John 17:1-5

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: (2) As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. (3) And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. (4) I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. (5) And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

I desire to enter upon this Chapter with all humility of soul, looking up for continual grace to go before me, and follow me, as I tread over every part of the sacred ground in the contents of it. And I request the Reader to remember, that in every observation which I venture to propose, I propose it but as an humble offering rather of enquiry than of decision. May God the Holy Ghost be my teacher!

And, first, let us contemplate the glorious Speaker, and the manner in which he opened this wonderful prayer. He had been unfolding his very heart in all the fulness which lay there of his love to his people. He now opens his very heart to his Father. And, as our Great High Priest, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, as intimating the heaven of his mind, and said, Father! the hour is come! What hour? Nay, that hour for which the numbering of hours became important, and to which every preceding hour from the fall, in the time-state of the Church ministered. It was that hour to which heaven and earth had respect, in the death of Christ, as the one grand and momentous event of all time, and to the accomplishment of which the Lord of hosts referred, when he said, And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. Zechariah 3:9

Glorify thy Son, that thy Son may also glorify thee. I pray the Reader not to overlook in this request of Jesus, the mutual interest which is expressed in the object desired. It hath been before observed, that the glory of the Lord Jesus, as God - Man-Mediator, never was more highly manifested than when it brake through the dark cloud which covered the face of the earth at Christ's crucifixion. And what transcendent dignity and glory did Jehovah put upon Christ, when he committed to him the great work of redemption. Yea, in the very hour, as Christ called it, (though it was six full hours he hung upon the cross), when Christ bore in his own person the sins of all his Church, and the wrath of God due to sin; yet such was the victory he then obtained over death, hell, and the grave, and such the everlasting happiness he procured by it for his members, and such the rich revenue of everlasting glory and honor to himself by this one offering of himself, that it may be truly said, never did Jehovah more fully glorify his dear Son, through the whole of his ministry, than on that solemn, but most auspicious day. And on the other hand, never was Jehovah more glorified, than by the obedience and blood shedding of his dear Son in our nature. For although, strictly and properly speaking, God in his essence and perfections is incapable of receiving accessions to his glory by any acts offered unto him, no, not even by Christ himself, for so Jesus by the Spirit of prophecy ages before had said; (see Psalms 16:2.) yet in the manifested glory of the Lord, as sin had attempted to tarnish it, Jesus, by his great undertaking, had done more than restored it. For what could more display the glory of Jehovah, than One in his own nature fulfilling all his commands, when taking into himself an union with our's, and thus giving a perfection to his obedience, as the obedience of the God - Man Christ Jesus? Here was glory indeed manifested to the Lord, such as the everlasting and unsinning obedience of men and angels, yea, the whole creation of God to all eternity could not have wrought. This then Jesus did, when having by his righteousness brought in an everlasting righteousness, and by his death having overcome death; he finished transgression, made an end of sin, made reconciliation for iniquity, destroyed Satan's empire, procured salvation for his whole body the Church, and restored perfect order among all the works of God. Full of these grand ideas, and infinitely more than our highest conceptions can possibly enter into, we may suppose the mind of the Great Redeemer of his Church to have been occupied, when with his eyes lifted to heaven, he said, Father! the hour is come, glorify thy Son, that thy Son may also glorify thee!

Our Lord proceeds. As thou hast given him power over all flesh. Here let us pause, and ponder well those words of Christ, which he speaks as Christ-God-Man. Not as God only, for as such he could have nothing given him. All was his, in common with the Father, and the Holy Ghost. But Jesus here speaks in his office-character, in the covenant. It is of the highest importance to have a proper apprehension of these things. The everlasting covenant between the persons of the Godhead, for making manifest all that is communicable of Jehovah's glory to his creatures, consists in certain office-characters, by which each glorious person in the Godhead is known. Both the eternal and original appointment of the Church before all worlds, and the recovery and salvation of the Church during her time-state of being, are the result of everlasting love, equally flowing from the Holy Three in One; and by which the whole become the equal and united object of love, obedience, and praise to all eternity, In these office-characters, the Scriptures inform us, how each glorious person co-operated in the accomplishment of the great design. And, as on the part of the Father, he is said to have sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, 1 John 4:14. and the Lord Jesus is said to have all things given to him by the Father, John 3:35 so here Christ speaks of it under this view, and in his office-character, as God - Man-Mediator. It is in this sense the Lord Jesus thus expressed himself in those words.

And it may not be improper to remark, that this power is said by Christ to be given to him over all flesh. Not simply in relation to his Church, but as universal and eternal Lord of heaven and earth. Paul saith, that by Christ were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth. And not only created by him, but for him; and that by him all things consist. So that he is not only the head of his body the Church, but the fulness which filleth all in all. I pray the Reader to consult those scriptures. Colossians 1:15; Ephesians 1:15, to the end. We begin at the middle of the subject in relation to Christ as God-Man-Mediator, when we begin at his work of redemption. The Son of God, as the Wisdom of God, was set up from everlasting. Proverbs 8:22. And the Church had a being in Christ, as Christ, before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 3:9; Ephesians 3:9. And who shall say what other objects were designed in the infinite mind of Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in One of those sacred Persons taking into union with himself that holy portion of human nature, by which the Son of God became man? Who shall determine what other glory, beside that of Jehovah's glory in the Church, hath been and shall everlastingly be manifested by it? Nay, who shall draw the limits to what that glory shall extend, in the wonderful discovery made of Jehovah in the person of Christ, without whom, as it should seem from scripture, no manifestation could have been made forever? John 1:18. - But I can venture no further.

We see then by our Lord's words, that Christ hath power given him over all flesh. And Jesus adds, that he should give eternal life to as many as the Father had given him. Pause over these precious words. And, first, observe what an unanswerable proof they carry with them of the Godhead of Christ. For who less than the Eternal God, can give Eternal life? The very possession of the property implies the eternal nature of the possessor. Reader! never lose sight of this! Next observe what Jesus speaks of those to whom he is to give eternal life. It is to as many as the Father hath given him. If there were no other passage in Scripture, this would be sufficient in proof that Christ hath a Church, for whom this blessing of eternal life, with all its preliminaries, is intended. But the word of God is full in point to the same purport. John 10:27; John 10:27; 1 John 5:11; Jude 1:1. Reader! what a sweet thought ariseth out of this view, short as it is, concerning Christ's power, and concerning Christ's office-character. Jesus hath eternal life, yea, is himself eternal life. And Jesus hath it to impart to as many as the Father hath given him; yea, is himself their life, and their portion forever. John 14:19

Our blessed Lord next proceeds to shew, as far as our present unripe faculties can comprehend the subject, in what this eternal life consists. Jesus saith, And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Our apprehensions go but a little way in this subject. Life, in every sense of the word, is a mystery. Our natural life is involved in endless difficulties to explain. That we live, and that we perform the several actions of life, we know. And the word of the Lord informs us, that it is in Him that we live, and move, and have our being. Acts 17:28. But further our greatest discoveries do not extend. Spiritual life becomes yet more remote from our knowledge, more than of the fact itself. And eternal life Jesus here declares to consist in the knowledge of the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. Here then we have authority to conclude, that in the proper apprehension of the only true God, in his three-fold character of persons, and of the person, and offices, and relations of Jesus Christ, as the God-Man-Mediator the glorious Head and Husband of his Church, this is life eternal. Our Lord doth not say that it leads to it, but that it is. Not that this knowledge shall hereafter bring the happy possessors of it to life eternal, but that it is now already in possession. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. John 3:1. So that this eternal life, be it what it may, is not to be the possession only of the world to come; but in the present state. For being in Christ, in the possession of Him; his people possess eternal life in him.

I do not think it necessary, to detain the Reader, with endeavouring to explain, what all the Bible in every part is explaining, in relation to the knowledge of God, and of Christ. I shall only beg to observe, that it is not concerning the nature and Being of Jehovah, and the mode of his existence, that is proposed to us in those words of Christ, or any other part of Scripture, to know. These subjects must ever be, both in time, and to all eternity, beyond the grasp of our faculties. Jehovah would no longer be incomprehensible, if any of his creatures could attain that knowledge. But the knowledge our Lord speaks of, is in relation to those discoveries, which he hath been pleased to make of himself, in his threefold character of Persons, in the departments of nature, providence, grace, and glory; and which have a special regard to his Church and people. Reader! I humbly conceive, that this is life eternal, to know God the Father in his office-character! his everlasting love to the Church in Christ before the foundation of the world: to know God the Son in his office-character, his oneness and union with the Father in his divine nature; and his oneness and union with his Church in his human nature: And to know God the Holy Ghost, as distinct in Person from both, yet in essence and in glory One with the Father and the Son; and in relation to his office-character to the Church, loving the Church with the same everlasting love, and as engaged in all Covenant offices, for her being, and well being in Christ, to all eternity.

This I humbly conceive to form the outlines of what the Lord Jesus Christ hath here said, of life eternal: to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. Isaiah 48:16

Our Lord proceeds. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Reader! let you and I seek grace to bless God, for what Jesus hath here said. None but Jesus could thus speak. No angel of light; no, nor the whole creation of God, could ever adopt such language. For although Jehovah's glory is seen in them, and by them; and in this sense the Psalmist speaks, when he saith, The heavens declare the glory of God, etc. Psalms 19:1. Yet nothing can add to Jehovah's glory, neither can any take from it. But in the Person of the God-Man Christ Jesus, Jehovah is glorified, and hath been glorified, when in the dignity of his Person and work, the glory of Jehovah is made manifest, to the whole intellectual creation of God. And what endears this view of Christ still more, is the part which his Church bears in it; because in the great work, the Lord Jesus stood forth and acted as the Head, and Representative of his people. Reader! do not fail to connect this view of the subject, with Christ's finished work. The Church of Christ, in every individual member, hath all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Jesus, our Head and Husband, hath fulfilled all righteousness; and hath done the whole for his people. Yea, in consequence of the perfection of his Person, and the perfection of his work, being the obedience and merits of God-Man Mediator; he hath done more in honoring God's law, than we have done by sin to dishonor God: and infinite in value, and in efficiency, is the finished work of Christ. Oh! for grace, while we thus contemplate our Great High Priest and Representative, in the close of his ministry, thus speaking to the Father, in giving in before him the blessed accomplishment of his mission; all his Church and people may by faith come under the Censer of his Incense, and behold our complete justification in Him!

And now, (saith Jesus), O Father, glorify thou me with thine own-self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. The work finished, Christ looks to the consequences, as by Covenant settlements agreed upon. Hence the Apostle saith, when speaking of Christ; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

The great question here is, what glory doth Jesus here allude to! I speak with all possible reverence when I say, I humbly apprehend, it could not be that essential underived glory, which equally belongs to the whole, and to each Person of the Godhead, as Jehovah. For the Son of God, as God, could never ask, or receive this; being from all eternity his own. But the glory here spoken of by Christ, seems very plainly to refer to that glory which belonged to Him as God-Man Mediator, when from everlasting he stood up, the Head, and Husband of his Church. There was a Personal glory as God-Man, which he had with the Father before the world was, before that he became incarnate; in the time-state of the Church, and consequently before that Jesus had acquired any office-glory, in finishing the work the Father gave him to do. Yea, the Son of God had this glory, as God-Man, from the union of nature of God and Man in one Person, though he had never in the time-state of the Church purchased the glory of redemption, in bringing his Church out of the ruins of the fall. But while I say thus much, I beg it may be understood, that I do not presume to say which of those glories it was to which Christ referred: whether of Person or of Office, or of both, when he thus addressed the Father.

Thus much, however, we may, under divine teaching, safely say; Christ had a glory with the Father before the world was. In the time-state of the Church during his ministry, this glory was in a great measure obscured. For, although he manifested forth his glory by miracles; and occasionally as in the Mount of Transfiguration, there was given certain burstings forth, in proof, that in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Colossians 2:9. Yet it may be truly said, that while upon earth, he for the most part appeared, as the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. But though I presume not to speak concerning the nature of that glory which the Lord Jesus had in view in those words: yet I detain the Reader to observe, that we learn from them those very sweet and precious instructions. First, That Christ, as Christ, that is, the Son of God in our nature, had glory in this Personal Character with the Father before all worlds. Secondly, That the glory Jesus here speaks of, was a glory which he had with the Father; though the distinction of the Persons at the same time is hereby plainly proved. And thirdly. As the Lord Jesus prays to be glorified by the Father, with thine own self: (as Jesus wordeth it), the unity and design of the whole Godhead, in all the purposes and pleasure of Jehovah, concerning the Church, is fully manifested and confirmed. My Father worketh hitherto, (saith Christ), and I work. John 5:17

Thus far, this prayer of our Lord, had special respect to himself and his Father. In which the Reader will perceive, how much our dear Lord dwells upon those great points; the glory which he had manifested of his Father, in his finished work in time: and the glory to which Jesus looked, both in what was opening before him, in the hour now come; and in the future enjoyment of the same glory, which he had with the Father, before all worlds. Precious Jesus! may all thy Church know thee in all thy glory; and every knee bow before thee, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.