“These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” John 17:1-5

The hour had come. Jesus was about to go to the cross to suffer and die for the sins of the world and then rise again. On the eve of His death, He prayed that God the Father would glorify Him (the Son) so that He also might glorify the Father by giving eternal life to all that the Father had given to Him. To this end, God the Father had given Jesus authority over all flesh.

Jesus is here praying to His heavenly Father that, after He died for sin and accomplished our redemption by shedding His blood on the cross, the Father would exalt and glorify Him to His right hand so that He might also pour out the Holy Spirit and give to all God’s elect the eternal salvation which He won for us. In this way, God the Father, too, would receive glory for saving us from sin and death and giving us everlasting life.

What is eternal life? Jesus said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” To have eternal life is to know God the Father, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom the Father sent into the world to redeem us.

Notice that it does not say: “To know about God and about Jesus Christ.” It says: “That they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” Jesus, on another occasion, said, “No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him” (Matt. 11:27).

Can anyone then know God the Father, or God the Son, if it were not given to him of God? No, it is a gracious gift of God to know Him and to know Jesus as God the Son and our Savior (cf. John 1:11-13, 18; 6:37-40, 44-47, 63, 65; Matt. 16:15-17). And to know God the Father and Christ Jesus, His Son, is to know and receive by faith the eternal salvation Jesus won for us by His innocent sufferings and death on the cross.

Do you know God and His Son, Jesus Christ? Or do you merely know about God and His Son? It is one thing to know of God and of Jesus and what He did for us and then continue on in our old ways. It is quite another to take hold of God’s mercy and grace through faith in Jesus Christ and to walk in fellowship with God (cf. 1 John 1 and 2). To have eternal life is to know and embrace God the Son as our Savior and walk with Him (cf. 1 John 5:11-13; Eph. 2:8-10).

Jesus finished the work which God the Father had sent Him into the world to do. He was on the way to the cross to pay in full for our sins and the sins of the whole world. Thus, Jesus brought glory to the Father, who had sent Him, by finishing His redemptive work. Jesus prayed that the Father would now glorify Him with the glory that He had with the Father before the world was created. This God the Father did when Jesus was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven to rule over all things and bring men into His eternal kingdom! Cf. Col. 1:12-14.

Dear Lord Jesus, graciously grant that we may truly know You and the Father and partake of Your grace and mercy through faith. We ask this for the sake of your holy and precious blood shed for us upon the cross. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]