(Verse 24) - I will or desire here is not expressing a command on Christ's part. It is expressing a desire. It would be unseemly for Christ to use the form of a command when addressing God. It is a form of a word that means to give or to grant. It can refer to allowing, appointing or permitting.

We must remember that the Father has granted the Son all authority regarding anything touching the issue of the salvation of the children of God. This is not a command from Christ to the Father per se but is an exercise of that authority. As the responsible and authoritative agent in the plan of God Christ has every right and even the responsibility to do this. It is not presumptive or arrogant because God has granted Him (Christ) the authority to do so.

The verb is in the Perfect tense. This speaks of a truth presently that had its beginning in the past at some time. It is now an established certainty. The doing of the thing, the actual doing of the action of the verb is finished, but the effect of the doing of the action abides until now. The point here is that Christ has already granted to God's children that they might be with the Father. That authority has already been exercised.

This is particularly interesting in light of the fact that Christ has not yet gone to the cross. He has not yet actually done the work to secure that salvation. Yet He can, justly and righteously, exercise authority and grant to them eternal life (which is functionally what being present with God means).

There is no hint of mere possibility here. Christ is not saying that they will get eternal life if they do something. There ls no condition here. Christ says that He has already granted them to be present with God. This is unilateral. It speaks to the effectiveness of Christ's work. It speaks to the absolute certainty with which He viewed the matter. Those whom He granted to be present with the Father would have a certainty of that presence actually taking place.

This is important. To say less is to impact the very character of God. It goes something like this: Christ is all-knowing. There is nothing He does not know. At this point He "knows" those who will believe and has granted them to be present with the Father. There are no ifs or other conditions. There is no human condition to be fulfilled in order to make this happen. It does no good for us to protest about what Jesus surely meant. Rather we must look carefully at what He said. 

If Jesus knew something and later that something failed to occur, then Jesus knew wrongly and we have a major problem. If He knew a thing, and man was able to frustrate Christ's attempt to bring it to pass then we have a major problem as well, and a contradiction of the Scripture as well. We must honestly grapple with the implications of what is said here.

How do those facts apply to my life?:

The challenge here, among other things, is to our pride. It is humbling to admit that our future presence with the Father rests on the authority of Jesus Christ as exercised to the glory of the Father. This does not nullify or deny human freedom; but rather exalts God's power over it.