It is time
It is time! How often we have said those words, usually with eagerness, because a day we have waited for has come. Jesus said the same words the evening before his court trials and execution.
Jesus had expected this day for many years. He understood that his work on earth was to show people what God was like and to give them a message from God. When that work was done there still remained work to be done by dying.
Jesus stands and looks up to heaven. In front of his disciples he begins to pray for himself and for them. We might think it conceited that his opening request is for glory. By his death Jesus intended to show humanity something they had lost sight of: the generous nature of God, his faithful love of the people in this world, and his intention to renew their broken union with him. These qualities are part of the glorious nature of God. By his death Jesus would glorify God.
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The true nature of God has been lost to humanity by their disinterest and dislike of God, by his death Jesus would show God as acting righteously. Although he had lived in unbroken union with God, God would attribute to Jesus all the sins of humanity. More than that, God would attribute to humanity the sinless perfection of Jesus. How could God attribute to all the people who had ever lived or would live, the perfect rightness of Jesus? This desire to forgive is the generosity of God. By attributing the rightness of Jesus to the people who believe, God draws them to himself and into the environs of divine love. As they believe they are enabled to receive power from God to resist the enemy of souls and the evil that surrounds us. All of these acts of God display his true nature. His true nature is his glory.
Jesus was glorified by his attitude of willing faithfulness to God, but much more by his resurrection three days afterwards. God vindicated him, and said to the watching world, “This man is indeed my Son.”
“Father,” says Jesus, as his prayer draws to an end, “I want the people who have accepted your message to be with me where I am. I want them to see my glory, my true nature, which I received from you, and to know that you loved me long before you brought the world into existence.”
So this is the time towards which we live, the time of our resurrection, worked by the faithful generosity of God. A time when we will be with Jesus, our friend, and be where he is, and see his glory.
The gospel of John, chapter 17 verses 1 to 26
Jesus had expected this day for many years. He understood that his work on earth was to show people what God was like and to give them a message from God. When that work was done there still remained work to be done by dying.
Jesus stands and looks up to heaven. In front of his disciples he begins to pray for himself and for them. We might think it conceited that his opening request is for glory. By his death Jesus intended to show humanity something they had lost sight of: the generous nature of God, his faithful love of the people in this world, and his intention to renew their broken union with him. These qualities are part of the glorious nature of God. By his death Jesus would glorify God.
.
The true nature of God has been lost to humanity by their disinterest and dislike of God, by his death Jesus would show God as acting righteously. Although he had lived in unbroken union with God, God would attribute to Jesus all the sins of humanity. More than that, God would attribute to humanity the sinless perfection of Jesus. How could God attribute to all the people who had ever lived or would live, the perfect rightness of Jesus? This desire to forgive is the generosity of God. By attributing the rightness of Jesus to the people who believe, God draws them to himself and into the environs of divine love. As they believe they are enabled to receive power from God to resist the enemy of souls and the evil that surrounds us. All of these acts of God display his true nature. His true nature is his glory.
Jesus was glorified by his attitude of willing faithfulness to God, but much more by his resurrection three days afterwards. God vindicated him, and said to the watching world, “This man is indeed my Son.”
“Father,” says Jesus, as his prayer draws to an end, “I want the people who have accepted your message to be with me where I am. I want them to see my glory, my true nature, which I received from you, and to know that you loved me long before you brought the world into existence.”
So this is the time towards which we live, the time of our resurrection, worked by the faithful generosity of God. A time when we will be with Jesus, our friend, and be where he is, and see his glory.
The gospel of John, chapter 17 verses 1 to 26
posted by Jessie Coates at 3:20 PM
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