Father, Glorify Me

“Father, Glorify Me”

John 17.4,5

This astounding request of the Lord Jesus in which he says, Father, glorify Me,  refers to an act which is not found in secular writings and means: to make glorious, adorn with lustre, clothe with splendor.  This petition has already been made in v.1, Father, the hour has come glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You.

• A Personal Request. The Son in His own person, not through another, is asking.
• A Purposeful Request.  That the Son may glorify You.
• A Powerful Request.  I have glorified You…now, You glorify Me.

When writing to the church in Corinth, the apostle Paul contrasted the different glories: There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another in glory.  But there is one glory that outshines them all so that even the sun withdraws in shame before the greater glory, and that is the glory of God, and God has said, My glory I will not give unto another. It is that very same glory which Jesus asks for, and will settle for nothing less: And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory that I had with You before the world began.

How remarkable are these words of the man Jesus!  Glorify Me in your presence and in the presence of angels and the spirits of just men made perfect with the glory the glory that alone matters, the glory that I had with You Before the world began. What amazing words from the lips of One so self-consciously aware that He was, He is, and is to Come!

• The Eternal Glory
• The Eclipse of Glory
• The Exaltation to Glory

THE ETERNAL GLORY. Of Himself and no other, the Lord Jesus speaks of the glory which I had with You before the world was. What an exceptional claim He is making for Himself! Before the world was/I was/ with You/ and was arrayed in the same splendour/ the exact same glory.   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jn 1.1.  The Lord prays as One who is homesick for glory. He consciously recalls what Home is like, its like nothing on earth where men were soon to crucify the Lord of glory. 1 Cor 2.8. He yearns for that company and communion with the Father enjoyed before the Creation, co-equal and co-eternal.

THE ECLIPSE OF GLORY.  “Which I had.”   The glory was temporarily veiled.

Christ, by highest heaven adored,                        He came down to earth from heaven,

Christ, the everlasting Lord,                                 Who is God and Lord of all,

Late in time behold Him come,                            And His shelter was a stable,

Offspring of a virgin’s womb;                                And His cradle was a stall.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;             With the poor, and mean, and lowly,

Hail th’ Incarnate Deity,                                      Lived on earth our Saviour holy.

Please as Man with men to dwell,

Jesus our Immanuel!

How did He glorify His Father on earth?  By exalting Himself? By asserting His rights? By flaunting His power? By dazzling His foes with flashes of glory?  In none of these ways, but in this:

• HE IDENTIFIED WITH THE SONS OF MEN – inasmuch then as the children are flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared the same.  Heb 2.14. who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. And being found in appearance as a man.. Phil 2.8. Born of a woman. Gal 4.4. The Word was made flesh and tabernacled among usJn Jn 1.14.  He was constricted. He submitted to the finiteness and limitations of our earthly mortality.
• HE IDENTIFIED WITH SERVANTS AMONG MEN – He was not a servant of men, but to men. as the Servant of God who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many.   He did not lord it over men but lowered himself among men. He did not swagger but stooped to serve in the way of obedience to His Father’s commission.
• HE IDENTIFIED WITH SINFUL MEN – He was numbered with the transgressors. He was reduced to criminal status. He was put to shame. He was banished from civil society. He was made sin for us.  What became of His uncreated and unrivalled glory? That glory was temporarily concealed beneath the mantle of humiliation when he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. From the cross there was displayed the glory of His righteousness, justice, mercy, grace, love exercised in the redemption of sinners.

THE EXALTATION TO GLORY.  Now glorify Me…with the glory which I had with You before the world was. He later says, I desire that they also whom You have given Me be with Me where I am that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved me before the foundation of the world v.24.  This glory will be that not only of God’s Only Son, but of God’s Obedient Servant who was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow…” Phil 2.8-10.  His glory is that of the One who when he had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent Name than they – Heb 1.3,4.   It is Jesus Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death that we now see crowned with glory and honour… Heb 1.9.  It is the glory of the risen, ascended Lord – the God Man, the One who in our Nature occupies the highest station that heaven can afford.

The path to glory is the same as His. No crown without a cross. No gain without loss. No life without death.  The only glory some have is here and now. Do not begrudge them a few brief moments of glory soon to be eclipsed by eternal darkness. Ours is a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory to be enjoyed in the presence of Him who endured the cross despising the shame for the joy that was set before Him.