John 17:25

“Oh righteous Father, the world did not know you, but I knew you, and these knew that you sent me. And I made known to them your name and will make it known, that the love wherewith you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

In all our dealings and thoughts concerning the Father we have to recognise that He is the righteous Father. That was what the world failed to recognise about Him. They were unaware of His true righteousness, and therefore did not realise their need for atonement, or their need to become truly righteous. They thought that they could get away with being religious. But the Father is a righteous Father, and all hypocrisy collapses in His presence. Righteousness and truth are branches from the same stem.

‘The world did not know you.' He had come to His own world but even His own people did not receive Him (John 1:11). God in Christ was unrecognised and unwanted by the world with its distorted aims and motives, and by ‘His people' because He was not what they wanted. The world may to some extent have gained a general perception of a rather insipid ‘Father' above, but they do not have a conception of a ‘righteous Father', a Father Who in His love requires strict adherence to His word, His laws and His ways, a Father Who requires obedience. The truth is that the Father requires of us that which is good, and those who are His will therefore be obedient to His ways, and will work them out in their lives with great care. They know that God is at work in them and they therefore respond fully from the heart (Philippians 2:12).

The world neither knows nor heeds a Father like this. They are not subject to His ways. But Jesus knew Him fully, and knew and revealed Him in this way, and those who are His know that Jesus was sent from God and has made known to them His name, and will continue to make it known. Thus through Him they too come to a true knowledge of God and of His righteous requirements. It is fallen and unredeemed man who makes the grace of God an excuse for carrying on sinning.

‘Made known to them your name'. In other words Jesus had revealed what the Father essentially is as the ‘Holy' and ‘Righteous' Father. We note that Jesus does not here address Him as ‘loving Father'. It is true that that love has been revealed, but it is no sentimental or maudlin love. It is a loving response to those who have recognised their need to be made righteous and holy. It is true that God ‘loved the world' (John 3:16) but that love is only experienced by those who come to the light to have the truth about themselves revealed, that their deeds are wrought in God (John 3:21).

‘And will make it known'. His work of making His Father known will continue into unborn generations. In the presence of the Holy Spirit Jesus is also present with us. Compare John 14:16. The Holy Spirit cannot be present in us without Jesus being with us.

‘That the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.' The love that the Father has for His Son is also manifested in His people. They acknowledge that He is the beloved of the Father, and that He dwells within them. Thus do know that they dwell in the Father's love (see 1 John 3:1).

‘And I in them'. This is the Christian's final glory, that Christ dwells in his heart by faith (Ephesians 3:17; compare Galatians 2:20). God Himself possesses His people, and dwells in them (2 Corinthians 6:16). Thus do they know that they are rooted and grounded in love and that the love of God and of Christ is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit Who is given to them (Romans 5:5; Ephesians 3:16).

In this regard we may have been noted that in John 17 there has been no mention of the Spirit. In the most important prayer ever made He is not mentioned, even though His work is everywhere in mind. The giving of ‘the life of the coming age' (v. 2 compare Romans 8:2; Romans 8:10; John 3:5), the treasuring of His word (John 17:6; John 17:8 compare 1 Corinthians 2:10; 1 Corinthians 2:12; Ephesians 1:17; Ephesians 6:17), the essential unity (v. 11; v. 21 - 23 compare Ephesians 4:3), preservation from evil (v. 15 compare 1 Peter 1:2), the joy of Christ (v. 13 compare Galatians 5:22), being set apart by His word (v. 17 compare 1 Corinthians 2:10; Ephesians 1:17; Colossians 1:9) and the divine love within (v. 26 compare Romans 15:30; Galatians 5:22; Colossians 1:8; 2 Timothy 1:7) are all elsewhere described as the work of the Spirit. Thus if Jesus could pray like this without mentioning the Spirit, we need to be careful about passing judgment on praying men because they do not pray or speak as we do about the Spirit. We must remember that to be in touch with God is to activate the Spirit, for He is the Spirit  of God.