Stier maintains that " I will " " is no other tlian a testament ary word of the Son, who in the unity of the Father, is ap pointing what He mills, at the second limit of the prayer where petition ceases."
Alford says " this is an expression of will founded on ac- knowledged right."
The expression, " Be with Me where I am," is one of those deeply interesting phrases which show the nature of the fu- ture dwelling-place of believers. Wherever it may be, wheth- er before or after the resurrection, it will be in the company of Christ. It is like " with Me in Paradise," " depart and be with Christ," and " forever with the Lord." (Luke xxiii. 43 ; Phil. i. 23 ; 1 Thess. iv. 17.) The full nature of the future state is wisely hidden from us. It is enough for believers to know that they will be " with Christ." It is company, and not place, which makes up happiness.
Traill remarks, " Heaven consists in the perfect immediate presence of Christ. Perfect presence is, when all on both sides is present ; all of Christ, and all of the Christian. But now all of Christ is not with us, and all of us is not with Him. On His part we have Christ's Spirit, word, and grace. On our part there is present with Him our hearts, and the workings of our faith and love and desire towards Him. But the presence is imperfect, and mixed with much distance and absence."
The expression, " Behold my glory," of course must not be confined to the idea of " looking on as spectators." It includes participation, sharing, and common enjoyment. (Compare John iii. 3 — 36 ; viii. 51 ; Rev. xviii. 7.)
The expression, " Which Thou hast given Me," seems to point to that special glory which the Father, in everlasting covenant, has appointed for Christ as the reward of the work of redemption. (Philip, ii. 9.)
l^For Thou lovedst Me... foundation. ..icorld.'] This sentence seems specially inserted in order to show that the glory of Christ in the next world is a glory which had been prepared from all eternity, before time began, and before the creation of man, and that it was not only something which, like Moses or John the Baptist, He had obtained by His faithfulness on earth ; but something which He had, as the eternal Son of the eternal Father, from everlasting. " Thou lovedst Me, and did assign Me this glory long before this world was made," that is, from all eternity. This is a very deep saying, and contains things far above our full comprehension.
25. — [0 righteous Father, etc.] In this verse our Lord begins the final winding up of His wonderful prayer. He does it by de- claring the position of things in which He was about to leave the world and His disciples. I take the meaning to be this : " 1