John 17:20-26 English Standard Version

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 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. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Our High Priest did not forget to include us. Everyone who will come to believe by faith in Jesus Christ from His resurrection until the end of the church age is included.

I understand that being one of millions does not make the individual feel special but my experience says He loves me as if I were the only believer.

To be loved in the same way that God the Father loved the Son is the promise and that sounds impossible from a human perspective, but He is God and all things are possible with Him. 

Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

The real miracle is being loved perfectly since we are so imperfect. We do not have to be perfect to be loved perfectly. There are two distinct aspects of His abiding presence that are at work in us. His Word and His Love.

To know the truth and to know His love are everything in preparing us for our Lord.

Being human, being people with a past, the move towards feeling accepted is difficult and we should not make light of our need to move from guilt ridden to loving Him faithfully.

Yes God could perfect us instantly but seeking that leaves those that need our witness, our love and knowledge without the help that God planned for His chosen people to reach all of those who have not yet come to Him by faith. Thinking only of our own salvation is selfish. 

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

John 17:13-19 English Standard Version

13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Our High Priest’s prayer continues and while I wish to move on to other prayers in the bible, the Spirit says “Not yet”.

Rather than going point by point with this section let us use the focal point of His prayer for us to study why He asked the Father to sanctify us.

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Sanctification:

Etymology:

The root is found in the Old Testament in the Hebrew verb qadhash, in the New Testament in the Greek verb hagoazo. The noun “sanctification” (hagiasmos) does not occur in the Old Testament and is found but 10 times in the New Testament, but the roots noted above appear in a group of important words which are of very frequent occurrence. These words are “holy,” “hallow,” “hallowed,” “holiness,” “consecrate,” “saint,” “sanctify,” “sanctification.” It must be borne in mind that these words are all translations of the same root, and that therefore no one of them can be treated adequately without reference to the others. All have undergone a certain development. Broadly stated, this has been from the formal, or ritual, to the ethical, and these different meanings must be carefully distinguished. (end quote)

There is no simple answer to cover all the broader usages associated with sanctify. What I would say is this, in this prayer it is a thing done to us and for us rather than a response to what is expected of us.

A key element of this prayer of sanctification is in verse 17. “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” This is why we hold our Bible to be the Holy Bible. Take it to heart.

• John 8:31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
• John 15:7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
• 1 John 2:14 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.