In this unique prayer of our blessed Lord to the Father, He prayed for the unity of those who would believe in Him. This unity is based on Christ’s accomplished work on the cross. It also results from His present heavenly ministry, the Father and the Holy Spirit working with Him. The unity between the Father and the Son is to be reflected in the unity of the believers: “that they may be one as We are” (Jn. 17:11). It is not a unity that we can organize, as many tend to think, or even pretend to be able to “make.” No, the unity our Lord prayed for depends on His Father’s keeping. The Father is holy, and the oneness He has prepared is therefore a unity in holiness, according to God’s standards—not a man-made unity.

Then the Lord asked the Father to keep the disciples in His name, because Christ would no longer be with them to keep and guard them as He had done so far. In His prayer, the Lord Jesus viewed Himself in heaven and the disciples left in this world, but under the Father’s care. They would be a testimony to this world, and so the Lord prays for their unity. And it does exist: all true believers are closely linked to the Father and to the Son, so that the world can acknowledge that the Father sent the Son. Why? Because the Father and the Son reside in the believers through the Holy Spirit’s indwelling.

In the world to come, Christ’s glory will be publicly displayed (v. 24). Then His prayer will be entirely fulfilled, “when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed” (2 Th. 1:10). It will be a unity in display.