The Return to Glory

August 16, 2022

And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was (John 17:5).
 
The prayer of Jesus reveals His confidence in the Father and His intimate knowledge of the will of the Father. Sometimes our prayers express our wishes and hopes. His prayer expressed His knowledge of the truth. In perfecting God’s plan of salvation on earth, Jesus knew He would return to the Father in heaven in an exalted state at the right hand of the Father, the same state He had before His incarnation. His prayer stressed the desire for that return to the glory He had with the Father in eternity past.
 
The Apostle John revealed some of the aspects of that glory with the Father in his prologue to the Gospel. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men (John 1:1-4).
 
• He was before the beginning of all creation.
• He was face to face with the Father, in the very presence of the Father, before creation.
• He was God with the Father, face to face with the Father, before creation.
• He created all things with God the Father.
• He is the giver of all life in creation.
 
The Apostle Paul revealed other aspects of the glory that Jesus received from the Father after His resurrection and ascension. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).
 
• His name, which declares who He is, is the banner of salvation; only He can save the human soul from sin.
• His has been given full authority over all mankind (Matthew 28:18), past, present, and future.
 
Furthermore, the Father has made Jesus Christ ruler over all creation until the final judgment at the end of time. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:21-26). What a wonderful Savior is Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen!
 
Pastor Martin

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