Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given
me
Not all the world, but a select number; not apostles only, nor as
such; nor believers, or as such, for as such they were not given
to Christ; nor as considered in the effectual calling; but as the
elect of God, and by that eternal act of his grace; when they
were given to Christ as his children, as his spouse, as his
church, as the sheep of his hand, as his portion, and to be
preserved by him; which is known by their calling and conversion:
the form in which these words are delivered, is not so much by
way of entreaty, as demand; they are a declaration of Christ's
will, in which he insists on it as his right, upon the foot of
his purchase, and those covenant transactions which passed
between him and his Father, on the behalf of those that were
given to him: that they
be with me where I am;
not where he was then, unless it may be meant of him as the
omnipresent God, and as such then in heaven; though he rather
designs where he should be as man, after his resurrection, and
where the souls of saints are after death; and where they will
be, soul and body, when raised again; and which is desirable both
to Christ, and to his people; this was the joy that was set
before him, and what they comfort one another with, that they
shall be for ever with him:
that they may behold my glory which thou hast given
me;
not the simple abstract glory of his deity; which, as it was not
given to him, is not to be seen by them; but his glory as
Mediator: this was seen, though imperfectly by some, in the days
of his flesh; and in the glass of the Gospel, a believer now has
some views of it, and by faith sees, knows, and is assured that
Christ is glorified in heaven; but hereafter the saints in their
own persons, and with their own eyes, shall see him as he is, and
appear in glory with him; which sight of his glory will be near,
and not at a distance, appropriating and assimilating, rejoicing,
satisfying, and for ever:
for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the
world;
this is mentioned both as a reason why such a glory was given
him, because of his Father's early love to him as Mediator; and
as an argument why he might expect to be heard and answered,
because of the interest he had in his affections, which had been
strongly towards him, even from everlasting; and because the
persons he asks, or rather demands these things for, shared in
the same ancient love.