Tuesday, May 14, 2013
John 17:1-4 "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do."
GOD'S GLORY IS OUR GOOD
This prayer was the last thing that Jesus did before going out to the Mount of Olives with His disciples -- where He would be captured by His enemies and finally crucified.
When Jesus prayed "Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify You," He was praying that God would grant a successful outcome to this final stage of His work. Through His death on the cross, Jesus would glorify the Father, for He would prove to the world forever that God is truly the God of grace and love. He would give Himself for the world to save sinners from the eternal destruction that we brought on ourselves -- and give us eternal life.
As our great High Priest, Jesus has offered the perfect sacrifice once and for all, when He offered Himself in payment for our sins on the altar of the cross. Again the writer to the Hebrews explains, "For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the people's, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself" (Hebrews 7:26-27).
We realize then that even in praying for His own and His Father's glory He was praying for us. This is God's glory -- that He loves us so much He is willing to make such a great sacrifice for our salvation. May we always see this great glory of God, rejoice in that salvation and give all glory to Him.
