“And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.” John 17:10
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen
Gloria Patri – Charles Meineke (1782-1850)
Wherever God the Father and God the Son in Scripture are interconnected, “glory” is involved! In John 17:1, it is the Father glorifying the Son, and the Son glorifying the Father. In John 17:4, it is the Son glorifying the Father in doing His will on earth, and in John 17:5, it is a request by the Son for the Father to glorify Him while on earth with the same glory He had with the Father before the world began. I think it was Warren Wiersbe who said, “To glorify God is to make Him look good.” Well, there is no question that while on earth Jesus the Son and God the Father made each other not only look good but perfect! They had a right to display their divine attributes and in many ways they did, but always for each other’s glory.
In John 17:10 Jesus is making request with reference to the disciples because they do not belong to Him alone but also to the Father. The believer is in debt to double ownership. What more assurance could we ask regarding the security of our salvation? Whatever God possesses the Son possesses, whatever the Son possesses God possesses! Not only is the believer in debt to double ownership but we are also heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:7). Our text would only make sense if the Father and Son were of one essence, a very strong evidence of Deity!
All things in the entire universe belong to each other for in reality all things in the universe were created by both the Father and the Son (Hebrews 1:1-3). Mutual ownership always involves mutual interest and we, through grace alone, are the recipients of such divine favor and intimate attention. We are never out of sight nor out of mind of God the Father and God the Son. To be the object of even one of the Godhead would be sufficient but the watchfulness of both is necessary and essential for they are One.
In reflecting upon the Triune Godhead we must not neglect the third Person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. He also is intimately involved in this glory: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Corinthians 3:18). The Holy Spirit brings glory into the picture by convicting the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment (John 16:5-15). He is called the Spirit of truth, sent by the Father at the request of the Son to be our Helper and not leave us as orphans in this world (John 14:16-18). The Holy Spirit dwells within every genuine believer so in a sense we are “triple” owned and “triple” blessed.
As we ponder upon the glory of the Triune Godhead, we must never forget that EVERYONE who is called by HIS name has been created for His glory (Isaiah 43:7), and WHATEVER we do we are to do it to the glory of God (I Corinthians 10:31). May we revel in the thought of each of the Triune Godhead having a part in bringing us into the family of God (I Peter 1:2). From sunrise to sunset may we give glory to the Triune Godhead.
Praise to the Ever-Blessed Trinity
Isaac Watts
Blest be the Father and His love, to whose celestial source we owe
Rivers of endless joy above and rills of comfort here below.
Glory to Thee, great Son of God, from whose dear wounded body rolls
A precious stream of vital blood, pardon and life for dying souls.
We give Thee, sacred Spirit, praise, Who in our hearts of sin and woe
Makes living springs of grace arise, and into boundless glory flow.
Thus God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit we adore;
That sea of life and love unknown, without a bottom or a shore.
Photo by: Melissa (Creative Commons)