John 17:1-8
(John 17:1-8)
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: 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. 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. I have manifested thy name unto the
men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest
them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that
all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words
which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I
came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
This is the
scene of the farewell prayer that Jesus had before he suffered from the cross,
at his last dinner with his disciples, and after he gave his farewell sermon.
Jesus said, “Father, the hour is come; glorify
thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 』The life
of Jesus is always focused and purposeful on glorifying the Father. Jesus is
God in the kingdom of God, but he is sure to play a role as a son on earth.
This life of Jesus clearly shows what the direction and purpose of the life of
the saints should be. Jesus is telling us how He glorified his Father.
『And now, O Father,
glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. 』 Jesus says, "I
glorified my Father in this world by doing what the Father told me to do."
And what the Father has given him to do is to give eternal life to all those
whom the Father has given to his Son. “Eternal
life is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom he sent.” To know God is to become one with God. When a couple know each
other (Yada), it means that they are one. Jesus obeyed the work that the Father
commanded and entrusted to glorify the Father, that is, saving lives. Saints
are those whom the Father gave to Jesus, and thus belong to Jesus. The saints
became those who knew the Father and the Son through Jesus. The saints become
one by being united with Jesus Christ, who died on the cross.
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