Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovest Me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:24 KJV
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. John 17:24 NASB
I know this verse is repeating a previous meditation, but the well of Scripture is deep and full, affording many varying insights. “Love” is a major theme in John 13-17. There are seven different spheres of love referred to in the “Upper Room” discourse of the Lord Jesus.
- His love for His own 13:1
- The Disciple whom Jesus loved 13:23
- Love of disciples for one another 13:34
- Our love for Him 14:15
- The Father’s love for Son 17:23, 24
- The Son’s love for His Father 14:31
- The Father’s love for us 14:21
From this circle of love, I would like to center on the thought of a Father’s love for a Son. To attempt any understanding of the love between divine persons is to move in depths unfathomed. We are made aware that this love predated time. It was an eternal enjoyment that the Father found in His Son.
Everything that holiness loved was inherent in the Son. It was a love which knew no clouds to interrupt or barriers needing removal. It was full, constant, and beyond measure. What is unique about the love which exists between divine persons is that it is a love which is merited and not on the basis of grace as with us. It is a love which is fully reciprocated, as well. John’s Gospel has numerous references to the love of the Father for His Son (3:35; 5:20; 10:17; 15:9). 
Here in John 17:24, the Lord Jesus mentions it in connection with His request for us to behold His glory. Scholars tell us that the force of the word “for” (hoti) carries the sense of “because” or for this reason.
The Son is requesting that we have the privilege of beholding His glory because God has loved Him before the world began. Love always seeks the very best for its object. The Father so loved the Son that He not only will glorify Him in resurrection and ascension, but that He will assemble a host of redeemed from earth to eternally gaze upon that glory.
There is a sense in which we, you and I, are God’s gift of love to His Son. So great is that love that the Father wants to display His Son’s glory, to show to all the world what He thinks of His Son. Amazingly, we shall be privy to the display of the Father’s love for His Son.
But the Son is not making this request for us in order that He may take “pride” in His glory (I speak as a man and am limited in how to express this), but rather that we might appreciate, as well, something of the Father. We will understand by that display the great measure to which the Father loves the Son, and in light of verse 23, how the Father loves each of us.
There will eternally be this mutual unfolding of the Father’s love for a Son and the Son’s love for a Father, a display which will educate us in this wondrous truth: honor received revealing love which has bestowed, and love which reflected back by the revealing of fresh glories. Into this school of God, we will be delighted and diligent scholars, content to never have a day of graduation that will bring it to its conclusion.
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Consider:
Look at all the mentions of the Father’s love for His Son as recorded in John’s Gospel.