John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
The High Priest under the law, when he was to enter into the holy place on the solemn Day of Atonement, was to take both his hands full of sweet incense from the golden table of incense, to carry along with him in his entrance. He also had a censer filled with fire that was taken from the altar of burnt-offerings where atonement was made for sin with blood. Upon his actual entrance though the veil, he put the incense on the fire in the censer until the cloud of its smoke covered the ark and the mercy seat (see Lev. 16:12, 13). And the end hereof was to present to God, in the behalf of the people, a sweet-smelling savor from the sacrifice of propitiation. In answer to this mystical type, the great High Priest of the Church, our Lord Jesus Christ, being to enter into the “holy place not made with hands” (Heb 9:24), did, by the glorious prayer recorded in this chapter, influenced from the blood of His sacrifice, fill the heavens above, the glorious place of God’s residence, with a cloud of incense, or the sweet perfume of His blessed intercession, typed by the incense offered by the high priest of old. By the same eternal fire wherewith He offered Himself a bloody sacrifice to make atonement for sin, He kindled in His most holy soul those desires for the application of all its benefits to His Church which are here expressed and wherein His intercession consists. John Owen
The prayer in John 17 is the prayer of Christ just before He went to the cross and put the glory of God on display purchased a people to manifest and display the glory of God. Before Christ went to the cross He offered a prayer for His people and this prayer was pictured by the incense of the Old Testament tabernacle and temple. But the body of Christ was the very tabernacle of God on earth (John 1:14) and in that tabernacle the very glory of God shone forth, and it was a glory full of grace and truth. We should see this prayer as not so much consisting of words alone, but as the heart of the eternal God in human flesh. He had covenanted with the Father for a people and these were the people He wanted to behold His glory. But again, He wanted these people to see His glory so much that He glorified the Father by going to be a sacrifice for sin. He wanted these people to see His glory so much He displayed it at the cross and purchased the sight and taste of glory for them.
The love of the Father for His one and only Beloved Son may indeed be hard for most to see, but in fact it shines in this passage. In reality, the love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father are both put on display and in fact are part of the glory that shines in this passage. This eternal transaction can be seen from John 17:1-2 where Jesus prayed, “”Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.” Christ came for all that the Father had given Him and He was praying for the Father to glorify the Son that the Son may glorify the Father. In this we can see the great connection between the eternal transaction between the Father and the Son and what Christ did by going to the cross. He purchased those whom the Father had given Him. He purchased eternal life for those people and now they will be able to behold and share in the glory of God because that is what eternal life consists of. To know God is eternal life, but we cannot know Him apart from beholding His glory in Christ.
One can be caught up in some issues of the text and in some theological controversy, but at some point one should stand back and utter “wow” or “behold your God.” How utterly beautiful it is for the Father to love the Son and the Son to love the Father and in that eternal transaction to agree to purchase a people who would share in that love and enable them to delight in their eternal glory. How glorious and beautiful it is that Christ Himself went into the Holy Place in heaven with prayer and then offer Himself and a propitiatory sacrifice for His people that they would be able to behold the glory of God and know that God in tasting of the knowledge and delight in knowing Him. How matchless it is to think of this Christ having holy desires for His people that came from His love for the Father in wanting them to see His glory and to have His joy in them. How can it be that the Jews who were raised in the system of types could miss the glory of Christ who fulfilled those types? It is because they missed the glory of God in the types and so missed the glory of Christ too. At times we must stand back from all the details of the Bible (as such) and simply behold the glory of our God. After all, Jesus prayed for His people that they would behold His glory. He then went to the cross and displayed that glory. Let us behold in awe and wonder.
God Loves... Himself 
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