Jesus Prays That the Father Would Be Glorified Through His Saving Work
John 17 records what is often called Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. Having finished preparing His disciples in the Upper Room, Jesus now lifts His eyes to heaven and prays. It is the longest recorded prayer of Jesus in the Gospels and provides a remarkable glimpse into His heart just before the cross.
Jesus begins:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You.” — John 17:1
Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus repeatedly said that His hour had not yet come. Now, with the cross only hours away, that hour has arrived. He continues:
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” — John 17:3
Jesus then declares:
“I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” — John 17:4
Although the crucifixion was still ahead, Jesus speaks with complete confidence because He was perfectly committed to fulfilling the Father’s will. He concludes this section by praying:
“And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” — John 17:5
Here Jesus clearly speaks of His eternal existence with the Father before creation itself.
This reminds us that the highest purpose of life is the glory of God. Jesus lived every moment to honour the Father, and His greatest work was accomplished through loving obedience. Eternal life is not simply living forever—it is knowing God personally through Jesus Christ. As we pursue a deeper relationship with Him, our lives increasingly reflect His glory.
Jesus Prays for His Disciples
Jesus now turns His attention to the disciples whom the Father had given Him. He says:
“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world…” — John 17:6
He acknowledges that they have received God’s Word:
“For I have given to them the words which You have given Me…” — John 17:8
Jesus then offers one of the most comforting prayers in Scripture:
“Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me…” — John 17:11
He does not ask that they be removed from the world. Instead He prays:
“I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.” — John 17:15
Jesus recognises that His followers must remain in the world to fulfil their mission, but they need divine protection. He continues with another well-known request:
“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” — John 17:17
Then He commissions them:
“As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” — John 17:18
The disciples were to continue Christ’s mission by proclaiming His truth.
This reminds us that Jesus not only saves His people but continually intercedes for them. He prays for our protection, our holiness, and our faithfulness in carrying His message to the world. We are called to live in the world without becoming shaped by it, allowing God’s Word to continually transform our hearts and equip us for His mission.
Jesus Prays for All Future Believers
One of the most remarkable moments in Scripture occurs when Jesus extends His prayer beyond the eleven disciples. He says:
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word.” — John 17:20
This includes every believer throughout history—including us today. Jesus’ central request is:
“That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You…” — John 17:21
The purpose of this unity is evangelistic:
“…that the world may believe that You sent Me.” — John 17:21
Jesus also prays:
“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am…” — John 17:24
His greatest desire is that His people will one day behold His glory forever. The prayer concludes:
“And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” — John 17:26
The chapter ends not with fear of the cross but with the certainty of God’s love and the eternal fellowship awaiting His people.
This reminds us that Jesus has prayed not only for His first disciples but for every person who would believe through their testimony. His desire is that His Church would display unity, holiness, love, and faithfulness so that the world might recognise Him. Our greatest future hope is not merely heaven itself but being with Christ forever and beholding His glory face to face.
Deeper Waters
John 17 stands as the climax of Jesus’ Upper Room discourse and serves as His High Priestly Prayer. Standing on the threshold of the cross, Jesus intercedes for Himself, His disciples, and all future believers. The chapter presents Him as the eternal Son, the faithful High Priest, the sanctifier of His people, and the One who secures the eternal unity and glory of His Church.
The prayer begins with the words:
**”Father, the hour has come.”**
Throughout John’s Gospel, the “hour” has referred to the appointed time of Christ’s suffering, death, resurrection, and exaltation. Now that hour has arrived. Remarkably, Jesus views the cross not primarily as humiliation but as glorification. The Father’s glory is revealed through the Son’s perfect obedience, and the Son’s glory is revealed through His sacrificial love. Calvary becomes the place where God’s holiness, justice, mercy, and love shine with unparalleled brilliance.
Jesus’ definition of eternal life is profoundly relational:
**”That they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”**
Eternal life is not simply endless existence but restored fellowship with God. Humanity lost intimate communion with God through Adam’s sin in Eden. Through Christ, that fellowship is restored. Eternal life begins the moment a person believes and continues forever in ever-deepening communion with the Father and the Son.
When Jesus prays to be glorified with:
**”the glory which I had with You before the world was,”**
He makes one of the clearest declarations of His eternal pre-existence in all of Scripture. Before creation existed, the Son already shared the Father’s glory. This echoes the opening of John’s Gospel:
**”In the beginning was the Word…”**
and confirms that Jesus is not a created being but the eternal Son who has always existed in perfect fellowship with the Father.
The middle section of the prayer reveals Jesus as our High Priest. Just as Israel’s high priest represented the people before God, Jesus now intercedes for His disciples. Yet unlike the priests of the Old Covenant, His intercession is perfect and continual. Hebrews later develops this truth by declaring that Christ “always lives to make intercession” for His people (Hebrews 7:25). John 17 therefore provides a glimpse of the ongoing ministry that continues even after Christ’s ascension.
Jesus prays not for the disciples’ removal from the world but for their preservation within it. This establishes an important balance for Christian living. Believers are called neither to isolate themselves from society nor to conform to its values. Instead, they remain in the world while refusing to become of the world. Their distinctiveness comes through being sanctified by the truth, and Jesus identifies that truth plainly:
**”Your word is truth.”**
God’s Word continually shapes believers into Christ’s likeness and equips them for faithful witness.
The prayer for unity has often been misunderstood. Jesus is not asking for mere organisational uniformity or superficial agreement. The unity He prays for is rooted in shared faith, shared truth, shared life in Christ, and shared participation in the love of the Father. It reflects the unity that eternally exists between the Father and the Son. Such unity becomes a powerful testimony to the reality of the Gospel before a watching world.
One of the most moving moments in the chapter occurs when Jesus says:
**”I do not pray for these alone…”**
At this point His prayer embraces every future believer. Before the cross, Jesus is already praying for all who will come to faith through the apostolic message. Every Christian today finds himself or herself included in this remarkable prayer. Long before we ever sought Christ, Christ was interceding for us.
The prayer reaches its climax with Jesus’ desire:
**”Father, I desire that they also… may be with Me where I am.”**
The ultimate goal of salvation is not merely forgiveness, escape from judgment, or entrance into heaven. It is eternal fellowship with Christ Himself. Believers are destined to behold His glory forever, fulfilling God’s original purpose of dwelling with His redeemed people. This theme reaches its consummation in Revelation 21–22, where God’s servants see His face and dwell in His presence forever.
John 17 encourages us to: li.ve with God’s glory as the highest aim of life, – rejoice that eternal life begins through knowing Christ personally, – find comfort in Christ’s continual intercession, – remain faithful to God’s truth while living in a fallen world, – pursue unity grounded in biblical truth and Christlike love, – and fix their hope on the day they will see Jesus in all His glory.
Ultimately, John 17 points us to Jesus Christ, the eternal Son who shared the Father’s glory before the world began, the faithful High Priest who intercedes for His people, and the loving Saviour who desires His redeemed family to be with Him forever. On the eve of the cross, His heart is not consumed with His own suffering but with the glory of the Father, the preservation of His disciples, and the eternal joy of all who will believe. His prayer assures every believer that our salvation rests not only upon His finished work on the cross but also upon His ongoing intercession before the Father, until the day when faith becomes sight and we behold His glory forever.