The second thing brought before us is that on the cross God also was glorified in the Son of man: “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.” “Satan having here all the sorrowful rights that he had acquired through our sin, Christ — perfect as a man, alone, apart from all men, in obedience, and having as man but one object, that is, the glory of God, thus divinely perfect, sacrificing Himself for this purpose — fully glorified God. God was glorified in Him. His justice, His majesty, His truth, His love — all was verified on the cross as they are in Himself, and revealed only there; and that with regard to sin.” And this witness is true, for God had claims upon man, and of necessity all that He is was against man because of sin. And, blessed be His name, He that knew no sin was made sin for us, and there in the place of sin He met the full and complete judgment of God against it; and He glorified God in all that He is in doing it, so that God, set free in righteousness, can make those for whom Christ died the righteousness of God in Christ. Such is the effect of the Son of man having glorified God on the cross, and such is God’s triumph — the triumph of His grace over Satan and man’s sin. In eternity alone will the extent of His victory be displayed.
There is yet another thing: if God be glorified in Him, in the Son of man on the cross, the Lord proceeds to say, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him. The language is most precise, and the word “straightway” will, we judge, give the key for its interpretation. The first clause cannot mean less than that God, in response to His being glorified in the death of Christ, would glorify Him in Godhead glory, for, as we read in one of Paul’s epistles, the glory of God is displayed in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4). And if in another aspect, the reference must be to the same thing when the Lord says, in speaking to the Father in chapter 17 of this gospel, “I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now, 0 Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” This much then may be affirmed in connection with this transcendent subject, that the glory on which Christ has entered as man at God’s right hand, is the expression of God’s estimate of that glorious work which was wrought out in the death of His beloved Son; and second, that by that work Christ established a claim upon the Father’s heart, a claim which it was the delight of God to acknowledge in the face of the whole universe. The exaltation of the Lord Jesus is thus the measure of God’s appreciation of His having glorified Him on Calvary. And, if we are in fellowship with the heart of God, we shall also delight in the glory of the Son of man; and the more we meditate upon it, the more will Christ be formed in us, inasmuch as it is through the contemplation of the glory which shines out unhinderedly, without a veil, from His blessed face, that we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Lord the Spirit.
It has been mentioned that the word “straightway” gives the key of this scripture. Its use, indeed, in this place is most striking. It calls our attention, we cannot doubt, to the fact that other glories would come in due time — the time already spoken of — in which Christ as Son of man will be Head of all men and all things, whether in heaven or on earth, and also to the circumstance that while all this was assured in the counsels of God, yet that God would not wait for this manifested glory in its own place and time, but would at once — immediately, as the word means — glorify the Son of man. This was, in fact, both His answer to man’s rejection of Christ, and also the announcement of His perfect satisfaction with what had been accomplished upon the cross. It is thus the complete revelation of the heart of. God toward His beloved Son; for the Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. And it is the peculiar privilege of the Christian to know Christ in His glory before He is manifested to the eyes of all, and thus to be associated with Him while He is hidden. It is to this the Apostle Paul refers when he writes to the Colossians, “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our [own] life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” John also writes of the same precious truth, saying, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear [is not yet in outward manifestation) what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear [be manifested), we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” To understand this is essential for entering into the proper character of the Christian life, as well as for the possession of the secret of all growth and blessing.
We said at the commencement of this meditation that the rest of the chapter — as well as chapter 14:1-3 — hang upon the verse we have considered. It might then be profitable to indicate the connection for the guidance of the reader. In the first place, after having told His disciples that God would glorify Him immediately, that there might be no manner of possibility of misunderstanding, He plainly tells them that He was about to depart from them. “Little children,” He says, “yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek Me; and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.” Then what do we next find? It is this: in the prospect of His absence there is a company — the company of His own (not merely of the twelve, for we read that, after the actual departure of Christ, there were a hundred and twenty waiting for “the promise of the Father,” but comprising all His followers) — who should be knit together in love, by that love which is the bond of perfectness. As He says to them, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” That is, His own love, and His own love as expressed in death for them, was to be the standard of their love one toward another. As the writer of this gospel says in his first epistle, “Hereby perceive we the love [what love is] of God, because He laid down His love for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” 1 John 3:1616Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16). No lower standard than this could be accepted, because it is the measure of the love of Christ.
If this be so, it will readily be apprehended that it is not only the absence of Christ which is here supposed, but also the presence of the Holy Spirit. For love in activity among this new company could only spring from the divine nature, from their having been quickened together with Christ, and this expressed in divine power. But it would take us too far to explain the teaching of this now; it will suffice to call attention to this new company bound together by the indissoluble tie, and clad with the beauteous robe of the divine nature, which is love. Remark also that the manifestation of this love to every member of the company, and to all alike, would become their proper testimony in the world. “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.” It is not, therefore, the holding of certain truths, not the possession of light, but loving one another, which is the testimony that we are the disciples of Christ. Let us not shrink from facing this divine fact; and, as we face it, let us ask ourselves whether this testimony has not utterly failed. The broken state of the Church, the divisions of Christendom, and sectarian rivalries and jealousies alike proclaim our disgrace.
And there is another question we might ask. It is, whether in the circle of our own fellowship loving one another is the prominent characteristic. Surely if we are faithful in the answer we render, it will bring us into deeper humiliation before God. If this be the effect, it can only lead to blessing, as it must produce self-judgment and restoration. Then the hindrances to the manifestation of love being removed, there will be soon seen, at least in the little circle of believers in which we live and move, the normal testimony of the Church in the midst of the world.
The next thing is the intrusion of Peter with the inquiry, “Lord, whither goest Thou?” Peter really loved the Lord, but in the consciousness of this he was under the delusion (alas! how many of us have often made the same mistake!) that he could, in the energy and strength of his own affection follow the Lord even through death itself. “Lord,” he replied, when told that he could not follow Him then, “why cannot I follow Thee now? I will lay down my life for Thy sake.” Wilt thou do this? was the Lord’s response; and then He drew back the curtain and revealed that on that very night, before the cock crew, His poor disciple should deny Him thrice.
Such is man, and even man at his best, when trusting to himself. And this is the significance of this scene in this connection. It is the Lord writing the sentence of death upon all that man is in the person of Peter, to the end that man in all that he is may forever pass away from the eyes of God’s people, as completely as he has passed away from the eye of God judicially in the cross of Christ.
Before adding a few words upon the beginning of chapter 14, let us recall the circumstances of the disciples. The Lord, as already seen, has made known to them His approaching departure, and now He reveals to them that Peter — Peter who had been so prominent among them, and who had been one of three who were permitted to witness His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, as also the sorrows of Gethsemane — was about to fall into the depths of shame through thrice denying his Lord. It was a terrible position, inasmuch as, as far as this world was concerned, they were losing everything. Yes, death was thus written upon all their human hopes; but, blessed be God, it is just when by grace we are enabled to accept death upon everything here that He can open out to our vision the glories of the world beyond. This truth is here strikingly illustrated. It was precisely when the disciples had, through the communications made to them, come to the end of everything, that the Lord said, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” And then He proceeded to unfold to them the Father’s house, that He was going to prepare a place for them in it, and that He would come again to receive them unto Himself, that where He was they might be also. What unspeakable consolation for their sorrowful hearts!
But it is not our purpose to comment at this time upon the revelation thus made to the hearts of the disciples, or the antidote it contains for troubled souls for all time. We only desire now to emphasize its principle, that -the brightness of this world must be dimmed, in whatever way it may be brought about, that the end of man and man’s hopes must be accepted, that there must be the absolute closing up of all human hopes if we would gaze with unclouded vision upon, and dwell in spirit amid, the blessedness of the Father’s house, where all the redeemed will be finally gathered, every one of whom will be conformed to the image of God’s Son, and where He will forever be in their midst, in His blessed pre-eminence, as the First-born among many brethren.
Does the reader inquire how it is possible to dwell now in that glorious circle? The answer is: only in one way. It is only when in the power of the Holy Spirit we admit Christ into our hearts, and yield to Him full and undisputed sway, that in responsive affection we shall be constrained to follow Him to the other side of death, where He is; and then we shall live of His life, and feast ourselves upon His own delights.