Listening happily to a very old god
“Father, Glorify Your Son…” Part 5
(John 17:5, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, March 7, 2010)
John 17:1-5 … "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Q: What is the first petition in Jesus’ prayer to the Father?
A: "Glorify your Son." (John 17:1)
Q: Father, what have you given Your Son concerning humanity?
A: "You have given Him authority over all flesh." (John 17:2)
Q: Heavenly Father, what is eternal life?
A: "That they know you.” (John 17:3)
Q: How did Jesus speak of His glorifying the Father on earth?
A: “I accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” (John 17:4)
Q: What did Jesus ask for concerning His future glory?
A: “Now, Father, glorify me in your own presence.” (John 17:5)
Glorify me in your own presence
There is a glory to the cross, but it is a hidden glory, in a way. On the surface, it does not appear glorious in the least. On the cross an innocent man is suffering death and extreme public humiliation. He faces the worst kind of end. The glory of the cross becomes visible in the resurrection, especially when we know what that death accomplished, the vindication of Jesus as the Christ, and the salvation and blessed resurrection of all those given to the Son by the Father.
Jesus knows that the hidden glory of the cross is the pathway to a future glory that is not at all hidden. This future glory will be seen by humanity. It will be clear to all that Jesus is who He said He was, the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Anointed Savior. When He comes again in all His glory, we are told by the Apostle Paul that every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, Yahweh the Son, to the glory of God the Father.
When Jesus said in the beginning of this prayer, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,” He was speaking first of the hidden glory of the cross. But now in the fifth verse, it is very clear that He asks for that future glory to be His: “Father, glorify me in your own presence.” The Father is in the highest heaven. Psalm 115 says, “Our God is in heaven. He does all that pleases Him.” The future glory of the Son is to have the light of heaven exposing the greatness of the Son of God in a way that is so different from His exposure on the cross. Jesus is glorified in the presence of the Father. This glory comes after His suffering, after His death, after His burial, after His resurrection, and after His ascension to heaven, when Jesus is at the right hand of the Father.
With the glory I had with you
When He asks the Father for this future glory, He is not asking Him for anything that is not rightly His already. He makes this clear in His prayer, because He specifies that the glory that He asks for is only that glory that He had with the Father prior to coming to earth to live and die for us. Jesus is not a stranger to glory. What has been strange is His humiliation. What is remarkably strange is His wretched death.
If He already knew the experience of that great glory with the Father in the highest heavens, why did He subject Himself to this horrific indignity of coming here? When we come to the root of this important question we find some disarmingly simple answers: 1. The Father asked Him to do this. 2. He said that He would and so He did. 3. He knew that it was for the best. But these simple answers bring us to deeper questions. The Father asked Him, but why did the Father ask His beloved Son to do this? Jesus said He would do it, but why did He every agree to this? He knew it was for the best, but how could something like the cross be for the best? Even Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.” Of course He also said, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” What is the deep root of all this necessary pain? We find at the core of this quandary, a most simple and beautifully profound answer for us: God loves us. He has determined that His glory will not only be in the purity of His wrath, but also in the wonder of His matchless love. The hymn writer says, “He left His Father's throne above, so free, so infinite His grace, humbled Himself, so great His love, and bled for all His chosen race. 'Tis mercy all! immense and free, for O my God, it found out me. Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”
Before the world existed
We are told in another place in the Bible that it was for the joy that was set before Him, the joy of this future glory, that our Savior endured the cross. Yet Jesus says in this prayer that this future glory for which He asks, is somehow also a past glory, an eternally old glory, from the everlasting past, before the world existed. In that time before time, Jesus had all His glory, and this must mean that the glory of the cross, the glory of the love and mercy of God, and the glory of the justice and holy wrath of God was all entirely settled before the world existed, since before the world existed Jesus had this glory with the Father.
Jesus was God with God before the first word of creation was spoken. Proverbs 8 speaks of this glorious love and joy within the Godhead (See Proverbs 8:27-31). O the glory of God in His eternal Son! How horrifying is the cross! How devastating and beautiful and costly is the love of God that has touched your soul, this dying love of Jesus. He deserves all that future glory!
Lessons learned over a long life
I would like to talk to my father today. He lived into his 80s. I would very much like to talk to his father, my grandfather, who died in his 90s. When we were kids we thought he talked too much. I would love to hear his stories now, and to ask him questions. I would like to listen to him. His father, my great-grandfather, fought at Gettysburg. People learn many things over the course of a long life. There is really so much to learn from them, if we would listen
Learning from our eternal God about life
Jesus, in His divine nature, is very old, as old as the Ancient of Days. I would like to listen to Him, to hear Him talk about the old days with His Father and the Spirit. I want to hear Him speak about that great eternal glory, if He would be willing to talk about it. What was creation like after Day 1, when He said, “Let there be light,” and light became light?
There is so much I would like to learn from Jesus. What was it like to be Immanuel, God with us, and to grow in wisdom and stature in His human nature? How is it that the Son of God, with all His great eternal glory, could fit all His divine nature in the one person of Jesus? Most of all I would like to know more about the depths of His love, and about His willingness to become man in order to save us. I would enjoy, not only knowing about that love, but having more of the love and joy of Jesus in me, in you, in our lives together. That would be heaven, would it not?
1.How does the story of heaven and earth enter into the Son's prayer?
2.Why does the Son desire to be in the presence of the Father?
3.What is the history of the relationship between the Father and the Son?
4.What can we learn from the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man?
(John 17:5, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, March 7, 2010)
John 17:1-5 … "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Q: What is the first petition in Jesus’ prayer to the Father?
A: "Glorify your Son." (John 17:1)
Q: Father, what have you given Your Son concerning humanity?
A: "You have given Him authority over all flesh." (John 17:2)
Q: Heavenly Father, what is eternal life?
A: "That they know you.” (John 17:3)
Q: How did Jesus speak of His glorifying the Father on earth?
A: “I accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” (John 17:4)
Q: What did Jesus ask for concerning His future glory?
A: “Now, Father, glorify me in your own presence.” (John 17:5)
Glorify me in your own presence
There is a glory to the cross, but it is a hidden glory, in a way. On the surface, it does not appear glorious in the least. On the cross an innocent man is suffering death and extreme public humiliation. He faces the worst kind of end. The glory of the cross becomes visible in the resurrection, especially when we know what that death accomplished, the vindication of Jesus as the Christ, and the salvation and blessed resurrection of all those given to the Son by the Father.
Jesus knows that the hidden glory of the cross is the pathway to a future glory that is not at all hidden. This future glory will be seen by humanity. It will be clear to all that Jesus is who He said He was, the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Anointed Savior. When He comes again in all His glory, we are told by the Apostle Paul that every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, Yahweh the Son, to the glory of God the Father.
When Jesus said in the beginning of this prayer, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,” He was speaking first of the hidden glory of the cross. But now in the fifth verse, it is very clear that He asks for that future glory to be His: “Father, glorify me in your own presence.” The Father is in the highest heaven. Psalm 115 says, “Our God is in heaven. He does all that pleases Him.” The future glory of the Son is to have the light of heaven exposing the greatness of the Son of God in a way that is so different from His exposure on the cross. Jesus is glorified in the presence of the Father. This glory comes after His suffering, after His death, after His burial, after His resurrection, and after His ascension to heaven, when Jesus is at the right hand of the Father.
With the glory I had with you
When He asks the Father for this future glory, He is not asking Him for anything that is not rightly His already. He makes this clear in His prayer, because He specifies that the glory that He asks for is only that glory that He had with the Father prior to coming to earth to live and die for us. Jesus is not a stranger to glory. What has been strange is His humiliation. What is remarkably strange is His wretched death.
If He already knew the experience of that great glory with the Father in the highest heavens, why did He subject Himself to this horrific indignity of coming here? When we come to the root of this important question we find some disarmingly simple answers: 1. The Father asked Him to do this. 2. He said that He would and so He did. 3. He knew that it was for the best. But these simple answers bring us to deeper questions. The Father asked Him, but why did the Father ask His beloved Son to do this? Jesus said He would do it, but why did He every agree to this? He knew it was for the best, but how could something like the cross be for the best? Even Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.” Of course He also said, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” What is the deep root of all this necessary pain? We find at the core of this quandary, a most simple and beautifully profound answer for us: God loves us. He has determined that His glory will not only be in the purity of His wrath, but also in the wonder of His matchless love. The hymn writer says, “He left His Father's throne above, so free, so infinite His grace, humbled Himself, so great His love, and bled for all His chosen race. 'Tis mercy all! immense and free, for O my God, it found out me. Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”
Before the world existed
We are told in another place in the Bible that it was for the joy that was set before Him, the joy of this future glory, that our Savior endured the cross. Yet Jesus says in this prayer that this future glory for which He asks, is somehow also a past glory, an eternally old glory, from the everlasting past, before the world existed. In that time before time, Jesus had all His glory, and this must mean that the glory of the cross, the glory of the love and mercy of God, and the glory of the justice and holy wrath of God was all entirely settled before the world existed, since before the world existed Jesus had this glory with the Father.
Jesus was God with God before the first word of creation was spoken. Proverbs 8 speaks of this glorious love and joy within the Godhead (See Proverbs 8:27-31). O the glory of God in His eternal Son! How horrifying is the cross! How devastating and beautiful and costly is the love of God that has touched your soul, this dying love of Jesus. He deserves all that future glory!
Lessons learned over a long life
I would like to talk to my father today. He lived into his 80s. I would very much like to talk to his father, my grandfather, who died in his 90s. When we were kids we thought he talked too much. I would love to hear his stories now, and to ask him questions. I would like to listen to him. His father, my great-grandfather, fought at Gettysburg. People learn many things over the course of a long life. There is really so much to learn from them, if we would listen
Learning from our eternal God about life
Jesus, in His divine nature, is very old, as old as the Ancient of Days. I would like to listen to Him, to hear Him talk about the old days with His Father and the Spirit. I want to hear Him speak about that great eternal glory, if He would be willing to talk about it. What was creation like after Day 1, when He said, “Let there be light,” and light became light?
There is so much I would like to learn from Jesus. What was it like to be Immanuel, God with us, and to grow in wisdom and stature in His human nature? How is it that the Son of God, with all His great eternal glory, could fit all His divine nature in the one person of Jesus? Most of all I would like to know more about the depths of His love, and about His willingness to become man in order to save us. I would enjoy, not only knowing about that love, but having more of the love and joy of Jesus in me, in you, in our lives together. That would be heaven, would it not?
1.How does the story of heaven and earth enter into the Son's prayer?
2.Why does the Son desire to be in the presence of the Father?
3.What is the history of the relationship between the Father and the Son?
4.What can we learn from the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man?
posted by Pastor Magee at 5:36 AM
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