with true disciples through His participation in humanity and the impartation of His Spirit, so their lives reveal Him and their oneness shows the world that God sent His Son to save sinners. Every truly converted soul is thus endowed with His divine nature and shares the same love that Christ has with the Father and the same love for one another, expressed in character before the world as evidence that God sent His Son so that the world through Him, if they receive and believe, may be saved. Eternal life itself is bound up with Christ's life, and the love in the prayer throws open the gates of Paradise so the surrendered soul lives in complete harmony with God, with the Spirit taking the things of Christ and showing them with transforming effect to make a new creature bound up with Christ in God, pressing together in unity of Christian fellowship and constantly cherishing love and not hatred. Their unity and victory over the world and Satan display God's power, and they receive everlasting life as the reward of faithfulness while sharing His presence and glory.

Beholding Him makes them partakers with Him of His glory. This hope makes Him their love and crown of rejoicing and hope and comfort, and makes believers willing to make entire sacrifice for truth even to die at their post. The hope of seeing Jesus in glory gives strength in spiritual conflict and weakens pride and love of the world. To enter God's city and behold Jesus there, people must become accustomed to looking to Him by faith now, giving regular thought and conversation to His words and character.

With tender, inexpressible love Jesus as living Head longs for the members of His body to be associated with Him where He is to behold His glory, which He claims as His right. Having had fellowship with Him in self-denial, self-sacrifice and sufferings, they will have fellowship with Him in His glory. Those who suffer with Him on earth will finally reign with Him in His kingdom, for He identifies His interests with theirs and pleads for their rights and titles purchased by His blood, asking that His church be justified and accepted through Him as representative and head into divine favor by His merits before He receives coronet and royal robe. He wants those who have suffered with Him to form their characters after His divine character, becoming members of the royal family and children of the heavenly King, living by patience, kindness, love and care for others beginning in family life.

The ransomed church being with Him to behold His glory is Christ's claimed recompense for His conquests, the chief source of His glory. His redeemed church is the recompense of His work, and through the church God's manifold wisdom is made known to heavenly powers. Christ regards His people, made pure and perfect, as the reward of His suffering, humiliation and love and as a display of His glory, and their place forever one with Christ and the Father, loved as the only-begotten Son is loved, is a marvel and joy to heaven.

The glory they are to behold is tied to His mission, in that His humiliation and suffering would glorify the Father, and this was a source of joy to Him.

Father's Love Before Creation

The prayer declares that the Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world, away back before the world was created or made, and this love is the ground of the request and reveals the breadth and fullness of the Father's love. In it Christ wills and desires that those given Him by the Father be with Him where He is to behold His glory which the Father gave Him. The promise is complete because His sacrifice is complete, so believers may trust it and seek completeness in Him. As part of His prayer for His people it shows what they are to become as overcomers and what His followers are to be in the world: sanctified through truth, united with Christ and one another, bearing good fruit, with that glory shared with believers through His participation in humanity and His promises to them. It is to be believed every word and practiced, so that a powerful influence goes forth from God's commandment-keeping people.

The request renews a pledge made before the foundation of the world. Before the foundations of the earth were laid the Father and Son made a solemn covenant with clasped hands that Christ would become surety for the human race if man fell to Satan, and that covenant was fully carried out and completed on the cross. It is renewed in Christ as covenant Redeemer, who makes the plea not for Himself alone but for those who become His through faith in His name. After completing the work of redemption He presents it upon entering the heavenly city after His ascension with the multitude of captives, waving back the worshiping angels and first requiring assurance from the Father that His sacrifice was accepted and justice satisfied and Satan vanquished. He shows His wounded head, pierced side, marred feet and nail-printed hands as tokens of triumph, and presents those raised with Him as first-fruits and wave-sheaf as a sign that He has conquered death, representing the dead who will rise at the last trumpet and the great multitude who will come from the grave at His second coming. The Father accepts the sacrifice and grants the request, answering that justice is satisfied, Satan is vanquished, and His toiling struggling ones on earth are accepted and declared justified before angels and representatives of unfallen worlds, so that where He is His church shall be, and only then commands angelic worship of Christ.

His relation to the Father embraces all who receive Him by faith as their personal Saviour. The Father's acceptance of the Son includes them, making those who come to Him for cleansing and are adopted into God's family sons of God, God's children and joint-heirs with Christ, heirs of God to a glorious inheritance. Through sanctification by the truth their unity with Christ in God does not erase their individual personalities. By enduring union with Christ and with one another through the true work of grace in the heart they become partakers of the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world through lust, changed from sin to holiness. The Father loves fallen human beings so changed as He loves His Son, and it is the privilege of men and women to have this enduring union which opens to them the source of rich and eternal happiness that outlives all earthly sinful enjoyment.

The glory they are to behold is the glory He had with the Father before the world was. It is the glory of the Father's presence and the Father's house, the unapproachable splendor of their converse together. It is linked with His oneness with the Father before the world existed as the only-begotten Son who gave His life for humanity and is to be exalted. Even angels were not admitted to the interviews between the Father and the Son when the plan of salvation was laid, so human beings who try to intrude into the secrets of the Most High who inhabits eternity show ignorance of spiritual and eternal things and should instead humble themselves and plead with God to teach them His ways while mercy is still heard. The great joy of the overcomer will be to be in the presence of Christ, and the glory and gain and enjoyment of eternal life is prepared only for those for whom it has been prepared.

Unity and Oneness Taught

John 17:24 belongs to the prayer for followers to be one with one another and with Christ and through Christ with God, as Christ is one with the Father, and it calls them to seek that unity and let love replace coldness and hardness of heart. It expresses the will that those given to Him be with Him and behold the glory the Father gave Him because the Father loved Him before the foundation of the world, and it reveals the breadth and fullness of the Father's love to be comprehended so that believers live in perfect oneness under the Holy Spirit and allow no separations that would weaken God's cause. As part of that prayer it shows what overcomers are to become, sanctified through truth, united with Christ and one another, united with God, bearing good fruit, with the love the Father has for Christ in them. The church's unity and harmony are to testify to the world that the Father sent Jesus as Redeemer, and the prayer was given as instruction and consolation to be answered by hearing, obeying, dying to self and living it.

This oneness does not erase distinct personality, for God and Christ are two distinct personages and distinct persons who are one. Believers made one with Christ keep their own identity and personality, and their unity with Christ in God does not destroy the personality of either. Though scattered the world over they are to be one with Him by giving up their own way for His way and fulfilling God's purpose in all its height and depth, and through sanctification by the truth they become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ to a glorious inheritance. Joined to Christ, their lives become evidence to the world that God sent His Son to save sinners, and this oneness is the great unmistakable proof of His mission against a loose lax religion that leaves the world confused and bewildered.

By being made perfect in one with Christ in them and the Father in Christ, sharing the glory Christ has given them and loved by the Father as the Father loved Christ, with God's name declared to them and Christ's love in them, the world may know that God sent Christ. When hearts are filled with love and compassion and conduct is marked by Christlike tenderness and courtesy, believers reveal Christ in themselves, partake of His perfection, and their words gain power to convict souls and convert unbelievers, convincing the world that Christianity is genuine. God's plan is for His people to work together in church capacity with no disarrangement, not breaking up into separate atoms, and this requires removing barriers of selfishness, color, caste and territory, repenting and being doers of His words by cultivating love, true courtesy, gentleness and respect for His purchased possession. Variance, envy, fault-finding and speaking against one another pain Christ's heart, aid Satan's work to bring disunion, make service a pretense, forfeit the witness and blessing that rest on those who love one another, and practicing a contrary spirit that breaks up instead of unifies dishonors Christ.

Christ declares and continues to declare the Father's name so that the love with which the Father loved Him may be in them and He Himself may be in them, holding out great possibilities for God's people when they humble themselves and exalt Jesus. This puts believers on vantage ground, and only by standing on that vantage ground can they properly represent Christ, believing the truth for the truth's sake. Practicing God's Word, keeping His commandments, and living in Christian love and unity are the way followers embody this prayer and develop Christlike characters, receiving from Him power to do God's will and through His grace sharing in the divine nature and receiving the blessings promised to those who believe in Him as personal Saviour. This calls everyone into close relation to God, to seek sanctification of the Holy Spirit, and to be people of prayer who keep the mind in communion with God during daily work at home or in business, and then God will let His light shine upon them to be reflected to others around them.

Fulfillment in Heaven

The prayer was literally presented again when Christ entered the heavenly city after His ascension with the multitude of captives as first-fruits of the dead and wave-sheaf sign that death was conquered, representing those who will rise at the last trumpet. Waving back the worshiping angels and showing wounded head, pierced side, marred feet and nail-printed hands, He first required assurance from the Father that His sacrifice was accepted, that justice was satisfied and Satan vanquished. Only then did He ask that those given Him be with Him where He is to behold His glory, and the Father accepted the sacrifice and granted the request before commanding angelic worship. That granting came before coronet and royal robe, before inauguration as humanity's substitute and surety, and before public exaltation with a name above every name.

As risen and ascended Saviour and Son of man He continues as man's advocate and Intercessor for those left on earth, pleading that those the Father has given Him be with Him where He is to behold the glory the Father gave Him whom He loved before the world. It is court week, with Christ holding the censer of His own merits and gathering the prayers and praises of His people to present them to the Father as a sweet savor well pleasing to Him. With bruised hands bearing the wounds of cruel spikes He declares He has graven His church, the names of those who believe in Him, upon the palms of His hands, still presenting that prayer in behalf of guilty ministers and congregations needing pardon and cleansing.

At the deliverance of God's faithful people He is seen in divine glory seated on His throne bearing the marks of His humiliation, presenting this request before the Father and the holy angels, and His people hear it and are promised a place with Him. They are then welcomed as holy and undefiled who kept the word of His patience, and are to walk among the angels. The prayer is fulfilled when the ransomed enter the holy city and Paradise of God to be with Jesus where He is and behold His glory, welcomed into His presence with exceeding joy.

At the gates He presents to the Father the purchase of His blood faultless with exceeding joy, declaring those given Him have been kept, identifying His interests with theirs and pleading for their rights and titles gained through Him. The Father grants the request by justifying the church through Christ its representative and head and accepting it into divine favor through His merits, that its members share the honor He receives and reign with Him having suffered with Him. Then the Father looks upon the redeemed and beholds His own image restored, sin's discord banished and its blight removed, humanity once more in harmony with the divine, bringing the joy of the Lord to the faithful and to the Saviour Himself in seeing souls saved by His agony and humiliation.

Those to be with Him to behold His glory include those who beheld His agony on the cross amid the mocking crowd crying come down from the cross and we will believe, hidden at last by earthquake and darkness when graves opened and saints showed themselves in the city as testimony. The glory they will behold is the glory of the Father's presence and house which He had with the Father before the world was, the unapproachable splendor of their converse together into which even angels were not admitted when the plan of salvation was laid. The great joy of the overcomer will be to be in the presence of Christ, and that glory and gain and enjoyment of eternal life is prepared only for those for whom it has been prepared, who instead of intruding into the secrets of Him who inhabits eternity humble themselves and plead to be taught His ways while mercy is heard.

Living the Prayer

John 17 from first verse to last is to be believed every word, studied, repeated, and carried into practical life, with its lessons studied and practiced and habits brought into harmony with it. It plainly outlines God's will and means just what it says, showing the possibilities open to believers and strengthening faith in what they may become as they strive to answer it. It is to be answered now by entire consecration, conversion, faith, fasting, earnest prayer and outpouring of the Spirit, so that a powerful influence goes forth from commandment-keeping people and unity is sought in a way that allows God to answer and gives success to His workers. Such answering brings help in every emergency and the efficiency of the Holy Spirit, with the promise to love God's people as He loved His Son bringing salvation and eternal glory to God, and those who so answer follow on to know the Lord like the rising morning sun increasing in warmth and power.

For those who minister in word and doctrine and are acquainted with present truth the will of God is plainly outlined and is to be believed every word, stood faithfully upon, and lived out before fellow ministers as the philosophy of genuine missionary work. This calls for reconversion, for emptying the heart of self daily and depending wholly on Christ, and for laboring together with God in perfect unity and love as distinct branches drawing sustenance from one Source, Christ Jesus, and bearing fruit to the glory of God. Hearts filled with the love of Christ under the transforming influence of His grace and the Holy Spirit will reveal Christ in spirit and words and acts and will glorify the Lord, each doing his best in the work appointed to him. It requires esteeming others better than self, showing appreciation, helping and strengthening one another, speaking words of hope and cheer that make hearts glad instead of sorrowful, and loving one another as Christ has loved, so that faultfinding, accusation, backbiting, criticizing, and weakening one another's hands cease and leave no place. Ministers are to be one as Christ is one with the Father, drawing together in even cords in the solemn services of His sanctuary, not drawing the people to themselves but honoring God among them in His presence, with all parts of His service managed in an orderly becoming manner that impresses strangers and regular attendants with the elevated, ennobling character of the truth and its power to cleanse the heart.

The prayer applies to the home, that parents and their children may be among those included to be with Christ where He is and behold His glory given Him by the Father's love from before the foundation of the world. Its practice must begin in the home, where church members are measured by what they are, by tender respectful regard for one another, by Christlike conduct that does not grieve the Spirit, and by working the works of Christ so their brightly burning lamp gives light to those in darkness and wins sinners to loyalty. Children belong to Christ, who gave His life to save sinners from perishing, and salvation comes through believing in Him and receiving righteousness, truth, and happiness, with parents holding out hope of seeing their children saved in the kingdom of heaven. Living by patience, kindness, love, and care for others reflects His character beginning in family life, forming characters after His divine character as members of the royal family and children of the heavenly King who have suffered with Him in this world.

Living it molds character by daily partaking of Scripture as spiritual food, with Christ formed within, teaching principles by which believers mold character. Through union with Christ believers have no perfection in themselves but may become overcomers and be made one, with obedience to the truth sanctifying them and the Holy Spirit restoring them to holiness and molding them into Christ's image so transformed lives reveal His character and honor Him. When sins are confessed and forsaken close relation to Jesus comes in which believers are one with Christ where He is to behold His glory, making the blood of Jesus efficacious as wrongs toward God and brethren are put out of the way, and those in living union with God hate the sin that separates the soul from God when conviction comes and the light of the glory of God is revealed. Practicing God's Word, keeping His commandments, and living in Christian love and unity embody the prayer and develop Christlike characters, and faith in the truth that believers are loved by the Father as the Son is loved brings Christ's grace and makes the believer's light shine amid moral darkness.

The prayer belongs to Christ's intercessory prayer before His trial and crucifixion and teaches His continuing ministry as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary after completing His sacrifice, illustrating the intercession He is making now and will continue to make to the end of the world for those who believe in Him. Through His death and intercession those who come to Him in humility and faith may receive redemption, be kept from sin, and be fitted to be with Him, seeking spiritual blessings and loyalty to God rather than riches or human honor, with the assurance that those who faithfully do their duty may trust it is answered for them. He stands as the great Intercessor with no mediator between the sinner and Christ, representing the Father so that all that the Father is to Christ He is to those whom Christ represented in His humanity. The Father gave His Son to die so that salvation and light could reach people who might otherwise leave without knowing salvation, and in the surrounding prayer Jesus also asks for His followers to be united, kept from evil, and sanctified by the truth, not of the world and hated by it yet kept in His care. Christ's people and the world serve different masters and cannot unite in fellowship, for God is the strength, light, comfort, and joy of His people who must stand in His strength.