Jesus Prays For Himself - John 17:1-5
James Muldoon - Carey Baptist Church
- 2 July 2006
The Lord Jesus is going to die the very next day. He knows it. So what does he do? He spends time with His disciples (John 13-16). And he spends time with his Father in heaven (John 17).
Jesus
spent a lot of time that night in prayer. Matthew, Mark and Luke all records
prayers offered later that evening at a place called Gethsemane at the foot of
the
i
Glory of...
The first thing we see is the glory of the cross.
In v1, the Lord begins to pray. He says, "Father, the hour has come". His life's work is about to be realised. In fact, the task assigned to him in eternity, the most significant moment in history, the climax of all God's plans for the redemption of the world: all of this is about to take place.
Jesus prays, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son..." Note that when Jesus is praying for God to glorify him, he's praying about the time of his death on the cross! The cross was not just the way to glory; it was glory. But how? There are two answers.
Firstly, the cross brought our Lord glory because people all over the world praise and glorify Him for dying on it. No matter where we are, the cross is the most important thing to us.
Secondly, the cross brought our Lord glory because it revealed how great he is. Here's how.
The Greek word translated "glory" is the word "doxa". Sometimes it means the brightness, splendour, and radiance which surround God's person. See 1 Timothy 6:16 for an example of that. But just as often, "doxa" means the honour you give someone in recognition of something great about them. (An example would be when a football commentator says that someone skilful has, "Covered himself with glory": he's praising him for something great about him, his footballing skills.)
The cross, then, gives Jesus glory by revealing how great he is. The cross, more than anything else, reveals how great he is in terms of love and patience and power and kindness and faithfulness and wisdom.
Think of his love, for example. All through his life, Jesus was full of love. But where do we see love most? On the cross. There he shows that greatest of all loves in the words of John 15:13.
And think of his patience. All through his life, Jesus was full of patience. But where do we see patience most? On the cross. There he endured the jeering of the crowds, the physical suffering, and everything else. By so doing, he showed the greatest patience possible.
The cross of shame, then, is the cross of glory.
ii Glory to...
In v1, Jesus prays, "Glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you." The reason why Jesus wants to be glorified is to bring glory to his heavenly Father. (In passing, that's very humbling. Why do you do the things you do? Why do you lead YP or Kangaroos? Why do you preach? Is it for the glory of God?)
Jesus would glorify his Father in two ways.
The first way is in v2. Jesus would glorify his Father by giving salvation to people. He says something like this: "You, Father have given me authority over all people. There is no-one in the world who is outside My authority. But, Father, you have also given me certain people as my very own. They are mine. And I give them eternal life. By doing this, I bring You glory. I show how great you are before all"
This, then, is a glimpse into the eternal plans of God! If you are a Christian, you are saved because of an eternal arrangement within the Persons of the Godhead. You were given to God the Son by God the Father. That's staggering! And it brings glory to the Father.
In v3, the Lord then goes on to elaborate about eternal life. Eternal life is to know God, to be in a relationship with him. And that can only happen through Jesus Christ. The crucial question here is: what does Jesus mean to you? Is he a figure from history? A good example? Or your Saviour? If he's not your Saviour, you do not know God. So come to Christ. Repent of your sin. Trust in him. Follow him. And then you will know God.
The
second way in which Jesus would glorify his Father is in v4. He would finish the work given to him. In fact, it's so certain
that he speaks of it in the past tense. He says, "I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave
me to do."
Jesus always did God's works and spoke God's words (see, for example, John 4:34 and John 14:24). Everything he did and said brought glory to God because He revealed God in all things. People could look at him and actually see God.
And that was supremely true in the cross. When people saw love and patience and power and kindness and faithfulness and wisdom in Christ on the cross, they could see love and patience and power and kindness and faithfulness and wisdom in God the Father too. The cross of shame brought glory to God the Son and God the Father.
iii Glory with...
v5 shows that the Lord Jesus longs for the glory of bring with his Father. And that teaches us something of what it cost our Lord to be made man. We see how his heart yearns to be back in the Father's presence. He yearns for His Father.
Even more, we see what the cross must have cost him. How horrific it was to be cut off from the Father whose presence he longed for so much! How wonderful that he did that for us. Do you long for the glory of being with your Father too?
John Duncan said, "God is a glorious God. Christ is a glorious Christ. The salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory is very glorious." May we appreciate that more and more.