John 17:5

"Now, Father, glorify me in your presence with that glory I had with you before the world existed.” ()

These words mark for us a contrast. In v4 Jesus says that He’s glorified His Father “on the earth”.

In contrast to the glory he asks the Father to give him (cf. 13:31–32) in heaven.

Once that is seen, it makes best sense if v. 4 includes all the work by which Jesus brings glory to his Father,

and that includes His own death, resurrection and exaltation (cf. 4:34; 5:36; 19:30).

So he is speaking from the recent past (as in v. 12, ‘While I was with them …’),

pivoting with a more actual description of his place at this moment in the flow of redemptive history

(v. 11, ‘I am coming to you …’)

What is clear is that Jesus is asking to be returned to the glory that he shared with the Father before the world began,

which means the incarnation entailed a forfeiture of glory.

When the Word became flesh (1:14), this new condition was not designed to be temporary.

So the Man of Sorrows, longs to regain that which He, in the interests of sinners like you and me, had voluntarily surrendered.

When Jesus is glorified, He does not leave His body behind in a grave,

but rises with a transformed, glorified body which returns to the Father (cf. 20:17)

and thus to the glory the Son had with the Father ‘before the world began’.

To return again to the very presence of the Father so as to be face-to-face with Him is what He’s requesting.

This is what is meant in "keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” ()

The meaning is that He endured the cross in order that He might exchange it for the crown.

Here the Son is looking forward to the glory of rejoicing in the joy of his saved people,

the very people whose salvation He (together with the Father and the Spirit) had planned from eternity,

before the world existed.

God ever delights in his own works. The Son glories in the Father’s glory, and rejoices in the joy of all the redeemed. When they sing, he sings!

"The Lord your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will be quiet in his love. He will delight in you with singing.”” ()

Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Gospel According to John (Vol. 2, pp. 351–352). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

So let’s ask: How could Christ want glory? He is God-man in one person!

To answer this we need to comment on two things: Christ’s humiliation and His exaltation.

Listen to this: "...He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him.” ()

AND, yet inwardly He was the most beautiful of all!

When praying this in Christ had a double glory.

[1.] The glory of his person. There was the union of the two natures;

He did not lose his godhead though He took flesh;

He was still the eternal Son of the Father, ‘the brightness of His glory, and the express image of his person,’ ; "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

He was still co-equal with his Father;

the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him;

His flesh was taken into the fellowship of the divine nature as soon as it began to have a being in the womb of the virgin.

He that was the Son of man was truly the Son of God, and he that was the Son of God was truly the Son of man;

and by virtue of this union there was a communion higher than all other communions; the fulness of grace was inherently in His human nature:

"You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy more than your companions.” ()

He is said to have (in ) to have been given “the Spirit without measure.”

That’s the glory of His person. Then

[2.[ The glory of His office, which was to be a mediator between God and man.

Job asks: "For he is not a man like me, that I can answer him, that we can take each other to court. "There is no mediator between us, to lay his hand on both of us.” ()

"But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established on better promises.” ()

This is an office that is of such a high of nature that it could be performed by none but Him who was God and man in the same person.

He is is to be the mediator is to be prophet, priest, and king.

As Prophet, Christ explains to us the conditions of peace upon which we are to surrender to God.

As Priest, He is to intercede, for us, the offending party!

He makes satisfaction, by the sacrifice of Himself, to God, who is our enemy outside of Christ!

And as King, He holds all the power in heaven and upon the earth!

He promises to keep and to present to the Lord God, the Father, a glorious and spotless church!

So there’s a peculiar glory in His person and in the office’s of Mediator and Prophet, Priest, and King.

So He prays in light of the reality, that in His person, He take the role of a slave.

"Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man,” ()

For a season He was veiled. His God-head is covered under the cloud of His flesh.

The beams of His divinity, as it were, were set aside in the form of a servant.

It’s seen in His whole course of life in this world,

His incarnation,

nativity,

obedience to the law of nature,

to the law of Adam,

law of sin,

of Abraham,

were a veil upon Him.

He suffered

hunger,

thirst,

weariness,

bitter agonies,

shame of the cross,

pain of death,

ignominy of the grave;

yes, He was not only in the form of a servant to God—‘This commandment have I of my Father,’ —

but he was subject to worldly powers, ‘a servant of rulers,’ ,

wholly at their disposal.

His human nature was subject to

natural infirmities,

hunger,

thirst,

fear,

sorrow,

anguish

And for His offices (Prophet, Priest, and King) they were all suited for His humiliation.

All His actions of prophet, priest, and king, could not be performed gloriously,

but in a humble manner,

as suited with his present state.

He was an ordinary

prophet, teaching in the world; as a

priest, hanging on the cross; as a

king, but he had but few subjects

It’s just like it was as a type of Christ, with the life of David.

In we read: "So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and went to Ramah.” ()

It’s not until that we read: "So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron. King David made a covenant with them at Hebron in the Lord’s presence, and they anointed David king over Israel.” ()

David was a king as soon as anointed, but for a long time he suffered exile and wandered in the wilderness

before he was taken into the throne; so it was with Christ.

This is Jesus in His humiliation. He’s all glorious, but it’s a veiled glory!

Then His exaltation, which begins with His resurrection.

His exaltation is shown as complete by Jesus’s sitting at God’s right hand.

His exaltation answered his humiliation,

his death was answered by his resurrection,

his going into the grave by his ascending into heaven,

his lying in the grave by his sitting at God’s right hand,

which is where the all glorious Christ ought to be!

After His resurrection we move to His ascension.

Two things happened to Christ at His

1. Ascension.

[1.] The exaltation of His body and human nature was taken from the earth and carried into heaven.

"After he had said this, he was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” ()

Taken up to where we’ll be taken up to.

[2.] There’s the glorification of His person which is spoken of in our text.

At His ascension all the thick mists and clouds that eclipsed His deity were removed.

Now, none of his actual human nature changed, that shall continue throughout all eternity.

What’s removed is the human infirmities.

Remember on earth? "“Now concerning that day and hour no one knows—neither the angels of heaven nor the Son—except the Father alone.” ()

He didn’t know something.

"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.” ()

Jesus isn’t in the dark about anything now because He is exalted!

. He ascended.

2. He is sitting at the right hand of God.

This was Christ’s welcome as soon as He came to heaven. "This is the declaration of the Lord to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”” ()

The angels guarded and attended him, and they brought him near the ancient of days:

"I continued watching in the night visions, and suddenly one like a son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before him.” ()

Then is fulfilled: "Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession.” ()

As Mediator, Christ was to have a grant of the kingdom by pleading His right, and then God seats Him on the throne.

God, as it were, takes His Son by the hand and sits Him on the throne.

At His right hand implies

[1.] The giving of all power. Restoring to Him the full use of the God-head.

As the second Person of the God-head He had an eternal right but receives a new grant:"Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” ()

Christ, as God, has all power, equal power with the Father by eternal generation; but as God incarnate, it is given to him.

So "For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, "so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth—” ()

It’s a giving of all power.

[2.] A grant of authority to rule according to His pleasure.

Paul says to the church "and you have been filled by him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” ()

He is our sovereign Lord and “head of the church” ().

Christ is to us the head of all vital influences, the judge of the World.

"“Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, "because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”” ()

Carson, D. A. (1991). The Gospel according to John (p. 557). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans.