I'd like to extend Christian greetings to each one of you. This morning it is a blessing and a privilege to be here with you. I didn't tell Kristen where my text would be. I think it was of the Lord to have him lead this hymn. where he speaks about when my life's work is ended. Is it in Ecclesiastes or is it Proverbs where it says, to teach me, O Lord, to number my days. I think it would be well for us to do a little math. We need to occasionally remind ourselves that we are here just for a season and that this life is a journey and the destination is coming. And we will, as we were singing, I shall know him. Well, you won't know him unless you know him now. You won't know him unless you know him now and you won't meet him as you wish to unless you have already met Him now. And so it's really a sobering concept that we are in this brief expanse called time, and there's eternity past, and there's eternity future, and your destiny and how you relate to the Lord Jesus Christ is the determining factor of your future and whether or not you have trusted, whether or not the Lord has drawn you to himself and you've come to a place of seeing your utter destitution spiritually before Christ and you've thrown yourself on the rock of this salvation. And this, brothers and sisters, we need to reinforce continually. that nothing else really matters except your relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. And as you should, even as children of God, we should be numbering our days. You know, because in a mayor, 30 years, maybe 20 years. What does he say? That a man's life is 70 years if it is 80 years by reason of strength. But that is not long. I'm way past the halfway point. And I have only limited opportunity to lay up treasure in heaven. Just limited opportunity. When my life's work is ended and I cross the swelling tide, when the bright and glorious morning I shall see, I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side, and His smile will be the first to welcome me. You know, there's so much sweetness in this hymn. You know why? Because it refers to heaven as a person waiting for us. which is the biblical truth. A neighbor of ours buried his 95-year-old mother just this week, just this past, not this, this past week. She would have been 96, I think, on Thursday. And he told me, and this is often what we hear, that she's in a better place. The place is not the destination, is it? It's the person. It's the person of Jesus Christ. And as we look at the closing words of his prayer in John 17, I think that will become clear from the divine perspective is that He is the glory of the place. So I want to title this morning, we'll be in John 17, we want to finish this chapter of John 17, Lord willing, this morning. I've titled this From Grace to Glory. From Grace to Glory, or you might even, you could title it From Election to Glorification. Looking at this prayer, I want to begin in verse 20. We'll break in here, John 17, verse 20, we'll read through the end, but we want to, I want to do a bit of a review of the prayer, but Lord willing, our text will be then focused specifically on the last three verses, 24, 25, and 26. Hear the prayer of the Lord. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. Did you notice the concern for the world? that the world may know. 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. Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. Oh, righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you sent me. And I have declared to them your name, and will declare it, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them." You know, the grandeur of this prayer, the revelation of the character of Jesus Christ and the divine perspective that we see here, it's high stuff. It is exalted. information that we have here. It's exalted revelation as we consider the divine perspective. I think, you know, as we consider prayer, there's often, it's often telling when you listen to someone pray. You know, because the significance of the relationship is revealed a lot of times in the prayer. And here we have the same thing. We have the beauty of the Son addressing the Father and we have the Son's perspective as He prays and as He comes before the Father and as He As we might say, as He intercedes for us, as He requests these various things for us, it becomes clear that we are in the heart of the Son, is it not? That He loves us, that He cares for us, and that the Lord is our shepherd. So this prayer our Savior prayed is a prayer for us. It is for us. I pray for them, as he says in verse nine, I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you've given me, for they are yours. But he says also in verse 20, I do not pray for these alone, which would indicate maybe that verse nine is a reference to the disciples and those 11 that were in close association with him at this moment. But in verse 20 he says, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who believe in me through their word. Every believer from the time of Christ, every believer from then to the present, And I thought of this as a comfort for my own children after I'm dead and gone, even my grandchildren, who come to faith through the apostolic word, are prayed for here. Isn't that a comfort? When you look at the generations to come, and you look at even your own life, you rejoice that you've also been prayed for. your children have been prayed for, and your grandchildren. As they come to faith, we see that they're included here in this magnificent prayer. Every believer from the time of Christ to the present is here prayed for, and those of the future who would believe are not excluded. they are included. I want to notice here as we, in a general sense again, I want to notice the scope of this prayer, how broad it is, how encompassing it is for the life of the believer. You know, it covers the believer's life from the divine perspective. It is God looking into our lives and seeing and knowing what his children would need as they journey in this, as we take this journey that is accomplished in time. This is a perspective that should tell us what we need. from God's viewpoint. You see what this prayer, he's bringing these requests that are significant, and they teach us that we need these things, that we need what Christ is praying for. And so Jesus refers to us as those whom the Father has given to him out of the world. You know, this is kind of the beginning, isn't it? And according to the doctrine, or according to the teaching of scripture, it was accomplished in eternity past. It's a grand, it's a grand doctrine. It's a vast and glorious doctrine that those who believe in time have been given to the son from eternity past. I couldn't say it if it were not the scriptural truth. It is magnificent. It is a wonder. And what it does for us, you might say, well, why is that important? It is important to humble you. It should humble the socks off of you. Why me, Lord? I have proven myself a sinner and a rebel. in so many ways, but you have chosen me out of the world. You've given me to the Son from out of the world. We see that in verse 6, I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, you gave them to me and they have kept your word. Yes, we were of the world. They were taken out of the world, but they were given to the Son. And we see that really in the Gospel, in the New Covenant, in the covenant of God with His people, is that His goal has been to bring a people, a bride to His Son. It is a people who are devoted to the Son. And as we continue, I think we will notice that it is because the Father loves the Son. And so he is in the business of bringing a people who become like the sun, who reflect the glory of the sun, who are all about the sun, who remember the sun, who gather together every Lord's Day and remember the sun through the sacrament. We remember the sun. This must be a glory to God. to look down here and see the church remembering Jesus Christ, whom He has sent, and we glory in Him, and we remember Him, and we do it because we need Him. We need to continually feed on Him. This is the reality of the sacrament, the glory of the sacrament. And so, from God's perspective, We are given, from the Son's perspective, we're given to Him by the Father, taken out of the world and given to the Son. We heard the words, we heard the words of the Son and received them by faith. Notice in verse six, for I have given to them the words which you have given me and they have received them and have, known surely that I came forth from you and they have what believed that you sent me here is that effectual call where we come to faith where the the the work of eternity past becomes evident in the time in time and we come because we've heard the word We come, we hear the words of the Son, and we receive them by faith. Now it is ours. Now it is current. Now it is for us to live it. And it is ours. It is given to us. We have heard the words and we believe them. This is the process He uses means to bring us to Himself. And here it is, the Word of the Son. We receive them by faith. And so this prayer covers our time as believers when the Lord, it covers our earthly time as believers when the Lord asks the Father for His keeping through His own name, notice here. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world. And I come to you, Holy Father, keep through your name those whom you've given me. He will hold me fast. And so the prayer is not, Lord, give them the strength to keep themselves. That's not the prayer of Christ here. He's not praying that God would give us the means to keep ourselves, but he is praying that God would give us that God would secure us and keep us and that is not That is not separate from us giving attention to God and obedience and following after Him in faith, but it is His power that keeps us, according to 1 Peter 1 verse 5, we're kept by the power of God. And so we see this here, we need keeping, and Christ is praying that for us. He prayed that for you, that He would keep you while you are in this time, in this place between eternity and eternity that he would keep you and ultimately bring you to him. So Jesus not only prays for our keeping and security but that we may have his joy filled full in us. Brothers and sisters, this is an important aspect for our walk here, our sojourn, is that we do not live in a place, we do not, we see the travail of our time, but we are not joyless. We have hope, we have joy in Christ. Notice what he says here. But now I come to you. I come to you, Heavenly Father. I come to you that these things, and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. that the joy that I have might be overflowing in them it would be coming out of their lives and they would be in a place of calm delight as the Greek would say calm delight isn't that a joy to think about you are in a place of of travail and trouble and grief even and sin and turmoil and danger but your Jesus prayer is that you would have his joy filled full in you What a testimony this is, that there would be joy coming out of your life in the middle of the travail. As he says, we have this treasure in an earthen vessel that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. You see, God becomes glorified when these things are a reality in our lives. When his joy is coming out of us, who for the joy, remember, that was set before him, endured the cross. You see, joy is not just for the good times. Joy is to be that calm delight, that sense of well-being that is ours in Christ. You see how this is building upon each other When we understand that we have been chosen in Christ from eternity past and we see these things happening in our lives, there's a great confidence because our salvation is outside of ourselves. How can you joy when you have stumbled and stumbled and your salvation is always in jeopardy because you have not somehow maintained the proper Standard, you see? But if the standard is in Christ and it's been given to you and you are justified and there's now no condemnation to those who are in Christ, now we have the means for His joy to come up out of our lives. Just as He was as sure as He possibly could have been that He would not stay in the grave. He had a joy that was set before Him, you see. He endured the cross despising the shame, and by that I think it was like, this shame is as nothing to me because of the exaltation that will follow. You see, the shame that he endured on the cross, I used to think that that meant that he despised being in his place, being in this place of shame. But I think now, I think it means that he thought nothing of it. that he despised the shame because he knew that the joy that would be his, the joy that was set before him, that sense of well-being, that surety that he would indeed be exalted following his suffering. And so he prays that this joy might be our reality. Brothers, if anyone here needs that, it is myself. to not view my cup as half empty, but as half full or more, that my cup runneth over. So our Savior prayed for us in light of the world's hatred. in light of the world's hatred he prayed for us and in light of the enemy of the evil ones enmity he prayed for us knowing that we would be in this place of where where the world would despise us and it hated us and the evil one was set against us and so he prayed and this is how he prayed that you would not take them out of the world Lord I'm not talking about just taking them out of the world I just want you father to keep them in the world that you would keep them from the evil one do not let harm come to them by the evil one This was a prayer of the Lord that, and this should tell us that our salvation is adequate for our journey. You see that? Our salvation is complete. It is enough to keep us throughout this journey of time. It is enough. He prays for us in light of the darkness around us. And so the request, as I said, was not to take us out of the world, but to keep us from coming to harm by the evil one. And then in verse 17, Christ prayed for our sanctification. You know, I believe our sanctification is essential for our glorification. This is the concept of getting us ready for glory. That He would sanctify us. He would set us apart. He would set us apart by His truth. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth. You see, He prayed that the Father would make us holy. He would make us holy by Your Word, purify them by Your principles, sanctify. setting apart for his purposes. And notice what he says then in verse 18, that he also prays, I believe, for the effectiveness, our effectiveness for the kingdom of God. As you sent me into the world, I sent them into the world. And so we have a mission, just as Christ did. We have a work to do, and that is to glorify the Lord Jesus. to glorify God and to bring, to give ourselves to this work of the kingdom. As you sent me into the world, I also sent them into the world. And so we are called, this is one of the reasons why we're still here, is we are here to continue the work of Christ, to continue the mission that he was sent on. And then also, Remember, He prayed for us because He knew that we needed prayer in this area. We needed the grace that was in this prayer for us. He prayed for our unity as a church. That they may be one. That they may be one just as we are one. Isn't that amazing? Just as Christ and God, just as the Trinity is one. that they may be one also. That this unity is found though, brothers and sisters, in our union with Jesus Christ. That it is here, notice what he says, I in them, and then you in me. Referring to the Father being in the Son, and I and us being in the Son. You see, it doesn't say us in the Father. No, it is, I in them and you in me, you see. And that reinforces this whole concept that there is no way to the Father but through the Son. That there is no way that we can join up, we can know Him, know the Father, unless we come through the avenue of the Son. And then lastly, Christ prays for our glorification in verse 24. His request is for us to be with Him where He is. Where He is. This is the scope of His prayer. From grace to glory. From the calling out of His people in what we call election to the glorification of His people in what we call heaven. that it spans the expanse of time. This is this prayer of our Savior that God is at work to bring a bride to Christ His Son. And it covers, I believe, this prayer, I believe, covers all the aspects of our salvation in Christ. Just a beautiful picture of how He prays and you can find these different doctrines here in this prayer and how it covers them. Another observation I want to make in a general sense before we get into our specific text in verse 24 through 26 is found in verse 20. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word." Now that's a lot said right there, and it's quite easy to just go over it. But if you think about what he prayed for here, we notice that he identifies who he is praying for as those who believe in me. That's how he's identifying those in contrast to the world, is that the object of their faith is precisely the Son. It is not something else, some other distraction, but it is precisely that they believe in Me. He doesn't say that they believe in the church or they believe in whatever else some other means no it's that they believe in me and then he identifies also the means of grace here in verse 20 this the means of grace or how grace is or how grace comes to us is identified here as their word those who will believe in me through their word through the apostolic teaching that's how this grace comes to us it is through the preaching and teaching of these disciples later through the gifts and ministry of the Holy Spirit that Faith is generated, and this is the means of grace for us, this word, this apostolic word. I believe it's a very valid point to make here, is that the object of our faith is in Him, specifically in me, he says. And then the means of that, this revelation of that, is through the preaching and teaching of the word. That's the apostolic word. This makes it abundantly clear that the message and goal of the apostolic word is to believe in Jesus Christ. That the giving of the word of God through the disciples is to create faith in us. Specifically, faith in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ. To the end that we may be where he is. That we may be where he is and that for eternity. And that for eternity. So I want to begin specifically here in verse 24 as we begin here. Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. Now, I want to note here how Jesus prayed. Who prays this way? Father, I desire. Or as the old King James says, Father, I will. I mean, who prays that way? I don't think we do. As Matthew Henry says, he prays in a language peculiar to himself. He prays to the Father in light of the authority given him. Notice what he says in verse two of this prayer. As you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. And so he prays, he comes to the Father and he says, Father, I desire, Father, I will that where I am, that those whom you've given me where I am, that they might be with me also. You know what Jesus prayed for? He also paid for. He paid for it. He desired, and then He went to the cross to buy it for us. He desired this to be the reality of our eternity, and then He went and made it possible. Isn't that a beautiful thing? That what He prayed for, He paid for. And we see it also in John 35, this authority that was given to him. John 3.35, he says this way, the father loves the son and has given all things into his hand. And so he says, I desire that whom you gave me be with me where I am. And so in Hebrews 2.10, He speaks about bringing many sons to glory. He says this way, Hebrews 2.10, For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. So, in the bringing of these sons to glory as he is praying here in John 17 24 I desire that they may be with me that they would be in glory with me you know he it says that he he was made perfect through sufferings now his human nature I believe was perfected through sufferings his divine nature needed no perfection, but in his human nature, he added to his perfection through sufferings. He added to his character through sufferings. When he speaks about his glory in 1724, it is some of the very glory that is given to him following his suffering and exaltation. It is the glory as of Him who gave Himself as a servant and even as a slave to die as a criminal on the cross. It is a glory to Him. It was, and it says here that He was perfected through suffering. His human nature was perfected through suffering and through His suffering, He brought many sons to glory. And I believe this perfection is an adding to, it's not a correcting. It is an adding to the character of the Lord Jesus. It is a, it is, this is how I believe we understand this perfecting is that he was adding to his character as a human, as in his human nature. And so his prayer culminates with this desire express father. Father, I want those whom you gave me to be with me, not just in the same place, not just in the same place as I am, but with me. You think about that. There can be thousands of people in a place, but you will ask, who are you with? You know, you come to this place and you, and well, who are you with here? Well, he says, I desire that those whom you gave me, they would be with me, that they would be here where I am, but they would be with me, not just in the same place. And this, brothers and sisters, is the great need of humanity, isn't it? Since the fall of man. I mean, what effect did the sin of Adam and Eve have in the garden? Was it not that it caused them to hide? Was it not even to the point where God sent His cherubim at the garden to keep them away from the tree of life? Is that not the great problem of humanity? It's the heart here of the gospel. this great need that we have that we might be with Him, that we would be in fellowship with Him. This is the prayer of the Lord Jesus that we would always be with Him, that where He is we would be with Him there. And this is this fellowship that He desires and it culminates the whole purpose of the gospel, is it not, to bring us back to God. Actually in 1st John we have an interesting two verses here that I want to read. In 1st John 1 it says, that which we have seen and heard we declare to you. That's in verse 3. That which we have seen and heard, John says, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. You know, if you are not in fellowship with Christ, then you're out of fellowship with Christ. And the purpose that John is saying here, the reason that we have written and even declared these things to you so that you might have fellowship with Him. And this fellowship, this reconciliation, is something that we experience now. And I want to point that out to you in Romans 5, where it says in Romans 5 in verse 11, I believe it is, I think I should read verse 10 as well. Romans 5 and verse 10, for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God, that means to be brought back to have To have the status changed basically is what it means. It's a mutual exchange. It means that our state is changed and God's view of us is changed as well. It is a reconciling, it's a bringing together, it's taking care of the enmity that existed because of sin. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. If we have been brought back together with God by the death of His Son, what effect will His life be for us? It will be glory. And not only that, verse 11, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received the reconciliation. This is an important point. This reconciliation is for you and I now. It is for us to experience now. It is for us to fellowship in now. As a matter of fact, there's a picture of this in the first two verses of chapter five in Romans. Therefore, having been justified by faith. What are the next words? We have peace. That's the absence of hostility, isn't it? we have peace, and that with God. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace, and what did it say next? In which we stand. That means it's currently yours. You're standing in grace. You're standing in a place of reconciliation. It is yours now. And it will be fully comprehended and realized when you're glorified. That is the prayer of Jesus Christ when he says, Father, I would, I desire that those whom you've given me would be with me. Where I am. Where I am. This, you might write down a reference, 2 Corinthians 5, 18 through 20, in relation to this concept of reconciliation. This fellowship, this communion, this oneness, you can write that down. 2 Corinthians 5, 18 through 20. In Psalm 16, this concept is not just in the New Testament, of course not. In Psalm 16 and verse 11, he says, you will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. That is someone who was walking with the Lord. The joys of fellowship with Christ. And see, that is the desire that he's praying for here in verse 24. I desire that they would be with me. That they would be with me. What does, let me ask you this question. What rises up in your heart at those words? Is it fear? Amen. It's joy, isn't it? It's joy. It is joy. But if you do not have peace with God, then it is fear. That is the feeling that came up in your heart if you're not at peace with God. You know, Paul says something in Philippians 1 and verse 23, he says that you know, I'm torn between two. I have this tension, I have this problem that, you know, I would desire to, for I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart. And then he says, and be with Christ. Because that's the reality. And as one commentary pointed out, that the prayer in John 17 and verse 24 is fulfilled every time a believer dies. Father, I desire that they be with me. I desire they be with me. And the question is, why do we struggle so much against death? It's the door into glory. Why do we fight to the last to stay here another day? I think we should evaluate how much we're looking forward to meeting Christ. And so Paul says, I'm hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Far better. And we know that he was enjoying fellowship with the Lord even here. He was enjoying fellowship. Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. And so here he was motivated by a desire for their progress. It's more needful for me to remain in the flesh And so Paul had this desire to depart. Now where I am, where is Christ? Where is Christ? You know, I was, when I thought about that, I thought, well, where does it say, where does the Bible say he is? You know, where does it say he is? He's in heaven, isn't it? It does say that. It makes it clear. There's plenty of passages that indicate that He is in heaven. And one of the ones that I had to think about because we just came through 1 Peter is in 1 Peter 2 and verse, 1 Peter 3 and verse 22, who has gone into heaven. and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him. You also have the account of his ascension in Acts 1.11 where it says that the angel stood there and said, why stand you gazing toward heaven? That he will come from heaven again just as he went up. And other passages, like I think it's in Thessalonians, that He will come from heaven. And so that is where our Savior is. And when He prays, Father, I desire that they be with me where I am, it is because that where He is is in glory, seated at the right hand of the Father. He is in heaven currently. And He desires and prays that we would join Him there. I'm struck here as we continue here in the closing minutes here of this passage. Why does Jesus desire us to be with him? What is the stated purpose of praying that we might be with him? Isn't it clearly right here in front of us? What does he say? That they may behold my glory. that they may see my glory which you've given me for you love me before the foundation of the world now here is where we understand that beholding his glory is going to be the pleasure of heaven beholding the glory of Christ beholding his glory and we We do not think of heaven in these terms, do we? No, we think of heaven as a place of rest and it is, but I think we don't have a clear enough concept of the glorious Christ that we serve. that we would just want to worship Him wherever we are, whenever we can, and that we would enjoy to be in His presence forever, just beholding His virtue, just considering His majesty, just glorying in His power, just amazed in His character, the one who died for me. who prayed this prayer for me that my life would be a success, that I would come to Him ultimately and spend eternity with Him, this Savior, this Christ. And I believe we even see it more fully when we understand the latter part of the verse, for you love me before the foundation of the world. Now we see that His glory is the Father's love for Him, that Think about this. He wants us who believe in Him to truly see Him as He is. See, right now we just see through a glass dimly. We see through faith, but that is not the half of it. That is not the quarter of it. It is but a percentage of it. We see very dimly who Christ actually is, what His glory is, what His majesty is. We see very, very, very dimly. But if you would see more clearly You would never miss a Sunday morning worship. If we could just get a better glimpse of the Lord, we would have more victory over our sinfulness, over the lusts of the flesh, and over the pride of life, over the lust of the eyes as we heard in the past two Bible studies. The victory is in beholding the Lord. And that is what he is praying for, that ultimately when we arrive in glory, that we would just simply have the opportunity to truly see Jesus Christ as he really is. Because think about his incarnation. So much of his deity was veiled, wasn't it? So many aspects of his deity. His eternal glory, as it says in verse five, And now, O Father, glorify me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world ever was. That He was in a place of divine majesty and glory before the world ever was. Now He prays that that would be restored to Him. He says here, I believe His eternal glory was veiled in His incarnation, not completely. Praise God, not completely. The veil was pulled back a little. We've definitely seen a lot of glimpses of His of His Majesty. Notice, you know, think about His Father's affirmation. 2 Peter 1 says that He received glory when that voice came down from heaven, You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. His Father's affirmation, for instance, is a mark of His glory. The world's, you know, we see His miracles, for instance, they were miraculous in power. Only God could do them. And then we see his character. It was perfection, wasn't it? No blot of sin, none at all. All of these pointed to his glory. But then we see on the other side, we see his humble birth. Coming, being born in a stable and we think, how can we reconcile these? We see his serving ministry. He went about doing good and he healed people and he mingled with the sinners and he did not condemn them. He raised them up. He loved on them. He cared for them. We see his humble ministry. We see the world's hatred for him. He was despised and afflicted. We see His trial and His death and His crucifixion as a criminal. These all work to veil. They seem to veil who He truly is. But He wants us, brothers and sisters, He wants us who put our trust and faith in Him, in a dying Savior, to truly behold His glory. He will vindicate every bit of the faith you have put into Him. It's going to be amazing. It's going to be awesome. That word is overused today. I think it should only be used for God. It will be awe-inspiring. His true status with the Father is then going to be apparent. When you arrive there and you come into glory and you see how the Father loves the Son, that is, I believe, the glory of the Son. The Father's eternal love for the Son is the glory of the Son. Notice what He says, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. Less we think, think about it, less we think His cry on the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Less we think that is His current status. Brothers and sisters, that is not the current status. God has fully received Him, fully exalted Him. He is at the right hand, everything being given over to the Son. And He wants us to see that. He wants us to see that, that's our Savior. He prays this for us. He wants us to see his glory. Because remember, we have the picture of the cross. But that's not the whole picture. It's not the whole picture. Write down this passage if you would. 2 Thessalonians 1, 3 through 10. Here, if I would have time, I would go through that. But here's a picture of Christ's current glory. This is a picture of His current glory. And then in verse 25, as we continue, O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you sent me. If you want to know the Father, you must believe on Him whom He has sent. This is eternal life, that they might know you. and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. And then in this closing verse, and I have declared to them your name and will declare it, that the love with which you love me may be in them and I in them. His ministry of revealing the Father is ongoing in the work of the Holy Spirit. I have declared it to them and I will declare it. And notice this remark again about the love with which you have loved me. That the love with which you have loved me may be in them. And in verse 23 we see that He prayed this as well, and have loved them as you have loved me. Isn't that an amazing statement? that He has loved us as He has loved His own Son. And then you go down to verse 24 and then you begin to understand how did He love the Son before the foundation of the world. Before the foundation of the world. That's how He loved the Son. And that the same love with which He loved the Son might be in us So we rejoice in this prayer. We rejoice in the Lord's care for us as we see it here in this prayer. We rejoice in His salvation. We rejoice that we will ultimately be with Him. We glory in that. We glory not necessarily so much in heaven And by the way, speaking about Jesus Christ, I have to finish this thought here that I was going to read in Revelations. We're speaking about the glory that Jesus Christ is the glory of heaven. I want to read this here in closing. But in Revelations 21, verse 22, it says, but I saw no temple in it. Speaking about this city four square. I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light." The Lamb is the light of heaven. And He is also, by the way, the light of the world. And so, may this prayer give us a sense of the great salvation that we are offered in Christ and that we get to participate in. And I will just close with a benediction from Romans 15, 13. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.