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Sunday Sermon Outline
STUDIES IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN- PART 91
Chapter
17, verses 5-7-Jesus returns to petitions in vs.
declarations—“..glorify me together with yourself,..” Jesus seeks that
His experience (suffering/resurrection) reflect
and achieve glory for Himself as it also does for the Father. However, the glory will be in a “cross”-
Gal.6:14—a symbol of social contempt as Jesus is numbered with the transgressors
(Luke The book of I Peter will emphasize
the necessity of suffering
to precede glory- See 1:6-7, 11;
“the glory which I had with You before the world
was”- this
reference to the pre-earth glory of God
underscores the pre-existence of Christ [before His birth to Mary]. Jesus is conscious of this previous
“glory”; it was a perfection of the divine mode of life and intercourse,
characterized by “love”- see vs.24.
His ascension is referred to as entering this
“glory” –Lk.24:26. Augustus H.Strong (Systematic
Theology) suggests the following as
pertaining to God’s glory with respect to
“purpose”- (quotes are underlined): 1) God’s own glory is the only end
actually and perfectly attained in the universe. God’s creatures can never know perfect
happiness nor perfect holiness, but God can make known
and fulfill His glory in both saved & unsaved. 2) God’s glory is the end
intrinsically most valuable.
Wisdom dictates that divine glory is of the greatest value
for it is focused in God, the highest end. 3) His glory is the only end which
consists with God’s independence and sovereignty. Creation does not increase His
glory, but it does give a way to reveal His glory. God is the ONLY independent
being. 4) His own glory is an end which
comprehends and secures, as a subordinate end, every interest in the
universe. Only
by focusing on His divine glory, rather than the glory of His creatures, can
God achieve both. The interests of
the universe are bound up in the interests of God. Such self-interest is not
selfish, but achieves benefit for all the
creation as a by-product of His glory. 5) God’s glory is the end which in a
right moral system is proposed to creatures. As man reflects the image of God, to
center all glory in the Person of God is wise and good even for
man. Happiness cannot be the base
of moral obligation as happiness is not found in seeking happiness. Philosophically, the best or highest moral
system is one that focuses on divine glory as such a system will be, in turn,
regulated by God’s standard (His word). Further, it may be said that while God’s
glory is not ‘increased’ by the creation/fall/redemption format of human
history; yet such a course allows for God’s glory to be formatted or
illustrated differently—through vessels of grace (Romans achieving a personal relationship with His
highest creation—mankind. Page 2 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me…” The word for “manifested” is from
phanaroo- to be revealed or
made known,
clear, visible- it is
used in Here in ch.17, the word expresses
the uniqueness of clarity that Jesus gave in showing us the Father (14:9). Then twice in this verse, Jesus speaks
of the disciples as “given to
Him” and the fact that they have “kept Your
word”. Such remarks underscore how
valuable they are to Jesus!
Objectively, they are worthy of being given to the Son
and subjectively, they have kept God’s word. Vs.7 uses “now” in
possibly two senses: first -
“now at this moment of intimacy, they have come to know [perfect tense- present
state resulting from past action] that all….are from you”
second-
“now as I go
to the cross and will be resurrected, they have arrived at a place to know that
all …are from
you.” A.W.Pink
comments that what appears to us to be such limited
knowledge by the disciples is viewed as a
treasure of knowledge from God’s
perspective. It evidences that God sees more in
us than we see in ourselves!
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