Christ." (1 Cor. xv. 57.) Yea, let us, if we do believe in our almighty and merciful Redeemer, let us, in all our trials, take the promised comfort, and be thankful. LECTURE LX. We now enter upon the prayer of Jesus, for Himself, and His apostles, and all believers: it is one of the most interesting and affecting portions of the New Testament; it shews the character of Christ as God and man, as also His deep affectionate concern for the salvation of His people, together with the origin and means of their salvation. CHAP. XVII. 1. 1. These words spake Jesus, the words in the three foregoing chapters, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, as men are wont in prayer, and Luke 18. 13. said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: "Glorify thy Son," by enabling Him to go through the bitter agony which awaits Him, to triumph over sin and satan, death and the grave; to rise again and ascend into the heavens: that so the Father might be honoured, in the truth of His word by Christ Jesus, in the accomplishment of the gospel scheme, in the Dan. 7. 14. Matt. 11.27. shewing of His mercy, in the conversion of sinners and bringing them to glory: thus it is said in ver 2. 2. As thou hast given him power over all Phil. 2. 10. flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. This is here said especially of the apostles. The Father had given them to Christ; had called them, through Him, to their great office and work; they through grace had obeyed the call; had cleaved stedfastly and faithfully to Him; and thereby shewed that they were the chosen of God: for their sake, Christ was endued, in the exercise of His divine office as Mediator and Saviour, with power over all mankind; power, by which he would give His apostles grace and strength to persevere; power, by which He would restrain the hearts and hands of the wicked, and suffer them not to prevail against His people. Jesus speaks of power being given to Him, as He speaks of Himself being sent; given and sent as the Son of Man, who is graciously undertaking the work of man's salvation, is described as coming from the Father and acting under His authority; and not merely in His own name. 3. And this is life eternal, the means of life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Some persons have supposed this verse to teach us, not merely that the Father is the only true God, but that Jesus Christ is not the true God. That such cannot be the meaning of the words, we might conclude from 1 John v. 20. where Jesus Christ is called "the true God and eternal life." Our Lord here calls the Father the only true God, to distinguish Him from all false gods, which the heathens worshipped all true christian believers were thus to know the Father, which evidently means to honour and worship, to love and obey Him: but it is also immediately added, as a thing equally necessary, that they were also to know Jesus Christ: and this would scarcely have been added in such a way, in the same sentence, unless to imply and teach, that Jesus Christ must be known, even as the Father is known, that all men should "honour the Son even as they honour the Father;" and that "He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father, which hath sent him." Thus John 5. 23. again : "Who is a liar, but he that denieth John 2 that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, (the opposer of Christ,) that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father-If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father." From the manner therefore, of 22-24. our Lord's representing Himself as connected with the Father, in this third verse, we may rather infer that He did, than that He did not, intend to describe Himself as the only true God, in conjunction and union with the Father. 4. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. The course of His ministry was just at an end. 5. And now, O Father, glorify thou Phil. 2% me, with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Ch. 1.1, 2. Jesus prays again, as our surety and example; as Mediator, He would shew every blessing to be the result and effect of prayer; and therefore prays, that, after fighting and conquering, suffering and triumphing, He may rise and ascend, with His glorified body, to the place of His glory, to the heaven of heavens; where He was with the Father, before He came into the world, yea before the world was. In no other sense can these words properly be taken; and they fully prove the pre-existence and Godhead of Christ: that is, they prove that He had a being, as God, before He came into this world. Here we must stop. Let us pray, that this prayer of our Lord may make a due impression upon us; that it may teach us the duty of prayer, and be a means of imparting to us the spirit of prayer; Jesus prayed before He entered upon the scene of His terrible trials, that He might so pass through them, as to attain to His heavenly glory: doubtless He could have supplied Himself with power, or rather had power in Himself, but, as man and mediator, He besought these blessings; and has thereby shewn us by what means, by what only means, we are to stand prepared for all the undertakings and endurings, to which we may be called; even by "lifting up our eyes to heaven," by our earnest and faithful supplications to the God of grace and strength, that we may 66 so run as to obtain," so fight as to conquer, so suffer as to be glorified. Of our own strength we cannot do this, 66 we can do nothing;" and therefore Jesus has taught us to pray, has set us the example of prayer, in this most grand and interesting of all occasions. Let us pray, through the Lord of life and glory, to the only true God, that He will give unto us that eternal life which He has promised to them that believe; that we may know Him as our God, our reconciled God in Christ Jesus; and that we may have a hopeful evidence, in our hearts and lives, of being in the number of those, whom the Father hath given to His beloved Son, as the heirs of salvation; of those," who by patient continuance in well-doing" shall endure unto the end and be saved. And when our latter hour approaches, God grant that we may be enabled to say, with humble faith and a clear conscience, with an unclouded hope and a satisfied reliance upon the Re D D |