That They may be with Me

“Father, I desire that those whom You have given Me, that they may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me, for You have loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24)

This is part of the prayer Jesus prayed before going to the garden to be betrayed by Judas.  It’s known as the High Priestly Prayer because in it He intercedes for His disciples and those who will believe in Him. In this Scripture, Jesus is speaking about the disciples and all who will believe on Him. “And I do not pray for these alone, but for those also who shall believe on Me through their word,” (John 17:20) The phrase that Jesus uses is “whom You have given Me...” Jesus was always subject to the Father and never did anything of His own. Everything was in agreement and obedience to the Father. There are several Scriptures in which Jesus said that He obeyed the Father. When He was talking to the Samaritan woman, the disciples wanted Him to eat. “Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.” (John 4:34) When He healed the man at the pool at the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, He taught the people about His Father and made Himself equal to God for which the Jews conspired to kill Him. He said, “I can do nothing of My own self. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of the Father Who has sent Me.” (John 5:30) Other such Scriptures are found in the Gospel of John: 6:38; 8:26; 10:18; 12:49-50; 14:30-31; 15:10.

Paul writes, “But when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subject to Him who has subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all things in all.” (1Corinthians 15:28) This begs the question, is Jesus lower than the Father? The obvious answer is no. He is equal to the Father, but these Scripture seem to say different. While Jesus was on earth, He was subject to the Father. He was sent by the Father and came on a mission. And He completed that mission in the flesh of man, which was the redemptive work on the cross. In the flesh of man, He had to be obedient in all things to fulfill the mission. But Paul’s Scripture explains it all so well. After completing the mission and Jesus turns all things back to the Father “so that God may be all things in all,” meaning things are restored to the Godhead which is the unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as it has always been since the beginning. We don’t understand how it all works because of our limited world view. We just get glimpses into God’s marvelous world.

Another important point in the Scripture is the desire of Jesus to have those who believe in Him be with Him beholding His glory which was from the beginning and will be forever. When we are in the presence of the Lord Jesus, in prayer or in worship, we just get a tiny glimpse of His glory. It’s not possible to stand in all His glory. Our flesh cannot live in His glory. Jesus reveals Himself to John when John was in exile on the island of Patmos. John’s flesh could not stand in His presence and writes that he fell as if dead. “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying to me, Do not fear, I am the First and the Last,” (Revelation 1:17). Ezekiel and Daniel were others who when they were in the presence of the Lord fell down as dead. Jesus prayed that He wants us with Him so we can see Him in all of His glory. We cannot do that now until we go into eternity.

In eternity Jesus is part of the Godhead, equal to the Father and one with the Father. There is unity in the Godhead, love, peace and joy reign in unity in the Godhead. In His prayer, Jesus desires to return to that unity that He was part of since before the creation of the world.

In short, just like the disciples, who missed lots of what Jesus was truly saying, we miss lots when we read the words of Jesus if we don’t meditate on them. Lots of what Jesus said was about the heavenly realm of which we know only a little. It’s hard to understand fully because it doesn’t operate like our world. But when we explore it, we find that it’s marvelous beyond our understanding.