Our participation in the dispensing of the divine Trinity is for the Father to be glorified in the glorification of the Son. In John 17:1 the Lord Jesus prayed, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You.” The subject of the Lord’s prayer in this chapter is the glorification of the Father in the glorification of the Son. The Son was God incarnated, and His flesh was a tabernacle for God’s dwelling on earth (John 1:14). His divine element was confined in His humanity, just as God’s shekinah glory was concealed within the tabernacle. Once, on the mountain of transfiguration, His divine element was released from within His flesh and expressed in glory, being seen by the three disciples (Matt. 17:1-4). However, it was concealed again in His flesh. Before the prayer recorded in John 17, the Lord predicted that He would be glorified and that the Father would be glorified in Him (John 12:23; 13:31-32). Now He was going to pass through death that the concealing shell of His humanity might be broken for His divine element, His divine life, to be released. He was also to resurrect that He might uplift His humanity into the divine element and that His divine element might be expressed, that His entire being, both divinity and humanity, might be glorified. Thus the Father would be glorified in Him. Hence, He prayed for this.
This prayer of the Lord Jesus concerning glorification will be fulfilled in three stages. First, it was fulfilled in His resurrection, in that His divine element, His divine life, was released from within His humanity into His many believers (John 12:23-24), and His whole being including His humanity was brought into glory (Luke 24:26), and in that the Father’s divine element was expressed. God answered and fulfilled His prayer in His resurrection (Acts 3:13-15). Second, it has been fulfilled in the church, in that as His resurrection life has been expressed through His many members, He has been glorified in them and the Father has been glorified in Him through the church (Eph. 3:21; 1 Tim. 3:15-16). Third, it will be ultimately fulfilled in the New Jerusalem, in that He will be fully expressed in glory, and God will also be glorified in Him through the holy city for eternity (Rev. 21:11, 23-24).
The subject of the divine glorification, the glorification of the Father in the glorification of the Son, is the subject of a lengthy section of the Gospel of John. This section begins from the middle of chapter twelve and goes through the end of chapter seventeen. In John 12:23 the Lord Jesus declared, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Here we have the first mention of the glorification concerning which the Lord later prayed in chapter seventeen. As verse 24 indicates, for the Son of Man to be glorified is for Him to have His divine element, His divine life, released from within the shell of His humanity to produce many believers in resurrection, just as a grain of wheat releases its life element by falling into the ground and dying in order to bear much fruit and thereby bring forth many grains. Therefore, in verse 24 the Lord says, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” From this we see that for the Lord to be glorified is for Him to die and be resurrected in order to bear much fruit. This means that the bearing of fruit is His glorification.
John 12:23 reveals clearly that the Lord Jesus was concerned for His glorification, and verse 24 explains what this glorification is. The Lord was glorified by dying as a grain of wheat and then growing up in resurrection to produce many grains, that is, to bear much fruit. These grains are actually the believers who are constituted into the house, the vine, and the new man. The crucial point, and the point we are now emphasizing, is that the thought of glorification, which is the subject of the Lord’s prayer in chapter seventeen, begins in 12:23.
In John 12:28 the Lord prayed, “Father, glorify Your name. There came then a voice out of heaven, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” To glorify the name of the Father is to cause the Father’s divine element to be expressed. The Father’s divine element, which is the eternal life, was in the incarnated Son. The shell of the Son’s incarnation had to be broken through death that the Father’s divine element, the eternal life, could be released and expressed in resurrection, just as the life element of a grain of wheat is released by its shell being broken and expressed by its blossom. This is the glorification of God the Father in the Son.
The Lord’s prayers in 12:28 and 17:1 are similar. These prayers are both for the same matter-glorification. Knowing that the Father would be glorified in the Son’s glorification, the Lord prayed first that the Father would glorify His name and then that the Father would glorify the Son so that the Son might glorify Him.
In John 13:31-32 the Lord Jesus says, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.” These verses concerning the glorification of the Son of Man are another indication that this section of the Gospel of John is concerned with the divine glorification. Once again, for the Son of Man to be glorified is for Him to have His divine element released, expressed, and multiplied through death and resurrection. In this way God the Father is glorified in the Son’s glorification.
Shortly after uttering these words in chapter thirteen, the Lord Jesus went on to give His disciples a message in which He spoke concerning the Father’s house, the new vine, and the new man. The Father’s house, the vine, and the new man all refer to the same thing. For the Son of Man to be glorified is for Him to die and bring forth many grains in resurrection. These grains are for the constitution of the vine. To constitute the vine of many grains is equal to building up the Father’s house. Moreover, the building up of the Father’s house is equal to the planting of the vine, and this is equal to the birth of the new man. All these matters-the house, the vine, and the new man-are related to the divine glorification. Therefore, following this message, the Lord prayed in chapter seventeen regarding His glorification. The divine glorification is the key that opens this portion of the Gospel of John.
We need to be impressed with the fact that the five and a half chapters from the middle of John 12 to the end of John 17 are concerned with the glorification of the Father in the glorification of the Son. After speaking of this glorification in 12:23-24, 28 and 13:31-32, the Lord, in His message to the disciples, gave three illustrations of this glorification: the house of the Father composed of all the believers, the vine with the many branches, and the new man, the corporate child, composed of the firstborn Son and all the believers as the many sons.
The Father is glorified in His house and in fruit-bearing. The Lord Jesus said, “In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and you shall become My disciples” (15:8). In fruit-bearing the Father’s life, the divine life, is expressed. Therefore, He is glorified in fruit-bearing. This corresponds to the thought in 12:23-24 that glorification is a matter of multiplication. Fruit-bearing is a matter of multiplication, propagation, and production. This multiplication is the Father’s glorification. Therefore, the organism of the vine with its branches is for the glorification of the Son that the Father may be glorified in Him.
The vine in John 15 is a universal tree for the expression of the Father. The Son is the vine, and the Father is glorified in the Son’s expansion. Furthermore, the corporate man-child born through Christ’s resurrection is also an aspect of His glorification.
The three illustrations of the house, the vine, and the child all indicate aspects of Christ’s glorification that the Father may be glorified in Him. After giving a message using these illustrations, the Lord Jesus concluded with a prayer for His glorification, praying that the Father would glorify the Son that the Son may glorify the Father.
The believers enjoy the dispensing of the divine Trinity in the divine transformation for the divine conformation. In the section of the Gospel of John from 12:23 to the end of chapter seventeen we see the real significance of the divine dispensing. The divine dispensing is for our transformation and is actually in this transformation. In the divine transformation we are enjoying the divine dispensing for conformation to the image of the firstborn Son of God. Eventually, we, the many sons, will be the same as He is, having divinity as well as humanity. As we participate in this dispensing of the divine Trinity, the Son is glorified in us, and the Father is glorified in the Son’s glorification.
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