I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one— I in them and You in Me—that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me. Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, although the world has not known You, I know You, and they know that You sent Me. And I have made Your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love You have for Me may be in them, and I in them.”
I am making this covenant and this oath not only with you, but also with those who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God, as well as with those who are not here today.
Therefore, as surely as I live," declares the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, "surely Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah—a place of weeds and salt pits, a perpetual wasteland. The remnant of My people will plunder them; the remainder of My nation will dispossess them."
The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.
Walk the Square · a single-voice walk of this pair around the Clowney square13:23
Significance
In the final movement of His high-priestly prayer Jesus prays beyond the men before Him: "I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message" (17:20), asking "that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You" (17:21). His intercession reaches across every generation to come — exactly the reach of the covenant Moses set before Israel at Moab: "I am making this covenant and this oath not only with you... but also with those who are not here today" (Deuteronomy 29:14-15). The covenant God binds Himself to a people not yet born, and so does the Son: His prayer already holds every future believer, and the unity He asks for is not organizational but participatory — the church drawn into the very oneness of Father and Son. This is the covenant theme come to its end, for the covenant's whole purpose was communion ("I will be their God, and they will be My people"), and Jesus names that end explicitly: "Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me" (17:24). The telos is beholding — the covenant secures not merely a status but a sight, that the people given to the Son should be with Him and behold His glory forever, and beholding, be transformed into His likeness (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Found via
Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament (1866)
Reference Type
Echo
Connection Method(s)
Analogy + Longitudinal Theme
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