Glory

Sunday after Ascension   John 17:20-26

 

“ Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am: that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.” 17:24

 

    Today the church celebrates Ascension ----when our Lord was lifted up bodily into heaven.  “ …while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight” Acts 1:9  Of course we also remember mothers today, those here and those not here. 

 

    The verse above from John records what Jesus willed for all those who believe in Him.  He wills that they may be with Him where He is.  That is what we call heaven or glorification.  One day we shall see Him as He is ( I John 3:2).  So it is good we recall mothers today for some of our mothers are definitely enjoying that bliss now with Christ we trust.

 

    On Easter we prayed along with the Apostle Paul , “ If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.  Set your affection on things above , not on things on the earth.  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.  When Christ , who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3

 

   Charles Erdman called this in very truth, “ The Lord’s Prayer”.  Jesus prays for His glorification, ours and for His church.  Melanchton said, “ there is no voice which has ever been heard, either in heaven or in earth, more exalted, more holy, more fruitful, more sublime, than this prayer offered up by the Son of God himself.”

 

    We live in a lonely age.  People are so lonely they cannot find company .  Instead they resort to technology and tv to find companionship but the loneliness does not go away .  As Augustine said , “  Great are you, O Lord, and exceedingly worthy of praise; your power is immense, and your wisdom beyond reckoning. And so we men, who are a due part of your creation, long to praise you – we also carry our mortality about with us, carry the evidence of our sin and with it the proof that you thwart the proud. You arouse us so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in you.


Grant me to know and understand, Lord, which comes first. To call upon you or to praise you? To know you or to call upon you? Must we know you before we can call upon you? Anyone who invokes what is still unknown may be making a mistake. Or should you be invoked first, so that we may then come to know you? But how can people call upon someone in whom they do not yet believe? And how can they believe without a preacher?”

 

 

But still loneliness persists because people are still not finding true rest in God alone and in His Church which He gave.  They are looking for something that they cannot find by themselves.  I recall what the Psalmist said, “  As the hart panteth after the water brooks , so panteth my soul after thee, O God.  My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” Ps 42

 

As we conclude today’s meditation, let us hear what Jesus said in His prayer for us:

 

“ And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ , whom thou hast sent. …O Father glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was…Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me , that they may be one, as we are. 

 

Thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.  “

 

That is our prayer too.  We cannot force it. We cannot will it. We cannot demand.  But we can pray for it that our gracious Sovereign Christ would grant it . 

 

In the Name of the Father , and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.