The Giving of Eternal Life

Let us muse again today from John 17:2 and the high priestly prayer. In the prayer today Jesus says He will give eternal life to as many as the Father has given Him. The phrase eternal life means perpetual unending breath. To whom would Jesus give the ability to live forever? The text says to as many as the Father has given Him. When did the Father give Jesus a people? Paul tells us in Ephesians that we were chosen and placed in Christ before the foundation of the world.