Welcome back to Deeper Waters as we continue our look at the doctrine of the Trinity. First, our thanks to Fred for his compliment on our most recent blog. I advise everyone to go to his website as well. Tonight, we’re going to be continuing through the high priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17 and looking at verses 4-5:
4I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
As Jesus prays to the Father, he says that his work has brought the Father glory as he has completed the work that he was to do. Of course, the cross is not done at this point, but for now, Jesus has done everything and the final role is about to be played.
Consider this with the idea of Jesus being the new Israel and the second Adam. Where Adam and Israel failed, Jesus has succeeded. Adam, our first representative, gave in to the temptation to go his own way which led to the way the world is today. Meanwhile, Israel was to be a kingdom of priests and show the nature of the God they served, but they repeatedly failed to do this.
Christ has succeeded and he is the only one who could have looked back at his life and said that everything that he did brought the Father glory. This should be humbling for us if we look back on our own lives and realize how many times then and how many times today we do not bring the Father glory.
Jesus now asks for glory again. We again see a mention of the pre-existence of Jesus. Jesus had this glory before the world began. Before there was time, before there was anything else, when there was only the joy of the Trinity, there was, of course, Jesus sharing the glory of the Father and the Spirit.
As we have said, the Jew at the time would have thought of Isaiah 42:8 and how God would not share his glory with another, yet here Jesus points to the time before creation when he had the glory just as the Father did and how he is asking for that again. The only way he could have the glory of God is if he is fully God by nature.
Jesus also asks for that glory now in the presence of the Father. But Jesus is getting ready to go to the cross…. Yes. Jesus is going to the cross and while that is seen as a tool of shame by the Jews and the Romans, and indeed it was, Jesus realizes that the glory of the plan of salvation is going to take place there. He is going to be in the presence of the Father as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world and he is asking for that glory. Let the wisdom of God be seen in what happens.
From here, Jesus’s prayer will turn to other subjects, which we shall examine tomorrow.
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