Bible passage: John 17
Prayer for Himself: When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Prayer for His disciples: “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Prayer for all believers: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Keywords in this passage: God's glory, God's name, God's word, the belief that Jesus is sent by God, the unity of God's people, their preservation, and their sanctification. Yet, mostly it is about God's glory.
Glory is defined in dictionaries as honor/ renown/ eminence/ magnificence or great beauty. I liked Eric Thoennes' definition, 'Glory is the manifestation of the excellence of God's character, the display of His holiness, worth, and beauty'. Jesus begins the prayer by saying, the hour has come. We know that what happened after that was the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and exaltation. Let's just take the crucifixion. The Son glorified the Father by manifesting/ displaying God's love on the cross. One of the ways the Father glorified the Son was by covering the place with darkness during the daytime, for the Centurion to proclaim that the crucified One was the Son of God. The Father and the Son glorified each other and displayed the awesome beauty of their character.
Let's take a metaphor of you trying to teach a child why peacocks are beautiful and worthy of admiration. Just seeing a peacock standstill may not convince the child. Let's say the peacock wasn't just there, but it was opening its feathers, and not just that, it was dancing in the rain and making sounds. Isn't it the best way to appreciate a peacock's beauty, in all its glory? How much more then, would we be able to admire God's beauty and worship Him when God is glorified - God has His awesomeness on display for us to see?
Isn't God's glory then the desire of all humanity?
The atheist and the agnostic keep saying, 'Let God show Himself and we will believe'. David Berlinski had a rightful response to that statement - 'It is a huge presumption that human beings constructed as we are, are able to interact with the deity in such a way that the person presumes that they will be able to be persuaded by the countenance of the deity when they were left unpersuaded by the evidence of His handiworks. The one who doesn't appreciate Mozart's music, may not appreciate Mozart when he sees him face to face.' God knows that it is not merely His appearance in a vision, but His glory - His character on display through His handiworks and through His Son that has more potency to convince those who disbelieve.
Those who suffer ask, 'Where is God in my trouble? Why can't I see or hear Him in my distress?' Even here, it is not just God's presence, but His character of love, comfort, power, and redemption that is expected to be on display. Even here, what we truly ask for is God's glory to be shown.
We also expect God to display His glory in terror and put His fear in the hearts of the evil ones who oppress others.
The Christian also desires nothing more than for God's glory to be seen and revealed to them and through them. Moses also asked God to show him His glory.
Yet, how much do we pray for God to be glorified? How much do we pray that our loved ones are able to see God's glory in new and more intimate ways? How much do we pray for God to be glorified in and through us?
Let us then learn about intercession from Jesus:
Prayer for Himself: For the glorification of the Son, that the Son may glorify the Father.
Prayer for disciples: Keeping the disciples in God's name - as one, and safe from the evil one. For their sanctification in truth - in God's word.
Prayer for believers: For believers to be one and in the Triune God. For believers to be in the presence of Jesus and behold His glory.
Prayer points:
Pray that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit would be glorified, and His name held in honor, in our lives, in our cities, nations, and through the ends of the world.
Pray that our eyes are opened, and our minds renewed to be able to behold God's glory, to stand in awe in His presence, admiring every detail of His person and being when we read His word and pray, and when we interact with His people.
Pray for God to change the desires of our hearts, and incline them to His will so that above all else we will pray truthfully for His glory to increase, in all our intercessory prayers.
Pray that God's people would be one in unity and love each other deeply, even when they are diverse in their backgrounds, beautifully displaying the unity among the Trinity - and thus glorifying God and drawing people to Him.
If you can, try memorizing Isaiah 43:7, 21, and 2 Corinthians 3:18.
Two resources I found useful regarding glory: John Piper's article, and Eric Thoennes' lecture.
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