John 17:24 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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John 17:24

Comments

Only God could say these words. If a man said this, it would be a most terrible and arrogant thing to say. ‘Father, it is my desire that people may see me and behold attributes in me’: the sin of pride, arrogance, conceit. Only God can say this in purity. And Christ can say, ‘Father, I will that they may behold my glory.’ For him it is a pure and wonderful thing to say. He is our God, he is our Creator; it is entirely proper and right for him.Why does he say it, though? Do we not teach biblically that Christ the Son has always been, and though he is the Son nevertheless he is from eternity with the Father? There has never been a time when there was not Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is not the Son in the sense that the Father created him. He has always been entirely equal with the Father, as is the Holy Spirit. Equally God, equal in knowledge, equal in power, equal in holiness, equal in every respect. So what is this about the Father giving him something? What can that be? Is there something which he has not always had because it was given to him? Well, there is only one thing that Christ has not always had which was given to him by the Father and that is his human nature, and that must be what he is referring to. This glory is tied up with his human nature. Mysteriously and wonderfully there was bestowed upon Christ a human nature. It is not separate from his divine nature. We cannot separate between the two. The two co-exist perfectly. But it is something new which he received to be our representative, to be incarnate, to be the God-man. Because we cannot see God the Father, he is invisible, incomprehensible. Everything that is in God the Father is expressed marvellously in the human nature of God the Son, who we can see. He received a human nature fused mysteriously with his eternal divine nature to come to earth and he took it back with him to heaven. And because he is God-man, glorified in heaven, we can see him, and in him we see all the attributes of God. ‘That they may behold my glory.’ The representation, the reflection, the image of the whole Godhead is somehow expressed in the visible wonder of Christ in his glorified form eternally.There are people who have very heightened sensitivities for beautiful things. We can all admire beautiful things and wonderful landscapes and glorious places. And there are some people who seem to be endowed with heightened sensitivities, and they really appreciate them and take them in and can see far more detail and far more wonders than most of us can, and gaze at something, some scene, some work of art for ages. But there is something for them thousands of times better, and that is the sight of God and his attributes enshrined in Christ, glorified in the eternal glory.

Application

On this earth we cannot imagine his glory. If we are in an unspiritual mood, it may not even seem marvellously attractive to us. But to the saved mind set free from all sin and protected in the heavenly glory to be able to see our God in Christ in his glorified, human nature; to see the kindness, to see love, to see compassion and mercy and power and wisdom, it is so exciting and amazing and astounding and absorbing and energising and praise provoking. If only we could see the depths of the words – ‘Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory.’ That is our chief occupation, the sight of Christ our dear Saviour. Up till now we have seen not even a fraction of the wonders of the Godhead in Christ.

Questions

Most of the modern versions try their best to keep this in the mode of prayer, of a subordinate to a superior. But they are not right in doing this, and therefore they translate verse 24 – Father, I desire that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. But the older versions, the King James Version also, are quite right – ‘Father, I will …’ The Greek is absolutely to do with the will, not with the desire, and that is how the term is used and translated elsewhere in the New Testament. We could turn, for instance, to Ephesians 1.11 where the apostle Paul speaks of – ‘the counsel of his own will’. It is a translation of the same word. ‘I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may be behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.’ There was the equality, the concert of the Trinity, the equality of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, equally glorious, and it is the will of the Son, so it must be the will of the Father and the Spirit also that his people are with him where he is.

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

John 17:24 Commentary and Bible Study