Articles
Walking in Truth Devotional Update, Christ's Prayer for Glory
Christ’s Prayer for Glory
John 17:1-5
Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, “as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
John 17 is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible and one of the most treasured by people of faith. Philip Melanchthon, one of the best known preachers in the Reformation, said: “There is no voice which has ever been heard, either in heaven or in earth, more exalted, more holy, more fruitful, more sublime, than the prayer offered up by the Son of God himself.” It was said, “This chapter was read to the Scottish reformer John Knox every day during his final illness and in his final moments” (Arthur Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, Vol. 3, p. 90).
Just hours before Jesus was arrested, we get to eavesdrop on His prayer, the longest recorded prayer in the New Testament. Jesus prays for Himself, that He would be glorified (17:1-5); for His disciples, that they would be sanctified (17:6-19); and for the church, that it would be unified (17:20-26). Our Lord prayed as a man, and as the Mediator of his people; yet he spoke with majesty and authority, as one with and equal to the Father.
In the opening section, as Jesus prayed for himself and his own glorification, He looked toward heaven and prayed: Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” (v.1). Then in verse 5 he said, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence.” Personal glorification is the unquestionable thrust of this part of the prayer.
Throughout history we have seen the glory of God in varying degrees. Everyone sees something of it in nature: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1). Some privileged believers have experienced incomplete personal revelations of the glory of God—for example, Moses on Mt. Sinai or Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration. By far, however, the most complete revelation of God’s glory was in the person of Jesus Christ. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (Hebrews 1:3)
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. (2 Cor. 4:6).
Jesus began by saying “the hour has come.” The hour of crisis has come. The hour of his suffering has come. The hour of his departure from this world has come. The hour of glorification has come.
Jesus had already glorified the Father by the matchless perfection of his life, as he reiterated in verse 4: “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” His life was a permanent monument to God’s glory. He did this through His many miracles but supremely through the example of his day-to-day life. Jesus’ concern is the glory of the Father. Jesus asks that he will be glorified in this hour so that the Father will be glorified. Jesus is praying to be sustained through the events of the crucifixion, so that the glory goes to the Father. It this was the goal of Jesus don’t you think that this should be our goal in this life also. As Brent Kercheville said, “What brings God glory brings us the good that we need. Jesus seeking the glory of the Father resulted in our salvation from sins and our ability to be given eternal life. His glory is always for our benefit. Is this not amazing that God accomplishing his plans and purposes are always for our good and benefit? Jesus said, “and this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3 ESV)
As Christ prayed, his focus was not only on the glory of the cross but on his coming glorification in Heaven. “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began” (John 17:5). We can only dimly perceive what Christ’s glory was like “before the world began.” “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:9-11)
