Jesus had started by praying for Himself, and now He progresses to pray for His disciples. This is the lengthiest prayer of the three (self, disciples, us). They had depended upon the visible presence of Jesus up to this time and He was about to leave them alone. Although Jesus Himself will be with them soon after His resurrection and the Holy Spirit will soon come after that to help them, they will face some very trying times between His death and His resurrection and He desires to help them by praying for them.

“I have revealed you” = is literally “I have manifested (shown or revealed) your name”. Remember that Biblically the name of a person is not a label by which a person is called, but the essence of who that person is. Their name includes their nature, character, attributes, and the way they do things. It stands for the whole person. Jesus has revealed the essential nature of God to men, but note that this revelation was not made indiscriminately. Jesus revealed the Father to those whom the Father had given Jesus. The only ones who can know the Father are the ones to whom Jesus chooses to reveal Him, and the ones Jesus chooses to reveal Him to are those whom the Father has given Him (Matt 11:27, John 6:37). Prophetically, one of the things Messiah was going to do when He came was to reveal the name of the Lord to men (Psa 22:22).

Matthew 11:27  “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No-one knows the Son except the Father, and no-one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

John 6:37  All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.

Psalms 22:22  I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.

“They were yours” = The Father did not give those who were not His, and they were His in 3 ways: they were created beings and thus owed their existence and lives to Him; secondly, they were sinners and their lives were thus forfeit to Him; and thirdly, they were chosen and their lives were thus set apart for God. They were His to give.

Father God gave them to Christ so that He could reveal the Father to them. Graciously, God allowed Jesus to know that His efforts were not in vain and that His disciples were truly converted and would become seed for propagating the Kingdom of God after Christ’s crucifixion (Isa 49:4, 53:10-11).

Isaiah 49:4  But I said, “I have laboured to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due to me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God.”

Isaiah 53:10-11  Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.  After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

The disciples have persevered in following Jesus and doing what He said. He refers to this as obeying the word of God. It is interesting that Jesus is said to have obeyed the word of God (8:55) but this is the only place in the gospels where men are said to have kept it. It is also interesting to compare this verse with (1:1).

John 8:55  Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word.

John 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.