Christ was glorified by the Father with the divine glory in His resurrection. John 7:39b says, “The Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” Many readers of the Bible might find this verse easier to understand if resurrected were used instead of glorified, for then the verse would say, “The Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been resurrected.” But the verse does not say “had not yet been resurrected”; it says “had not yet been glorified.” However, glorified actually stands for resurrected, for the Lord was glorified when He was resurrected. In Luke 24:26 the Lord said of Himself, “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into His glory?” This refers to His resurrection (v. 46), which brought Him into glory (1 Cor. 15:43a; Acts 3:13a, 15a). For Christ to enter into His glory, into His glorification, was for Him to enter into His resurrection. This means that He was glorified in His resurrection. His resurrection was His glorification.
According to the New Testament thought, resurrection is a release in life, and this release in life is a matter of glorification. Just before He was about to be crucified, the Lord Jesus prayed not that the Father would resurrect Him but that the Father would glorify Him. The Father answered this prayer for glorification by resurrecting the Lord Jesus (Acts 3:13; Matt. 22:31-32). Glorification is therefore a synonym of resurrection. However, glorification is not for resurrection; rather, resurrection is for glorification. Resurrection is the cause, and glorification is the effect, the result.
We have seen how Christ the Son was glorified in His resurrection. Now by what way will the Son be glorified today so that the Father might be glorified in and through the Son? It is by the church. When the church has been regenerated, sanctified, crucified, and united with Christ in glory, then the Son of God will be expressed and manifested. The Son of God will be glorified in the oneness of the church, and the Father at that time will also be glorified in and through the Son. Therefore, the prayer, “Glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You,” includes and depends upon the matter of the church being regenerated, sanctified, crucified, and united in oneness with the Son of God. God is glorified in Christ and in the church in the church age (Eph. 3:21). If we are not a part of the church, we will miss this glorification.
John was very strong to unveil the glorification of the incarnated Jesus, that is, the glorification of Christ by God with His glory. Christ was not self-glorified by His own exaltation, but He was glorified by God. In His being glorified, He as a grain of wheat passed through death unto resurrection, and that is glorification. His glorification was to produce us as many grains. He is the one grain; we are the many grains. We as the many grains are the totality, the aggregate, of Christ as the unique grain sown into the earth. When Christ was resurrected, He was glorified to produce us as His many grains to form and constitute His Body.
Glory is the expression of the divine life and the divine nature. If we live by the divine life and nature, we shall express the divine glory. The more the saints live by the divine life and the divine nature, the more glorious the church life is, and the more divine glory there will be in the church. When we live by the divine life with the divine nature, we express the Lord Jesus. This is the Lord’s glorification in us, and in this glorification the Father is glorified.
We can boldly testify of the fact that we all have the Lord Jesus within us. But we probably do not have the boldness to say that the Lord is expressed from within us. This may be because we are so strong in ourselves that the Lord Jesus often does not have a way to be expressed through us. Our self, comparable to marble, is hard and completely opaque, thus completely covering the Lord Jesus. This is the reason we need the Lord’s breaking. Although we may be like marble, the Lord has a way to break us. By the cross He breaks our marble self.
We should have the faith to believe that more and more the Lord will be expressed in us. If we give Him the way to grow in us and to come forth from within us, we shall express Him more and more. Then the churches will be filled with the divine glorification.
Furthermore, when the believers as the branches bear much fruit, the Father is glorified, for in fruit-bearing the Father’s life, the divine life, is expressed. In John 15:8 we see that glorification is in fruit-bearing: “In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit.” According to 12:24 the one grain fell into the ground and died, rose up, and brought forth many grains. This is multiplication, and this multiplication is glorification. Hence, the many grains of wheat in 12:24 are the many branches of the vine in chapter fifteen. The branches of the vine bear fruit, and this fruit-bearing is the Father’s glorification. The more fruit we bear, the more God is glorified in our Christian work.