Jesus prayed to His Father after lifting up His eyes to heaven. He told the Father that the hour had now come. It was the hour that He had been waiting for throughout eternity. It was time that His great sacrifice on the cross would happen to pay for the sins of all His people. He prayed to the Father to glorify the Son as He, the Son, was going to glorify His Father. It was the Father who had given Jesus authority and power over all human beings to give eternal life to as many as the Father had given Him. This was the reason why Jesus Christ came to Earth, to give eternal life to everyone the Father had given Him.
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. (John 6:38-39)
When did the Father give these people to the Son?
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself… (Eph . 1:3-5) 38
We see here that the Father gave these people to the Son before the foundation of the world. These people are all those who will be believers in Christ. For more detailed information about these chosen of God see my e-book on www.free-ebooks.net called Free Grace or Free Will – God’s Free Salvation Plan.
What is eternal life? It is knowing the Father, the only true God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, whom the Father sent to accomplish His salvation plan. Jesus had glorified the Father while He was on Earth.
Jesus had finished the work that the Father had given Him to do. He asked His Father to glorify Himself with the same glory He had with the Father before the world was created.