Thoughts on the Gospel of John (172) - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2025

And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
John 17:22–23

Thoughts on the Gospel of John (172)
In the first part of the prayer, the Lord has prayed for the Father to be glorified; in the second part, He thinks of His own and asks the Father to keep them during His absence – that He may be seen in their lives. In the final part of the prayer, Jesus goes on in thought to the glory to come: it is His will that His own receive and see His glory.

What an incomprehensible fact: the glory that Christ received as a man from the Father when He returned to heaven is now also given to believers! What have they done to deserve this?

The Lord speaks here as if they already possess His glory. In God’s counsel, the glorification of believers is already irrevocably fixed (Romans 8:30). As the Father and the Son, so shall believers be one in glory. This is the perfection of unity, which is not achieved here on earth. In heaven, however, Christ will be glorified unreservedly in His own. The source of glory is the Father Himself. He has fully revealed Himself in His Son, Jesus Christ. And this divine glory is then revealed in believers.

One day Jesus Christ will come again. All people will see Him. Then the world will recognise with the greatest astonishment who He is: the messenger of the Father. Moreover, the Father’s love will become visible in those who accompany Him then. They will be loved with the same love with which the Father loves His Son! Do you know something of this love?

(to be continued next Sunday)

Today’s reading: Hosea 12:1-14 · James 5:13-20