And I invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to John chapter 17, continuing but nearing the end of our series of studies in Jesus' high priestly prayer, John 17, the Lord's own prayer, as we've called it, in which we have the privilege of sitting with Jesus' disciples and listening as our Lord prays, as He talks to His and our Heavenly Father, what a privilege that is for this whole chapter, just to be able to listen as Jesus prays, to examine His prayers this night before He is to go to the cross and the things that were on His mind, the things that were on His heart, He lifts up before His Father in heaven. Tonight, we're looking at just one verse. It is John 17, verse 24. So hear the word of God. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. We can come back to your word this evening and to study it, to think about it, Father, I pray for your help. Lord, in this late hour of the day, give us sharp minds to hear and listen, to focus. Father, I pray that you would grant us your spirit to teach us your word. Spirit of God, you inspired these words that God the Son prayed to God the Father. And we pray now that you would open them up to us and feed our souls, Lord, in this evening meal on the Lord's day, meal of the word of God. Father, we thank you for it. We pray for your blessing now on it and pray in Jesus' name. Amen. As Jesus nears the end of his prayer, we've seen him pray for several things, for his disciples, disciples present for him, and some there with him as he's praying, and disciples future, the church future, including you, including me, things Jesus prayed for as we saw, praying for those who will believe through the preaching of the apostles, of course, their immediate hearers, And then as the gospel was passed on from generation to generation to generation to generation to here in the 21st century. But we've seen these things Jesus has prayed for. He's prayed for our protection from the evil one. Jesus is leaving the world. The disciples will remain in the world. And we're here in the world. Jesus prayed that we would be protected from the evil one. And he prayed also for our sanctification by the word of God. God's Word is truth, that we would be sanctified, that is, we would grow in Christlikeness by the truth of the Word of God. We saw where he prays for the unity of his church, and we looked at that, talked about that, that we suggested that Jesus primarily isn't thinking so much of structural organizational unity, but a unity of spirit, unity in the bond of Christ, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, recognizing even brothers and sisters of other denominations who truly believe in historic Christian faith, Orthodox faith, recognizing them as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that we'll be together in heaven with. and loving them and valuing them accordingly. And then here, Jesus prays for one more thing, and that is that we would be with Him in glory. that we would be with Him in glory. And that's, of course, where it's all heading, where all of this is heading, where all human history is heading, certainly our lives in it, and it's what Jesus prays for here. Why? Why does Jesus pray this? Why does He pray for us to be with Him in glory? Well, He gives two reasons I want us to look at. There's two reasons Jesus is praying this. One, first, Jesus wants us with Him. Jesus wants us with him, to be with him. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am. Now it's the fifth time in this prayer that Jesus has addressed his father directly as father. We saw it back in verse one, again in verse five, he addresses him as holy father. In verse 11, he addresses him in verse 21, and again here, and he will yet one more time, verse 25, righteous father. And it may be that Jesus is addressing his father directly in this way, maybe as we might, for added emphasis to express particular concern for these petitions he's bringing up. Can't be too sure of that, wouldn't want to be too dogmatic about that, but it seems to me when I'm praying and something really just hits me that I feel like is urgent, I'll say, Father, you know, Heavenly Father, not that we need to get God's attention, but maybe just focusing my attention, that I'm addressing though. I don't know if Jesus was doing that, but he does directly address his father several times throughout this prayer. And then comes this remarkable statement. Jesus states something that he wants. That he wants. And the word is the word for to will something or to desire something. It's the same word when Jesus says to the leper, the leper says, Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean. Jesus says, I am willing, and so will it be clean. Well, that's his will. It's the same word, but it's not so much here that Jesus is willing for us to be in heaven as though he acquiesces to it. Well, okay. No, the sense of the word here is that, not so much he's willing, but that he wants it, he desires it, wants it. There's the NIV, the Living Translation. Jesus wants us to be in heaven. And there may be a place, if you find it, let me know, but just in thinking it through, this is the only place in the Gospels that I can think of where Jesus expresses something that he personally wants. a personal desire for something. Jesus wants us, he desires for us to be with him. You know, he didn't just agree to the plan to be the Redeemer, you know, to come in, get into this world, and then get the job done, saving us, and then get away from all these icky people as quickly as he could, get back to heaven. I mean, he ascended back to the Father. Only then, once we do arrive in heaven to tolerate us, oh, okay, here they are, you know, gunking up heaven with their dirty footprints or something. No, that's not the picture here at all. No, Jesus wants us not just in heaven, but with him in heaven. He says that they also may be with me where I am. Think about that. Jesus doesn't just want you in heaven. He wants you to be in heaven with him. And here we are, and as the darkness settles, and Jesus' darkest hour on earth here, before he goes to the cross, what does he want? There in the Garden of Gethsemane, even, what does he want? He wants his friends near him, his closest friends with him, to pray with him, to be there with him as he was praying. And when he's in glory, When he's in the most exalted, magnificent place that he could be with the Father in heaven, the most exalted being, the most exalted place possible, what does Jesus want? He wants his people to be near him, to be with him where he is. To be with Jesus where he is. That's the Christian hope. Not just to be in heaven. Well, I want to go to heaven. Well, we do, but often people's idea of heaven is kind of weird. You know, it's like the best golf course ever. Well, I think of the new earth, there will be the best golf courses ever. But, you know, or there'll be this, or there'll be that. It has nothing to do with Jesus. That's not heaven. Because heaven has everything to do with Jesus. He wants us not just to be in heaven, but to be with Jesus in heaven, that we would be with him. That's our hope. And Jesus is what makes heaven heaven for the Christian. Do you love Jesus now? If you don't, heaven will hold no interest for you. Jesus is what makes it heaven, and God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and for Jesus too. It's not just that we're in heaven, we're in heaven with him. Believe it or not, Jesus desires your company and mine in heaven. By the way, Jesus would utter these very same words, with me. He says he wants us with me, with me the very next day. The very next day after he prayed this. Jesus is on the cross, and there's a criminal also crucified on either side of him. And one of the two criminals, both had been previously railing at Jesus, mocking him, even in their own agony, but one of them changes, and you know what happens. He looks at Jesus and he says, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And I referred to that recently, I said, that is faith. To say to a man who is crucified and dying, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Because the last thing it looked like Jesus was headed for was any kind of kingdom at all. The father definitely opened that man's eyes, that thief on the cross. But remember what Jesus replied to him. He said, this day you'll be in paradise. Is that what Jesus said? Close, but not quite. Jesus said, truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. which is why it was paradise and would be for this man who called out to Jesus. To be with Jesus, he said, where I am. not just with the person of Jesus, but in that place. It is to be in heaven. Jesus wants us with him in a place, heaven, as he told his disciples back in John chapter 14, in my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am, you may be also. So heaven is a place, a place that Jesus is preparing for us, that will be there to receive us with a person. the one whose place it is, Jesus. So Jesus prays that we would be with him and that we would come into all that inheritance that Jesus was about to go to the cross from the vantage point of this prayer, that we would come into all that he was going to win for us through his life, his death, and resurrection. In other words, that Jesus would get everything his blood bought for us. that we would be with him in his father's house, a place Jesus himself has prepared for us. So that's the first reason Jesus prayed this. Jesus actually wants you and me with him in heaven. He wants us to be with him. Second, Jesus wants us, he prayed this, because he wants us to see his glory. He wants us to see his glory. To see my glory that you have given me. because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Now, it's not that Jesus' glory wasn't revealed in ways during his earthly ministry. I suppose if we were to think about how his glory was revealed in his ministry, perhaps the first thing that would come to mind would be the transfiguration of Jesus. When his divine radiance shines forth And some of his disciples see it in Moses and Elijah there with him. And so there is that, his glory was certainly seen in that, but it was also revealed in other ways, maybe less obvious in his ministry, his love, his compassion for the downcast and for the hurting and for the downtrodden, his humility, even his crucifixion. was a way of revealing his glory. In fact, he prayed at the very beginning of this prayer, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you. Jesus showed his glory in going to the cross us. In all these ways, His glory was seen, and that's one reason John could write what I know is a very familiar verse to you, John 1 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. The disciples did see Jesus' glory while He was on the earth, I think the transfiguration gave them a hint of how much Jesus' glory was hidden by his incarnation. They also saw his glory in the miracles that he did or the signs that Jesus performed that verified and vindicated his claims. They saw it in Jesus' suffering. All of these things, including his resurrection, certainly, his ascension into heaven. And we too see Jesus' glory as we read about these things in the Gospels and in the ministry of the church and the proclaiming of Christ. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3, 18, He said, and we all with unveiled face, he was talking about Moses and the old covenant and veiling his face because his face shone with the glory of, the reflected glory of God after being in the presence of God. Well, Paul says, and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image for one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. And he's talking about the ministry of the new covenant, preaching of the word of God. The church reveals the glory. Christ, as Christ is lifted up in the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Even so, the disciples then, with all that they saw, and even we in this, in the preaching of the gospel, the lifting up of Christ, we don't, as they didn't, we don't yet witness Jesus' glory in all of its unveiled heavenly splendor. I think one reason that Jesus wants us to see his glory. Why does he pray this? That they would see my glory. Why does he pray this? Well, one thing, one reason I think was for his own sake. that Jesus would be able to show his disciples this aspect of his being, which was necessarily hidden in his incarnation, except briefly seen somewhat, perhaps partially even through the transfiguration, but for his own sake. He wanted his disciples to see who he was, all that he was, as he truly is. And not that we didn't see the real Jesus when he was in the flesh, and that they didn't see him in the flesh, and we as we read about him in scripture, but we know that his glory was veiled. while he was on the earth. And so to see him, not just as the incarnate Jesus, the man, but to see him, to see him as God, to see his heavenly deity, his glory, his eternal glory, glory he left behind in his incarnation coming into the world, not his deity, but the glory of it. And then the glory he took up again and went back into when he ascended back into heaven. As we get to know people, and as people get to know you or get to know me, we learn things typically gradually. And we come to get a better idea of the person as we learn who they are, the things they like, the experiences that they've had. And sometimes as you're getting to know somebody, it's fun to reveal some aspect of who you are that they find interesting and that helps them to kind of understand you better as a person. Back when Barbara and I were dating, started dating, at some point I drove her down to the Gulf Coast and we took our family's boat out to Horn Island, one of the barrier islands off the Mississippi coast. Went out there, it was a beautiful day. For one thing, it was just a fun thing to do, good day. Went out, walked on the beach, and beachcombing and just enjoying the day. But two, it was showing her a big part of my life that had shaped me growing up, that had kind of made me who I was up to that point in my life, and showing her something that was very special to me. and revealing myself to her and her getting to know me better in that way. Also, water skiing, but that's a story for a different sermon. In the same way, Jesus wants us to be in heaven with him to see his glory, to see this part of who he is that was necessarily hidden when he was on the earth, so to speak. To see his true, heavenly, overwhelming, spectacular, magnificent, He wanted them to see that for his sake, for the joy of revealing who he was all the more to them and to us. But there's another reason Jesus wanted this, and that was for our sake, for your sake and mine. Because after all, for whatever joy it gives Jesus to reveal his glory in that way to us in heaven, can there be for us any higher, richer, more astounding, more rewarding, more ecstatic, more wonderful experience as a human being than to see God, to see the glory of God. I've seen the Rockies. I've seen the Grand Canyon. I've even seen Machu Picchu. Pales in insignificance compared to the glory of God that we will see. to see, to look at, to see God. This was David's prayer in Psalm 27, four. He says, one thing have I asked of the Lord, one thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Now we get a taste of that when we gather here, coming to this, it's not a temple, it's a church building, but the place where we worship God, draw near to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord with the eyes of faith through the preaching of the word of God and singing of the word to him and then the display of the word and the sacraments and praying the word in prayer and reading the word as we read through the scriptures. We do gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, even as David could enter the temple or the tabernacle, and gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. But in heaven, we will literally, with our actual eyes, not the eyes of faith, not the eyes of the heart, but with our eyes, look, gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. Jesus wanted that for his own sake, for the joy of our knowing him better, seeing who he really is, but Jesus wanted that for our sake because of the delight it would be to see the God who loved us, the God who saved us, and the God who desires us to be with him. You know, the thing is, if we were to actually see God now, it would kill us. We're not ready. We're not prepared. You know Isaiah's agonized cry when he saw God actually in a vision in Isaiah six, woe is me, I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips. Isaiah sees God and he is immediately flattened by a sense of his own filth and sinfulness. As the angels are singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Isaiah has just laid flat in the dust. He can't take it. We can't take it were we to see God now. But then we will be able to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and not be undone, not be lost. Why? Because we will be glorified. Because we will be sinless. God will have completed his work of redemption and we will be prepared and ready and fit by God's grace in Christ to look upon God. He will have prepared us to be there. John wrote in 1 John, same wrote our gospel here, but in 1 John 5-2, he says, beloved, we are God's children now. and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." John says we shall be like him, not divine, not like him in his deity, but like him in his sinlessness. in his sinlessness, like Jesus, never to sin again, never to do a sinful deed or fail to do a righteous one, never to say a sinful word, never to think a sinful thought, never to hold a sinful attitude, utterly, completely, and thoroughly sinless. I can't even imagine it, but the Bible says that's what's coming for us. And so sinless, we will be able to look in the face, the glorious, radiant face of our Savior. to see him. And we'll wonder how we were ever happy doing anything else. Jesus wanted us to see his glory for himself because of the joy of showing us all that he is and who he is. But dear friends, Jesus wanted that for us. It's what we were created for. It's what we were redeemed for. What more could Jesus give us than to see the glory of God? He gives us himself. Before we close, I do want to notice something. As I was looking at these verses, Jesus is, of course, praying. He just addressed father, addressed his father. He's praying to the father. And he comments in this verse on the father's doing three things. Now this is not another three point sermon, just gonna comment on three things Jesus remarks on about his father in heaven. One, the father gave the church to Jesus. He says, I desire that they also whom you have given me Now, we've already seen that expression. This is the third time in this prayer that Jesus refers to believers and to the church as a whole as a gift to him from his father. And the way it's worded, it's as a unit, as a whole. the whole church given, the people of God given to Jesus. And you see it in verse 2, you see it again in verse 6. Earlier in John 6, 37, Jesus says, all that the Father has given me will come to me. The church is a gift from God the Father to God the Son. the bride of Christ, whom the father chose before the creation of the world to be a gift for his son, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the church. So that's the first thing you notice here. The father gave the church to Jesus. And that's why he wants us with him in glory, one reason. Two, the father gave glory to Jesus. Notice he's talking about another thing the father gave, to see my glory that you have given me. Now, your Trinitarian theology antennas might be wiggling a little bit at that, because to be sure, God the Son is of equal glory with God the Father. Our catechism teaches us that. There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. equal in power and glory. So God the Son is as glorious as God the Father. But how did the Father give glory to Jesus? Well, I think it has to do in Jesus' capacity not so much as God the second person of the Trinity, the Son, God the Son, but as the Redeemer. as the one who accomplished the plan of redemption in his incarnation, in his sinless life, and is going to the cross, and is being raised up, accomplishing our salvation. Glory to Jesus as God, yes, but even more glory to Jesus as the redeemer of God's elect, the redeemer of the gift, the church, the people of God. Three, the Father loved Jesus before the foundation of the world. We've talked a lot about how God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world. We saw that in Ephesians 1 verse 4. But he also chose Jesus. to be the Redeemer before the creation of the world. That's one reason that Paul says in Ephesians 1 verse 4, God chose us in Christ, not in the abstract, not apart from Jesus, but chose us because he knew we would need a Redeemer, he knew we would sin and be sinful, chose us in Christ. That is, through Christ, through all that Jesus would do, chose us in Christ. to be holy and blameless in his sight. Well, he chose Jesus for that role. Peter speaks of this, 1 Peter 1 verse 20, Jesus was foreknown, I like the NIV, it says chosen, that's really the force of it, Jesus was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for our sake. Jesus was foreknown, Jesus was chosen before the creation of the world to be the Redeemer. And the Father loved the Son as God and loved the Son as the Redeemer even before he made the world. Jesus wants us to see his glory as God and the glory that is his also as the Redeemer who accomplished our salvation. This verse is absolutely amazing. That's one reason I'm preaching on it. It's just one verse. There's a lot going on here. What does Jesus want? What does Jesus pray for as he closes out this prayer? Jesus wants you and me to be with him in heaven. He wants us to see his glory. His glory is God. His glory is our Savior. for his sake, for our sake, forever. Let's pray. Father, we long for the day when our faith will be sight, where we will gaze with our own eyes upon the beauty of the Lord who loved us, who saved us, brought us home. Father, help us to live in light of that. Help us even now, Lord, as best we can with the eyes of faith, through the word of God, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord in anticipation of that day when we will see you as you are. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.