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“The
hour is come.” Repeatedly in the past Jesus had affirmed “My
hour is not yet come.” Suddenly he changes and affirms its
arrival. It was inevitable and certain. And with its coming he
offers a prayer for glorification. I wish I had an adequate
definition for glory. It would be of inestimable value in
understanding John 17. It is used in the various forms, over and
over, in the chapter. I know some things about it. To the Jewish
people it carried with it the idea of weight, or heaviness. It was
not a mere evanescent something. Paul uses the expression “ a
far more exceeding and eternal
weight
of
glory” (2 Cor. 4:17) when he compares it with our
light
affliction.
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I
know the Hebrew word is
kabed,
and
the Greek is
doxa,
but
that does not tell me a lot. Like other words these are symbols of
the qualities, and have been selected by men to describe the inner
sense of meaning. Words are poor substitutes for the ideas they seek
to convey, necessary as they are. I have often explored the word
with others, but they are generally as limited as myself, so I am
about resigned to awaiting his
epiphany
which
will be both uplifting and destructive (2 Thess. 2:8). In any event
Jesus asked the Father to grant the weight of His presence to him.
The accompanying brightness so often mentioned in this connection is
not the glory, but the visible manifestation that it is present.
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Jesus
wanted the glory to be mutual, or reciprocal. He would glorify the
Father as well as receiving glory from Him. The Father had given him
power over all flesh. This was not
dunamis,
or
inherent power. It was
exousia,
delegated
authority. It had been bestowed upon him. Jesus has received
authority over all flesh. I gather that this does not refer to the
body with its tissues and cells. It may be employed as it is in Acts
2:17, where Joel is quoted, “It shall come to pass in the last
days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.” I
take this to refer to Jew and Gentile alike, without prejudice or
distinction.
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The
purpose of this was that he should give eternal life to as many as
had been given him. The fact that Jesus has authority over all flesh
did not automatically grant them eternal life. It did not obviate
the right of their individual choice. To be given authority is one
thing, to be given individuals destined to eternal life is another
thing. It is essential that eternal life be defined. Otherwise, we
will think of it in terms of days and years. It does not refer to
the quantity of time, but to its quality. Jesus came that we might
have life and have it more abundantly. The abundant life does not
consist of how long we live, but of how we live. It is not spending
time but sharing life. Some of us live more abundantly in one day
than others do in a year.
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Jesus
defines it as knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom he
sent. “True” refers to reality, and God is the only one
who is real. He is genuine. He is not counterfeit. There is no other
with which to compare Him. He is the only one. All other gods were
made by man, but man himself was made by the only true God. And
eternal life is to know Him and the anointed savior, for that is the
meaning of the words — Jesus Christ! But the word “know”
in the scripture has a more profound meaning than we generally
accord it in our conversation. We often limit it to developing a
practical grasp of a person or thing through association,
instruction, or study.
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But,
in the sacred writings, it conveys the deeper and more intimate
concept of experiencing something. It is for this reason it is used
for having sexual intercourse. The first time it is employed is in
the early part of Genesis. “And Adam knew Eve, his wife, and
she conceived and bore a son.” Two persons were united in such
a close relationship that a third, or new life, sprung from the
association. That is what happens when we come to experience God and
Christ in absolute and unqualified surrender. As a result of our
union a new life begins. We are born again. Old things pass away.
All things are made new. No wonder such an experience results in
eternal life.
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Jesus
glorified the Father on earth by finishing the work he had been
assigned. I think of this a lot of times when I see men and women in
an emotional frenzy, with hands waving, eyes closed, and shouting,
“Praise God,” or “Hallelujah,” or “Glory
to God.” I have a difficult time thinking of Jesus in the
midst of such a sweating, straining, or shouting mob. It might be
better for them to do as he did by finishing the work he has given
them to do. This is what glorifies Jesus on earth. There are
millions of starving, thirsting, helpless ones in the earth whom God
has told us to assist. But it is easier to shout “Praise God”
than to finish the work we have been allotted.
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Jesus
had a glory with the Father before the world was. I like that. I
have seen a few characters in my time who think that Jesus was
created somewhere along the line. Michael Jackson is the latest of a
flock of archangels of one segment of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Some of the cultists who rap on your front door and want to explain
to you all that is going to happen, and when, have a kind of “up
in the air” theory about Jesus. They can out-talk anyone who
will let them do it. I do not let them so they soon remember they
have another appointment and are late for it. I actually believe
that Jesus was with the Father before the world was. He was not some
kind of after thought. “The Word was with God and the Word was
God.”
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I
do not think he was “a god” as the Jehovah’s
Witnesses think. They even made their own translation of the Bible,
which they try to palm off as genuine on the unsuspecting, to
establish that crackpot notion. But if you traced everything back to
the beginning, when you get there, Jesus is already there. Before
the world was he was with the Father and sharing in His glory. Glory
always means “the presence of God” regardless of how
much else it means. Jesus wanted the Father to glorify him with His
own self. That is what happened before the world was. And that is
Glory with a capital “G”. —4420
Jamieson, Apt. l C, St. Louis 63109