Let us turn to John chapter 17
the opening verse John chapter 17 verse 1 these words Spake
Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said Father the
hour is come glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify
thee And it's these opening words of Christ's High Priestly Prayer
that we have at the end of this verse that I want us to consider
for our text this evening. Father, the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son
also may glorify Thee. I've been a great deal over the
last few weeks in this particular chapter endeavoring to prepare
for publication Martin Luther's exposition of this prayer. It's the translation that was
made by Henry Cole back in the first part of the 19th century
that the Gospel Standard Trust are intending to republish But
as you can imagine the sentences are often long sentences and
rather involved sentences and one's been trying to open up
the punctuation and to break down these long sentences. But as one has been going through
that little volume of about a hundred pages Our Luther rejoices in
the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ and especially the glory
of the deity of Christ. And we have it here. in the very
opening words of the prayer Father the hour has come glorify thy
son that thy son also may glorify thee and so tonight I want in
a sense to continue something of what we were considering this
morning we were looking then at those words at the end of
chapter 8 where Christ speaking to the Jews reminds them that
he is the great I am Before Abraham was, he said, I am. And those were the words that
we took for our text in the morning hour. But now taking these words,
here at the beginning of this chapter I want to address the
subject matter of the glory of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And first of all we see that
His glory is that that is mutual with the Father. He says, Glorify
thy son that thy son also may glorify thee. There is a mutality
here in what the Lord is saying. We see that He is co-equal and
co-eternal in glory with the Father. And as I said, everywhere
throughout this prayer the Reformer Luther sees so clearly the deity
of Christ. In fact, he speaks of that as
the sum and substance of the gospel. Look at the various words
that we have, verse 10 for example. all mine are thine he says and
thine are mine and I am glorified in them. Again later at verse
21 he prays that they all may be one as thou father art in
me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me and the glory which thou gavest
me I have given them. And then again at the end of
verse 24, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given
me. For thou lovest me, he says,
before the foundation of the world. It is an eternal glory,
the glory that stretches back before ever the world was created. Everywhere. throughout the prayer
we see this remarkable thing. In verse 5 he says, And now,
O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory
which I had with Thee before the world was. Let us consider
then something of that glory that belongs to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now When we think in terms of
the coming of Christ, the incarnation of the Son of God, when we think
of the life that He lives here upon the earth, do we not see
again and again the glory of His deity? In the opening chapter,
John declares how the Word was made flesh and we beheld His
glory. the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father full of grace and truth." It is such a plain straightforward
statement that John is making there with regards to that that
belongs onto Christ Jesus. It is all the glory that belongs
onto Godhead. Again, when we come to the second
chapter and we have the record of that first miracle that the
Lord Jesus Christ performed in Cana of Galilee when He changes
the water into wine. Remember the remarks that John
makes concerning that miracle, this beginning of miracles did
Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth His glory. Oh, in the miracles He is manifesting
His glory, demonstrating His divinity. He is seen so clearly
here to be that One who is God. And it says, as He manifested
that glory, so His disciples believed on Him. And there was
that occasion. when those favoured disciples
Peter and James and John go with him into the mount and he is
transfigured before them and they see beyond the veil of his
humiliation or they see through his human nature, the glory of
his divine nature. Matthew 17, after six days Jesus
taketh Peter, James and Johnny's brother and bringeth them up
into a high mountain apart and was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the
sun and his raiment was white as the light. The transfiguration. Now, here they see again those
glories that belong unto the Lord Jesus Christ. It's there
in the Gospels, in the record that we have of the life that
He lives, the miracles that He performs. But then ultimately,
this is the great mystery. We see the glory of Christ's
deity principally when it comes to His death upon the cross. We refer this morning to what
follows here in the 18th chapter when the betrayer comes with
a band of men the officers of the chief priest and so forth,
and they come into the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest Christ,
to seize Him. And remember what He says, Oh
how the Lord is that One who stands forth, it's not so much
that they come to take Him, or no man can take His life from
Him. He was that One who had power, authority from God to
lay that life down, to take that life again, He's dying with a
voluntary sacrifice, and we see it so clearly. Jesus, therefore,
knowing all things which had come upon him, went forth and
said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. More literally, he says to them,
I am. The He, the pronoun is italicized,
added by the translators. He literally says to them, I
am, and he repeats that. Verse 6, "...were told as soon
then as he had said unto them, I am He, or I am, they went backwards
and fell to the ground. Then asked he them again, Whom
seek you? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus answered, I have told you that I am. If therefore you seek me, let these
go their way. Or when they fall backward, they're
not falling down before Him. They're not worshipping Him.
They're not bowing down in adoration. No, they're repulsed by Him.
They cannot draw near to Him. He must commit Himself into their
hands and this is the beginning in a certain sense it's the beginning
of His offerings there in the garden of Gethsemane. Now it is in His death day that
we have the greatest display of His glory. Again in that 8th
chapter that we were in earlier today In verse 28, He says to
those Jews, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then ye shall
know that I am He. Or when He has lifted up, He
is saying, Then ye shall know that I am. Now strive, Jehovah! is that
one who must go the way of the cross. God manifest in the flesh
is that one who must die the cruel death of the cross. And remember the witness of the
Roman centurion who was there stationed at the cross? When
the Lord ultimately heals up the ghost, makes that great cry,
it is finished. We're told in Mark's account
when the centurion saw that he cried out and gave up the ghost,
he said truly, this man was the son of God. Oh, that hardened
centurion, that gentile sinner, Though the Jews are rejecting
the promised one, the Messiah, yet this man acknowledges and
confesses truly this man was the Son of God. It is when we
come to the end of his earthly life and that death that he must
die, that death for sinners. It is here that we see the glories
that belong unto him. Ultimately, of course, He will
be raised again the third day. Death cannot hold Him. Or doesn't
Paul say He is declared to be the Son of God? He is marked
out, distinguished as the Son of God with power according to
the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. And in all this dying, what is
the Lord doing? He is vanquishing sin. Oh, He
is making the great sin offering. satisfying God's righteous holy
justice vanquishing Satan himself defeating
that great adversary of sorts. It says here in chapter 12 now
is the judgment of this world now is the prince of this world
cast out or that is the devil. Look again at the language that
we have chapter 13 On verse 31, this is after Judas
has been exposed as the betrayer. Therefore, when he was gone out,
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. There is the Lord speaking, here
is the Lord praying. Now He prays for these very things,
Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify the Lord. And all the glory of these things.
Satan, as that one now defeated. How the Lord Jesus has come,
He has made an end of sin. He has finished the transgression.
This is the great work that the Lord has done. Look at the language
that we find in the epistle. In Colossians 2 verse 14 we read of Him blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross, and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it, that is, in the cross,
or in his dying upon the cross. His obedience is unto death,
even the death of the cross. This is what God had purposed.
This is why we must have the sad history there in the beginning
of Genesis of the fall of our first parents. Because God will
manifest His glory, and where will God manifest that glory?
In the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. These
things don't come merely per chance. This is the outworking
of the eternal covenant of God's grace. And what does the Lord
do in this prayer? Why, He pleads with the Father
in terms of all those covenant engagements. The hour was decreed. The hour has come. The hour has
come. Oh, this is a death. that was
purposed from all eternity. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. And so we see him, I say, constantly
pleading in terms of the covenant. I have glorified thee on the
earth, he says. I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do. Oh, he has finished the work. He cries from the cross, it is
finished. And then he heals of the ghost,
commending his spirit, his soul into the hands of God. Again
here at verse 6, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me. These are all those that were
given to him in that eternal covenant. Behold I and the children
which God hath given me, you can say. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Oh, we
see Christ, you see, in his high priestly office. Who does he
pray for? He prays for a particular people,
even as many as God had given to him, the same people that
he will lay down his life for. He's a praying priest, he's a
sacrificing priest. And so as he prays for these,
and all those that will believe on him through their works, so
it is the same ones that he will make the sacrifice for. It is
that great doctrine of particular redemption, limited atonement. And in it, I say, we see the
glory. The ultimate glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is diaton. He speaks of it so clearly here
as the hour of God's glory. The hour is now come, he says. glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee." Now, it is true, is it not, that God's
glory is to be seen in His works. We see the glory of God in the
work of creation. The heavens declare the glory
of God. The firmament showeth His handiwork.
Day unto day arteth voice, night unto night showeth knowledge. There is a general revelation
of God. And men's eyes are so blinded
they don't see these things. All of creation speaks of Him.
Proclaims the glory of Him who is the Creator of all the universe. Oh we sang of it did we not just
now in our opening praise. But then also, we see God's glory in His dealings
with men. We see it even, you know, in
the doctrine of reprobation, God's glory in the hardening
of Pharaoh's hearts. What do we read in Romans 9.17? Even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared through all the world. In all that Pharaoh
does, the hardening of his heart, his refusal to let the children
of Israel go, the terrible judgments that God must visit upon the
Egyptian in the Ten Plates, in all of these things The dealings
of God, we see the glory of God. But not only in the doctrine
of reprobation, we see it more particularly, of course, when
we think in terms of God's dealings with Israel, or the glory of
God in the way in which He forgives His ancient people. Look at the
language that we find back in the Old Testament, in Numbers,
Numbers chapter 14, verse 19 following here is Moses
again interceding on behalf of a people who are so stiff-necked
so complaining how they would that they had died in the land
of Egypt they say in the opening verses or they don't like this
hard life Moses had to pray for them Verse 19, Pardon I beseech
thee the iniquity of this people, according unto the greatness
of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt
even until now. And the Lord said, I have pardoned
according to thy word, but as truly as I live, all the earth
shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Oh, it's the glory
of God. It's the glory of God in the
doctrine of election. Why was it that God chose His
people? Not because they were greater
than any other people, more numerous than any other people, but because
the Lord God loves them. We have it there in Deuteronomy
7, verse 7 following. The reason why He doubted them
thus is to be found only in Himself. and it is His glory that is demonstrated
in the way in which He pardons their sins. Now ultimately that
glory of God is seen in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the blessed fruit of that work. We often refer to that opening,
that remarkable opening chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians
and look at the language here Verse 5, "...having predestinated
us," says Paul, "...having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved." Again at verse 12, "...that we
should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. It is here, you see, it's in
the Lord Jesus Christ, ultimately, that we see God's glory. And so in the text, the hour
has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. This is the hour. Or there is
to everything a season. and a time to every purpose under
heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, says the preacher
in Ecclesiastes. And this is true of the Lord
Jesus Christ, of course there Solomon is speaking of men in
general. But here we see that this person,
Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, He is a real man. He
is a real man. the time to be born then. When
the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son
made of a woman made under the law. But He comes made of a woman,
made under the law for a purpose to redeem them that were under
the law. And how does He redeem them? He must pay the price of
their redemption, the ransom price. He must satisfy the demands
of the holy law of God. That law that requires a death. So as there was a time for him
to be born, the fullness of the time, so there was a time appointed
wherein he must die. This is the hour that he's come. All we saw this morning there
in chapter 8, they would have taken up stones
they would have stoned him because they said he was a blasphemer
but they couldn't do anything. These words by Jesus in the treasury
were told as he taught in the temple and no man laid hands
on him for his hour was not yet come. Again in chapter 7 Verse 13, Then they sought to
take him, but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was
not yet come. Oh, there was a time, you see.
And it was a time that God Himself had ordained. And this is the
time, as the Lord engages in this remarkable prayer, Father,
He says, the hour is come. glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee." Oh, look at the words. Observe the definite
article. It is the hour. It is the hour,
not any hour. It is that that was ordained
from before the foundation of the world. And so we're told,
and we were so very conscious of all of these things, in Luke,
Luke 9.51, when the time was come, that he should be received
up, he steadfastly set his place to go to Jerusalem. He knew,
he knew what would befall him, he knew the death that he must
die, the time was come. His face is like a flint. He
will go to Jerusalem. Father, the hour is come. Then also we see how it is spoken
of as this hour. Look at the language that we
have previously in chapter 12. Verse 27, Now is my soul troubled, And what shall I say, Father,
save me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto
this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying, I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. Oh, it's the hour. It's this
hour. In fact, is it not spoken of
as His hour? is His, belongs to the Lord Jesus. In chapter 13, now before the
Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come,
that He should depart out of the world unto the Father, having
loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the
end. Oh, it was that great love that
He has to the Father and that great love that He has to as
many as the Father had given Him that He will own this hour. His hour was come that He should
depart out of the world and all the manner of His departing Him
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God He have taken them with wicked hands of crucified and slain,"
says Peter. He's addressing the Jews, but
friends, oh, if we have any interest in that death of the Lord Jesus
Christ, was He not my sins and your sins that nailed Him to
the cross? This is the hour, you see, of
His dying, His giving Himself as that great sacrifice for sins. It's the glory of God. This is
all that He is concerned for Oh the glory of God for of Him
and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever
and ever. This is the ultimate end and
we see it here in the words of our text this evening, the hour
has come. Glorify thy Son that thy son also may glorify thee."
Let us not lose sight of that. God's glory. The ultimate end of the death
of the Lord Jesus. But you know, thank God there
is also a proximate end. There's an intermediate end as
it were, and what is that? Oh, it's the good of sinners.
It's the good of sinners. It's a salvation of sinners.
Oh, as God is glorified, we poor sinners come to experience all
the blessings of salvation. Oh, the wonder, you see, of that
great work that the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished. The hour of God's glory. that
besides Christ being glorified in his death upon the cross God
is also glorified in the doctrine of the cross in the doctrine
of the cross. Now what is the doctrine of the
cross? well there are a number of things that we have to take
account of when we think of the cross is not his death that that
accomplishes reconciliation Those sinners who are in a state
of alienation, that's our condition by nature. Having the understanding
darkened, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in us because of the blindness, the hardness of our
hearts. How the carnal mind is enmity
against God and is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can they. All he comes to reconcile sinners. His death is a great atoning
sacrifice. And you know the etymology, the
origin of that word atonement, it's one of those words that
was coined by the great Bible translator William Tyndale. And
it literally means at-one-ment. All those who were separated,
alienated once again at one, at one with God. Reconciled by
the death of the Lord Jesus. This is the doctrine. And how
the doctrine of the cross is brought out in Paul's epistles
time and time again. Look at the language that we
have there in 2nd Corinthians 5 at the end of that chapter. All things are of God, who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us
the ministry of reconciliation, to which that God was in Christ. reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed
unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God, for he hath made him
to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. or the precious truth of reconciliation
by the dying of the Lord Jesus again. Paul writing there in
the opening chapter of that epistle to the Colossians, verse 20, having made peace. through the blood of his cross
by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him I say whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven and you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works Yet now
hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight."
Oh, how God is glorified in this doctrine of reconciliation in
the great truth of redemption. Oh, the Lord has redeemed His
people. A price had to be paid The Holy Lord of God demanded
that price, that law which is a revelation of God's character,
that law which is holy, that commandment which is holy and
just and good. God cannot wink at sins. God can by no means clear the
guilty. The price must be paid. The soul
that sinneth, it must die. for the wages of sin is death.
And the Lord comes to pay that great ransom price. And he pays it for those who
were under the curse of that law, that broken law. As many
as are under the law are under the curse. For it is written,
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law to do them. Oh, there's no salvation there
in the law of God, though it be a holy law, a just law, a
good law. There's no grace there. It condemns
the sinner. But the Lord Jesus has come and
stood in that law place, made of a woman, made under the law,
remember, to redeem them that were under the law, that they
might receive the adoption of sons. Lord Christ made a curse
for us, says Paul, for it is written, cursed is everyone that
hangeth on a truer. Well, this is the doctrine. There
is reconciliation in the Lord Jesus Christ, those enemies,
those alienated ones reconciled, brought back to God There's redemption,
the Lord of God satisfied. There's propitiation. There is the propitiation for
our sins, says John. And not for our sins only, but
for the sins of the whole world. He's writing, of course, principally
there to Jews. It's to be understood in that
Jewish context. And he's reminding those Jews
that this propitiatory sacrifice has been offered not just for
the Jews but also for sinners of the Gentiles. Or he goes on
later in that first general epistle and says here in his love not
that we love God but that he loved us and sent his son to
be the propitiation for our sin. All that that entails, what is
propitiation? All it has to do with that God
would aspect of sin. it has to do with that Godward
aspect the Holy God, the Righteous God, the Just God angry with
the wicked every day all that wrath of God must be satisfied
and how God has poured out that wrath upon the person of his
only begotten his well beloved Son glorify thy Son that thy
Son also may glorify the here is something then just a little
of this doctrine this glorious doctrine of the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ and this is the doctrine that is to be preached
this is the great subject matter of apostolic ministry what does
Paul say to the Corinthians? 2nd Hymn tonight is really a
paraphrase of those words that we find in the first chapter
of 1st Corinthians and there in verses 23 and 24 we preach Christ crucified
onto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness
but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the
power of God and the wisdom of God. This is what Paul preaches
Christ and Christ crucified the person the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ and he says the preaching of
the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which
are saved. It is the power of God. Oh it please God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And there you know where
he speaks of the foolishness of preaching it's not principally
the acts a man standing declaring the message. It's the subject
matter, it's the contents. of the message it's Christ crucified
that's foolishness to men and yet what does Paul say I determine
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified
this is a message that is to be preached if we're going to
be faithful to the Word of God if we're going to find ourselves
truly in that apostolic succession Oh, it's the glory of God. It's
God's glory in the face of all the sufferings of the Lord Jesus.
But how it's to come home into our soul's experience, friends.
It was so with Paul, was it not? God forbid, that I should glory
as his, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. by whom
I am crucified unto the world and the world is crucified unto
man. Oh are we those who know in our souls experience crucifixion,
mortification, putting to death the deeds of the body that we
might live. It must come that close to us
if we have an interest in the glory of God in the face of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, it is the most glorious of
all the works of God. Though we see God's glory in
creation, though we see it in His dealings with Pharaoh in
the Old Testament, His dealings with the children of Israel,
oh, but how we see it ultimately in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. God's best is in His highest
work, redemption. see His glory in a blaze, nor
can angels ever mention, ought, but more of God displays. And then again, would we view
His highest glory, here it shines, in Jesus' face. Oh, it's in the
Lord Jesus. We see here how the God is just,
and God is the justifier of him that believe us in Jesus. Remarkable is it not, God pardons
sin and yet God condemns sin at one and the same time. He
condemns sin in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and as
he condemns sin so there is pardon. for sinners such as you such
as me or are we those friends who do truly receive these things writing there in Romans 5 the
Apostle says by whom we have now received the atonement or
are we those who have received the atonement or do we glory
in these things this is what the Lord Himself is glorying,
and this is what He is praying for. The hour has come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son
also may glorify Thee, as Thou hast given Him power over all
flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast
given Him, and this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the
only true God. And Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent. Oh, are we those, friends, who
are in possession of that eternal life? Are we those who are glorying
only in the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, the Lord be pleased to
come and bless and seal these things to our souls tonight for
His own glory and for our souls' good. Amen.