JANUARY 17, 2026 – ACKNOWLEDGED

READ: Jn. 17:6–10: … and they have kept Your word … and have known surely that I came forth from You … I pray … for those whom You have given Me … and I am glorified in them …

Jesus speaks to His Father about the work He has done in His disciples. First and foremost, He has revealed the Father to them (v.6). Through His words, works, and miracles, He has showed them who the Father is, His glorious attributes, and His work. This is what “revealing His name” means.

Jn. 1:18 says: “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son… has declared Him.” The Father gave these disciples to Jesus. Now Jesus gives a glorious testimony of them (vv.6–7): they received His words as God’s Word and acknowledged Him as the Messiah sent by the Father.

This is not a human achievement, but the work of the Father and the Son. The Father elected them and gave them to His Son. The Son taught them and demonstrated His love and redemption to them. Thus He worked faith in them, expressed in their confession (Matt. 16:16,17). Such faith gives assurance of eternal salvation (3:15,16,36; 8:51).

Their faith may still be weak and incomplete (cf. 16:31), yet Jesus does not mention that here. He knows they will not perish (except Judas) and will be strengthened by His resurrection and the outpouring of the Spirit.

Jesus now entrusts His disciples to the Father. Election is unto eternal life, but it does not apply to the world. Jesus prays for all who are elected and given to Him—to give them faith and strengthen them so they will stand in the world.

Do we thank the Lord Jesus that He prays for us?
Sing: Hymn 46:1 (1984) / 61:1 (2014)