[0:00] of John and chapter 17 and we'll read from the beginning. These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father the hour has come, glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee. We have here the introduction to this amazing prayer that was uttered by Jesus just before he enters into the garden of Gethsemane. We are told that after washing his disciples' feet and after having a long discourse with his disciples, which covers chapter 14 to 16 of this gospel, that he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, The hour has come, glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee.
[1:17] Martin Luther said of this prayer that he opens the depths of his heart, both in reference to us and to his Father, and he pours them all out. It sounds so honest, so simple. It is so deep, so rich, so wide. No one can fathom it.
[1:48] Malachan, one of the lesser known reformers and a friend of Martin Luther said, regarding this prayer, 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. John Knox, during his final illness, had this chapter read to him every day, and at the closing moments of his life, he testified that these verses continue to be a great comfort and a great source of strength for him. J.C. Ryle says, We have here the prayer of one who spoke as never man spoke, and prayed as man never prayed. Matthew Henry remarks that this was a prayer after a sermon, a prayer after sacrament, a family prayer, a parting prayer, a prayer before a sacrifice, a prayer which was a specimen of Christ's intercession. And it is our privilege to be overhear of the most astonishing address of the Son to the Father. We here have the Son of God talking to God, the Father. He is not talking to us,
[3:38] He is talking to God. And Jesus wanted us to hear what he is saying to the Father.
[3:50] Now the last time we looked at this prayer, we noted that the prayer comes at the conclusion of what can be said to be a sense of triumph, victory and overcoming, and that it provides the launching pad for the whole prayer. And it also provides the tone for the whole prayer. These words that we have in the previous verse, where he says, These things I have spoken unto you, that is the discourse that he has just given, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.
[4:37] And Jesus immediately launches into this prayer that we have here recorded for us in chapter 17. We also noted at that time that here Jesus stands before us as the servant. Here we have the God-man, truly God and truly man. But as servant, he did not make use of his powers as God. In other words, he at no time drew from his deity or his divine nature. Because he lived as a servant, prayer was essential to him.
[5:21] He was totally dependent upon his Father and the Holy Spirit. He said himself, The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Here is the very Son of God and perfect man. But he is also the servant. And as such, he does nothing of himself. He gets all his orders, as it is, as it were, from God. God gives him the words to speak. God tells him what to do. And God gives him the power to do it. He looks to God for light. He looks to God for guidance. Perfect, but yet in utter dependence upon his Father
[6:22] God, he is the Holy Spirit. He is the Holy Spirit. He is the Holy Spirit. He is the Holy Spirit. As God, there was no need for him to pray. He was equal with the Father and the Spirit. He was all-knowing and all-powerful.
[6:38] But as the God-man, as mediator, as the servant, he was dependent upon the Father and the Holy Spirit.
[6:50] And in that respect, we see the depth of his condescension, the depth of his humiliation.
[7:02] We also noted that he addresses the Father. His Father's relationship to him is so important. He is one of the reasons that he pleads for the prayer to be answered that he is related to the Father, continually reminding the Father of the relationship in which he stands to him throughout this prayer.
[7:30] He was one of the Father. He was one with the Father from all eternity. God is his Father in the sense that he is the Father in the order of the persons of the Godhead in that trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is the Son eternally as the only begotten of the Father.
[7:59] But God is also his Father in the sense that Jesus has now become man, so that there is his sonship by being created.
[8:13] But Jesus is also the servant. And so he is looking to God as his Father. God is now his Father because he, the Son, is the representative of the many brethren whom he has come to save, and for which he has come into the world as the sin bearer to die for their sins.
[8:42] In that sense we are told that he is the firstborn among many brethren. So when Jesus here uses this word Father, he is pleading that relationship that he has with the Father eternally within the Trinity, creative as he has now become man, and representative of the whole family on earth.
[9:20] And Jesus here is an example for us of how we should approach God in prayer. He comes before God here with the language of sonship.
[9:33] And we too can draw near to God in prayer with the language of sonship. With the language of our adoption.
[9:45] We can say our Father which art in heaven. Because God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.
[9:58] Cry, Abba, Father. And so we read here, these words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father.
[10:12] Pleading his special relationship with the Father. Father. Both eternally creative and as a representative of the whole family on earth.
[10:27] And he said to him, Father, the hour is come. All through the Gospel of John we have the hour coming.
[10:40] For instance, in John 2, verse 4, we read these words, which he said to his mother, Woman, what have I to do with thee?
[10:52] Mine hour is not yet come. Then in John 7, verse 6, My time is not yet come, but your time is always ready.
[11:05] Verse 8 of the same chapter, I go not up yet unto the feast, for my time is not full come. Verse 30 of the same chapter, Then they sought to take him, but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.
[11:24] Then in chapter 8, verse 20, As he taught in the temple, and no man laid hands on him, for this hour was not yet come.
[11:37] But now things have changed. And now he says, Father, the hour is come. This was the hour for which he came into the world.
[11:53] It has now arrived. The hour appointed for him in the covenant of redemption, it has now arrived. The whole reason and purpose for which he came into this world was for this very hour.
[12:11] This is the very hour to which the Old Testament has been pointing towards, and for which heaven has been waiting, and the hour for which he has himself been eagerly waiting for and going towards.
[12:30] The hour is now here. Remember how earlier he had told his disciples, Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?
[12:42] Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour. The hour that was appointed in God's eternal counsel for the sacrifice of Christ, for the final accomplishment of the work of atonement for sin.
[13:05] The hour promised by God in the Garden of Eden has arrived. The seed of the woman was now about to bruise the head of the serpent by dying as man's substitute and redeemer.
[13:20] Father, the hour has come. The appointed time is here. Father, the hour has come.
[13:31] Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee.
[13:43] What does Jesus mean when he says, glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee?
[13:54] Well, many people think that here Jesus is looking ahead to his resurrection, to his ascension, and to his heavenly session at the right hand of the Father.
[14:11] That he is looking forward to the time when he shall be delivered from his humiliation. In other words, he is looking ahead to the promised exaltation.
[14:25] And there is no doubt that such thoughts would have been in the mind of Christ. The writer to the Hebrews speaks of the joy that was set before him, for which he endured the cross, despising the shame.
[14:43] And I am sure that his exaltation would have been part of that joy that was set before him. that left him enduring the cross and despising the shame.
[15:02] But is that really what he is asking for here in verse 1, when he says, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee.
[15:20] In this chapter, there are four or perhaps five senses in which Christ speaks of his glory.
[15:35] For example, in verse 5, we read, O Father, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
[15:49] And there he speaks of his pre-incarnate glory, the glory that he had before he took upon himself, human nature, before he became man.
[16:03] That visible glory that he veiled when he took upon himself, human nature. That visible glory that he hid when he took upon himself, human nature.
[16:19] And although that glory was disclosed, for example, at the marriage feast in Canaan, it was only disclosed to faith. There we read, the beginning of miracles, did Jesus in Canaan of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory, and his disciples believed on him.
[16:41] John could write, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
[16:57] But there in verse 5, where he says, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
[17:08] He is saying that having completed and accomplished all the work which the Father had appointed and given him to do, that the time now arrived when he is going back to the Father, when his glory that was veiled needs no longer needs no longer to be veiled.
[17:31] So there he speaks then of his pre-incarnate glory, that glory that he had with the Father before he took our nature unto himself, that glory that he veiled when he became man.
[17:48] However, there is another sense in which he speaks of his glory. Here in verse 4, I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
[18:06] And there he speaks of the glory that belonged to his earthly life. He lives a perfect life in obedience to the will of God.
[18:21] He was made under the law and he kept the law perfectly. He was obedient to death, even the death of the cross.
[18:34] He was given a work and he brought that work to completion. And God was glorified by it.
[18:46] This is, of course, speaking of the work of atonement for sin. So the glory of his earthly life in obedience and completing the work that was given him to do.
[19:00] I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. So then we have his pre-incarnate glory and we have the glory that belongs to his earthly life.
[19:21] Now here in verse 1 that we are now considering when he says, glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee.
[19:35] There we have the glory of the cross of the cross itself. Where when he speaks of the hour having come, glorify thy son.
[19:50] We must remember that he is about to die and he is about to face the greatest crisis of all. It was one thing for him to condescend to come in the likeness of sinful flesh, to be lying in the womb of a sinful woman yet remaining sinless, to be born as a babe and to meet all the trials and hardships that he endured in life.
[20:20] Yet there was now set before him that hour had come when something that was deeper and greater and beyond all that he had confronted before.
[20:32] He was about to endure the cross and all that that meant. So here he prays to the Father and he says glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee.
[20:49] Here he prays to the Father using the language of sonship. Father glorify thy son by which he means strengthen me enable me to prove the fact that I am your son.
[21:11] I am going to meet the greatest crisis of all. I am about to go to the cross. I am about to die the death that sinners deserves.
[21:30] Strengthen me enable me to prove the fact that I am your son. Father glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee.
[21:46] He had come to the place where he was going to be made sin and it was an overwhelming thought. Could he stand this load and bear the punishment reckoned against the sins that was going to be laid upon him?
[22:03] So he prays to the Father for strength. J.C. Ryle says that here in this prayer of Jesus in this petition Father the hour is come glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee that Jesus is saying give glory to thy son by carrying him through the cross and the grave to a triumphant completion of the work that he came to do and by placing him at thy right hand and highly exalting him above every name that is named do this that in order he may glorify thee and thy attributes do this that he may bring fresh glory to thy holiness and justice and mercy and faithfulness that he may prove to the world that thou art a just God a holy God a merciful
[23:04] God and a God that keepeth his word so that here then in verse one when he says father the hour has come glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee he is praying for the glory of the cross in John chapter 12 Jesus says the hour has come that the son of man should be glorified and he continues and he says verily verily I say unto you except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit and there we can see how he's linking his glorification with his death and that is the thought process that we have here as
[24:07] Jesus comes and he lays out this petition before the father father the hour has come glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee he is linking this glorification that he is asking for and desiring he is linking it with his death so what Jesus is speaking of here is when he says glorify thy son that thy son may glorify thee he is not so much speaking of his exaltation as he is speaking of his sufferings and death he is speaking primarily of the cross this for Jesus was his glory for the Romans the cross was a symbol of cruelty of humiliation shame and for the
[25:11] Jews the cross was the place of the curse but for Christ it was the place of glory it was the place where in his eyes and in God's eyes the glory of Christ would be displayed for the believer this is a place where he glories Paul could say but God forbid that I should glory save on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world the cross is the place which divides mankind for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it is the power of God it is the place where we boast where we glory in the 13th chapter of this very letter after
[26:18] Judas had left to betray Jesus we'll read that Jesus said now is the son of man glorified and God is glorified in him if God be glorified in him God shall also glorify him in himself and shall straightway glorify him it was happening at once not in a few days but straight away he is saying it is happening now glorify thy son he says he is hungering he is desiring he is as it were lusting for this moment there is an enthusiasm there is an eagerness for it father the hour has come glorify thy son I am hungering for it I am in total eagerness for this glorify thy son in
[27:22] Luke's gospel chapter 12 speaking of his death Jesus says but I have a baptism to be baptized with and how I am straightened till it be accomplished he is praying for this moment glorify thy son for many that was around the cross that day they saw no glory but the father saw the glory he saw the glory of the person of his son Jesus Christ he saw it as he had never seen it before but around the cross there were also others who saw his glory by faith like the thief who says Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom the Roman centurion truly this is no one else but the son of
[28:28] God and is it not true for me to say that every believer every Christian have seen his glory but where do you see it most where do you see the glory of Christ most is it not at the cross that there at the cross your sins has been dealt with in Jesus Christ that there at the cross he has become your substitute your representative he has become your saviour your redeemer is that not where you see the glory of Christ most glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee we have spoken of his pre incarnate glory that he speaks of in this prayer his creative glory and his glory and the glory of the cross his pre incarnate glory the glory of his earthly life and obedience to the father the glory of the cross but there was also is there not a glory with which he was going to be invested in his human nature and this glory he speaks of in verse 5 glorify thou me with thine own self when he speaks there the glory that was veiled to be unveiled we must remember that he is there seeking that glory as he is now glorify me as
[30:31] I am now me in human nature me as I have not been before in glory take me as I am now with thine own self again and gave me the glory that I had with thee before the world was he is praying that his human nature will be exalted as to share as far as human nature can in the glory which is a divine person he had beside the father before the world began and when that prayer or that petition is answered as surely as it is answered the human nature of Christ is sharing in his pre existent divine glory John Duncan could say the dust of the earth is at the right hand of the majesty on high there in verse 5 he is praying for the transformation of his body the son is praying father
[31:39] I am in this frail human nature I am in this fragile human nature I am in this weak and poor nature but I pray that you glorify me and that you glorify me in this nature that I have taken to myself that you glorify me in my human nature transform my human nature transfigure my human nature put my human nature in the glory I had with you before the world was he is returning to his father and in that returning he's not leaving his human nature behind him he is taking that human nature with him to the right hand of the majesty on high he's taking that human nature with him to the very centre of the throne of God so he's saying glorify my human nature bring my human nature into the glory I had as your son before the creation began and this would obviously involve the transformation of the body of
[32:49] Jesus in this world he had a body of humiliation a body that was limited a body that underwent flocking and bruising and death but God would raise it from the dead in power and glory in the book of Revelation we see how John who lay in Christ's bosom now seeing Christ in glory how what is his response he says and when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead the glory that he is praying here for is a glory with which he was going to be invested with in his human nature it is more than the glory of his resurrection body there was another change to take place that body was to be glorified it's not this glory part of the promise that we have ourselves as Paul says who shall change out vile body that it may be fashioned like into his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself his glorious body that's the body he has now the body after the resurrection is a glorious body and that's the body with which he shall return yes there is that be incarnate glory glory and there is that glory that belonged to him as he came to fulfil his work in this world there is the glory of the cross there is that glory that his human nature now receives as he enters into the very presence of God in his ascension but can we just mention one more way in which this prayer speaks of glory in verse 10 he says and all mine are thine and thine are mine and I am glorified in them the glory which he receives in his people well here in verse 1 we have the glory of the cross the hour is come glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee we may ask ourselves well why did he have to pray for this had not the father promised that he would glorify the son did we not read in john 12 father glorify thy name then came there a voice from heaven saying
[36:11] I have both glorified it and will glorify it again well what this shows to us is that Christ is here is giving us an example that the promises of God are the whole basis or of motive to prayer because here Jesus takes the promise and he prays it and is that not what I and you have to do with the promises of God follow the example of Jesus take the promise and pray it come before the father with the language of sonship father the hour has come glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee notice how tied up was the glorifying of the son with the glory of the father glorify thy son that thy son may also glorify thee the father's glory here Jesus is seeking this glory not only for himself but he is seeking his glory also for the father as the cross revealed the glory of the son at the same time the cross revealed the glory of the father himself the glory of christ and the father was to be made known here at the cross in a way that was never seen before or since there is a sense in which the father's glory is shining here through the son he is the shining out as it were of the father's glory the glory of his holiness the glory of his justice the glory of his love the glory of his mercy it's all shining out here through
[38:10] Jesus Christ his son and so here he comes of this prayer father the hour has come glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee hear my prayer because of the relationship in which we stand with each other for the time has come glorify me that thou thyself will be glorified in my glory and the glory of the cross the father is also glorified and manifestations made there of his grace of his mercy of his justice of his holiness and of his mercy father the hour has come glorify thy son that thy son may also glorify thee am I involved in this prayer am I involved in this prayer am I one of those that
[39:33] Jesus had in mind when he made this prayer to the father well in verse 9 he says I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine now can we identify them well in verse 20 he says neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word neither pray I for these alone that's the disciples but for them also which shall believe on me through their word and if you have faith trust in Jesus if you have committed yourself to Jesus then you are involved in this prayer then he had you in mind when he prayed this prayer when he said father the hour has come glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee when he was seeking strength to enable him to go up to the cross and to suffer and die on the cross who was in his mind his people his people those who would come to trust and commit themselves to him and so he says
[41:14] I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given for they are mine neither pray I for these alone but for them also who shall believe on me through their word and if you are in this prayer of Christ then you can be assured that you are in the prayer of Christ that is going on in this ministry of intercession at the right hand of God today and to be included in his prayer is salvation and outside of this prayer there is no salvation father the hour is come glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee that the Lord would bless our thoughts let us pray