God is committed to glorifying God
“Father, Glorify Your Son…”
(John 17:1, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, February 7, 2010)
John 17:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, ...
Q: What is the first petition in Jesus’ prayer to the Father?
A: "Glorify your Son." (John 17:1)
He lifted up his eyes to heaven
Before our Lord went to the cross, He prayed. In fact, He prayed aloud. This is somewhat unusual. He did this also when He called Lazarus from the grave, which was His final sign of His power prior to His own resurrection. On that occasion He talked to the Father about how thankful He was that the Father heard Him, and then He said, “I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
This kind of thing was very unusual for Jesus. We read of him going off by Himself to pray, and we know that He spoke against the Pharisees because they insisted on making a show of their prayers. He speaks to God now in the presence of the disciples, and He is summarizing His mission and asking for some very specific things from the Father wanting them to hear this prayer. Why would He do that? He wants them to know what He asked for at this important moment, so that they could remember that these requests by the Son to the Father would surely be granted.
Father
The first word of His prayer is simply “Father.” This is the word that Jesus invites us to use when we pray to God, “Our Father.” Jesus comes as the beloved one-and-only Son of the Father. By His invitation, we come to the Lord as the beloved adopted children of God in Jesus Christ. We are just as surely sons of God as Jesus is the unique Son of God.
There is a dedication and devotion here between the Father and the Son that we cannot ignore. God is not addressed merely as a distant and frightening judge, but as a loving Father of a perfectly obedient Son. Jesus came into the world for this moment. After this prayer He will be arrested, attacked, unjustly convicted, and crucified. These things people could see. What they could not see, but what we know because of the Bible, is that the wrath of the Father against us for our sin would fall upon Jesus as the sacrifice that would turn away the holy wrath of God, and allow for the most complete expression of the Father's love for us, a love which is not a new idea, but is from before the creation of the world.
The hour has come
Jesus then prays these words: “The hour has come.” He has told this to His disciples before, but now He says it to the Father. The Father knows this. Jesus knows this. The disciples need to hear Jesus say this to the Father, and we need to be able to hear these words recorded for us in John 17, so that we are all very clear that the Father, the Son, and the church all know that the hour has come. The brutality of the hour is going to be so significant, that we all need to be reminded that what is about to happen is something intended and known by God.
The hour coming is first about the cross. Jesus lifted up these words to heaven, but we could never be lifted up to heaven unless our guilt was paid for. In John 18 we will hear the account of what people do to Jesus. But we miss the point if we got lost in that part of the story. We need to see that this was the key moment in the plan of God, not only in the salvation of our souls, but even in the restoration of heaven and earth from the brokenness that we experience to the beauty of life in God's perfect order. Jesus came to atone for our sins. He also came to remove our allergic relationship to the good created order that is His gift to us. All of this required the satisfaction of the wrath of God through the death of one sinless substitute. The hour has come.
Glorify your Son
The first request in Jesus' prayer to the Father is “Glorify your Son.” If you know what the word “glorify” means, this may seem like a strange request, especially in a prayer to God where others are listening. To glorify someone is to place them in the position of great honor, to boast about them in front of everyone. The Old Testament tells us plainly that God will not share His glory with anyone (Isaiah 42:8). Here Jesus is asking for the glory that is His by right. He is the Son of God, and is just as much God as the Father. This request is made for us to hear, knowing that the Father, the Son, and the church should all know that it was right for Jesus to be glorified, and that it was right for the Father to glorify Jesus, since He and the Father are one.
But there is another problem here. We said that the hour that has come is a suffering hour. How can this be consistent with the prayer of Jesus that the Father glorify Him? There is a glory to the cross that we need to appreciate if we are to love Christ and His death for us more accurately. No one else could have achieved what Jesus accomplished through His death. To be the singular Law-Keeper, to be the only Lamb of God who could take away the sins of the world, this was an extraordinary achievement. It was glorious. That glory of the cross began to be seen in the resurrection, but as great as that was, it was only the beginning of the glorifying again of Jesus, which we will have more to say about in later verses.
That the Son may glorify you
There is a close connection between the glory of the Father and the glory of the Son. Jesus asked for glory from the Father in order to give glory back to the Father. Some would contend that the whole message of a sacrifice that takes away the wrath of God is an embarrassment to their sensibilities. Jesus does not agree with that opinion. Others would have such a low view of human worth that they might sneer at the cost to be paid to secure our right standing with God, thinking it was just not worth it. The cross is not an embarrassment to the Father, and the final restoration of heaven and earth, and your place in it is not some incidental nothing to God.
Jesus says here, “Father you are right about the worth of a redeemed humanity and a restored creation, and you are right about the cost necessary to satisfy your holy anger against the sin of your beloved people. Father you are great! Father you are right! I want to give my life now to glorify you, your holiness, your justice, your power, and your love, and it will be well worth it. Glorify your Son so that I may in turn glorify you. Father, you are right to glorify God!”
Approach God as the greatest of all fathers who approves of you fully in Christ and who loves you completely in His Son. Because of the wonder of this prayer, know for certain that the cross was not a big mistake, but a wonderfully glorious victory. Turn away from all panic about the past, and give in to the glorious peace of knowing that the Father's plan was big enough to include the death of His Son, turning the lowest and most ugly mess ever known to man into the most amazing and wonderful glory to God. Here is something that you can do as you respond to this verse: Ask God to take your lowest moment, and to quietly turn it into something of glory.
1. Why would Jesus pray to the Father?
2. What is unique about this particular prayer?
3. Is it right for Jesus to seek His own glory?
4. What is the great desire of Jesus in this prayer and in His life?
(John 17:1, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, February 7, 2010)
John 17:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, ...
Q: What is the first petition in Jesus’ prayer to the Father?
A: "Glorify your Son." (John 17:1)
He lifted up his eyes to heaven
Before our Lord went to the cross, He prayed. In fact, He prayed aloud. This is somewhat unusual. He did this also when He called Lazarus from the grave, which was His final sign of His power prior to His own resurrection. On that occasion He talked to the Father about how thankful He was that the Father heard Him, and then He said, “I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
This kind of thing was very unusual for Jesus. We read of him going off by Himself to pray, and we know that He spoke against the Pharisees because they insisted on making a show of their prayers. He speaks to God now in the presence of the disciples, and He is summarizing His mission and asking for some very specific things from the Father wanting them to hear this prayer. Why would He do that? He wants them to know what He asked for at this important moment, so that they could remember that these requests by the Son to the Father would surely be granted.
Father
The first word of His prayer is simply “Father.” This is the word that Jesus invites us to use when we pray to God, “Our Father.” Jesus comes as the beloved one-and-only Son of the Father. By His invitation, we come to the Lord as the beloved adopted children of God in Jesus Christ. We are just as surely sons of God as Jesus is the unique Son of God.
There is a dedication and devotion here between the Father and the Son that we cannot ignore. God is not addressed merely as a distant and frightening judge, but as a loving Father of a perfectly obedient Son. Jesus came into the world for this moment. After this prayer He will be arrested, attacked, unjustly convicted, and crucified. These things people could see. What they could not see, but what we know because of the Bible, is that the wrath of the Father against us for our sin would fall upon Jesus as the sacrifice that would turn away the holy wrath of God, and allow for the most complete expression of the Father's love for us, a love which is not a new idea, but is from before the creation of the world.
The hour has come
Jesus then prays these words: “The hour has come.” He has told this to His disciples before, but now He says it to the Father. The Father knows this. Jesus knows this. The disciples need to hear Jesus say this to the Father, and we need to be able to hear these words recorded for us in John 17, so that we are all very clear that the Father, the Son, and the church all know that the hour has come. The brutality of the hour is going to be so significant, that we all need to be reminded that what is about to happen is something intended and known by God.
The hour coming is first about the cross. Jesus lifted up these words to heaven, but we could never be lifted up to heaven unless our guilt was paid for. In John 18 we will hear the account of what people do to Jesus. But we miss the point if we got lost in that part of the story. We need to see that this was the key moment in the plan of God, not only in the salvation of our souls, but even in the restoration of heaven and earth from the brokenness that we experience to the beauty of life in God's perfect order. Jesus came to atone for our sins. He also came to remove our allergic relationship to the good created order that is His gift to us. All of this required the satisfaction of the wrath of God through the death of one sinless substitute. The hour has come.
Glorify your Son
The first request in Jesus' prayer to the Father is “Glorify your Son.” If you know what the word “glorify” means, this may seem like a strange request, especially in a prayer to God where others are listening. To glorify someone is to place them in the position of great honor, to boast about them in front of everyone. The Old Testament tells us plainly that God will not share His glory with anyone (Isaiah 42:8). Here Jesus is asking for the glory that is His by right. He is the Son of God, and is just as much God as the Father. This request is made for us to hear, knowing that the Father, the Son, and the church should all know that it was right for Jesus to be glorified, and that it was right for the Father to glorify Jesus, since He and the Father are one.
But there is another problem here. We said that the hour that has come is a suffering hour. How can this be consistent with the prayer of Jesus that the Father glorify Him? There is a glory to the cross that we need to appreciate if we are to love Christ and His death for us more accurately. No one else could have achieved what Jesus accomplished through His death. To be the singular Law-Keeper, to be the only Lamb of God who could take away the sins of the world, this was an extraordinary achievement. It was glorious. That glory of the cross began to be seen in the resurrection, but as great as that was, it was only the beginning of the glorifying again of Jesus, which we will have more to say about in later verses.
That the Son may glorify you
There is a close connection between the glory of the Father and the glory of the Son. Jesus asked for glory from the Father in order to give glory back to the Father. Some would contend that the whole message of a sacrifice that takes away the wrath of God is an embarrassment to their sensibilities. Jesus does not agree with that opinion. Others would have such a low view of human worth that they might sneer at the cost to be paid to secure our right standing with God, thinking it was just not worth it. The cross is not an embarrassment to the Father, and the final restoration of heaven and earth, and your place in it is not some incidental nothing to God.
Jesus says here, “Father you are right about the worth of a redeemed humanity and a restored creation, and you are right about the cost necessary to satisfy your holy anger against the sin of your beloved people. Father you are great! Father you are right! I want to give my life now to glorify you, your holiness, your justice, your power, and your love, and it will be well worth it. Glorify your Son so that I may in turn glorify you. Father, you are right to glorify God!”
Approach God as the greatest of all fathers who approves of you fully in Christ and who loves you completely in His Son. Because of the wonder of this prayer, know for certain that the cross was not a big mistake, but a wonderfully glorious victory. Turn away from all panic about the past, and give in to the glorious peace of knowing that the Father's plan was big enough to include the death of His Son, turning the lowest and most ugly mess ever known to man into the most amazing and wonderful glory to God. Here is something that you can do as you respond to this verse: Ask God to take your lowest moment, and to quietly turn it into something of glory.
1. Why would Jesus pray to the Father?
2. What is unique about this particular prayer?
3. Is it right for Jesus to seek His own glory?
4. What is the great desire of Jesus in this prayer and in His life?
posted by Pastor Magee at 2:32 PM
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