In the foregoing messages, we saw three aspects of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God: the Father’s house (John 14), the true vine (John 15), and the newborn child (John 16). Christ is the house for God to have a mutual abiding place for His rest, satisfaction, and manifestation. Christ as the vine tree is God’s enlargement for His multiplication, spreading, and glorification. Also, Christ is the new man to carry out God’s eternal economy. In John 17 we come to the fourth aspect of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God—the Father’s glorification.
The main point of the Lord’s message in John 14 through 16 is that the Son may be glorified so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. The Father is glorified in the Son through the organism of the vine tree. As we have seen, the organism of the vine tree is for the propagating and spreading of life, that is, for the multiplication and reproduction of life, and also for the expression of the Triune God. When the Triune God is propagated, multiplied, and expressed through this organism, the Son is glorified, and in the Son’s glorification the Father is glorified also. Thus, the Lord prayed in John 17 that He, the Son, would be glorified so that the Father also might be glorified.
The Lord’s prayer was 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 (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 in His resurrection and glorification. In His resurrection God answered and fulfilled His prayer (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 ultimately be fulfilled in the New Jerusalem, in that He will be fully expressed in glory, and God will be glorified in Him through the holy city for eternity (Rev. 21:11, 23-24).
God’s eternal purpose, His ultimate intention, is to manifest, express, Himself. Glorification simply means manifestation. To be glorified is to be manifested and expressed. Just as the electricity hidden in a lamp is glorified when the electricity is manifested in a lamp that is turned on, so God is glorified when He is manifested.
In John 12:28 the Lord prayed, “Father glorify Your name.” To glorify the name of the Father is to cause the Father’s divine element to be released and expressed. The Father’s element, the divine life, which is eternal life, was in the incarnated Son. It was necessary for the shell of the Son’s humanity to be broken through death so that the Father’s element might be released and expressed in resurrection. This is the glorification of God the Father in the Son. The Father is glorified in the Son’s glorification because in this glorification the Father is expressed.
In 13:31-32 the Lord also said, “Now has the Son of Man been glorified, and God has been glorified in Him. If God has been glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and He will glorify Him immediately.” The Father is glorified in the Son. This means that when the Son is glorified, the Father is glorified as well. 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.
After speaking the words recorded in John 13:31 and 32, the Lord Jesus went on to give the lengthy message recorded in John 14 through 16. Actually, this message began in 13:31, which speaks of the glorification of the Son. Both the Lord’s message in chapters fourteen through sixteen and His prayer in chapter seventeen are on the subject of glorification. In His message He spoke concerning glorification, and in His prayer He prayed concerning glorification.
In John 17:1 the Lord Jesus prayed, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You.” Here we see glorification as the subject of the Lord’s prayer in chapter seventeen. The Father is to glorify the Son so that the Son may glorify the Father. This is a mutual glorification between the Son and the Father. If the Father will glorify the Son, then the Son will glorify the Father. Hence, the Son was to be glorified by the Father that the Father may be glorified in Him. Furthermore, for the Lord to be glorified is for Him to be multiplied. This means that the divine life within Him, the Father’s life, would be multiplied and thereby be glorified.
Christ was God incarnate, and His flesh was a tabernacle in which God could dwell on earth (1:14). His divine element was confined in His humanity, just as God’s shekinah glory had been concealed within the tabernacle. Once, on the mountain of transfiguration, His divine element was released from within His flesh and expressed in glory (Matt. 17:1-4). But then it was concealed again in His flesh. Before the prayer recorded in John 17, the Lord indicated that He would be glorified and that the Father would be glorified in Him. The Lord Jesus knew that He would pass through death so that the concealing shell of His humanity might be broken to release His divine element, His divine life. He would also resurrect that He might uplift His humanity into the divine element and that His divine element might be expressed. Then His entire being, both His divinity and His humanity, would be glorified. In this way the Father would be glorified in Him.
In John 17:5 the Lord Jesus went on to say in His prayer, “And now, glorify Me along with Yourself, Father, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” This verse reveals that the Son is to be glorified along with the Father. This means that the Son is exactly the same as the Father in glorification. The Son is glorified along with the Father and with the same glory that the Father has. He had the divine glory along with the Father before the world was, in eternity past; hence, He should be glorified now with that glory along with the Father. The Lord participates in the divine glory, not separately by Himself, but along with the Father, for He and the Father are one (10:30).
Before His incarnation Christ as the only begotten Son of God was with the Father in glory and enjoyed this glory with the Father. But when He with this glory put on flesh through incarnation, this glory was concealed in His flesh. His humanity was a shell that covered and confined the divine life and nature, along with the divine glory, that were within Him. The divine glory, the expression of the divine life and nature, was therefore confined and concealed within the Lord’s humanity. Outwardly, He appeared to be a Jew, even a despised Nazarene. That was the appearance of the shell of Christ’s humanity. But within this shell the divine life, nature, and glory were concealed. Through His death and by His work in His resurrection, Christ released the divine life from within Him to produce many grains for His glorification.