Jesus' High Priestly Prayer -- Part 2

We’re continuing our series of thoughts on Jesus’ high priestly prayer of John 17.

In the next phrase of Christ’s prayer He says that the “hour has come.” At least three times (John 7:6 John 2:4 John 7:30) the Scripture says that His hour had not yet come. Here though the time has come. The whole purpose of His coming was to die on the cross to pay the penalty of sin. That time was upon Him at that very moment. The crucial events immediately leading up to the crucifixion had begun. This was it.

It’s interesting though to observe the way He describes this hour. It is the hour of His glorification. Sometimes we look at the betrayal of Christ and His rejection by the people and His ultimate crucifixion as anything but glorious. But to Jesus and to God, this was what it was all about. This was the purpose for his coming. In John 12:27 Jesus’ soul is described as troubled and Jesus says clearly that for this purpose He had come to this hour. The glory of God is revealed in the cross and to unpack all of that would take an entire book, but what strikes me as crucial is what Romans 3:26 says. The cross was a demonstration of the righteousness of God in that God was just in His condemnation and judgment of sin and at the same time gracious in that He is able to justify those who have faith in Jesus.

To me this is the glory of the Gospel. Some people look at God as a kind loving grandfather figure who lovingly embraces all. And while that picture has some sentimental beauty, it does not accurately show forth the glory of God’s righteousness and justice. Who else but God could have thought of a means whereby both aspects of His glory could be shown in one event!