John 17:24

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.—Better, Father, I will that that which Thou hast given Me, even they may be with Me where I am. The thought of the unity of the Church is still prominent. It is conceived as one collective whole, “that which Thou hast given Me” (comp. John 6:39), and the members of it are thought of as individuals composing the whole, “even they may be.”

The “I will” expresses the consciousness that His will was that of the Father, and is the prayer of Him who is one with the Father. He had before said, “I pray” (John 17:9, and Note on John 17:20), but the thought of the union with the Father, expressed in John 17:23, leads to the fuller expression of His confidence that the prayer will be answered.

For the words, “with Me where I am,” comp. Note on John 14:3.

That they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me.—Comp. Note on John 17:22. That we are to think of the future glory of the divine-human nature of Christ, is shown by the addition of the words, “which Thou hast given Me.” The pre-incarnate glory of the Son was of His divine nature only, and is not, therefore, spoken of as given to Him, nor could it be given to those who believe in Him (John 17:22). That with which the Father has glorified the Son, is “the glory which He had with the Father before the world was” (John 17:5), but it is the Son of man who is glorified with it, and therefore it is that human nature is made capable of receiving it.

For thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.—Comp. Note on John 17:5.

MacLaren's Expositions

John

THE HIGH PRIEST’S PRAYER

THE FOLDED FLOCK

John 17:24.

This wonderful prayer is {a} for Jesus Himself, {b} for the Apostles, {c} for the whole Church on earth and in heaven.

I. The prayer.

‘I will’ has a strange ring of authority. It is the expression of His love to men, and of His longing for their presence with Him in His glory. Not till they are with Him there, shall He ‘see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.’

We have here a glimpse of the blessed state of the dead in Christ.

{a} Local presence with Christ. His glorified body is somewhere. The value of this thought is that it gives solidity to our ideas of a future life. There they are. We need not dwell on the metaphysical difficulties about locality for disembodied spirits.

If a spirit can be localised in a body, I suppose it can be localised without a body; but passing by all that, we have the hope held out here of a real local presence with the glorified humanity of our Lord. We speak of the dead as gone from us, and we have that idea far more vividly in our minds than that of their having gone to Him. We speak of the ‘departed,’ but we do not think of them as ‘arrived.’ We look down to the narrow grave, but we forget ‘He is not here, He is risen. Why seek ye the living among the dead?’ Ah! if we could only bring home to our hearts the solid prose of the conviction that where Christ is there His servants are, and that not in the diffused ubiquity of His Divine Omnipresence, it would go far to remove the darkness and vague mist which wrap the future, and to set it as it really is before us, as a solid definite reality. We see the sails glide away out into the west as the sun goes down, and we think of them as tossing on a midnight sea, an unfathomable waste. Try to think of them more truly. As in that old miracle, He comes to them walking on the water in the night watch, and if at first they are terrified, His voice brings back hope to the heart that is beginning to stand still, and immediately they are at the land whither they go. Now, as they sink from our sight, they are in port, sails furled and anchor dropped, and green fields round them, even while we watch the sinking masts, and cannot yet rightly tell whether the fading sail has faded wholly.

{b} Communion with Christ.

Our Lord says not only ‘that where I am, they also may be,’ but adds ‘with Me.’ That is not a superfluous addition, but emphasises the thought of a communion which is more intimate and blessed than local presence alone would be.

The communion here is real but imperfect. It is perfected there on our part by the dropping away of flesh and sin, by change of circumstances, by emancipation from cares and toils necessary here, by the development of new powers and surroundings, and on His side by new manifestations.

{c} Vision of His glory.

The crown of this utterance of Christ’s will is ‘that they may behold My glory.’ In an earlier part of this prayer our Lord had spoken of the ‘glory which I had with Thee before the world was.’ But probably the glory ‘given’ is not that of essential Divinity, but that of His mediatorial work. To His people ‘with Him where He is,’ are imparted fuller views of Christ as Saviour, deeper notions of His work, clearer perception of His rule in providence and nature. This is the loftiest employment of the spirits who are perfected and lapped in ‘pleasures for evermore’ by their union with the glorified Jesus.

Surely this is grander than all metaphorical pictures of heaven.

II. The incipient fulfilment now going on.

The prayer has been in process of fulfilment ever since. The dead in Christ have entered on its answer now.

We need not discuss difficulties about the ‘intermediate state,’ for this at all events is true, that to be ‘absent from the body’ is to be ‘present with the Lord.’

A Christian death is an answer to this prayer. True, for Christians as for all, the physical necessity is an imperative law. True, the punitive aspect of death is retained for them. But yet the law is wielded by Christ, and while death remains, its whole aspect is changed. So we may think of those who have departed in His faith and fear as gone in answer to this prayer.

How beautiful that is! Slowly, one by one, they are gathered in, as the stars one by one light up. Place after place is filled.

Thus through the ages the prayer works on, and our dear ones have gone from us, but they have gone to Him. We weep, but they rejoice. To us their departure is the result of an iron law, of a penal necessity, of some secondary cause; but to them it is seen to be the answer to His mighty prayer. They hear His voice and follow Him when He says, ‘Come up hither.’

III. The final fulfilment still future.

The prayer looks forward to a perfect fulfilment. His prayer cannot be vain.

{a} Perfect in degree.

{b} Perfect in extent, when all shall be gathered together and the ‘whole family’ shall be ‘in heaven,’ and Christ’s own word receives its crowning realisation, that ‘of all whom the Father hath given Him He has lost nothing.’

And these are not some handful picked out by a decree which we can neither fathom nor alter, but Christ is given to us all, and if we choose to take Him, then for us He has ascended; and as we watch Him going up the voice comes to us: ‘I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.’

Benson Commentary

John 17:24. Father, I will — He asks as one having a right to be heard; and prays, not as a servant, but as a Son; that they also whom thou hast given me — Not only my apostles and first disciples, but all my believing, loving, and obedient people; may be with me where I am — Namely, in that heavenly world to which I am now removing. As if he had said, Since no improvements, either in holiness or comfort, can completely answer the purposes of my love and the promises of my grace to them; therefore I request felicity for them in another and more perfect state of things; that they may behold — May contemplate with everlasting and delightful admiration; my glory, which thou hast — By thy sure appointment; given me — And art just ready to bestow upon me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world — And didst then decree for me that mediatorial kingdom with which thou art now about to invest me. Observe, reader, the happiness of heaven chiefly consists in beholding the glory of the Father and of the Son, Matthew 5:8; 1 John 3:2.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

17:24-26 Christ, as one with the Father, claimed on behalf of all that had been given to him, and should in due time believe on him, that they should be brought to heaven; and that there the whole company of the redeemed might behold his glory as their beloved Friend and Brother, and therein find happiness. He had declared and would further declare the name or character of God, by his doctrine and his Spirit, that, being one with him, the love of the Father to him might abide with them also. Thus, being joined to Him by one Spirit, they might be filled with all the fulness of God, and enjoy a blessedness of which we can form no right idea in our present state.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I will - This expression, though it commonly denotes command, is here only expressive of desire. It is used in prayer, and it was not the custom of the Saviour to use language of command when addressing God. It is often used to express strong and earnest desire, or a pressing and importunate wish, such as we are exceedingly anxious should not be denied, Mark 6:25; Mark 10:35; Matthew 12:38; Matthew 15:28.

Where I am - In heaven. The Son of God was still in the bosom of the Father, John 1:18. See the notes at John 7:34. Probably the expression here means where I shall be.

My glory - My honor and dignity when exalted to the right hand of God. The word "behold" implies more than simply seeing; it means also to participate, to enjoy. See the John 3:3 note; Matthew 5:8 note.

Thou lovedst me ... - This is another of the numerous passages which prove that the Lord Jesus existed before the creation of the world. It is not possible to explain it on any other supposition.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24-26. Father, I will—The majesty of this style of speaking is quite transparent. No petty criticism will be allowed to fritter it away in any but superficial or perverted readers.

be with me where I am—(See on [1885]Joh 14:3).

that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me—(See on [1886]Joh 17:5). Christ regards it as glory enough for us to be admitted to see and gaze for ever upon His glory! This is "the beatific vision"; but it shall be no mere vision, for "we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is" (1Jo 3:2).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Here our Saviour wills his disciples eternal life; or rather prays to his Father, that he would preserve his disciples unto, and at last bestow upon them, eternal life and salvation; so as the phrase,

whom thou hast given me, is not to be restrained to the apostles, but to be extended to all those who, belonging to the election of grace, shall hereafter be made heirs of glory, and have everlasting life and happiness. This he expresses under the notion of being with him where he is, as John 14:3; which is called a being ever with the Lord, 1 Thessalonians 4:17; and certainly this is the highest happiness, to be where the Son of God is.

That they may behold my glory, is the same thing with, that they may be made partakers of my glory: as to see death, is, in Scripture phrase, to die; and to see life, is to live; so, to behold the glory of God, is to be glorified.

For, saith our Saviour, thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world, both as thy only begotten Son, and as the person in whom thou hast chosen all them, and whom thou hast set apart to be the Mediator between God and man; and therefore I know that thou wilt glorify me, and that thou wilt in this thing hear my prayers, and glorify them also, whom thou hast given to me to be redeemed by my blood.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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.

Geneva Study Bible

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 17:24. What He has already bestowed on them, but as yet as a possession of hope (John 17:22), He wills (θέλω) that they may also partake of in reality. He does not merely wish it (against Beza, Calvin, B. Crusius, Tholuck, Ewald), but the Son prays in the consciousness of the ἐξουσία bestowed on Him by the Father according to John 17:2, for the communication of eternal life to His own. This consciousness is that of the most intimate confidence and clearest accord with the Father. Previously He had said ἐρωτῶ; “nunc incrementum sumit oratio,” Bengel. The idea of the last will, however (Godet), is not to be imported here.

The relative definition is placed first emphatically, because justifying the θέλω according to its contents. This is neutral (ὅ, see the critical notes), whereby the persons (ἐκεῖνοι, i.e. the disciples and all believers, John 17:20) are designated in abstracto, according to their category (comp. John 17:2; John 6:37), and the moment of δέδωκάς μοι, which is a motive cause to the granting of the prayer, becomes more prominent in and of itself.

ἵνα] Purpose of θέλω (they should, etc.), and therewith its contents; see on Luke 6:31.

ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγὼ, κἀκεῖνοι, κ.τ.λ.] shall be realized at the Parousia.[200] See on John 14:3, also on ἀναστήσω αὐτὸ, κ.τ.λ., John 6:39.

θεωρῶσι] behold, experimentally, and with personal participation, as συνδοξασθέντες, Romans 8:17; Romans 8:29, and συμβασιλεύοντες, 2 Timothy 2:12. The opposite: behold death, John 8:51.[201] Against the interpretation that the beholding of the ΔΌΞΑ of Christ in itself (its reflection, as it were) constitutes blessedness (Olshausen, comp. Chrysostom and Euth. Zigabenus), John 17:22 testifies, although it is also essentially included in it, 1 John 3:2; Hebrews 12:14.

ἣν ἔδωκάς μοι, ὅτι, κ.τ.λ.] Further added in childlike feeling of gratitude to ΤῊΝ ἘΜΉΝ, and that proleptically (comp. εἰμί), because the Lord is on the point of entering into this ΔΌΞΑ (John 17:1), as if He had already received it (comp. John 17:22): whom Thou gavest me, because (motive of the ἐδωκ.) Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world (πρὸ κατ. κ. not belonging to ἜΔΩΚ. Μ., as Paulus and B. Crusius think). The ΔΌΞΑ of Christ, as the ΛΌΓΟς ἌΣΑΡΚΟς (John 17:5), was, according to the mode of view and expression of the N. T., not one imparted to Him from love, but in virtue of the ontologically Trinitarian relation to the Father,[202] that which pertained with metaphysical necessity to the Son in the unity of the divine nature, the μορφὴ ΘΕΟῦ, which He as ΘΕῸς ΛΌΓΟς, John 1:1, had, being from eternity eternally with the Father (John 17:5); whereas the δόξα here intended is in His exaltation after the completion of His work, since it concerned His entire person, including its human side, that given to Him by the Father from love (Php 2:9), from that love, however, which did not first originate in time, but was already cherished by the Father toward the Son before the foundation of the world. That δόξα possessed by Jesus before His incarnation, to which for the most part (as still Luthardt, Ebrard, Hengstehberg) reference is wrongly made, whereby, according to John 17:5, ἜΔΩΚΑς would have to be conceived of as brought about through the generation of the ΜΟΝΟΓΕΝΉς, was the purely divine; that given to Him through His exaltation is indeed the same, into which He now again has entered, but because it is the glory of the λόγος ἔνσαρκος, divine-human in eternal consummation (Php 2:9). Comp. on John 17:5; John 1:14. Nowhere in the N. T. is the premundane δόξα of the Son designated as given to Him (Php 2:6; Colossians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 8:9), although this would be imaginable in and of itself as an eternal self-communication of Fatherly love (comp. Brückner and Ebrard).[203] Further, it is strangely incorrect that the ΔΌΞΑ, which the Father has given to the Son, has been explained here differently from that in John 17:22.

The love of the Father to the Son before the foundation of the world implies the personal pre-existence of the latter with God, but is not reconcilable with the idea of the pre-temporal ideal existence which He has had in God, as the archetype of humanity. This in answer to Beyschlag, p. 87, who considers the relation as analogous to the eternal election of grace, Ephesians 1:4, Romans 8:29; which is not appropriate, since the election of grace concerns those as yet not in existence, namely, future believers, whom God προέγνω as future. The Son, however, whom He loved, must personally exist with the Father, since it was in Christ that the motive already lay for the election of grace (see on Ephesians 1:4). Comp. also on John 17:5. To suppose that God, according to the present passage, had loved His own ideal of humanity before the foundation of the world, the idea consequently of His own thought, is an idea without any analogy in the N. T., and we thereby arrive at an anthropopathic self-love, as men form to themselves an ideal, and are glad to attain it.

[200] The intermediate state denoted in Php 1:23 (see in loc.) is not meant (Hengstenberg), nor a part of the meaning (Godet), but as what follows shows, the completed fellowship of glory. Comp. 1 John 3:2.

[201] Baur thus explains away the historical sense: “They behold this glory, see it in reality before them, if in them, through the communication of the true God consciousness, and of the eternal life thereby conditioned, through which they have become one with Jesus and the Father, just as He is one with the Father, the divine principle (to this, according to Baur, δέδωκα, ver. 22, refers) has realized itself as that which it is in itself.”

[202] Comp. J. Müller, Von der Sünde, II. p. 183 f.

[203] Euth. Zigabenus: τὴν δόξαν τῆς θεότητος, ἣν δέδωκάς μοι, οὐχ ὡς ἐλάττονι ἢ ὑστερογενεῖ, ἀλλʼ ὡς αἴτιος, εἴτουν ὡς γεννήσας με. But in the N. T. this mode of presentation is unsupported; in ver. 26, to which Johansson appeals, ἔδωκεν in truth refers first to the time of the sending into the world.

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 17:24. Πάτερ, ὅ δέδωκάς μοι, “that which Thou hast given me,” i.e., the community of believers; θέλω, “I will,” no longer, ἐρωτῶ, “that where I am, there they may be also”; ὅ resolved into individuals. To share in the destiny of Christ has already been promised to His followers, John 10:26; cf. John 14:3. This is the consummation of Christian blessedness. They are not only in the same condition as their Lord, but enjoy it in fellowship with Him, μετʼ ἐμοῦ.—ἵνα θεωρῶσι τὴν δόξαν τὴν ἐμήν. To see Christ honoured and supreme must ever be the Christian’s joy. But this glory of Christ resulting from the eternal love of the Father is not only seen but shared in by the disciples in the measure of their capacity, John 5:22, 2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 3:21.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. Father] Comp. John 17:1; John 17:5; John 17:11, John 11:41, John 12:27. The relationship is the ground of the appeal; He knows that His ‘will’ is one with His Father’s.

I will] Comp. John 21:22; Matthew 8:3; Matthew 23:37; Matthew 26:39; Luke 12:49. He has already granted this by anticipation (John 17:22); He wills that this anticipation may be realised.

they whom] Literally, that which; the faithful as a body. See on John 17:2.

where I am] Comp. John 14:3.

behold] In the sense of sharing and enjoying it; for the faithful ‘shall also reign with Him.’ 2. Tim. John 2:12. This glory they behold with unveiled face, on which it is reflected as on the face of Moses. See on 2 Corinthians 3:18 and comp. 1 John 3:2.

my glory] Literally, the glory which is Mine, a stronger expression than that in John 17:22 : see on John 14:27.

which thou hast given me] Not the glory of the Word, the Eternal Son, which was His in His equality with the Father, but the glory of Christ, the Incarnate Son, with which the risen and ascended Jesus was endowed. In sure confidence Christ speaks of this as already given, and wills that all believers may behold and share it. Thus two gifts of the Father to the Son meet and complete one another: those whom He has given behold the glory that He has given.

for] Better, because.

the foundation of the world] Our Lord thrice uses this expression, here, Luke 11:50, and Matthew 25:34. Two of those who heard it reproduce it (1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 17:8): comp. Ephesians 1:4; Hebrews 4:3; Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 11:11.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 17:24. Οὓς, whom) He returns to the apostles: in John 17:25, these.—θέλω, I will) He had said in John 17:9; John 17:15; John 17:20, ἐρωτῶ, I ask; now His language assumes an increase in force. It is to be interpreted, I will; for, I would desire, is too weak a rendering. Jesus asks with the right of a claim, and demands with confidence, as the Son, not a servant. Comp. Psalm 2:8, “Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee,” etc.; Mark 10:35, James and John say, “Master, we would (θέλομεν) that Thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire;” John 6:25, the daughter of Herodias to Herod, “I will (θέλω) that thou give me forthwith.” [In a different tone from what He used in behalf of Himself at the Mount of Olives, Matthew 26:39, “Let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”]—θεωρῶσι) that they may behold, viz. in enjoying it.—πρὸ, before) Construe with, Thou lovedst Me. The economy of salvation flows from eternity to eternity. Between eternity and the foundation of the world no intervening period is admissible (is given). For in the beginning God created, etc. [John 17:5].

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - Now passing from this glorification of his people in the convictions and knowledge of the world, our Lord offers "as a Son to a Father," and therefore with profound naturalness, the prayer of the incarnate Logos to the eternal Father, and therefore an address indubitably supernatural and lifted above all human consciousness. It is a prayer, too, which rises from the high and unique term ἐρωτῶ (one which he never puts into the lips of his disciples) to a yet higher one, θέλω, as one who speaks with ἐξουσία which God had given him over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to those whom God had given him. Θέλω means less than "I will," and more than "I desire," and is destitute of that element of "counsel" or deliberation that is involved in βουλόμαι. Very soon after this, when the full force of his human consciousness pressed upon him, he said (Mark 14:36), "Not what (ἐγὼ θέλω) I will, but what thou wiliest." But here he is so conscious of the Father's will concerning others that he cries, Father, as for them whom - or, as some ancient codices read, that which - thou hast given me, regarded as a mystic unity, as the Bride which he has redeemed, I will that they also be with me where I am. Κἀκεῖνοι resolves the ὅν into the elements of which it is composed. This is the first part of the final petition, and it embraces everything. "With Christ;" "Forever with the Lord;" in his glory and part of it, in the place which he is going to localize and prepare for them, is heaven. The glory which he had already given to his disciples (Ver. 22) falls far short of this fellowship with him where his undimmed radiance shines, is only a preparation for sharing with him in his ultimate triumph over the world and death, and also for sitting down with him on his throne (Revelation 3:21). In this world fellowship with him in his suffering humanity did not finally reveal the transcendent glory (though in John 1:14 the apostle says, "We beheld his glory," etc.) of his Person. To realize this he prays, And that they may also behold the glory which is mine, which thou hast given me. The glory given cannot be the glory of the λόγος ἀσάρκος, according to Meyer, for that is not given, but belongs to him by eternal right; yet Meyer admits that the Father gave the Son to have life in himself; and that even the eternal Sonship itself may be regarded as the eternal bestowment of an infinite love. Seeing that the Lord goes on to give a reason of his θέλημα founded on an eternal or at least pre-mundane manifestation of a conscious love, surely he is thinking of the exaltation of humanity into the eternal glory, which he distinctly relinquished and veiled in the days of his flesh. That which they had hitherto seen they only partially apprehended, though he had even given it to them (ver. 22), and though they had been drawn out of the world to high places of transfiguration, that they might behold it and learn how it coexisted with and was compatible with a perfect resignation to the will of God in human redemption. Our Lord prays, nay, wills, that they should hereafter see it in its fullness of grace and beauty, see it when relieved from obstructive hindrances due to the flesh and to the world, see it on the grandest scale, see it as it really is, see the full capacity and infinite momentum of the glory which he had already bestowed upon them. For thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. This, say Meyer and Luthardt, is given as a reason of the prayer for his disciples, not as an explanation of the glory which he had with the Father before the world was. It is often said that the exaltation of the Son of man is a reward for his self-humiliation, and the crown of his sacrificial death (Philippians 2:9; Revelation 3:21; Hebrews 1:1, 2), but these very passages couple that exaltation with the premundane glory of him who was, to begin with, and before his work of redemption, the "Effulgence of the Father's glory," who was "in the form of God," and regarded the being equal with God as no ἁρπαγμός ( νοτ as a thing to be seized, prized, and held in its integrity. And in Hebrews 2:9, "He was by reason of his intended passion crowned with glory and honor, in order that he might taste death for every man." So that the glory which he had with the Father before the world was, and therefore before his incarnation, was that very glory of self-devoting and unutterable love into which he would come again with all the trophies of his redemptive work. The new and higher embodiment of his humanity would prove of such a kind that his essential glory would shine through it in undimmed luster. If this be the meaning, we cannot dilute this pregnant saying, one of the most mysterious of all his words, one which leads us up to the highest possible conception of the relations between the Father and the Son. The eternal love of which the Godhead itself is the SOURCE and the OBJECT is that to which we shall be introduced, and which our Lord would have us see and share (cf. 1 John 3:1-3). John 17:24

Vincent's Word Studies

They - whom (οὓς)

The best texts read ὃ, that which. The construction is similar to that in John 17:2, "that He should give eternal life," etc. Like πᾶν, all, in that passage, that which here refers to the body of believers taken collectively.

I will (θέλω)

See on Matthew 1:19.

My glory

The glory which is mine.