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THE PRAYER OF JESUS ----- IN THE first meditation on this great prayer of our Lord, we considered the first part of this first verse where Jesus speaks of 'The Time' which had arrived - the time which he and the Father, with the Holy Spirit and been working towards since the beginning of the world. Now in the words before us Jesus makes his request of the Father that the purpose which they both had planned may now be fulfilled. In these opening five verses of this prayer, Jesus is making prayer for himself. There is really only one petition, which has two parts to it, but the two parts are really one. The first part is here in verse 1b, and part two is in verse 5. The prayer is only one, that he may be glorified in the way God had purposed in this plan, and so by this glory he may bring glory to God for all eternity. THE GLORY OF GOD What does Jesus mean when he asks God to glorify him? The meaning of the glory he is speaking about is the heart of this eternal plan which had now come to be fulfilled, and is the focus of the glory of God which is to be for the praise and honour of God for all eternity. Here is the greatest glory which there is for God. This is the glory which we long to see when we pray and long for a vision of the glory of God. Here is the glory which ravishes the soul in times of revival of the church, and will be that which will fill the hearts of the saints in heaven with wonder, love and praise, and cause us to cast our crowns before the throne, with all the honour and worship expressed in Revelation chapters 4 and 5. When you think of the Glory of God, what is it that you find is your understanding of his glory. Perhaps your mind thinks of Isaiah chapter 6, where the prophet Isaiah went into the temple and saw the Lord, high and lifted up, with the cherubin surrounding the throne, and crying 'Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory'. Here was glory. Then again we may find our minds perhaps going to Moses at the time of the giving of the ten commandments, and the prayer he offered after the Israelites had sinned so grievously over the golden calf, which they had made in order to worship and which provoked God to great anger. Moses prayed to see the glory of God, and God manifested this glory of his holiness, by saying that Moses could only see his back part, because sinful man could not look on God and live. But God said he would make all his glory pass before Moses. Is your view of the glory this terrible vision of holiness, which burns up all that defiles, and which is a terror in the heart of the sinner. What the prayer of Jesus is revealing to us is that there is a glory of God which transcends this. This is glory, but there is greater glory. This glory is not glorious to the sinner, for it only brings terror, as was experienced by Isaiah in the temple as he said, "Woe is me, for I am undone". However this is not the whole story of God's glory, and is not his greatest glory. When Isaiah in the temple in Isaiah chapter six thought death was upon him as he saw his sin through the eyes of the glory of God's holiness, we read that an angel took a live coal from off the altar, and touched Isaiah's lips, and told him his sin was purged, Isaiah saw and experienced a greater Glory in God. The glory of God which redeems and purges the sin of sinners so that they are saved before the glory of his holiness. It is a glory which brings together all the character of God so that God does not in anyway violate his own nature or deny any part of his character, yet is approachable by sinful humanity and is the lover of their souls. THE GLORY OF JESUS The glory Jesus is praying for is the glory of God that achieved this demonstration of God's greatest glory. When Moses prayed that God would show him his glory at the time when God's anger burned against Israel for their forsaking him for the golden calf, and had said he would not go with the people to the promised land, Moses was praying really for this greater and fuller revelation of the Glory of God, the glory which would be seen in God, in spite of such grievous rebellion and sin, loving the people, and accepting them, and still going with them as their God. This is the glory which Jesus is speaking of when he prays, "Glorify your Son". When Jesus is praying for God to glorify him he is thinking of the cross and his death, and all that he was going to do in that awesome and terrible work. The glory Jesus was seeking, not just for personal praise, but because the whole purpose and grace of God was wrapped up in it, was that he would complete and do all that was the purpose of God in his death, and fail in no way to fulfil all the purposes of that death. His prayer was very much from his heart, because the difficulties bound up in the achieving of this purpose were monumentally great. The suffering would be so intense, that the dangers of failing were in the same proportion very great. The prayer came from his heart, because the whole purpose of God's love and grace depended upon his success. In a word the glory Jesus prayed for was that he may gloriously complete the work of atoning for the sins of the world, and make there a complete, full, and all-sufficient sacrifice for sin, so that God may show forth his real glory in the salvation and loving of sinners. It was a prayer that he might not fail, but complete all that the Father had given him to do, so that he may win the victory forever over Satan and the powers of evil. THE PRAYER ANSWERED We know now that this prayer was most gloriously answered, for Jesus went to the cross and though at the height of the ordeal he cried in anguish, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me", yet in the end he could cry in triumph "It is finished". How glorious is Jesus in this triumphant work so perfectly carried through. He had achieved the impossible. He had paid all the just debt for the sins of the world, so that the holy law of God was completely satisfied, and that God would have no complaint against sinners, though their sins may be of the vilest kind. He by that momentous victory, had removed all obstacles from God showing his love, and grace, and forgiveness to sinners. In a stroke he had brought the holiness and love of God together, so that without violating his justice and holiness, God could save sinners and remember their sin no more. Now God could pronounce sinners just in his eyes and not violate his law, and count them as totally righteous in his sight. THE REAL GLORY OF GOD What a revelation of glory we have here. We behold not a terrible holy God consuming sinners, but a holy God so loving and gracious that he was willing to take the pain of saving sinners upon himself, and fully providing a complete salvation for them. We behold the glory of God, who knowing our helpless and hopeless state as sinners, that we have no hope of doing anything whatsoever to help or save ourselves, working a way that we could be completely and entirely saved and loved by God, and that without any work for us to do, or cost to us who deserve the blame. We behold the glory of God so wise that he could find an invincible way of saving sinners without violating any part of his character, and so being able to manifest his love unconditionally and eternally. We behold the glory of God which provides a salvation which is so complete and full that this salvation is eternal, and its efficacy lasts for eternity. This is the meaning of Jesus' prayer as he says, "Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you". This greatest glory of God was bound up in the glorifying of Jesus in the completion of his work of atonement. If Jesus had not been glorified in the completion of his atoning work, then the glory of God would have come crashing to the ground, and the glory dimmed, nay, extinguished forever. This thought is impossible to contemplate. Their could not be any idea of Jesus failing. THE INTENSITY OF JESUS PRAYER As we meditate on this glory which was revealed and achieved, and the importance of it, we can see how awesomely important this prayer of Jesus was. Can you feel the intensity of the feeling in Jesus as he uttered this prayer. Can you not feel the heart of Jesus as he prayed because nothing, no nothing, must cause him to fail. See how the prayer links the Father and the Son in this great plan and work of love and grace. Can you not see how much the Father was involved. The Father heard the prayer. Although Jesus had to die alone, and the Father in just anger against the sin of the world had to forsake the Son and consign him to hell in those dark hours on the cross, the Father was nonetheless involved and bearing the sorrow and pain of the sacrifice of his Son, and answering his Son's prayer that the Son would be glorified in completing the work. The Father answered the prayer so that he insured that Jesus would be glorified in the victory at the cross. GLORY REVEALED What a radiance of glory do we see in the glorifying which was achieved by the cross and the perfect atonement made there. Now is God revealed as a wise and loving and gracious God. Now is God revealed as so loving sinners that he does all that is required so that he may not only forgive them, but welcome them into his family, and under his loving care to dwell in his love and presence forever. This is the glory of God we see in the face of Jesus Christ. This is the glory that is revealed to us when as sinners we come to Jesus and hear his gracious assurance "Son, daughter, your sins are forgiven you". This is the glory which is an ever deepening ecstasy of joy as our lives progress, as we enter more and more into the deep deep love of God in saving us. This is not just an understanding of the mind, but a vision of glory as the Holy Spirit deepens in our perception and experience of how much God has loved us in Christ. Our prayer is 'show us your glory', and by this prayer we long that God may rend the heavens and come down and deepen in us the revelation of his love, and show his glory in the revival of his church, as he bestows this saving love upon a multitude of sinners. How greatly is such a prayer on our hearts now and always, for this is the beatific vision, which will be our praise and honour to God forever and forever. CONCLUSION How wonderful and sacred is this prayer of Jesus, and glorious that it was most completely answered. How great is the glory we perceive in Jesus in this glorious atoning work, and great is the glory we perceive in the Father who planned this work, and strengthened the Son to achieve it. How great is the vision of God that we behold - such wonderful glory, which has no threat in it but just wondrous love and grace, that causes us to bow before his throne in wonder, love and praise. |