The Glory of Christ.
(John xvii)
In the large, upper room of that house at Jerusalem, where Jesus had eaten the Passover with His disciples, and instituted His own new feast, "The Lord's Supper," He had been speaking, and they hearing, most wonderful truths. "Arise, let us go hence," He had said (John xiv. 31). Yet He arose not, and they lingered still, held fast in solemn wonder while He spoke the parable of the vine, and warned and encouraged them concerning their future course when He had left them. And then, having assured them that He had overcome the world, and bidden them rejoice in Him, He lifted up His eyes to heaven, and prayed for Himself, for them, and for all His people to the end of time.
A wondrous prayer! He was just about to enter into His deepest sufferings; yet He says not a word of pain or sorrow. "The glory that should follow," "the joy that was set before Him," fill His heart and tongue, and all His prayer breathes of that reward—that crown of all His labours—the everlasting life of all His beloved ones.
He thought of His ancient glory, "the glory which I had with Thee before the world was" (ver. 5); and that glory was connected with His dear people, as we read in Proverbs viii. 23, where Christ, speaking as Wisdom, says, "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was"; and "Then I was beside Jehovah, as One brought up with Him: I was daily His delight, and My delights were with the sons of men" (ver. 30, 31).
"The sons of men," as yet unborn; but "His gracious eye surveyed them" as they should in future days appear, and He was then their "Elder Brother," "the First-born among many brethren," and in His image Adam was formed as a man, "a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honour," and the lord of God's earthly creation (Psa. viii.). And Jesus looked on to the glorious time when all His people, though they have fallen, and become sinners, shall be purified and fully saved, and be "presented to God without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." It was His glory, before time, to think of this; it shall be His glory, when time is ended, to see all His desires fulfilled, and all His wishes accomplished.
Next, Jesus thought and spoke of "the glory His Father had given Him" (ver. 24)—given Him in the world, in the sight of His people. In Revelation xiii. 8, He is called "the Lamb that hath been slain from the foundation of the world"—slain in pictures and shadows; "the firstling of the flock" that Abel offered; the paschal lamb, and all the numberless sacrifices slain of old by God's command, pointed always to the Lamb of God; and He was glorified when His people, in by-gone times, like Abraham, "saw His day," His coming, and His work, and were glad in His salvation.
And Jesus prayed that all whom His Father had given Him might behold His glory. When? Not only in heaven, but here. As we read in Paul's wondrous description of this sight, "we all, with unveiled faces, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord" (2 Cor. iii.), do not simply gaze upon it as on a lovely picture, but are transformed as we gaze—are changed, until we become like our Lord, and bear His image, and reflect His glory, as the face of Moses shone when he came down from God on Mount Sinai, and he did not know it until he found the Israelites could not look at him unless he veiled his face, for true holiness makes us humble and lowly, and
"The more His glories strike our eyes,
The humbler we shall lie;
Thus while we sink, our joys shall rise
Immeasurably high.",
And if now we see Him thus by faith, we shall see Him as He is, and be like Him for ever.
"Oh, that with yonder sacred throng
We at His feet may fall;
Join in the everlasting song,
And crown Him Lord of all."
But the prayer of Jesus began with the earnest request for another kind of glory—"Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee." "The hour" for which I came into the world—"the hour" of deepest woe, yet most glorious victory. Glorify Thy Son by strengthening and sustaining Him, that He may glorify Thee by accomplishing Thy will, and destroying the works of the devil.
Was not the prayer answered? Hear the dying Saviour cry, with a loud voice, on Calvary, "It is finished!" and we behold Him gloriously conquering in the very moment of His death, and departing to receive the Victor's crown, and the grateful worship of all the redeemed, as they sing, "Worthy the Lamb that was slain!"
Lastly, Jesus says of all His glory, "I have given it to My people, My followers, My friends" (ver. 22). "My glory, My joy, I share with them." He is "anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows" (Psa. xlv. 7); but to every "good and faithful servant" He will say, "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
Is His joy, His glory, ours? Do we delight in His salvation? Do we desire to follow Him, and, like Him, do good to others? Do we long to see God's kingdom come, and His will done on earth as it is done in heaven? If so, He has given us a share in His glory, and we shall meet with all His saints around His throne on high—
"And with one heart, and voice, and soul
Sing His redeeming grace."
Then will His glory be complete. Oh, that we may behold and enjoy it, too! Amen.
Our next subject will be, Gleanings from the Book of Ruth.
Yours affectionately,
H. S. L.