Glorify Thy Son Jn 17:1-5 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

This is the Lord’s Prayer.  The one commonly called the Lord’s Prayer is the one in Matt 6 that Jesus taught his disciples.  But here you are given the words that Jesus prayed to his Father before entering thegardenofGethsemane.  And from this prayer we gain great insights into the relationship between Jesus and his Father and Jesus and his church.

In this portion of the prayer Jesus asks his Father to glorify thy Son.  This may seem like a selfish request until you analyze why he asked to be glorified.  Once you see the reason behind the request then you understand why Jesus prayed this prayer.

Why glorify thy Son?

That he might glorify the Father – v.1 – the purpose was not to bring glory to Jesus as an end result but to bring glory to God – this is our ultimate goal, as well Matt 5:16; 1 Cor 10:31 – keep in mind that Jesus was glorified in his death and you might glorify God when something bad happens to you Jn 21:19

That he might give us eternal life – v.2 – Jesus said that God gave him power over all flesh – this power was demonstrated when Jesus healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, made the lame to walk, healed the maimed, gave sight to the blind, raised the dead, and so forth – there was not one thing concerning the flesh of men that Jesus could not do – and as he had power over all flesh even so he wanted to be able to give eternal life to all that God gave him – this he has done Acts 4:12, 1 Jn 5:11, 20

That he might make us know God – v.3 – there is a lot of confusion in the world about who the real God is – some say there is no God [they are the fools, Ps 14:1] – some say they are all the same [new age, Hindu] – some say that Allah is the true God and are willing to kill all that disagree with them – the Jews are willing to acknowledge God Almighty but not Jesus Christ – JW’s and Mormons acknowledge Jesus but do not consider him to be God Almighty – and so forth – but we KNOW God [Ezek 20] and we KNOW Jesus [Phil 3:10] and we KNOW that they are the same [1 Jn 5:7] – and because we know them we also KNOW that we have eternal life [1 Jn 5:13]

That he might establish the pattern for us – v.4 – Jesus glorified his Father on earth and suffered for it – his just reward is to be glorified with God for whom he suffered – the same is true for us [Rom 8:16-18] – and by glorifying his only begotten Son, he assures us of the same glory if we glorify our Father and finish our work, as well

That he might return to the glory he left – v.5 – Jesus gave us everything he had that we might be able to enjoy with him everything he gave up [2 Cor 8:9] – so after his resurrection and ascension, God returned him to his glory above – when you get saved, you get a glorified body like Jesus [Phil 3:21, 1 Jn 3:1-2]