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The Gospel of John, The Period of Conference, Conference With the Father, Part LIX, John 17:2-5 - Lesson 167
Read Verses John 17:1, These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
John 17:2,3, As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Giving power to Jesus Christ over all flesh is for the ultimate purpose of glorifying God.
Giving eternal life to as many as the Father has given him is to bring glory to God.
To bestow eternal life on lost sinners is the glory of the Father.
And to be the means and channel for the bestowal of eternal life on lost sinners is the glory of the Son.
The Father was glorified in calling, appointing, and qualifying the Son to be the Savior of sinners.
The Son was glorified in undertaking, discharging and accomplishing this mission.
glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Giving power over all flesh that he may give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him is glorifying the Son.
Upon this foundation does the believer stand.
All power over all flesh underlies his ability to give eternal life.
There is no power that can undo that gift.
All power insures that those who have eternal life are suited to eternal life.
All power provides the nature to enjoy eternal life, the right eyes and ears, the right affections and the right understandings.
Jesus Christ describes to his disciples of what eternal life consists.
The Father is the source of eternal life.
He is the fountainhead of eternal life.
Jesus Christ is the channel of eternal life.
Only though Jesus Christ is eternal life given.
The Holy Spirit is the Father's communicator of eternal life to the believer.
Faith is that which allows the soul to see, hear, taste, receive, know and enjoy God and Jesus Christ.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Knowledge of the Father and the Son is life eternal.
The more we know of God the more happiness and peace and joy and power and holiness and love and rest will we possess.
But ignorance of God is the death of the soul.
Jesus Christ came that men may know God.
He came to reveal the Father and to reveal the Father is life eternal.
Life eternal is a continuous state because those who are in Christ will continually increase in knowledge of God thoughout all the endless ages of eternity.
There will never be a time when knowledge of God will cease.
That is life eternal!
2 Pet 1:3,4, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the ......knowledge of him.... that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
So knowing God and knowing Jesus Christ is eternal life!
Note the pairing of God and Jesus Christ.
You cannot know God without knowing Jesus Christ.
John 17:4,5 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
By finishing the work that he was sent to do, God the Father was glorified by the Son.
The work that he had finished, now prepared him for his own glorification.
He therefore lays this work before the Father as finished and complete and he is justified in asking that the Father glorify him with the glory that he had with the Father before the world was.
From this we learn that it is work that glorifies God.
Each one has his proper work assigned him by God.
This work must be finished here upon the earth.
It is a blessed thing at the hour of death to be able to say to the Father, "I have glorified thee on the earth."
Every Christian should have his work accomplished so that when the hour of death approaches, he, like the Lord, may have nothing to do but die and go to his Father in heaven.
Christ's glorification of the Father is the example that those who are being conformed to his image are to follow.
We are to devote ourselves to the work that we are called to do and to finish the work as Christ finished the work he was called to do.
And as Christ was glorified we to shall be glorified when we receive our new bodies and are united with Christ at his coming. |