Manifested love, Pt 31: Glorify

John 17:1-5                            1After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4I have brought you glory on earth by finishing 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.

The time has come

Everything in the world was about to change; indeed, the time had come.  The old means of interaction between God and men was from a distance.  With few exceptions, God interacted with human beings solely through the priestly and sacrificial systems as if behind a veil.  In the temple, the Holy of Holies, that place containing the Ark of the Covenant, was filled with the presence of God and was so holy it had to be separated from the rest of the Temple by a six inch thick, several hundred pound fabric curtain or veil.  But the time had come for that to change.  A new familial relationship was being established through the Son.

Instead of interacting with people in one spot where they came to him three times a year, now God would go to the people and interact with them through movable temples, the bodies of those devoted followers of his Son.  All of that change would be instituted with the impending death, resurrection, and exaltation of God’s Son Jesus Christ.  But think about what this means:  This is not just some significant event in Jesus’ life like the water turned to wine, nor the healing of the demoniac, but is the culmination of Jesus’ entire earthly ministry.  His impending atoning sacrifice is to be the moment of triumph over Satan and the full redemption of the sin of humankind.

Glorify your Son

But notice that Jesus’ prayer for glorification was not self-focused, but God-focused.  If ever there was someone who deserved exaltation and glorification it was Jesus.  Through his sacrifice, Jesus shows his perfect obedience, his love for his people, and his full and ultimate defeat of Satan.  Yet the only thing he asks is that through his glorification, he might glorify his Father.

All authority

When someone accepts Jesus as Savior, what has happened?

15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again….17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2Corinthians5:15, 17)

This new creation occurs because God has given Jesus the authority to do so.  Moreover, it means that if he has authority to bring one person into new life, he has authority to bring every person into new life.  The Son has full authority over all creation, every human being.  Those brought into the Kingdom come from every tribe, tongue, people group, and nation.  But Jesus never overwhelms our free will.  We must choose to believe.  But God will orchestrate events to bring pressure into our lives.  He will create events that will guide us to the decision to accept his Son as Savior. 

We have a part to play in this.  My believing friend, you came to accept Jesus as Savior at just the right time in your life.  Your friend, family member, or acquaintance might be getting close too.  Don’t ignore them; respond to God’s nudge to help bring them into the Kingdom.  Share your experience!

True eternal life

Believers talk a lot about eternal life—the gift of Jesus to those who accept him as their Savior.  I wonder sometimes as I hear these conversations if people really understand what this means.  They conceive of it sort of intellectually, that Jesus will do this thing if only I believe in him.  That is true of course, but so much more is involved.  In the Greek the word know carries the idea of personal relationship with the Father.  Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15).  Knowing Jesus and having relationship with him means that we also then have knowledge and relationship with God Himself.  The surprising thing is that this relationship with God is a new concept.  This is a new covenant:  No longer is God to be considered at a distance; it is not just information, but full relationship with God.

So eternal, everlasting life, is not some distant event, but something which begins today.  Right now.  Accepting Jesus as Savior is the beginning of everlasting relationship with God.  Well OK then, a person might ask, “How can I possibly have relationship with a person I can’t see?”  But that’s what faith is all about, isn’t it?  And remember also that Scripture is God’s word to us and prayer is our word to God.  And our prayer is not one-way.  He answers back; all we have to do is to be quiet enough to hear.

What about me?

None of us are islands; we all live in an assemblage of relationships that inform our lives.  We have friends who are good for us and friends who are not.  Every one of those people played a part in our decision to devote our life to Jesus.  For every person who showed us what works, there was one who showed what didn’t.  So we have an obligation to pass on that same guidance to others around us.

Eternity for us begins the moment we accept Jesus.  Will we then drop the ball?  Hopefully, believer, you are now living in a way to please God.  You are making moral decisions, you are avoiding those persons and places which lead you away from God.  You are reading God’s Word, you are talking to him, sharing your life with him.  It is a wonderful yet bewildering experience isn’t it? 

The most fun thing in my life is talking about God.  Not a single day goes by that there is not a God conversation in it.  My life was entirely changed by my experience meeting Jesus.  Maybe that just happened for you, or maybe you are being drawn back to him after an absence.  Don’t deny your friend from having that same wonderful experience.  Share your life; tell him or her of your testimony.  Let him or her know how Jesus changed your life.  It will be a rewarding experience. Whether or not that friend accepts Jesus; at the very least you will have planted a seed.  God will cause it to grow.