The High Priestly Prayer Pt 3

John 17:22-26

As we have read, this section continues the prayer of Jesus before he was arrested. He concludes this prayer in these verses by praying for unity and praying that people would know God through the example of the believers.

In verse 22, Jesus asks that they (the believers) “may be one, even as we are one.” The truth of the Trinity is that God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all equally one as God. Jesus is praying for people to get along and experience deep relational unity because of their faith. He wants them to be one, just as He is one with God. This oneness is also purposeful because Jesus prays that the world would know God’s love by the unity of the believers. The world should be able to look at the body of Christ, the church, and see how much God loves His people. This means that believers are responsible for seeking unity and being an example to the world of the God who loved them enough to sacrifice His only Son for them.

He says in verse 26 that He “made known to them Your name, and will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them.” God sent Jesus to earth to show people how to get to God. Contrary to what many believed then, and many still believe today, good works cannot earn our salvation because only a relationship with Jesus can do that. Jesus came to make the love of God known to people, and He was sent to be the ultimate sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world.

Finally, Jesus doesn’t just pray for the believers in their life on earth; He also prays that they will be with Him in heaven one day and see the fullness of His glory. Jesus had a prayer and a plan for us that included both our life on earth and our eternity. You get to be an example of God’s love now as you seek unity in the church, and you will get to be with Jesus one day and see Him in all of His glory.

This verse in the song Holy is Our God depicts the day that we will be in the presence of Jesus:

He will return just as He said

The day the graves give up their dead

And I will bow face to the ground

And sing the sweetest sound

Holy, Holy, Holy is our God

Worthy, worthy is Christ the Lamb

What a beautiful thought; we will sing the sweetest song to Jesus someday. I pray that we will seek unity in the meantime, as Jesus prayed for us.

Is there somewhere in your life that you need to seek unity or be an example of God’s love for someone?