Monday John 17:20-26

Jesus prayed for all of his followers for all time.

Click here for an online Bible John 17:20-26

Jesus prayed for himself, and then he prayed for his disciples. In verses 20-26, he prayed for those who would come to believe later. That includes us.

Jesus prayed for unity. He prayed for unity with each other and unity with him. The purpose of that unity is to be a witness for him to the world. Jesus said that he wants the world to know about him.

Verse 22 is interesting. Jesus said that he has given us the glory that the Father had given him. What does that mean? One clue is that it leads to unity. If you do a word-search on glory, you find that it relates to the presence of God. When Moses said to God, “Show me your glory” in Exodus 33, the Lord said that his goodness would pass before Moses and God would speak his name to Moses. So the glory of God relates to his revelation and his presence. Jesus has passed this on to us. We have a relation of God through the gospel. We experience the presence of God through the forgiveness that Christ offers.

The unity that Jesus prayed for is the unity of faith in Christ and the unity of the mission to be witnesses of Christ to the world.