Jesus' Intercession for His Church

“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;  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.

The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. 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.

“O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me;  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 17:20-26

Jesus had prayed for His own return to glory, reporting to the Father that He had given His disciples “the words which You have given to Me.” Our Lord's emphasis throughout this prayer was on God's Word. The Father gave it to the Son and the Son imparted it to those men who were given to Him out of the world.  His Word is the basis of our faith. Holding fast to His Word is our security in the devil’s world. That was Jesus’ highest commendation of His people: “they have received the words which You gave Me.” The highest commendation for Himself: “I have given them the words which You gave Me."

There is nothing more important than the Word of God. Without the Word, we are free-falling in a world of confusion. No standards, no authority. Disoriented. Every man for himself. Jesus always quoted and honored the written Word in His teaching. In His time with the disciples, the words He spoke were of primary importance. The miracles performed called attention to His power, but His Words were the life-giving force of His ministry. If what we see, feel and experience conflicts with the Word of God, what we see, feel and experience is wrong. God's Word is more reliable than anything the world offers.

John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” 

John 14:23-24: Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”

Jesus didn’t pray for the world, because He had made atonement for the world. If His atonement is rejected, there is no more sacrifice for sins. Those who receive and believe His Word, however, are His own, and He prayed for their protection in hostile territory.

In verse 20, we find His prayer for us. We modern believers are those who believe in Jesus through the word of His disciples. They knew Him personally, believed totally in His Word and His work. They continued to believe and honor Him for the rest of their persecuted lives. They faithfully recorded His words and the words later given to them by the Holy Spirit (the New Testament). That written Word, read and studied with reverence and a willingness to understand, does the same thing in modern man that Jesus’ spoken words did for the early disciples. It transforms the person studying and believing it. We become Body of Christ. We are one with Him and with the Father. We are one with all other believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The supernatural bond of the Church universal is evidence in the world that Jesus is Who He says He is, and that the Father sent Him. He loves us as the Father loves Him—eternally and completely. His desire is that we be with Him, and He has prepared the way for that reality. We, lowly creatures that we are, actually glorify Him.

Our weakness displays His strength more than angelic might can do. Our poverty displays His fullness more than the riches of heaven. The praises of the redeemed; the grateful love of His pardoned people for the complete covering of our sins….these things manifested in us who are saved by faith in His finished work…these are the things that glorify Him.

Jesus became human in order to redeem humanity. God decreed it so, and He chose to communicate His eternal truth through human language, delivered by men to men in every dispensation.

It was revealed to them (the Old Testament Prophets) that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. I Peter 1:12

The steadfast faith we have in God’s Word is what gives us life and separates us from the kosmos. We who love our Lord will keep His Word, and it will guard our souls. That’s Jesus’ commendation of us to the Father, and it is Jesus’ promise to us.