SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/20/2017
9:32 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-4 Intro to John 17:1b-5
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 17:1b-5
Message of the
verses: “"Father, the hour has
come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2 even as You gave Him
authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give
eternal life. 3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 “I glorified You on the earth, having
accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 “Now, Father, glorify Me
together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world
was.”
I hope to finish this introduction in this SD as we continue
to look at the things that John MacArthur has written for the introduction to
John 17:1b-5. This is a very important
series of verses and so we want to take is seriously so we can understand the
foundation of this prayer.
“Thus when Jesus asked the Father, ‘glorify Your Son,’ He
was asking that the eternal plan of redemption be consummated exactly as it had
been sovereignty ordained.
Significantly, this was Jesus’ only request for Himself in His entire
prayer (cf. v. 5)—that the Father would grant Him the glory that would be His
through His death, resurrection, ascension, and coronation, just as it had been
planned in eternity past. The fact that
the Son shares the Father’s glory affirms His deity, since God will not give
His glory to another (Isa. 42:8; 48:11).
The Lord’s request was a sincere affirmation of the
promise His Father had made to Him in eternity past. The plan had always been that the Son would
be glorified through the redemption of sinners.
Thus Jesus’ request for glorification was a prayer that God’s eternal
purposes would be fulfilled in the cross exactly as God had decreed. Ironically, what would appear to men to be a
moment of supreme shame would in actuality be the moment of Christ’s highest
honor—as God’s marvelous plan of redemption was perfectly realized. In fact, it is through the cross that all of
God’s saving purposes are made possible.
Jesus will forever bear the scars of the cross (John 20:27), thus being
forever marked with the honor of His accomplishment there.
“But Jesus was not mere seeking His own glory; His
perfectly righteous request was that by His sacrifice ‘the Son’ might ‘glorify’
the Father (cf. Rom. 6:4). As Leon
Morris explains,
“This part of the prayer is
often said to be Jesus’ prayer for Himself.
As He prays that He may be glorified (vv. 1-5) there is perhaps
something in this. But this is not
prayer ‘for’ Himself in the way we usually understand this. Since His glorification is to be seen in the
cross it is a prayer rather that the Father’s will may be done in Him. If we do talk about this as Jesus’ prayer for
Himself we should at least be clear that there is no self-seeking in it.’
“The cross displayed God’s glory like no other event in
history, revealing His righteousness, justice, and holiness in requiring the ‘precious
blood’ of His Son, ‘a lamb unblemished and spotless’ (1 Peter 1:19) as a
propitiation for His holy wrath against sin (Rom 3:25). At the same time, it dramatically demonstrated
His grace, mercy, and love in the sending of His only Son to die for the sins
of the utterly undeserving (Eph. 2:1-10; cf. 1 John 4:9-10). ‘What God has accomplished in Jesus Christ,’
notes Thomas Schreiner, ‘displays both the justice and love of God because God’s
holiness is vindicated in the cross, while at the same time His love is
displayed in the willing, and glad sacrifice of His Son’ (Thomas R. Schreiner, ‘Penal
Substitution View,’ in The Nature of the
Atonement: Four Views, ed. James Beilby and Paul R. Eddy ). The cross futher displayed God’s power as He
defeated sin, death, and Satan (Heb. 2:14; cf. 1 Cor. 15:54-58). Finally, the cross made clear the wisdom of
God’s eternal plan of redemption—‘the wisdom which none of the rulers of this
age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified
the Lord of glory’ (1 Cor. 2:8).
“In these opening expressions, Jesus referenced four
facets of the saving purposes of God, each of which centered on His
glory-producing work of redemption at the cross—the right He possesses (to
offer eternal life); the relationship He offers (which is eternal life); the
requirement He meets (to pray for eternal life); and the reverence He deserves
(having made eternal life available). As
His prayer indicates, Jesus was fully aware that, like everything else, the
next few hours of time had been sovereignty determined since eternity past and
would have infinite ramifications into eternity future.”
Now as we look at this quote the theme of the cross,
eternity past, and eternity future are seen in this prayer that I for one am so
blessed because God allowed John through the Holy Spirit to write what Jesus
prayed to His Father before He went to the cross to die for our sins. The Bible surely would not have been complete
without this chapter. I look forward to
continue my study in this 17th chapter of John, and my prayer is
that it will bless all who read my findings from this chapter.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: To remember all
that my salvation cost God, and His Son and also how God’s wisdom is seen
through the cross of Christ.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to cause me to continually think
of His goodness to me this day and do a better job of thinking about the Lord throughout
this day.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Pilate’s wife” (Matthew
27:19).
Today’s Bible
question: “The man named Simon who
carried Jesus’ cross, was from what place?”
Answer in our next SD.
2/20/2017 10:06 AM
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