Good morning, Bereans. This morning for our study we are going to look at chapter 17 of the Gospel of John, which is a prayer that Yeshua prays to the Father. People often call Matthew 6:9-13 the Lord's Prayer but that is the Disciples' Prayer. It is a prayer that Yeshua taught the disciples to pray. But He did not pray that prayer. He couldn't pray that prayer, because that prayer says in part,
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matthew 6:12 ESV
This is a prayer that the Lord taught his disciples to pray. The Lord's Prayer is found in John 17. Yeshua was acting as a High Priest on behalf of His disciples. This chapter has commonly been referred to as Yeshua's "High Priestly Prayer."
As Yeshua's instruction to His disciples in the upper room came to a close, He turned to the Father in prayer. He prayed for Himself and as the intercessor on behalf of His disciples. In the Old Covenant, it was the High Priest who offered the bloody sacrifice to Yahweh on His sacred altar. It was his responsibility to serve the covenant people as God's representative and the people's intercessor. Now, in the New Covenant order, it is Yeshua Himself who is offering both the sacrifice of His passion and death and His intercession on behalf of His disciples to God the Father. That's why this prayer has come to be known as "Yeshua's High Priestly Prayer."
Warren Wiersbe writes, "Whether He prayed it in the Upper Room or enroute to the Garden, this much is sure: it is the greatest prayer ever prayed on earth and the greatest prayer recorded anywhere in Scripture. John 17 is certainly the 'holy of holies' of the Gospel record, and we must approach this chapter in a spirit of humility and worship." (Wiersbe, 1:367)
We notice also that this prayer was intended to be overheard because the audience is not the Father alone, but those disciples present with Christ who were in a little while about to be utterly devastated. It is also meant to be overheard by us centuries later so that we also, like them, will be encouraged and instructed by it. This prayer recorded in John 17 is the longest recorded prayer of our Lord in the New Testament. It is found only in the Gospel of John.
The chapter divides itself into three simple sections. In the first five verses, it is Christ praying to the Father for Himself. The theme of glory dominates verses 1-5. Yeshua requests that the Father glorify Him with the glory they shared from eternity. And then from verse 6 through verse 19, we have Christ praying for His disciples. The theme there is "kept." Yeshua asks the Father to preserve His disciples. Then from verse 20 to verse 26 we have Christ praying for future believers, His Church--us. The theme there is unity. Yeshua desires for those in His church to be in oneness with each other.
When Yeshua had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, John 17:1 ESV
"When Yeshua had spoken these words"—links John 17 to the farewell discourse of John 14-16. This Last Discourse has many of the characteristics of a Farewell Speech, a literary form frequently used in the Bible and the Intertestamental Jewish literature. Often the Farewell Speech concluded with a prayer. The book of Deuteronomy is an extended Farewell Speech. In Deuteronomy 32 and 33, Moses brings the speech to its closing climax by prayer.
"He lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said"—looking to heaven, with arms raised, is the traditional Jewish position of prayer.
A Song of Ascents. To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! Psalms 123:1 ESV
Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. Matthew 14:19 ESV
Let me ask you this, Does the Bible mention Yeshua or anyone else closing their eyes in prayer? No. So why do Christians today close their eyes for prayer? If I had to guess I would say to block out distractions.
"Father"—who is Yeshua praying to? He is praying to Yahweh, the Father. A man wrote me and said, "I have a question. In John 17, Jesus/Yeshua is praying to His Father. Is it your understanding that the Father is Yahweh? If so, then is Jesus/Yeshua praying to Himself? No, Yeshua is not praying to Himself that wouldn't make much sense. The doctrine of the Trinity states that there is one God, who is one in essence or substance, but three in personality. This does not mean three independent Gods existing as one, but three Persons who are co-equal, co-eternal, inseparable, interdependent, and eternally united in one absolute Divine Essence and Being. In this prayer Yeshua, who is Yahweh, is praying to the Father, who is Yahweh. Here the Son prays to the Father, both of whom are Yahweh.
Calling God "our Father" is common for us now two thousand years later. But in the Tanakh the term "father," with reference to God, is used about fourteen times and never of any individual addressing the Father or God as his own father? So, when the Lord Yeshua came and said, "After this manner pray ye, 'Our Father who art in heaven,'" That was something new and striking. They would have been astonished to hear that they are able to address God as their own Father.
"The hour has come"—this Gospel refers to Yeshua's "hour" seventeen times. In the first half of the Gospel, "The Book of Signs," "the "hour" is anticipated as the moment of climax in Yeshua's ministry (see John 2:4; 4:21; 5:25; 7:30; 8:20). In the second half of the Gospel, "The Book of Glory," after entering Jerusalem for the last time, Yeshua speaks of His "hour" as being imminent, and we understand that His "hour" is not only the climax of His ministry, but that it is also the climax of His earthly life (see John 12:23, 27; 13:1; 17:1). This is the last time the hour is mentioned in John's Gospel.
It was the hour that fulfilled the divine design, when before the foundation of the world, God ordained that Christ be crucified as an effective sacrifice for sin. It was the hour of the cross. In the redemptive drama everything is under a divine timetable and by divine appointment. The cross shows God's supreme sovereignty. The Jewish leaders did not want to crucify Yeshua during the Passover, because they feared a riot among the crowd (Matt. 26:5).
and plotted together in order to arrest Yeshua by stealth and kill him. But they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people." Matthew 26:4-5 ESV
But Yeshua was God's Passover Lamb whose blood applied in faith would protect from God's judgment. And so He was sacrificed during the Passover. The cross shows that God is sovereign over all things, including the so-called "free will" of sinners.
since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. John 17:2 ESV
There are three uses of the Greek word didomi: "give" in this verse, all referring to the idea of giving something as a gift. "Since you have given him authority over all flesh"—is the first use. "To give eternal life"—is the second use. "To all whom you have given him"—is the third use. So, Yeshua has been given absolute authority. Therefore He has the power to give eternal life. And the Father has given a certain people to the Son three gifts.
"Since you have given him authority over all flesh"—God the Father gave His Son authority or absolute power over humanity. We see this in:
And Yeshua came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Matthew 28:18 ESV
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, Ephesians 1:22 ESV
Why does the Son have to be given authority? Isn't it His by virtue of His being God? Yes, but this points to something specific. The Father gave Yeshua sovereign authority over mankind on the basis of the Son's obedience in humiliation, death, resurrection and exaltation.
So by virtue of His authority over all mankind He has authority to give eternal life.
Yeshua said this earlier in John 10:
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:27-28 ESV
"I give eternal life to them"—this is a claim to Deity. No one but God can give eternal life. Notice that He doesn't say, "They have earned eternal life." Eternal life is a gift. We do not earn it. We do not deserve it. It is not by works of righteousness that we have done that we are saved.
If he gave them eternal life, what did they have prior to that? Man is mortal, which means that he is subject to death. If men are mortal, then at death they perish--no suffering, just gone. Only Christians have eternal life. To spend eternity in Hell in eternal conscience torment you would have to be immortal. The majority of Churchianity believes that all men have an immortal soul. I don't see the Bible teaching this immortal soul idea.
The Jewish Encyclopedia states: "The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is a matter of philosophical and theological speculation rather than of simple truth, and is accordingly nowhere taught in Holy Scripture." [Jewish Encyclopedia, Immortality of the Soul, 1925.]
"We are influenced always more or less by the Greek, Platonic idea that the body dies while the soul is immortal. Such an idea is utterly contrary to the Israelite consciousness and is nowhere found in the Old Testament." [International Bible Encyclopedia, Page 812, 1960.]
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 1 Corinthians 15:53-54 ESV
"To give eternal life to all whom you have given him"—please notice that it doesn't say that He gives eternal life to all who believe in Him. That would be true, but here He says that He gives eternal life "to all whom you have given me." So, who are "the given"? Whom has the Father given to Yeshua? This is important because "the given" all of them, get eternal life. Notice what Yeshua said earlier:
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. John 6:37 ESV
Yeshua had connected "coming" to Him to "believing in Him" in verse 35.
Yeshua said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. John 6:35 ESV
What I want you to see here is that "coming to Yeshua" and "believing in Yeshua" are synonymous concepts. These are parallel terms. In other words, coming to Christ is the same as believing in Christ and vice versa. This is very important in understanding this text.
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. John 6:37 ESV
So since "coming to Christ" and "believing in Christ" are synonyms, who believes in Yeshua? "All that the Father gives to Him"—the ability to believe on Yeshua requires divine enablement. It is only those whom "the Father" enables to believe that "come to" Yeshua in faith. These are "all" the people whom "the Father gives" to the Son as gifts. Yeshua viewed the ultimate cause of faith as God's electing grace, not man's choice.
Those of you who hold to an Arminian view, the order here is crucial. "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me"—Yeshua does not say that all who come to Him/believe in him will then be given to Him by the Father. We do not determine by our response who will be the Father's gift to the Son. Rather our response is determined by the prior election of God.
The word "gives" is a word of destiny. It's divine sovereign election. The concept of the elect being a love gift from the Father to the Son is taught throughout Scripture. Notice what Isaiah writes:
Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. Isaiah 8:18 ESV
Who is speaking here? The Epistle to the Hebrews quotes these words as the distinct words of Yeshua:
And again, "I will put my trust in him." And again, "Behold, I and the children God has given me." Hebrews 2:13 ESV
Speaking of Isaiah 8:18 The IVP Bible Background Commentary states:
These are not the words of the prophet, speaking of himself and his natural children, nor of his spiritual children, his disciples, called sometimes the sons of the prophets; but of Christ, who has a seed, a spiritual offspring who are given Him of God, in the covenant of grace. (IVP Bible Background Commentary).
The Scriptures represent the Father as promising the Son a certain reward for His sufferings on behalf of sinners.
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53:10-11 ESV
"He shall see His offspring"—this is a reference to the elect of God. God has given the elect to Christ. We are children of promise. Notice that it says, "He will see it and be satisfied," and not frustrated.
So, Yeshua doesn't give eternal life to all without exception? He only gives eternal life to "the given." One commentator writes, "This phrase should not be understood as the Father giving some humans to Jesus and not others." What? No, that is exactly what it means. The Lord Yeshua has sovereign authority to give life and He gives life to those to whom the Father has given to Him. This is one of the clearest statements of what is called "particular redemption" or "limited atonement." This is one of the five points of Calvinism known as "TULIP":
Total Depravity
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the Saints
LIMITED ATONEMENT deals with the issue of for whom did Christ die? Did He die for everyone or for the elect? Now, of course, election is not enough to save us by itself. There is this matter of divine justice—which must be satisfied. That is, God cannot merely take sinners into His fellowship. Their sin must be dealt with first. In fact, they must be punished. The very heart of the Gospel is that Christ came, and in the place of sinners, offered a sacrifice to God for their sin. This is clear from Yeshua's words, "I lay down my life for my sheep" (Jn.10:11). Because His death was in their place and for their sin, they will go free. They are punished in Him, their Substitute. This, again, is the whole essence of the Gospel, the very hallmark of Christianity.
It is for this reason that we say, further, that Christ died with the intention of saving His elect. He gave His life "for his sheep" (Jn.10:11). To be sure, the value of Christ's person and work is infinite. His death, therefore, was entirely sufficient to atone for all the sins of all the men who ever lived. But, it was not designed to do that. We know this, very simply, because not all are saved. His mission, as He defined it, was to give eternal life to all whom the Father had given Him. Christ died not merely to make possible the salvation of all mankind, but to make certain the salvation of all that the Father had given to Him—the elect.
but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. John 10:26-29 ESV
The ultimate reason they did not believe in Yeshua was that they were "not" His "sheep." To many Arminians, this soteriology is offensive. Yeshua was telling His listeners that He had not called them. They had not been given to Him by the Father. They did not belong to His flock. So, their unbelief was no surprise. And the reality is this: You can't come to God unless God calls you. Yeshua was emphasizing their inability to believe.
Believers, the New Testament clearly teaches that Christ bore the sins of many, not all. The essential issue here concerns the nature of the atonement. Yeshua's atonement involved both expiation and propitiation. Expiation deals with Christ's removing of our sins. He paid for them. Propitiation concerns the satisfaction of God's wrath against sin. If Christ bore in His own body on the tree the sins of all men without exception, then none will ever perish. Christ's atonement was only for the elect; it was limited.
It is my conviction that the five points of Calvinism are biblical and are the true Gospel. The Church today is being flooded with a new gospel, a humanistic gospel. The Gospel is essentially a proclamation of Divine sovereignty in mercy and judgment. It is a summons to bow down and worship the mighty Lord on whom man depends for all good, both in nature and grace. Its center of reference is God. But in the new gospel, the center of reference is man. You choose, you decide, you initiate salvation. The chief aim of the Gospel was to teach men to worship God, but the concern of the new gospel seems limited to making them feel better.
Our minds have been conditioned to think of the cross as a redemption, which does less than redeem, of Christ as a savior, who does less than save, of God's love as a weak affection, which cannot keep anyone from perishing without their help, and of faith as the human help, which God needs for His purpose. This is not the gospel/ The Gospel is "God saves sinners."
"To all whom you have given him"—this use of "given" points to an act by the Father that has a distinction and permanency to it. He uses the Greek perfect tense to distinguish this giving from the other two usages of give. The verb is perfect active indicative which speaks of an enduring gift! The Father's gift to the Son is a gift of a people who will be redeemed and sanctified to be conformed to the image of Yeshua the Christ.
Someone may say, "Well I think that even those who are not 'the given' can still come to Christ because the Bible says, 'Whosoever will, may come.'" It does say that, but no one will ever will to come unless they have been drawn of God. Look at John 6.
And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." John 6:65 ESV
"No one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father"—over and over in this chapter, Yeshua refers to the divine initiative, intervention, and empowerment necessary for anyone to come to faith in Him. This is a point that he wants us to get. Twice Yeshua says, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me"—the ability to believe on Yeshua requires divine enablement. It is only those whom "the Father" enables to believe that "come to" Yeshua in faith. These are "all" the people whom "the Father gives" to the Son as gifts. Yeshua viewed the ultimate cause of faith as God's electing grace, not man's choice.
"No one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father"—do you see the necessary condition in this verse? No one can come unless the Father has granted him the ability to come. A necessary condition is a circumstance in whose absence a given event could not occur or a given thing could not exist. In other words, if a man is not given to Yeshua by the Father, then a man can NOT come to him. Every person who comes to Yeshua can only come if he is given by the Father. That's the necessary condition. We must be given to Christ by the Father. These are the words of Christ, not Augustine or Calvin.
If everyone is given, then they will all come because everyone given will come. This would be Universalism, and the Bible does not teach that. And if no one is given, then nobody will come. Nobody would be saved because only the given can come.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. John 6:44 ESV
Draws is the Greek word helkuo. The usage of this word makes it very clear that helkuo means "to draw by irresistible superiority." All its uses have the idea of dragging, not inviting or calling. So, you can't come if you are not "the given" and if you are "the given" you will come:
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. John 6:37 ESV
Then verse 39 says:
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. John 6:39 ESV
All the given are risen. So, no one can come except the given, all of the given will come. And furthermore, of the given, not a single one shall be lost. That my friends is an ironclad argument.
Believers, that phrase "all You have given Me" appears seven times in this prayer. That is a defining statement regarding believers, you and me, and all believers since the work of Christ was applied. All believers—listen—have been given to Christ from the Father. In Scripture, seven symbolizes completeness or perfection.
Believers, the Gospel of John should be the death of Arminianism. How can you know this book and not hold to a Calvinistic Soteriology? I had a friend who was a preacher who wanted to argue with me about Calvinism. He adamantly denied it. Until he began doing a verse-by-verse study through this Gospel. He is now Calvinistic in his Soteriology.
According to Scripture, If you are a believer, it is because God gave you to Christ, and He gave you because He chose you, and He chose you before the foundation of the world, and He wrote your name down. Seven times it refers to believers as those whom the Father gives the Son. It is completely wrong to think that that decision is left to us.
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Yeshua the Christ whom you have sent. John 17:3 ESV
Knowing in Semitic thought, and in the biblical context, is not merely the result of an intellectual process to access and store information. It is to have intimate, personal knowledge that results in a covenantal relationship.
The word "know" is a present tense verb, which means that our knowledge of Him continues and continues. He is referring to a personal, intimate relationship with the living God, which grows as the years press on. He does not mean that we know about God but, rather, that we know God. It is an experiential knowledge of God, a subjective experience of God grounded in the objective truth concerning God, which He has given to us in His Word.
This knowing of God is what was the promise of the New Covenant.
And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Jeremiah 31:34 ESV
Study the Gospel and the first letter of John in depth, and you will notice that eternal life is inseparably linked with the person of Yeshua.
This verse is the last of nine times that the Gospel of John records Yeshua's speaking about "eternal life." Without exception, "eternal life" in the Gospel of John, the other Gospels, and in the rest of the Bible, always refers to eternity in heaven with God.
"The only true God"—Yeshua described the Father here as "the only true God." This does not mean that Yeshua was acknowledging that the Father was God, and that He (Yeshua) was not God, as Unitarians believe. Rather it means that Yeshua was acknowledging that there is only one true God.
Does this go against the divine counsel viewpoint? No. There were many other lesser deities, but they were all created by and were subject to Yahweh. According to Deuteronomy 32:8, Yahweh divided up the nations and put these lesser gods over them. But Yahweh chose Israel as His people.
To say that Yahweh is the only God was an ancient biblical slogan of incomparability of sovereignty, not exclusivity of existence. It was a way of saying that a certain authority was the most powerful compared to all other authorities. It did not mean that there were no other authorities that existed.
"I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. John 17:6 ESV
"Yours they were and you gave them to me"—how were the disciples God's? In what sense were they the Father's? Is this talking about their being the Father's by virtue of creation? If that were the case, then that would mean that the Father gave everyone to the Son. This would mean that all are saved. But we know that all are not saved because Yeshua said:
but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. John 10:26 ESV
Those who are not His sheep don't believe. So, this is not talking about their being the Father's by virtue of creation. That is not what is in view here. So how were they the Father's? They were the Father's by virtue of predestination. Before they ever believed, "they were Yours" —past tense. Let me show you how this works. Look with me at Romans 8.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Romans 8:29-30 ESV
This is what theologians call the "Ordo Salutis," Latin for "the order of salvation." It deals with the logical sequence of steps or stages involved in the salvation of a believer, and, more importantly, it has to do with who made the first move in our salvation.
Notice that it is not WHAT He foreknew, but WHOM He foreknew. The word "foreknew" is from the Greek word proginosko. The background of the term must be located in the Hebrew Scriptures, where for God "to know" refers not to simple knowledge but to covenantal love.
The predestination in Romans 8:29 means in its most elementary form is that our final destination—either entrance into heaven or perishing. It is decided by God, not only before we get there, but before we are born.
The predestination in Romans 8:29 is also called "Election." It is the idea of God's choosing whom He loves. He chose them to be part of His family and to be in His presence. The Gospel is the Good News, not of man's act of choosing Christ, but of God's act of choosing man. Election is an idea seen throughout Scripture,
Let me ask a couple of questions to those Preterists who think that election was something that ended in A.D. 70. First of all, why did God in times past need to draw dead men to Himself but now He doesn't? What changed in unregenerate man since A.D. 70? Are men no longer born spiritually dead after A.D. 70? And if they are not, what is man's condition? Are men no longer born in sin and separated from God? If they are not, then they don't need a Savior. Where in Scripture does it state or imply that man, apart from Christ, is no longer dead in sin after A.D. 70? According to Revelation there are unbelievers outside the city in the consummated New Covenant.
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. Revelation 22:14-15 ESV
Outside the city is outside of the New Covenant and, thus, outside the Church.
"Yours they were and you gave them to me"—so these elect people belonged to the Father and He gave them to the Son. Yeshua constantly refers to the disciples and all believers as those whom the Father has given Him.
I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. John 17:9 ESV
"I am praying for them"—who is the "them"? What is the antecedent of "them"? It is "the people whom You gave me." So, Yeshua is praying for "the given." And He is not praying for the world.
"I am not praying for the world"—the Greek word order makes the contrast very sharp: "not for the world." Does that sound strange to you? Why doesn't Yeshua pray for the world? Doesn't He love the world? John 3:16 says that He loves the world, so why wouldn't He pray for the world?
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 ESV
We see here that the object of Yahweh's love is the world. But we have to ask who is the world? It is the common view of our day that when the Bible says, "For God so loved the world" that it means that He loved every individual in the world equally without exception and without distinction. In other words, everyone is the equal object of the love of God. Every individual past, present, and future—all are loved in the precisely same way. Now that is a common view in our day, but it's not taught in the Bible. Now before you Arminians get mad at me, here's another question: Where does it say in the Bible that God loves everybody? Where does it say that He loves every single individual equally, without exception, without distinction? Can you give me a text? While you're thinking, let me give you a text:
As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." Romans 9:13 ESV
What you should never say once you have read this verse is that God loves every individual equally without exception, without distinction.
"But for those whom you have given me, for they are yours"—again, Yeshua prayed specifically for His believing disciples, "the given." The basis for Yeshua's request was that these disciples belonged to God—"they are yours", so their welfare was His special interest. Yeshua prays for the ones that Yahweh had taken out of the world and given to Him. It is to them that He manifested God's name.
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. John 17:24 ESV
Do you see what this verse is saying? Yeshua is saying that He desires that we be with Him in heaven. All believers—listen—have been given to Christ from the Father. So, the "given" are the elect of God that will believe in Him and have eternal life.
"Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am"—the word "desire" here is from the Greek word thelo. Thelo is often used in the New Testament to simply mean, "to wish." And there are many instances where it means essentially that. In this context, though, almost all of the students of the Gospel of John agree that it means something far more than that here, as it often does in other places.
He didn't mean "I wish." He meant "I will." In other words, this word is a word that expresses often the determination of our Lord, the will of our Lord as over against a wish.
In our text in John, it expresses, in a very strong way, the will of our Lord, "Father, I will," in the sense of this is the intent of my petition. Not simply a wish, but expressive of the will of the Savior. Which raises the question, Does the Son will something different from the Father? Hopefully you know the answer is, NO!
If God desires that we be with him in heaven, do you think that He gets what He wills. Absolutely. All the given will be in heaven.