John 17:24
‘Father, I will that they too whom You have given Me — be with me where I am, so that they may behold My glory which You have given Me! For You have loved Me, from before the foundation of the world!’ John 17:24.
Calvin comments: “Christ prays for all who shall believe in Him!… Our faith is founded on the Gospel taught by the Apostles…. Christ knows us…, and commends us to the Father….
“The human race is…also broken and scattered in itself. Conversely, therefore, its restoration lies in its proper coalescence in one body…. Let us learn that the beginning of a blessed life, is when we are all governed and live by the one Spirit of Christ!…
“The love by which Christ was appointed as the One in Whom we should freely be chosen before we were born and while we were still ruined in Adam, is hidden in the bosom of God. It far exceeds the grasp of the human mind…. There is no danger that we shall be cut off from the love of God. For this foundation cannot be overturned…. We are loved, for the Father has loved Him.
“‘Father, those whom You have given Me — I will that, where I am, they also may be with Me!… He wishes the disciples to enjoy His external presence…. God would at last take them into the heavenly Kingdom, to which He goes before them….
“Christ is speaking of the perfect happiness of the godly. As if He said that His desire would not be satisfied, till they have been received into Heaven!…
“Christ now wishes that they shall go on to enjoy the full brightness of Heaven…. He asks that the Father will lead them by uninterrupted progress, to the full view of His glory!
“‘For You loved Me, (before the foundation of the world)!’… The Father loved His Wisdom (– His Only-begotten Son)…. Christ spoke as the Head of the Church, when earlier He prayed that the Apostles might be joined with Him and might see the glory of His Kingdom.
“Now He says that the Father’s love is its cause!… Therefore it follows that He was beloved, inasmuch as He was appointed as the Redeemer of the world. With such a love, did the Father embrace Him — before the creation of the world!”
Calvin also says in his Psychopannychia: “Be not alarmed, because all the powers of nature are thought to fail at the very time when you hear of a budding and flourishing old age!… Leave the rest to the Lord, Who guards our entrance and our exit from this time forth — even for evermore!… Christ expounded this goodness of the Father to us when He said: ‘Father, with regard to those whom You have given Me, I will that where I am they too may be with me — so that they may behold My glory which You have given Me. (For You have loved Me, from…the foundation of the world!)’… (John 17:24.)” Thus, Jesus prays that Christians come where He now is — in Heaven! And you?
