The Desire of Jesus...

“To See My Glory”

(John 17:24-26, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 4, 2010)

4/4/2010
24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known,
(4/11/2010) that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

The Resurrection of Jesus and the World of Resurrection
Everyone wants the good life, but most people settle for something that is barely adequate. In a world that is under a sentence of death, there can be only one truly right solution. We must have a life beyond all the misery, futility, and decay; a world beyond floods, earthquakes, surgeries, personal betrayals, and fits of depression. The Bible says that our souls long for this good eternity, and the reason is, according to Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has put eternity into man's heart.”

The Bible also tells us that the same Jesus who died for us, created the “ages” (literal Greek in Hebrews 1:2). We live in one age right now, and there is another age coming. That age is already reserved for us in heaven. Our hearts have eternity in them be God's design, and His plan has always been for eternity. Jesus is the key to that eternity, and His resurrection is the foremost display of the coming world of resurrection. He is the firstborn of the new age.

I desire... (24)
Christ speaks of this new age in his prayer to His father before He goes to the cross. The idea of a resurrection age was nothing new in the Bible. There are hints of it everywhere, and some very explicit passages, like Daniel 12, that plainly teach us of resurrection life. When we confess that we believe in the resurrection of the dead, we are holding to a doctrine that centuries of faithful Jews believed in but that they had never seen. Then it happened. Jesus rose from the dead. When Jesus prays for us in verse 24, He not only prays about our lives now, He speaks of a greater desire that must be fulfilled in a greater age and a greater place. He says, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

This new age and new place are well-known to our Lord. He came from there, and He knew that after His death and bodily resurrection, He would be returning there. It was the place of perfect power and glory. Jesus' glory was hidden during His days here below, though He gave signs of that resurrection glory in His healing, His transfiguration, His teaching, and His character. All of these great displays were, in a sense, out of place in this world of trouble and hate. There is another world where the glory of Christ and His victory over sin and death already shine brightly, and where the perfect love of the Father for His Son is now seen by men and angels. You were made for that new world. You were made for the place where the glory of Jesus is perfectly seen. Your presence in that world is not only something that you can desire; Jesus in His prayer to the Father says it is His desire, His petition, that you would be there one day with Him in heaven. Jesus wants you to be with Him in the land of resurrection.

O righteous Father... (25)
God is perfectly righteous. There is nothing wrong in Him; no error, and no evil. The land where the Father and the Son dwell is a land of righteousness. Our entrance into that land is the problem of all history. How can the unrighteous, people who have many errors and much sin, be brought to a place of righteousness? The way for us to come to heaven had to be consistent with the righteousness of God. Evil must have a just punishment, and only those who are truly righteous can go to heaven. The eternal solution to this was the cross. There our righteous substitute died for us, and through faith in Him, our debt has been canceled and His righteousness has been given to us. This is the only ethical way for the desire of Jesus to be fulfilled that we would be with Him where He is. Are you able to see this as sensible and right?

Everyone does not know and receive this message of Jesus and the world of resurrection. That's why Jesus says here in His prayer, “The world does not know you.” Jesus knows His Father, and He says, that we know that the Father sent His Son. That's true. We know that the Father sent the Son to make a righteous way for us to be with Him forever. As we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, we can do so this year with more understanding than we have ever had before about the need for a righteous way to heaven.

I made known to them... (26)
If you find today that the statement that I just made does not appear to be true, if as you evaluate your current spiritual condition you feel more in doubt or confusion than you were last year at this time, let me just say first that I acknowledge that feeling. I do not understand the mysteries of God's providence, but I have had to live through some of them. I have had times in younger days when I thought I was walking away from God for good, and He seemed determined to keep me through all my wandering. I have had times of busy living and distraction when the presence of God seemed distant. I have had disappointments that seemed to grab me by the neck of the soul and not let go. Through it all, even when I could not feel His presence, the Lord was there.

Jesus kept His disciples even when it felt like He was not keeping them. He did that by making the Name of God known to them, and in this prayer He promises to continue to make that Name known to them. Next Sunday we are going to explore more of what Jesus means by this; specifically what He means in terms of having the Father's love in us, and having Jesus in us, but we are almost out of time this morning, so that will be for another day. For this morning I need you to notice one very important lesson from the first part of verse 26: Whatever Jesus means by making known the Father's Name to His disciples, apparently He can continue to do that from heaven, since He very clearly says, “I will continue to make it known.”

Believing in and living out the resurrection of Jesus
Let me leave you with one final point before we celebrate the Lord's Supper together. Resurrection begins now. You don't have to wait to go to heaven to live the resurrection life. You can believe in Jesus now. You can believe that it was His desire that you would be with Him in heaven, that you would see His glory. You can believe that His cross provided the righteous way for you to get to heaven, and that His resurrection was for you just as much as His death was for you. And you can believe that He is keeping you in the Name of God from where He reigns over heaven and earth right now. These are not things that anyone made up. These are things that Jesus said in these verses before us today. You can believe these verses, accept them, embrace them, and even live them out. And somehow, even now, you can take that eternity that God has placed within your heart, and you can receive and see Jesus. If all of this seems too good to be true, let me tell you how I defend this good news to myself. 1. I cannot get around the resurrection of Jesus, and He believed in heaven. 2. The Hebrew Scriptures amply testified to all these matters long before Jesus died for me. (Read 2 Corinthians 4:1-6).

1. What are God's plans for resurrection?
2. How extensive is the desire of Jesus for His church?
3. Does everyone know about Jesus and the resurrection? Why or why not?
4. How can we live out the resurrection now and forever?