the fulfillment of the Lord’s prayer concerning glorification in John 17

The Lord’s prayer in John 17 is the highest and the deepest prayer in the Bible, and it is also very mysterious.

He prayed for the Father to glorify Him that He may glorify the Father, and then later He prayed a lot about oneness – the oneness of the Triune God to be enlarged to include the believers, so that the world may know and believe.

The Lord’s mysterious prayer for glorification was answered, it is being answered, and will be answered by the Father in three stages: in the Lord’s resurrection, through the church today, and in the New Jerusalem in eternity. Hallelujah, God will be glorified in Christ and through the church!

The Lord Jesus was glorified in His resurrection

In His resurrection, the Lord’s divine life was released from the shell of His humanity for the glorification of the Father, and it was imparted into His many believers (see John 12:23-24). In His resurrection, the Lord’s whole being with His humanity was brought into glory (Luke 24:26), and the Father’s divine element was expressed and manifested.

The Father was glorified in the Son’s resurrection, since all the divine life’s beauty, essence, color, shape, and all the rich aspects of the divine life were released.

Hallelujah, in His resurrection the Lord Jesus was manifested and glorified, and in this glorification the Father also was glorified!

The Lord Jesus is glorified today in the church

The Lord’s prayer for glorification in John 17 is being today fulfilled through the church – His resurrection life has been, is, and will be expressed through the many members of the Body of Christ, so that Christ may be glorified through them and that God the Father may be glorified through Christ in the church (Eph. 3:21; 1 Tim. 3:15-16).

Today as we meet with the saints as the church, we exhibit Christ for His expression and glorification. We come together to testify the Lord and we are the Lord’s testimony and expression where we study, work, and live – for the Lord Jesus to be glorified!

Throughout the centuries and all over the earth the Lord Jesus is glorified as His believers express Him, enjoy Him, are His testimony, and live Christ. The Lord’s prayer for glorification is still being fulfilled today in and through the church.

The Lord Jesus will be glorified in the New Jerusalem

For eternity and for ever, God will be fully glorified and expressed in glory through the Son as the lamp and through the transparent jasper-wall city of New Jerusalem (see Rev. 21:11, 23-24).

This is the third and the consummate stage of the fulfilment of the Lord’s prayer for glorification in John 17. The city of New Jerusalem is a vessel to contain God and express Him fully in glory for eternity.

God the Father is the light of the city, God the Son is the lamp which diffuses the light to make it communicable, and the Spirit is the shining of the light; we as the transformed and glorified people of God simply magnify, radiate, and express Him as the walls to the entire universe!

For eternity, God will be glorified in Christ and through the New Jerusalem, His built up, transformed, and glorified people!

God is glorified through our oneness

We have seen how the Triune God was, is, and will be eternally glorified as the Father through the Son and by the Spirit, in man.

In John 17 we also see that the way God is glorified today is through our oneness. As we are being perfected into one, as we keep the oneness of the Spirit and have the one accord in the church, God is glorified and expressed through us.

This oneness is simply the oneness of the Triune God being enlarged to include us. The oneness of the Body is the enlarged oneness of the Triune God. Today we are being perfected into one to express God corporately for His glorification!

May the Lord fulfill His prayer and aspiration in John 17 through us and among us today!

Lord, gain Your glory today in the church! We just want to pray one with You, Lord, that God may be glorified in Christ and through the church. Perfect us into one, Lord, that we may express You corporately. Fulfill the aspiration and the prayer in John 17 even among us today in the church. May God be glorified through the perfected saints in oneness in all the churches all over the earth! That they all may be one!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from, Life-study of John (pages 460, 462-463), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Genuine Oneness of the Body, the Proper One Accord in the Church, and the Direction of the Lord’s Move Today, week 1.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Christ’s divinity is glorious indeed; / Was concealed in Him as in a grain of wheat.
  # Let us exhibit Christ; / We’ll bring His surplus to the church / And thus exhibit Christ.
  # How glorious, how bright it shines, / The holy, new Jerusalem.
• Picture source: God is glorified in Christ (sun shining).