Jesus states that the Father had given Him authority over all things, including the entire earth and all people. He had the authority to judge and also to give eternal life to those the Father had given Him. How does one gain eternal life? Jesus states the only way to have eternal life is to know the Father, the only true God. They also had to know Jesus as the one the Father sent to earth. Believing and knowing that, one would also know and see the glory Jesus would bring the Father by the completion of that plan. Jesus asked the Father to bring Him back into the glory they shared before the world ever began once the plan had been done.
Jesus' prayer then turned to the disciples. He stated that He had revealed the Father to those men of the world the Father picked and gave to Him. They were given to Him so that He could teach and care for them. When the disciples were called, Jesus went right to each man. Many times Jesus said He did what the Father instructed Him to do. Here we see Jesus acting on instructions from the Father in the calling of the disciples.
Jesus clarified that although the Father gave them to Jesus, they always belonged to the Father. They have kept the Father’s word. They have accepted the fact that Jesus was sent by the Father and was the Messiah. Because of Jesus' teachings, the disciples also understood that everything Jesus offered was a gift from the Father. This again brought glory to the Father.
Jesus' prayer was not for the world but for the men given to Him by the Father because they belong to the Father. Although they belong to the Father, they were given to Jesus so they would glorify Him. Now, because His time had come, Jesus affirms His departure from this world to return to the Father. Although He would be leaving, He would leave the men behind to carry on God’s plan of redemption and salvation. They were to go into the world and teach others what they had learned and seen. Jesus asked for protection for the men by the power of the Father’s name. He asked the Father to bring them together as one like He and the Father were one. I believer He was asking the men to be brought together in purpose, work, and obedience to the Father's plan just as He and the Father were united in the plan. The entire time Jesus was on earth, He protected the men by the name of the Father. He watched over them so that not one of them would be lost except for Judas the betrayer. However, Judas was never truly one of the disciples, He was still of the world and the evil one. That being said, Judas was not lost, because he was never saved. Judas' actions merely fulfilled what had been written in the Scriptures.
Jesus told them many things so they would know Him and the Father’s plan. Knowing that, they would be filled with the joy of the salvation that was to come and the hope for mankind. He acknowledged the world hated them because they were no longer of the world just as Jesus did not belong to the world. He was not asking the Father to remove them from the world for safekeeping but rather to keep them safe from the evil one while there were here doing His work. He asked the Father to keep them holy by the truth of His Word. That truth being He is the true God and Jesus is the true Son and Messiah. If they were to hold on to that truth, they would not fall, go astray or be misled.
The Father sent Jesus into the world to carry out His plan. In a similar way, Jesus had sent His men into the world for the same purpose. Jesus laid down His life as a sacrifice for the world and for these men so they could be made holy in Him and the truth of who He is.
Jesus added, He was not praying only for those men but for all who will some day believe in Him because of the efforts of the disciples. He prayed all those who would one day believe would be united just as Jesus and the Father are united. He prayed they would be united in Him and the Father as well. He asked so that through them, the world would see and believe that the Father sent Jesus. In that, Jesus wanted the world to know the Father loved those who believed as much as He loved Jesus. Through the unity of the disciples, the world would come to believe Jesus was sent by the Father and that the Father loves those who believe as much as He loves Jesus. Jesus expressed His desire to have the disciples with Him in eternity one day. Once there, they would see the glory the Father gave Jesus by His carrying out the plan. They would see how the Father loved Jesus even before the world began. The Father’s love for Jesus did not come about because He completed the work He was sent to do because Jesus was always loved by the Father.
Jesus closed His prayer by addressing and praising the Father as "Righteous Father." The Father is righteous. His plan and truth are right while the state and behavior of those who do not believe is wrong. The world is wrong in not knowing the Father but Jesus and the disciples knew Him. They knew the truth that Jesus was sent by the Father while the world chooses not to believe and therefore does not know the Father nor Jesus. The disciples knew because Jesus revealed the Father to them and through His life, death, and resurrection, He will continue to reveal the Father to them. What they learned from Jesus and what they witnessed while being with Jesus will continue to be a testimony of the truth of Jesus and the plan of the Father. When all this is accomplished the Father’s love for Jesus will be known in the disciples and Jesus will be in them always.