The Prayer of Jesus for the Glory of God

-          Rev. Dae Hee Cho (Yoido Full Gospel Church W.M.Dept.)

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” (John 17:1-5)

1. The first petition of Jesus: The glory of God

John 17:1-5 is the section containing the prayer of Jesus when he was facing his death. In this context, Jesus prayed for the glory of his father God and the glory of the Son.

It is very important to understand what Jesus prayed first when he prayed to God. In verse 1, Jesus called God ‘Father’ and prayed: “the time has come. Glorify your Son.” Jesus asked God to bring glory to his Son.

Jesus again called God ‘Father’ in verse 5, and prayed that “glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began”.

Verse 1 shows that glorifying Jesus is glorifying Father. And verse 5 shows specifically what glory Jesus is asking for.

The Son Jesus put down the glory that he enjoyed before creation and became a human to be humiliated and despised. Nobody recognized Jesus as the God to whom all the glory is due, and no one praised him and glorified him. In this situation, Jesus realized that the time for him to take the cross was near. This was evident when he prayed in 17:1 that “the time has come”. Jesus wanted to enjoy the glory he had with the Father again through the cross.

However, Jesus did not want to be glorified alone. Jesus wanted to share his glory with everyone that his father God gave to him. Jesus prayed in 17:2 “For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him”. Jesus was looking forward to the glorified life in heaven with his people that God gave to him.

But in order to enter the glory of God with his people, Jesus had to go through the gateway, the cross. The mission that God the Father gave to him was to call his people through his death and enter the glory of God. Jesus described this as “the work you gave me to do” in 17:4.

Jesus’ entering the glory of God with his people was prophesied in the Old Testament through the prophet Isaiah. Let’s take a look at Isaiah 53:10-11:

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After the suffering of his soul,
    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.

In the book of Isaiah it says, “the Lord makes his life a guilt offering”. This was prophesying his death on the cross. And, as a result, he “will see his offspring” prophesies that people of God will be born who are saved through his death.

In summary, it was time for Jesus to take up his cross, and he knew exactly why he had to do it and for what he had to do it. The cross of Jesus was necessary “that he might give eternal life to all those you [the Father] have given him” (John 17:2).

The cross of Jesus was necessary to give eternal life to all those the Father gave to the Son. Jesus knew that as a result of the cross people would be saved, and ultimately that the will of God would be accomplished. The Father and Son are glorified as the will of God is accomplished. Therefore, what we can know for sure from this is that the ultimate goal of Jesus, not only when he took up the cross but also when he became flesh and lived among us, was glorifying God, and this thought occupied every moment of his life on earth.

2. What is the glory of God?

The glory of God was what Jesus was most interested in, what comforted him, what gave him joy, and what helped him to endure the pain on the cross. Nevertheless, Christians and churches do not fully understand the word ‘glory’ and have lost its hope and power. Therefore, it is critical to understand what the ‘glory of God’ means. I would like to use Jonathan Edwards’s words from The Works of Jonathan Edwards Volume 1 to illustrate this (available free online at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/works1).

A. The glory of God is a term to express the internal excellence and greatness of God

The glory of God is the internal excellence and greatness of God. This internal excellence is worthy of praise and honor. It is excellent and great. There is no one more glorious than God the creator because everything else is his creation.

The word glory in Hebrew means ‘heavy’. Heaviness indicates the excellency of its value. On the other hand, ‘lightness’ means worthless, useless and insignificant. Therefore ‘glorifying God’ is acknowledging and lifting up the excellency and greatness of God, who is worthy of all praises and honor.

B. The glory of God means the outshining of the internal excellence and greatness of God

The second meaning of ‘the glory of God’ is the outshining of the internal excellence and greatness of God on his creation, including man. This is usually understood as grace. Grace means that, although creatures do not have any right to demand anything from God, God out of his goodness shares his excellency and greatness with creation.

The glory of God was revealed as he saved sinners. When people are saved from the authority of Satan and bondage of sin, people taste the grace of God and benefit from joy and happiness. What Jesus did is the very thing that reveals the glory of God so that people can be saved and receive joy and happiness in him.

C. The glory of God is the honor and the praise he receives from his creatures

The glory of God is the honor and praise he receives from his creatures. People who have great joy and happiness from grace and salvation in turn praise God with thanksgiving. The giving of praise and honor to God by his creatures is the glory of God.

3. Three elements of the glory of God

We can express the glory of God, the internal excellence and greatness of God, in three ways; first, the limitless knowledge of God; second, the limitless virtue and holiness of God; and third, the limitless joy and happiness of God. Let us take a look how the light of God shines on creatures, and how people who were exposed to the light glorify God by reflecting the light back to him.

A. The limitless knowledge of God

When the limitless knowledge of God shines on people, this knowledge becomes their capacity to know God, the greatest being. We find this in John 17:3. Jesus said “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent”.

Whether you know God or not is a matter of life and death. When God shines the light of his glory, the person gets to know God and believe him.

B. The limitless virtue and holiness of God

Virtue is not a familiar word to us these days. Virtue was the fundamental object of what ancient Greek philosophers were pursuing. Virtue means the highest greatness of a person or an object. In other words, it is the state where a being achieves their highest purposes and function.

The moment when the purposes and functions are best achieved is when God shows his love to us. Therefore, ‘the virtue of God’ means ‘God is showing his love to us’.

However, the love of God is different from the love we typically think of, and is distinctive; therefore it is holy love. In the Bible, the word ‘holy’ is used only regarding God. The attributes, power and acts of God are distinctive from those of creatures, and therefore he is holy. Through his love, limitless virtue and holiness are delivered and shown to men.

C. Limitless joy and happiness of God

“In the unity of the Godhead, there be three persons, of one substance, power and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost”; this is a quote from the Westminster Confession of Faith. In other words, from eternity, God enjoyed perfect happiness and joy in his own perfect and flawless beauty. This means that God is the one who knows true joy and happiness, and that God is the only one who can give them. The glory of God is revealing and shining excellent joy and happiness to his creatures. People who receive this light and experience God join in the happiness and joy of God, and find satisfaction; this is also the glory of God.

Jonathan Edwards used the sun to illustrate this. As the sun shines on us, we apprehend the existence of the sun more and are able to see the beauty of nature. We experience the warmth of the light of the sun. Through this light we receive life and are comforted and delighted. In the same way, when God shines his light upon us, we experience the love of God and receive life, comfort and joy in the love of God.

4. True Christianity: The life of knowing and enjoying God

Let us apply this to our lives. How can we gain knowledge of God? First of all, we gain knowledge of God through the word of God and Jesus Christ. Second, we gain knowledge of God when God shines the light of his glory upon us.

People who gain the knowledge of God also understand that God loves us so much that he gave his only Son. And people who gain this knowledge and are saved also realize what it is to enjoy God and to be satisfied in God. They understand what it is to wait on God and have joy in him.

This is not an intellectual joy from gaining biblical knowledge. This is happiness and joy from meeting God personally. As we experience God, we taste the happiness from having fellowship with him. This is the life of knowing, loving and enjoying God. This happiness and joy becomes evident in our lives as we thank God and praise him.

Jesus was a man who had joy and happiness as he looked upon the glory of God. Jesus understood that the glory of God is the most important thing in the world. His prayer before he took up the cross shows this: “Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began” (John 17:5).

True faith in Christ makes people ask for the glory of God as Jesus prayed. Therefore, for Christians, the glory of God is the first and the most important and essential thing to pray for.

Do you know God? Do you love God? Do you enjoy God? There are no questions that are more important than these three questions. As much as we know God, we love God. As much as we love God, we enjoy God. And, as much as we enjoy God, we experience the power of God. I pray that this grace overflows in our lives.