The Essence of Eternal Life
Notes
Transcript
1 When Jesus had spoken these things, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You.
2 For You granted Him authority over all people, so that He may give eternal life to all those You have given Him.
3 Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.
4 I have glorified You on earth by accomplishing the work You gave Me to do.
5 And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world existed.
PRAY
Introduction:
If you knew that you were about to die, what would you spend your time doing? If a doctor told you that you only had 24 hours to live, how would you spend your last 24 hours?
Some people might go out and party and try to experience as much worldly pleasure as possible in those final hours.
Some might spend all their time making sure their finances and legal documents and such are all set.
Some might just try to spend that whole last day in the company of loved ones, family and friends.
How would you spend your last 24 hours?
Well from the Scriptures we know what Jesus did. “The hour has come” according to Jesus - the hour for which He came - He was about to die. And it was probably within 24 hours of this that He had breathed His last and yielded up His spirit.
And He spent His final hours teaching and encouraging His disciples and praying.
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John is the only one of the Gospels that records Jesus’s prayer here, and the Apostle John was certainly a witness of Jesus’s prayer.
This prayer is not the same one that Jesus made in the Garden of Gethsemane as recorded in the other Gospels. John 18 records that only after this prayer did Jesus and his disciples go to the garden. This prayer was offered somewhere between the upper room and the garden, perhaps along the way.
The whole chapter is a single prayer of Jesus, in which we find requests for Jesus Himself, His 11 remaining Apostles, and for all who would come to trust Him in this age (including us!).
Throughout this prayer there are a few words or ideas that come up over and over again, including glory, unity (one), and love.
In these first 5 verses especially, the idea of glory is very prominent. Did you notice that as we read these verses?
v. 1 (twice): “Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You.”
v. 4: “I have glorified You on earth”
v. 5 (twice): “Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world existed.”
So, 5 times in these first 5 verses we have the word glory or its verb form, glorify. Clearly this is something important that we need to understand if we’re going to understand Jesus’s prayer.
What is glory?
What is glory?
From Dictionary.com
Glory:
“very great praise, honor, or distinction bestowed by common consent; renown”
“resplendent beauty or magnificence”
“a ring, circle, or surrounding radiance of light represented about the head or the whole figure of a sacred person”
Glorious
delightful; wonderful; completely enjoyable
brilliantly beautiful or magnificent; splendid
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The Old Testament idea of glory is related to heaviness or weightiness, that is, the value or worth of something. When related to people, glory indicates “honor and fame as coming from a social status that includes greatness, wealth, or power, and the acknowledgment of others.” (Lexham Bible Dictionary)
So if we want to try to simplify the concept of glory to a concise definition, we should think that Glory is the value or worth or beauty of someone or something.
-this is both its intrinsic or inherent value as well as the display of this worth
In Christian circles we often talk about the glory of God, living for the glory of God, doing things for the glory of God, and yet I think many times we have a fuzzy idea of what that really means. I know I did for a long time.
Let me try to give you a biblical definition of glory as related to God:
The glory of God is the display of His infinite worth through His words and His works.
Display: God is inherently glorious - worthy, beautiful, valuable - and He has put His value, worth, or beauty on display for all to see.
Infinite worth: Unlike everyone and everyone else whose glory is limited, the glory of God is unlimited or infinite. There is no way to measure the value of God. Whatever measurements we might come up with for value or worth, God’s worth is so far beyond anything we can comprehend, that it cannot be compared to anything else we know. We can’t put a dollar amount on God’s value. There isn’t a number big enough to express His worth.
This infinite worth of God is displayed in two primary ways:
His Word: spoken, written, and Living
One of the ways God demonstrates His infinite value is by speaking. The speaking voice of God was heard through the prophets and apostles, and many of the words God spoke through them were written down and recorded for us in the Bible. And Jesus Christ Himself, the eternal Son of God, is referred to as the Word of God, such as in John 1:1 & 14, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus as the Living Word of God is the One who in His Person and His Work most clearly displays the glory of God, the infinite worth of God.
His Works: creation, providence, salvation, judgment
God also demonstrates His infinite worth by doing, or acting.
His work of creation was a display of His awesome power, greatness, and worth.
His providence - sustaining all things and guiding every detail of history and of our lives to accomplish His good purposes - this demonstrates His power and glory.
His work in salvation - planning, accomplishing, and applying our redemption - displays not our value but His.
His judgment of His enemies - Satan, demons, and all who oppose God and refuse to trust in Christ - even in this judgment we see the glory - the infinite worth - of God on display.
So the glory of God is His infinite value or worth, and the display of that infinite worth in His Word and in His World.
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God’s Sovereignty in the Timing of Jesus’s Death
Another important thing to keep in mind as we near the story of Jesus’s death is that this is not an accident. Something didn’t go wrong. Everything is going according to plan actually. From all eternity God had planned our salvation, and in the fulness of time, He sent forth His Son to redeem us and make us part of His family. So, even as the death of Jesus is on the horizon here in John’s Gospel, we need to remember this fact: Even in these terrible circumstances, God is in control, and He is working all things for good according to His eternal plan.
The reason I bring this up is the phrase at the beginning of Jesus’s prayer:
“The hour has come.” (17:1)
Throughout John we kept reading that the time wasn’t here yet. It wasn’t yet time for Jesus to complete His mission.
John 2:4 - “My hour has not yet come”
7:6, 8 - “My time has not yet come”
7:30 - “His hour had not yet come”
8:20 - “His hour had not yet come”
But beginning in the middle of chapter 12, there is a shift - Now the time has come
12:23, 27 - “the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified”
13:1 - “Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father”
17:1 - “The hour has come”
We like to think that we’re in control of our time and circumstances. The Jews certainly did.
The Jews tried to kill him in their own time
5:18 - “the Jews tried all the harder to kill Him (Jesus)” because He was making Himself equal with God
They sent officers to him but they came back empty handed
7:32 - “[The Pharisees] and the chief priests sent officers to arrest Him.” But they could not withstand the power and love of His words, and they were unable to complete their mission.
Twice they picked up stones to throw at him, but He escaped
8:59 - After Jesus claims to be “I AM” (Yahweh), “At this, they picked up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus was hidden [from them.]”
10:31 - After Jesus says “I and the Father are one”, “At this, the Jews again picked up stones to stone Him.”
After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead,
11:53 - “from that day on they plotted to kill Him.”
Then, because of the Passover festival, they decided to take a break from seeking to arrest and kill Him
Mark 14:2. - “But not during the feast,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”
And at just that point, Jesus says, now it’s time.
All the time they had been trying to arrest and kill Jesus they were unable to, and now when they were not planning to, it actually happened.
This shows us His absolute control over the circumstances - that His death was no accident, but that He meant to die - and as He says, if He has the power to lay down His life at just the right time, He also has the power to take it up again.
18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from My Father.”
This is a helpful thing for us to keep in mind: God is sovereign over everything. He is in control of all things, so when we feel like our lives are out of control, we need to turn our eyes once again to the God who is in control and trust Him and His good purposes.
Jesus’s Prayer Request for Himself (v. 1, 5)
Jesus’s Prayer Request for Himself (v. 1, 5)
The Request
“Glorify Your Son” / “Glorify Me”
John 17:1 (BSB)
1 … “Father, … Glorify Your Son
John 17:5 (BSB)
5 And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence …
Jesus’s request demonstrates the reality that He is God.
Who deserves glory but God alone?
8 I am the LORD; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols.
11 For My own sake, My very own sake, I will act; for how can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another.
If Jesus’s request is legitimate and if it was answered positively, it means that He is God.
And this request was answered:
9 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names,
Jesus’s request for glory means He is willingly going to the cross
By asking for glory, He is indicating His submission to the Father’s will and plan for Him to go to the cross and die, since this is the means by which He will receive glory.
He has already hinted at this earlier in John.
4 When Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
In the death and resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus, the Son of God, would be glorified, not only because it was a miraculous display of His power and love, but because this miracle led directly to the crucifixion of Jesus.
10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were deserting them and believing in Jesus.
Shortly after this Jesus says,
23 But Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
The double meaning of the word translated “lifted up” has also prepared us to understand this reality. By being lifted up to die, Jesus would be lifted up in honor.
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw everyone to Myself.” 33 He said this to indicate the kind of death He was going to die.
The Purpose of Jesus’s Request
v. 1: “Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You.”
Jesus wasn’t seeking glory at the expense of the Father’s glory. He was seeking glory for the Father’s glory. Through the display of the glory of God the Son, God the Father would also be glorified.
Paul tells us this as well in Philippians 2:9-11.
Paul tells us that as a result of the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ to the point of death on a cross, because of His perfect submission to the Father’s will, “God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names … to the glory of God the Father.” - Philippians 2:9, 11
So Jesus’s request for glory for Himself is a request for God the Father to be glorified in Him as He obediently goes to the cross and carries out the eternal plan of redemption.
The Basis of Jesus’s Request
There are three things in these verses that show us the basis or grounds of this request. On what basis is Jesus asking for glory? We’ll take them in reverse order, starting at the end of v. 5.
The Glory Belongs to Jesus
5 And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world existed.
Jesus is not asking for something new, but for a restoration to the position of honor and glory that He had enjoyed for all eternity past, the glory of which He emptied Himself during His time here on earth.
We sang about this earlier in our service in one of our Christmas hymns. Maybe you noticed these truths there:
Hark the Herald Angels Sing (v. 2 and 2nd half of v. 3)
Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
late in time behold him come,
offspring of the Virgin's womb:
veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail th'incarnate Deity,
pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die,
born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give us second birth.
This is why the angels sang that day. And it’s why we should sing today and for all eternity.
The eternal Son of God took on flesh, laid aside His glory to live among us, and then through His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, He has been exalted once again to the place of highest honor at the right hand of God the Father.
This is the story of Christmas,
This is the story of salvation,
This is the story of Jesus,
And it’s a story of glory!
Another reason for Jesus’s request is found in v. 4
Jesus Perfectly Accomplished the Father’s Will
4 I have glorified You on earth by accomplishing the work You gave Me to do.
Up through this point, and all the way until He left this earth, Jesus fully obeyed the Father’s will and carried out the Father’s plan.
The Father had given Jesus a mission to accomplish, and He had perfectly accomplished everything the Father gave Him to do. And His perfect obedience serves as a basis for His request for glory.
In v. 2, we see another basis for Jesus’s request for glory
Jesus Is the Sovereign Lord of Salvation
2 For You granted Him authority over all people, so that He may give eternal life to all those You have given Him.
This is related to both of the other things we’ve already mentioned.
The Bible tells us that from all eternity past, God chose in Christ to save a people for Himself. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, was granted authority by the Father to not only accomplish our redemption, but He Himself also gives the gift of eternal life to all whom the Father had chosen and given to Him.
He is sovereign in salvation, and because of this, He deserves glory.
Jesus’s Glory and Our Good
Jesus’s Glory and Our Good
Up until now we’ve skipped over v. 3. It’s perhaps the best-known and most loved of these verses. But I want us to see and understand the truth of v. 3 in connection with the rest of the paragraph, and especially in light of this theme of glory that is so clear here.
3 Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.
We often rightly say that God is doing all things for His glory and our good.
I want us to see that these are not two unrelated things, but one purpose. In the glory of God we find our highest good. There is nothing better for us than to taste and see that the Lord is good. There is no greater pleasure than to personally experience and delight in the glory of God which is revealed to us in Jesus Christ.
The abundant, eternal life that Jesus offers us is a life of seeing and savoring the glory of God. And His glory is most clearly revealed in the Person and Work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The essence of eternal life is a personal knowledge and enjoyment of the glory of God in Jesus Christ.
Personal knowledge
When Jesus says that eternal life is to “know” the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, we need to understand that He means more than just knowing about God, knowing information with our heads.
The verb “know” in Scripture is often used of the most intimate experiential knowledge between a husband and wife, sexual intercourse. Of course, we shouldn’t think of our relationship with God in sexual terms.
But I think we can rightly understand this kind of knowledge to refer to a deep, intimate, personal, experiential knowledge of God. This is a level of intimacy that goes even far beyond what we can experience on a human level in marriage.
Enjoyment
But this knowledge of God isn’t something that leads us to hate Him or be indifferent to Him. A true knowledge of God that leads to eternal life includes love and enjoyment of God.
If you think you know God but you don’t love Him, you don’t know God. If you think you’ve tasted of the LORD but don’t know that He’s good, you haven’t really tasted.
James tells us that the demons know all about God and tremble before Him. And yet they hate Him.
There is a kind of knowledge of God and of His Son Jesus Christ that does not lead to eternal life. Make sure that’s not the kind of knowledge you have.
So then, to possess eternal life is to personally experience the glory of God in Jesus Christ and delight in His glory.
If you have truly seen His glory, you will love Him.
Have you seen His glory? Have you tasted and seen that the Lord is good? Have you found Him to be your soul’s delight, more satisfying than anything this world has to offer you?
Behold Him today! See the justice of God, the mercy of God, the holiness of God, the wrath of God, the love of God displayed perfectly in the life and death of Jesus Christ.
Behold Him, and come, taste and see that He is good. How happy are all who learn to trust Him.
PRAY