As Jesus closed His prayer, His focus expanded past His disciples and spread across time and the globe. Jesus knew these men were going to execute the spread of the message of salvation to all of the known world. He also knew that the gospel would be timeless and change lives for thousands of years to come. Still, Jesus was also aware that the spiritual war that raged from the time of Adam and Eve would not relent and would only intensify as the church expanded.
His prayer for the church focused upon mission, on unity, and upon keeping these empowered and safe until His return. Jesus asked the Father to sanctify and empower His chosen just as He was sanctified and empowered. Jesus knew that the equipping of the saints was the critical part of spreading the Gospel. The enemy would not relent. So, as the battle raged, the army would need to have the same wisdom, power, and protection that He was granted.
Separation from the world had always been the goal. Israel was to be a nation kept holy and separate. They were not separated from the world to destroy the world, but instead to draw the world back into relationship with the Father. Christ’s sacrifice made all believers part of that original mission. Jesus asked the Father to sanctify the believers which means to transform believers into the image of Christ. As believers, we need to be transformed so we can do what Jesus did.
He next asked to unify believers. A house divided cannot stand. Jesus prayed that the enemy would not be able to divide and conquer the chosen. The Church’s darkest hours through the ages have been the times when they were divided. Satan knows that when the people of the world can witness the family of God bickering and fighting among themselves, he does not have to raise a finger to neutralize the spread of the Gospel. That is why God’s call for unity is as relevant today as it was during Jesus’ final prayer.
Finally, Jesus called on the Father to open our eyes to see Him in His glory. Jesus is not simply a good teacher, a magician, or even a great prophet of God. He is God. We have to see Him in all of His glory so that we can share in that glory and lead others there as well. So, Jesus closes the prayer with the final request that they share in all that Jesus shared with the Father.
We now enjoy the transformation, the unity, power, and glory held by our Lord. Since we are so equipped, we are called to carry out our mission – the mission to share the truth of Christ with anyone that will listen. We are blessed with His word to teach us all that the disciples were taught and even more. We have been given the Holy Spirit to guide and comfort us in the battle. Finally, we are a part of God’s glory as was the Lord. In that glory, we are granted everything He was granted. As we focus on spreading the gospel and ministering to the needs of people, we continue the work of reconciling all things to Him.
God Bless You
13 But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them [d]from [e]the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
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 [f]believe that You sent Me.
Their Future Glory
22 The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected [g]in unity, so that the world may [h]know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. 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, [i]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.”
Walking With God 