In this most remarkable prayer of our Lord, He makes several requests to the Father for Himself, for His disciples, and for the following generations, “those who will believe in Me through their word.” How wonderful that the Lord thought of you and me when praying these words. But even before the world’s foundation, He thought of us, according to God’s eternal counsel to bring many sons to glory. Amazing!

Also, Christ’s requests were more than just wishing something: the matters our Lord prayed for have been fulfilled or will be fulfilled. The Book of Acts, focusing mainly on Peter’s and Paul’s ministries, contains many examples of how Jesus’ requests were fulfilled. Let us consider an example of such fulfillment. The Lord used Paul so that the Thessalonians turned to God from idols. The new believers there led others to a saving knowledge of Christ who, in turn, reached others also (1 Th. 1:7–8). In this way the believers in Thessalonica exemplify a sort of “chain” from generation to generation. Later, Paul explained how this “chain” functions when he wrote to Timothy (2 Tim. 2:1–2).

These examples, and many more, resulted from Christ’s prayer and the Father’s answer to it. They necessarily include a work of the Holy Spirit, God using His Word as a mighty instrument in this process (1 Th. 2:13). These new disciples believed God’s Word, “through their word” (Jn. 17:20), that is, the testimony of the first generation. It implies a personal response and commitment, a true relationship with Christ, as suggested by the words “those who will believe.” God’s Word is a powerful instrument, for it comes from the true and living God. “Those who will believe in Me through their word” implies that the next generations would come under the sway of the Word. Is this true for us as well?