John 12:28-30

Father, glorify Thy name

The glorified name

1.

One important aspect of Christian life is the imitation of Christ. But this is not necessarily doing the same things that Christ did, but involves the discovery of the principles by which His life was ruled, and the imitation of ways of expressing character after we have gained Christ’s principles.

2. A man’s ruling principle can best be discovered in his prayers, particularly in those which are forced on by sudden calamity or pressure. Then all the guards and formalities around a man are broken down, and the man reveals himself in his heart cry to God. The circumstances of the text present such an occasion, and that we may know what was our Lord’s ruling principle, let us study this revealing prayer.

I. THE PRAYER THAT EMBODIES THE PRINCIPLE OF THE NOBLE CHRISTLY LIFE. Observe

1. The apprehension of God that is in it. The character of our prayer depends on the name we are able to use for God. Our Lord could only employ the richest and dearest--Father. This apprehension includes some apprehension of the mystery of life and suffering, and a comforting recognition of the Divine purpose. His is a fatherhood of many sons whom He is training for glory.

2. The attitude of soul it indicates.

(1) Perfect trust in the goodness of all the Father’s arrangements and doings.

(2) Simple and unquestioning obedience.

(3) Intense love making complete self-sacrifice possible.

3. What is involved in the petition--living out to the end such a perfect sonship that men, throughout the ages, thinking of the life of Jesus, should fill the name of Father with highest, tenderest, and holiest meanings. To live for self is ignoble; to live for God in His character of Father, the noble life indeed.

II. THE DIVINE RESPONSE TO SUCH A PRAYER.

1. A side of tender comforting--“I have glorified it; that has been the meaning of all your life’s toil and pain.” This voice may be heard to cheer all true-hearted sons of God. Their life has not been lived in vain.

2. A sign of assurance for the future--“I will,” etc. Therefore our Lord may calmly go on to new scenes of toil and suffering. (R. Tuck, B. A.)

The glory of God interpreted in Christ

The true glory of God must be interpreted in Christ Jesus; and when you understand what it is that God makes to be His glory; when you understand that the glory of God is not self-laudation, nor enriching His own power, nor multiplying His own treasures, but that it is supremely to make others happy; when you understand that the glory of God means loving other people and not oneself, mercy and not selfishness, the distribution of His bounty and not the hoarding it up; when you understand that God sits with all the infinite stores of redemptive love only to shed them abroad upon men forever and forever, then you form a different conception of what it is for God to reign for His own glory. If love is His glory; if generosity is His glory; if giving is His glory; if thinking of the poor is His glory; if strengthening the weak is His glory; if standing as the defender of the wronged is His glory; if loving and watching over every being that He has created forever and forever is His glory, then, blessed be that teaching which represents that God does reign for His own glory. That is a glory which is worthy of the Divine regality. It will bring out blossoms of joy and gladness in heaven and on earth. (H. W. Beecher.)

The glory of God in Christ crucified

Here shine spotless justice, incomprehensible wisdom, and infinite love, all at once; none of them darkens or eclipses the other; every one of them gives a lustre to the rest; they mingle their beams, and shine with united, eternal, splendour. The just Judge, the merciful Father, the wise Governor--no other object gives such a display of all these perfections; yea, all the objects we know give not such a display as any one of them. Nowhere does justice appear so terribly awful, mercy so sweetly amiable, or wisdom so unfathomably profound. The glories that are found separately in the other works of God, are found united here. The joys of heaven glorify God’s goodness; the pains of hell glorify His justice; the cross of Christ glorifies both of them in a more remarkable way than heaven or hell glorifies any of them. The justice of God is more awfully displayed in the sufferings of Christ, as the substitute of sinners, than in the torments of devils; and His mercy is far more brightly manifested in these sufferings, than in the joys of angels. (J. McLaurin.)

The glory of God the object of grace

Whenever God has blessed the Church, He has secured Himself the glory of the blessing, though we have had the profit of it. Sometimes He has been pleased to redeem His people by might; but then He had so used the power that all the glory hath come to Him, and His head alone hath worn the crown. Did He smite Egypt, and lead forth His people with a strong hand and an outstretched arm? the glory was not to the rod of Moses, but to the Almighty power which made the rod so potent. Did He lead His people through the wilderness and defend them from their enemies? Still, did He, by teaching the people their dependence upon Him, preserve to Himself all the glory. So that not Moses or Aaron amongst the priests or prophets could share the honour with Him. And tell me, if ye will, of slaughtered Anak, and the destruction of the tribes of Canaan; tell me of Israel’s possessing the promised land; tell me of Philistines routed, and laid heaps on heaps; of Midianites made to fall on each other; tell me of kings and princes who fled apace and fell, until the ground was white, like the snow in Salmon. I will say of every one of these triumphs, “Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously;” and I will say at the end of every victory, “Crown Him, crown Him, for He hath done it; and let His name be exalted and extolled, world without end.” (C. H.Spurgeon.)

Human glory, what it comes to

A moment before he uttered his last sigh he called the herald who had carried his banner before him in all his battles, and commanded him to fasten to the top of a lance the shroud in which the dying prince was soon to be buried. “Go,” said he, “carry the lance, unfurl this banner; and while you lift up this standard, proclaim, ‘This, this is all that remains to Saladin the Great (the conqueror and the king of the empire) of all his glory.’” Christians, I perform today the office of this herald. I fasten to the staff of a spear sensual and intellectual pleasures, worldly riches, and human honours. All these I reduce to the piece of crape in which you will shortly be buried. This standard of death I lift up in your sight, and I cry, “This, this is all that will remain to you of the possessions for which you exchanged your souls.” (J. Saurin.)

Voices from the excellent glory

(Text and Mat_3:16-17; Mat_17:5)

I. THE THREE TESTIMONIES.

1. When the voices were heard

(1) In relation to Christ’s personal ministry.

(a) The first at the commencement of His public ministry.

(b) The second some little time after its central point.

(c) The last just before its close. How cheering at the beginning of a great enterprise to have God’s testimony that He has sent you; how encouraging when the labour is heavy and the spirit faint to receive another affirming word; but best of all to have it when we are about to depart.

(2) In relation to His life and enterprise.

(a) The first celestial witness was given after He had lived for thirty years in obscurity. It was meet when He first appeared that there should be some token that He was what He professed to be. It came also before the temptation, for which there could not be a better forearming. So with us: before temptation, spiritual sustenance.

(b) The second was when our Lord (according to Luke) was about to send out other seventy disciples. Before extending His agencies of mercy He received a token for good. When the Lord calls us to wider service; let us go up into the mountain to pray, and there too we may expect to enjoy the comforting and strengthening witness of the Spirit.

(c) The third came just before His sufferings and death. It was meet that the Sufferer who must tread the winepress alone should receive a word meeting the point about which His soul was most concerned, viz., God’s glory.

(3) In relation to His habits.

(a) The first came when He was in the attitude of obedience--“fulfilling all righteousness.” When you are in the path of filial obedience you may expect the Spirit to bear witness with yours that you are born of God.

(b) The second came when He was in devout retirement. He had gone up into the mountain alone, and when you are there you may expect to receive Divine testimonies.

(c) The third came when about Isis work, preaching in the Temple. If you are called to any form of service, under no pretext neglect it, or you may lose the inward witness.

2. To whom the attestations were given.

(1) To an increasing number of persons. The first to John alone; the second to five; the last to many. God’s testimony to Christ is an ever growing one.

(2) It was given in this wise.

(a) The first to the greatest of men, yet the voice revealed a greater than he.

(b) The second to the best of men, but the voice bear witness to a better.

(c) The third in the holiest place, and there it testified to a holier. Jesus is everywhere magnified beyond all others.

3. To what God bore testimony.

(1) The first was to Christ’s miraculous origin: “This is My beloved Son.”

(2) The second sealed His appointment as the Great Prophet--“Hear Him.”

(3) The third bore witness to the success of His work--“I have glorified it,” etc. Some have thought that the three voices attested our Lord in His threefold office.

(a) John came proclaiming the kingdom, and Jesus was in His baptism proclaimed the chief of the new kingdom.

(b) On the second occasion, “Hear Him,” ordained Him the Prophet of the people.

(c) In the third He was owned as Priest. Is this threefold witness received in your hearts the testimony of God, who cannot lie. Behold Christ well pleasing to the Father; let Him be well pleasing to you. Hear Him proclaimed as God’s beloved; let Him be the beloved of your hearts. Hear the testimony that He has glorified God, and remember that His further glorifying God depends in some measure on you.

4. How were these testimonies given?

(1) On the first occasion the heavens were opened and the Spirit descended. What if this proclaims to us that by His obedience our Lord procured the opening of heaven for us that our prayers might go up and our blessings come down!

(2) Heaven was not beheld as opened the second time--the overshadowing cloud represented the Mediatorship of Christ veiling the excessive brightness of the Godhead.

(3) In the third our mind rests neither upon the opening of heaven nor on the cloud, but on the voice. The opening of heaven and the interposition of a Mediator are but means to the great end of glorifying God. Let this one great object absorb all our souls.

5. What was it that was spoken?

(1) The first time the heavenly voice preached the gospel, “This is My beloved Son,” etc. The gospel is tidings concerning a blessed person, and His acceptableness as the chosen of God, and of the Divine pleasure with those who are “in” Him.

(2) The second time the voice uttered the great command, “Hear Him.” Salvation does not come by seeing, as Romanists have it. Faith cometh by hearing, and not the doctrines of men, even such as Moses and Elias, but Him.

(3) On the third occasion testimony was given to the gospel’s result. It is through the gospel that God is glorified.

II. INSTRUCTIVE CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH THESE TESTIMONIES.

1. On each occasion Jesus was in prayer. Learn that if any would have God speak comfortably to him, he must speak to God in prayer.

2. Each time His sufferings were prominently before Him. John, at the waters of Jordan, said, “Behold the Lamb,” etc. On Tabor Moses and Elias spoke of His decease. In the Temple His soul was troubled at the prospect of His death. Learn, then, if you desire to see the glory of Christ, as attested of the Father, you must dwell much on His death.

3. Each time He was honouring the Father. In His baptism by obedience, on the mountain by devotion, in the Temple His very words were, “Glorify Thy name.” If you would see God’s glory and hear His voice you must honour Him. Conclusion: Receive these testimonies.

1. With assured conviction.

2. With profound reverence.

3. With unconditional obedience.

4. With joyful confidence. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The best prayer ever offered

I. ITS OBJECT.

1. It is unselfish. Personal apprehension is swallowed up in the craving for Divine glory. Compare this with Matthew 6:9. Prayer is often too selfish.

2. It seeks the revealing of God’s glory. God is changeless and cannot grow more glorious in Himself. But His name is glorified when the beauty of His character is revealed. The mountains are not changed when the mists lift; but they are glorified in being unveiled.

3. The particular form is the glory of the Fatherhood of God. His creative glory of wisdom and might had been revealed in nature; His regal glory of justice and government in providence; His highest glory of goodness awaited its full manifestation when His Fatherhood would be seen in personal self-sacrificing love to His children.

II. ITS MOTIVES.

1. The name of God as our Father deserves to be glorified.

2. Christ found His own greatest encouragement in the vision of the glory of God. So did Moses (Exodus 33:18). We are most strengthened when we forget self in God.

3. Christ’s work is accomplished when the name of God as our Father is glorified. This name had been dishonoured till Christ raised it to honour among His disciples. The Christian is glorified only as he reflects the glory of God, and this can only be as God is first revealed to him (2 Corinthians 3:18).

III. ITS ANSWER.

1. God’s Fatherhood had been revealed

(1) In creation, providence, and Old Testament revelation, but dimly and partially.

(2) In the incarnation, life, character, words, and works of Christ, but still not perfectly.

2. It was destined to be revealed more fully.

(1) In the passion of Christ, by the love of God shown in sustaining His Son, by His holiness and goodness in the suffering Saviour, and by the great act of redemption then accomplished.

(2) In the resurrection, and the proof this gave of God’s redeeming goodness.

(3) In the fruits of the redemption seen in the history of the Church.

(4) Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in helping the Church to read aright the mystery of the Cross, which, after Pentecost, became the central theme of the Church’s praises. (W. F. Adeney, M. A.)

The changed prayer

A man once complained to his minister that he had prayed for a whole year that he might enjoy the comforts of religion, but found no answer to his prayers. The minister replied, “Go home now, and pray, ‘Father, glorify Thy name.’”

The truest and deepest view of life

I. A MAN TAKING THE TRUEST AND DEEPEST VIEW OF LIFE. A sentence is often a revelation. This is unique, suggestive. If we were to put our deepest desires into words would they be this? The worldly man’s life is limited to the self sphere; the very point of this is that Christ had no self sphere. The former is the shallow, the latter the ennobling view. Observe our Lord’s

1. Cherished life thought. This inspiring thought for Christ and us starts the question, Will not a cherished sense of our independence do more for us than the sense of dependence, and so of responsibility? Let Christ’s life be the answer. The independent view--I am my own--may be fascinating; but it is untrue and deteriorating, and sooner or later is found to be such. What is the condition of the parasite when the tree on which it feeds is dead? or that of the ivy cut below and made independent of its secret rootings? What good is an independent vine branch?

2. Ruling life-force--obedience inspired by affection for His Father. Here we see how all the seeming hardness of dependence is lost in the atmosphere of love. The wife never finds it hard to obey when she loves.

Mere obedience is, for man, very hard; but obedience out of love is the highest joy; and this deep joy we find in Christ.

3. Prevailing life-attitude--the activity of submission; for true submission is not mere bearing, but bearing in doing. This is fully illustrated in the life of Christ.

II. GOD’S RESPONSE TO THE MAN WHO TAKES THIS VIEW OF LIFE.

1. That the deepest wish of His heart has been already realized and He may read His past in the light of it. All depends on the light in which we read our past. Read Christ’s in the light thrown by this response and see how it had been a glorifying of the Father-name of God in

(1) His own Sonship.

(2) His teachings about the Father.

(3) His brotherhood with men.

2. That the deepest wish of his heart shall yet be realized, and he may go calmly on into darkness with the assurance that even his Cross shall glorify the Father. Death shall do even more than life. The “forsaking” was a final triumph of obedience. The will of God was so beautiful that He could even suffer and die for it. Conclusion: We say, “God is our Father.” Do we say, “Father, glorify Thy name.” Is this our inspiring life secret? In life labour, relationships, sufferings, bereavements, death, do I honour myself or my Father? (R. Tuck, B. A.)

The people … said that it thundered.--The whole multitude heard a noise; but the meaning of the voice was only perceived by each in proportion to his spiritual intelligence. Thus the wild beast perceives only a sound in the human voice; the trained animal discovers a meaning, a command, e.g., which it immediately obeys; man alone discerns a thought. (F. Godet, D. D.)

The voice from heaven

I. THE VOICE.

1. Grossly misunderstood by the bystanders

(1) As a natural phenomenon, as thunder.

(2) As a supernatural utterance, the speech of an angel--a significant proof of man’s incapacity to understand the words of God (1 Corinthians 2:14).

2. Lovingly by Jesus; as an old and familiar voice, the voice of His Father, which twice previously had addressed Him out of heaven. It needs a child’s heart to recognize a father’s voice.

3. Rightly interpreted again by Jesus--perhaps also by John and his co-apostles--to whom it spoke in the language of

(1) Approbation, “I have glorified it.”

(2) Consolation, “Will glorify it again.”

II. THE PURPOSE OF THE VOICE.

1. Not for His sake; since He knew His Father always heard Him (chap. 11:42).

2. But for theirs--to assure them that He was the Father’s Son, the heaven-sent Messiah.

Learn

1. The superiority of faith to unbelief in the understanding of Divine revelations.

2. The condescension of Christ in considering man’s weakness and infirmity. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)