"Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again" (John 12:28).
In the seventeenth chapter of John, our Lord Jesus gives us the incredible privilege of listening in on His intimate prayer to the Father. Jesus "lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee" (John 17:1). Later in that same prayer, Jesus said, "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was" (v. 5). Here Jesus was looking beyond His upcoming death, burial, and resurrection when He would once again be returned to glory.
Jesus glorified the Father by finishing "the work which thou gavest me to do" (v. 4). This work came to fruition when Jesus bore "our sins in His own body on the tree" (I Peter 2:24) and cried out "It is finished!" (John 19:30).
Jesus sacrificed His body for our sins and brought God glory. As Christ's disciples, we are also given the tremendous opportunity to glorify God in our bodies "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (I Corinthians 6:20). Our lives should be passionately devoted to bringing God glory because He is worthy. This was the heartbeat behind Paul's exhortation to us when he said, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12:1).
May we look forward to the day when we can join "every creature which is in heaven" and proclaim with a loud voice, "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever" (Revelation 5:13). MDR
