Lesson 100

As Jesus completes this beautiful prayer to the Father, He combines three ideas that He has been discussing for a long time. In this final section of the prayer, He speaks about glory, love, and unity.

He tells the Father that it is His desire that His disciples would be with Him so that they might see His glory. Jesus wishes us to see His glory because He knows that that glory will help to build our faith. If we could see the Son of God as He truly exist for one moment, the glory of that sight would last us an eternity. He is filled with grace and truth and His glory is from everlasting to everlasting. His glory is the glory of God.

He has asked the Father to glorify Him. He has said that the glory that is given to the Son brings glory to the Father. And now, He desires to share His glory with those who believe in Him. Glory and honor are not ends in themselves. They are a part of the nature of those who receive them. Christ is glorified because it is within His nature to receive glory and that glory is used to serve others. His glory draws us to Him and illuminates Him for our eyes.

Jesus also spoke about love here. He says that the Father has loved Him since the foundation of the world. That same love that existed in God from the very beginning is available to us today. "I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them." The love that the Father has for the Son becomes a part of us because we are a part of the Son. His love is lavished on us because we are part of the body of Christ.

This same love draws us into unity with the Son and the Father. Christ is in us if we are united into His death. If we are crucified with Christ, we will be raised with Him to a new life. It is by the power of the love that the Father has for the Son that we are saved. As Christ draws us closer to the Father, we experience His love. We draw closer to the Son and to each other as well.

The glory of Son, the love of the Father, and the unity of the Spirit are all available to us when we allow Jesus to lead us to the Father. The Spirit brings us the things of the Son and the Son brings us the things of the Father. As God is revealed to us, we draw closer to Him until God is in us and we are in God. All of this glory is available to those who believe that Jesus was sent by God to reveal Himself to us. When we begin to believe this, and express that belief in our lives and in our hearts, God delivers us from darkness into light. We are raised from death to life.

We began this study one hundred lessons ago. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." At the end of this chapter, at the end of this prayer, at the end of His freedom on earth, the Word is with God still. Even though the Word was made flesh, He never ceased to be "with God." And, He tells us that we can be "with God" through Him.

God is not only available to us, God desires to be with us! God has done everything so that you might find a new life with Him. He sent His Son, He has forgiven us all of our sins, and He has extended His arms in invitation to you. "I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them." Isn't it time that you experienced this love? Isn't it time that you invited Christ to live in you?