Our Father, we wait before You
this evening that Your Word may speak to our heart, that it might
come not in word only, but also in power and demonstration, that
these things, Lord, might not just be heard by our ears, but
that our hearts might fasten upon them, that we might understand. We pray that we might be able
to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, His name, His office, and His
work. And we pray, Lord, that You might
make this text a rich blessing unto our heart as we consider
it for a little while. May our attention be focused. May You quicken, Lord, our understanding
and capture our attention that we might listen and hear. We
ask it in the name of Christ. Above every name we pray, Amen. Alright, our text is the first
five verses of John chapter 17. So if you look at that, and I'll
read. 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. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as you have given him. And this is eternal life, that
they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which
you gave Me to do." And watch verse 5, Now, O Father, glorify
thou Me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with
thee before the world was. Now verse 5 is going to be principally
our text, but around it also. Glorify Me with your own self. and with the glory which I had
with you before the world was." You are aware that this prayer,
the whole chapter 17, is sometimes referred to as the Lord's Prayer
because it was prayed by the Lord. It was a prayer that our
Lord prayed while He was wearing the likeness of our flesh upon
the earth. It has been called the high priestly
prayer of the Lord in part because He intercedes in behalf of His
own. And both those already saved
and those to be saved later are the objects of the prayer of
our Lord. And as such, this prayer stands
then for all time till the last elect is gathered in, because
our Lord prayed for others that might believe on Him through
the word of the Apostle." It was the old Puritan Thomas Manton
in his long exposition of John chapter 17 that said this, that
the Holy Spirit has put a very special mark upon this particular
prayer of the Lord recording it in all of its fullness. The reason is, in other places
we read that Christ prayed without being given the words. We read
in another place that Christ gave thanks, that is, without
giving us the words. Sometimes it is simply and only
said that Christ prayed, as in Mark 1.35 and Luke 5, and verse
16, and the subject, nor the words are not given. But the
whole words of His prayer are given us here in John chapter
17. There are other times the words
are recorded, and yet the prayer is short that our Lord pray. Such as that one at the grave
of Lazarus in John chapter 11, verse 41 and verse 42, Only a few words did our Lord
pray unto the Father as a prelude to His raising Lazarus from the
dead, and said, I pray this for their sake that they might believe. Before we consider this text
in John 17 and the subject that we meet with here, let's seek
to get our contextual bearings ere we move in. That is, setting
the overall context in which we find John chapter 17. I think it began, well it occurred
in the upper room, and it begins actually in chapter 13, but we
begin with it in chapter 14, and then going through chapter
17. And when we put those chapters together, Only John gives us
in his gospel an account of the Lord's prayer and this supper
discourse that our Lord spoke unto those that were there with
Him. Now back in chapter 13, the supper
is ended. The Lord has washed the disciples'
feet in a great act of humility. Judas is exposed and goes out
from the group in the 13th chapter. And then in chapter 14 through
17, the Lord is basically alone with His disciples in the upper
room, and He speaks to them many wonderful things. Things that
might prepare them for His departure, as He calls it, or literally,
His death. One expositor called this section
of John's Gospel this way, the parting discourse concerning
the spiritual glorification of the Son of Man." He would go
away, but he promises them that he would send another Comforter
unto them that would teach them and call all things to their
remembrance and would abide with them forever. Now these discourses
that I'm talking about cover chapter 14, 15, and 16 of the
Gospel of John. And again, he's the only one
of the Gospels that records it at this length. And when he had
finished those great discourses, he then, in chapter 17, puts
forth this glorious prayer from which we have read. And he prayed
this, no doubt, in the hearing of his little flock. And he prays
in his capacity as intercessor and as mediator between God and
man, and of course, as the high priest. You look at John 17,
we're not going to have time to look at any other of it this
evening, but I think that it naturally divides itself into
three parts or three sections very easily and discernible. Number one, you see, in verses
1 through 5, that the Lord's prayer concerns Himself. He is praying in regard to Himself,
His relationship unto the Father, and such like. Secondly, if you
look at verse 6, through verse 19, he essentially is praying
for his apostles, those that he had called and commissioned
into the ministry. And then if you look, thirdly,
in verse 20 and following, for future believers, he prays, consisting
of such as the Father had given him and that they might believe
through the words of others, and that they might behold his
glory and be with him where he is. Now that it is a prayer is
self-evident by such words as, Look at verse 9, I pray for them,
or I pray concerning them. Concerning them, I make requests. In other words, I ask in their
behalf and for them. Verse 13, he says to the Father,
I come to You. That is, I come in prayer and
as an intercessor. In verse 20 he said, I do not
pray for these only, but for also all of them which shall
believe on me through their words." So it is a prayer of our Lord. Our text is in the first section,
and that's all we'll have time for, as the Lord prays concerning
Himself and His glory. He starts His prayer with the
acknowledgement the hour is come. The hour is come, or has arrived,
the hour. And I think that the emphasis
would be that hour. The hour of all hours. Now, the hour is spoken of two
ways in the Gospel. A, that none could take the Lord,
none could put Him to death because His hour was not yet come. And they could not take Him before
His hour. And then be that the Lord then
Himself began to speak of His hour having arrived. John 12 and 23, The hour is come
that the Son of Man should be glorified. John 12 and verse
27, He came into the world in regard unto this hour. John 13 and 1 is very clear as
to the meaning. Jesus knew that His hour was
come and that He should depart out of the world. That is, that
He should die. For this was the hour, this was
the appointed time, this was that hour decreed before the
foundation of the world that He should be the sin bearer of
the people of God. And rather than pray to be spared
the agony of the hour, we notice that he prays that the Father
and the Son would mutually glorify each other. Verse 1, glorify
thy Son, and he refers to himself, that the Son also may glorify
you. Now, how shall we determine whether
the Lord asks to be glorified and sustained in and through
His sufferings, or after He has been obedient and experienced
the death of the cross? Or is it that both of them might
be drawn together? Might we even ask whether that
glorification mentioned in verse 1 is the same as that potentially
for in verse 5 that the Lord asked for? as to this reciprocal
glorification, each one glorifying the other. Consider the words
of the Lord as death drew near unto Him. John 12 and verse 28,
Father, glorify Thy name. Then came a voice from heaven
saying, I have both glorified and will glorify it again. Consider John 13. Verse 31 and
32, when Judas went out from the upper room, the Lord said
to His disciples these words, 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." Now, let's work our way through the text towards verse
5 that we read. The mutual glorification of the
Father and the Son is unto a certain end or purpose. And it is set
forth in verse 2. The father and son, which is,
the father has given the son power. Now the word here is exousia,
and would be rendered authority or privilege or right. It's not
power dunamis, of might, but it is power of exousia. He has given him authority. And it is like saying, because
or in accordance As you have given Him authority over all
flesh, that is, over all mankind in heaven and in earth, you have
given Him a sovereign authority to bestow eternal life on the
ones given to Him by the Father in election. Compare John 6.37,
the ones you have given Me. These are the elect. They are
those chosen in Christ. and chosen before the world,
and chosen unto salvation. Then in verse 3 of our text,
He gives the essence of this eternal life. That the Son may
give them eternal life, and then here is the essence of that eternal
life. Wherein this everlasting life
consists, having mentioned the gift that He had the authority
to bestow, Then he gives a summation of that eternal life saying,
eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ the Son. Eternal
life is to know God and Jesus Christ the Son. Someone wrote
that this is the only place in the Gospel where the Lord uses
the double name referring to Himself, Jesus Christ. son of man, the Christ, and so
forth. But someone has said this is
the only place where our Lord uses the double name, the compound
name, in referring to Himself. He does not say eternal life
is not believing in the existence of God and Christ, but to know
them. It is not that you might believe
that there is a God, or perhaps might be a God, but to know them. And if I mistake not, this knowledge
is another word for saving faith. Or saving knowledge is a word,
an expression that I like to use. To have a saving knowledge
of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. We compare that to 1
John 5 and verse 20. It seems that John was fond of
this. He said, quote, that the Son
of Man is come and has given us an understanding that we may
know Him that is true. This is the true God and eternal
life, saving knowledge of Him. In verse 4, the Lord lays another
foundation upon which He pleads for this glorification, which
is this. I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work that
you gave Me to do." Now, all that He did glorified the Father. Everything that our Savior did
incarnate in the flesh in some way glorified the Father. Do you ask then, how does the
Lord say, I have finished I have completed the work that you sent
me to do." Well, the tense is, I have finished, or finishing. In other words, finishing the
work which thou gave me to do. But yet, the ultimate and culminating
work, His death for sin, has not yet actually been done. He had not yet been put on the
cross or put to death. He had not yet lain yonder in
a borrowed grave. He had not yet conquered death
by triumphing over it in His resurrection. Yet He says here
to the Lord God, I have finished, even as He said on the cross,
it is finished, even before He died there. The omnipotent God
only can call those things which are not yet as actually were,
as though they were. Romans 4 and verse 17. Hebrews 4 and verse 3. God's works are finished from
the foundation of the world. They all have been determined
and predestinated and appointed, and all that lacks is the carrying
out of the decree. At long last, and as a Three-day
journey, we have arrived at the mount that we seek to climb this
evening. Verse 5, the request of the incarnate
Son of God to be glorified. And His request to be glorified
in lieu of the work that He had accomplished that the Father
had given Him to do. Ought we to take off our shoes
at this place, for we definitely are treading upon holy ground,
something that likely will all but overwhelm us as we try to
consider and contemplate the glory of our Lord. Now, His prayer
is for glorification and a glory one and the same as before time. And if we might for a time drop
down to the bottom of the verse, where there we find the Lord
declaring His eternality, which I had with you before the world
was. And this cannot mean or allow
for what some teach, that Christ is neither absolutely God or
absolutely eternal. but was the creation of God,
some say. Some say that Christ was a created
being at some point. The reason being that the Son
existed before anything else was created, and is Himself even
called the Creator, and is the exact image of the Father. Hebrews 1.3, Colossians 1 and
verse 15. So Christ is not a created being,
He is an eternal, everlasting One. So the question is, what
glorification is it which the Lord intends here in our text? What glory is it for which He
supplants unto the Father? And does He simply and only,
listen to me now, is it that our Lord is simply and only requesting
to be reinstated back into that glory of his pre-incarnate state. Certainly, as God, he was a partaker
of the essential glory of the divine nature and its glory. The divine nature consisting
of the Holy Three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, did possess
and did radiate majestic glory before the world began, so much
so that the very holy angels of God about the throne cried
constantly, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Isaiah
chapter 6, verse 2 and 3. And lest we forget, deity has
a glory that is part and partial of the divine essence or nature. That glory is innate to the divine
nature or essence. Now, that glory may, in some
ways and at times, be veiled as, for example, the glory on
the mercy seat was veiled by the veil or the curtain that
stood there before it. Glory, deity, cannot be shedded
by the triune God like pulling off a garment. It is impossible. It is in their nature and therefore
impossible for them to shed the way that some giants among the
expositors. And I'm talking about Gil and
Goodwin and Manton whom I read extensively in preparation for
this sermon. have raised the question that
I mentioned a few moments ago. Whether the request of our Lord
pertains to Him only as the second person in the Godhead, or as
the God-man mediator between God and man. Immediately we must
remember that the humanity of Jesus did not exist before the
incarnation. It was not with the Father before
the world began. And the divine nature, strictly
considered, lost nothing in the incarnation. And as Thomas Goodwin
put it, that divine glory which is essential unto him as the
second person, he had it as much at the time that he prayed as
he did from everlasting. The conclusion of these men,
Gil, Goodwin, and Manton, is that this has reference to neither
the divine or the human nature only of the Lord Jesus Christ,
but has reference to Him as the God-man and to the two natures
in the one person. For He prayed for glory. It was either one of the nature,
it was not one of the nature separately that prayed for that
glory, but it was the request of a God-man who has the hypostatic
union God and man in one person. The one who had done the work
and the one who would die and who would live again after the
cross. And the glory, if you notice
in our text, was contingent upon the Lord finishing the work which
God gave Him to do, including the death of the cross. It was a glory promised unto
Him, and a glory certain to be bestowed, for God is honest and
righteous. It was a glory that the God-man,
as the God-man, God in man, the Lord Christ Jesus, would not
consider it robbery to receive this glory from God, knowing
that He is both worthy and deserving. And it is His expected reward
for His obedience and suffering. We can say with Martha in John
11 and 22, as Jesus prayed, we know that even now whatsoever
you ask of God, he will give it unto you, for he will not
ask amiss." That is our Lord. But if this glory requested by
the God-man on the eve of his death is not that essential and
eternal glory of the second person in the Godhead, and is a glory
peculiar to the God-man mediator, how then does he say that he
had it before the world began, or from everlasting. For He did
not bring it, His humanity, with Him, as some heretics have said,
down from heaven." It does not seem to be sound logic to conclude
that Jesus asked for or expected this manifestation in its fullest
sense while He were yet up on earth. or before He had died
upon the cross. As said, glory was not only the
glory of the God-man, but it was contingent upon His death
and finishing the work the Father had given Him to do. Now this
connect is made when we put verse 4 and 5 together. Let's see it
again. Verse 4, I have glorified You
on the earth, and finish the work that you gave Me to do."
He could lay His work before the Father as being full and
complete. And that being so, or being true,
He could also sue, or entreat, or ask, or pray for. So now look at verse 5. And now,
I have finished the work that you gave Me to do. And now, that
the purpose is complete, glorify Me with the glory which I had
before the world. But let us not miss a phrase
here in verse 5 which shows that the coming glorification was
not to be manifest on the earth, for the Lord prayed with thyself. The glory with thyself. The word with. Expressive is
it when we look at it in some occasions in the Scripture. It
literally means, together with yourself. Glorify thou me with,
or together with yourself. And it denotes both the very
close proximity and also equality of the son with the father. As
if to say, by the side of yourself. Glorify me with thyself or by
the side of thyself. David Brown said, it regards
the nearest, strictest, personal conjunction is meant by with
thyself. It is so as a member of the Godhead,
he is said to have been with God, John 1 and 1, and even to
be in the bosom of the Father, John 1 and verse 18. As the God-man
Mediator, when He had purged our sins by His death on the
cross, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."
Hebrews 1 and verse 3. And as our great High Priest,
He is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in
the heavens. Hebrews 8 and verse 1. And Colossians 3. And verse 1,
He sits on the right hand of God. For 1 Peter 3 and 22, who
is gone into heaven, who is on the right hand of God. Because Ephesians 1 and 20, when
He raised Him from the dead, He set Him at His own right hand
in the heavenlies. And Romans 8 and verse 34, He
is raised and is even at the right hand of God who also makes
intercession for us." Now these all refer to His mediatorial
sovereignty and glory that which He entered by means of the way
of the cross or the death that He died. The Lord told to them
the Emmaus road as He conversed with them in Luke 24 and verse
26. He said to them, that even as the prophets have said, it
behooved Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His
glory. To suffer and then enter into
glory. Suffering and death, burial,
resurrection must precede our Lord's entering into His glory. In other words, the cross. is
before the exalted glory. He will be on the cross before
He is on the throne. He must lay in the grave before
He sits upon the throne at the right hand of God. He will die
in shame and agony before He is exalted in glory. All of these He did as the God-man
mediator. all of the exaltation and glory
heaped upon Him is in that capacity as the God-man mediator, the
one and only mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2 and verse 5. Now, while Christ did not bring
His humanity, His fleshly body, His human nature, down with Him
from heaven, but He did carry it back with Him into this world. He did not bring that humanity
from heaven with Him, but He did carry it back. He ascended
bodily up to heaven. This would necessitate, as Gill
wrote, that He be glorified in His human nature. that the human nature of our
Lord be glorified for this ascension and exaltation. And indeed, between
His resurrection and ascension, we see that there was a great
advance in the body of our Lord as it became more spiritual. In that, He appeared in a room
where all the doors were shut in John 20, verse 19 and 26. You know, there's not a hint
anywhere that Lazarus could do this after his resurrection. Lazarus would have to open the
door to get in. Then by the ascension into heaven,
at some point, in some way, beyond our limited human comprehension,
there was the glorification of the humanity of our Lord. Now by the union formed in the
incarnation of the two natures into one person, the humanity
of the Lord Jesus Christ was sanctified and impeccably holy
by its union with the divine. And in His ascension from earth
to heaven, it was glorified. Now in union upon earth, sanctified
and made impeccable and without sin. but in the ascension and
entrance into heaven glorified and put forever and forever beyond
the realm of death and made absolutely glorious." How he was not yet
glorified in John 7 and 39. For when he was glorified, the
Spirit was given. Remember Christ stood and He
said, everyone that thirsteth. It gleave on me, and out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water." John explains to us this. He spoke of the Holy Spirit which
he would give, but it was not yet given because Jesus was not
yet glorified. John 7 and verse 39. Acts 2 and verse 33 again. And
the glory of the office and the exercise of it For that our Lord
was glorified. Remember Hebrews 12 and verse
2. Of Christ, it is said, who for
the joy that was set before Him endured the cross and despised
the shame. Who for the joy set before, not
the joy of dying for the joy of the death, but the joy of
the reward and of the great salvation that would come. Who for the
joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame? Well, after His obedience unto
death, He was raised from the dead, He was exalted to the right
hand of God, He is there, says God, until His enemies are made
His footstool. Acts 2 and verse 36, He is made
both Lord and Christ, Peter said to those Jews. That passage in
Philippians 2, 9 through 11, He's given a name that is above
every name, to which every tongue must confess, every knee must
bow, that He is Lord to the glory of God. He has been exalted. You'll think that the Lord spoke
here of a predestinated glory promised to Him in the work that
was given unto Him. And our Lord was exalted. He was glorified. He is sovereign
Lord. He has power over all flesh. He has the power and authority
to judge and to make all judgment. He is a sovereign Lord. It is sickening to hear the Armenians
exhort people to make Jesus Lord of their life. Some, they claim,
have been Christians for years and then only come to make Jesus
the Lord of their life. Jesus is Lord. He has been made
Lord by God. God made Him Lord and Christ. We have a great type of it in
the Old Testament, in Joseph being brought out of the dungeon,
interpreting the dreams, and then being exalted to the second
below the king, and had all authority under the king. And when he went
about the kingdom, the command went before, bow the knee, bow
the knee, as Joseph went about. And our Lord is the fulfillment
of that type. He has been delivered from the
prison of death. He has ascended into the very
presence of God. He has received a mediatorial
sovereignty whereby He administers the things of God. And so the
conclusion is this. We see what a low and degrading
view some Arminians have of the person of Christ, as if He were
powerless against their supposed free will. It is not, as some
preachers say, what will you do with Jesus? The question is,
what will Jesus do with you? Because He is the absolute sovereign. He has received glory and power
and honor, sovereignty, that he has to exercise the affairs
of God. Yes, he died, he finished the
work, and God exalted him. Now, I'll close. There are two
passages of Scripture that remind us that the Lord, for His suffering,
is highly exalted. The first one, of course, is
Philippians, we've already mentioned. But it is again in Isaiah 10,
11, and 12. And because He poured out His
soul unto death, therefore, Will I divide him a portion with a
spoil? The Lord hath a reward for that
great obedience, that great work, and the great suffering that
he did. He is glorified. He is full of glory. And he is God's blessed and only
Son and our only Savior. All right, let's bow together,
please, for a word of prayer.