God's Unity In His Glory Series

God’s Unity in His Glory

Unity, Harmony, and Community – Part 1

John 17:1-5

In the beginning of eternity (if you could say that), there was God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit – the Trinity. They enjoyed perfect community. They reflected each other’s glory. Let me tell you something – something really amazing:

God never had an argument. God never had a disagreement with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. No conflict. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit never had conflict. In these verses in John 17, we see the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. While the Holy Spirit is not mentioned in this chapter, He is mentioned in the previous chapter and therefore we know that He exists as a member of the Divine Team.

God gave Jesus power – authority. Jesus took that power and gives it to us in the form of eternal life. Because God delegated authority to Jesus, you have to accept that authority. If you ask God for eternal life, He will say: “Talk to my Son about it. He is the One who knows all about that. He handles the Eternal Life Department.” God says: “I could give eternal life to you. But I am going to make you ask my Son. You accept Jesus and you get life. Therefore, Jesus is the only way to God.

God does not say: Go to Mohammad, or go to Buddha, or go to someone else who thinks they have eternal life. God says if you want eternal life, go talk to my Son. Ask Him and He will give you the access key.

Why does God say that? Because Jesus gives God glory when Jesus does what God asks Him to do. God says that He will not share His glory with another.

I am the LORD, that is My name;

And My glory I will not give to another,

Nor My praise to carved images.

(Isaiah 42:8 NKJV)

He will only share it with Jesus.

God will not allow someone else to come in and try to tear the unity He has with Jesus. That’s why God says:

“You want eternal life? Then come to Jesus My Son.”

“You want unity? Get to know Jesus.”

Whatever comes through Jesus, gives Me glory, God says. God says that when you know Jesus, you will glorify Me.

Let us first define the word glory. You hear it every time you say the word “doxology.” Here is the theological definition: The glory of God is the revelation and manifestation of all that God has and is. It is His Self-revelation in which God manifests all the goodness that is His. God is honored when He gives all of Himself. God is praised when He gives all of Himself. God is acknowledged as God when He gives all of Himself. This revealing of the glory of God is in all of the good that He is. The source of this good comes from His love.

Now if that did not put you to sleep, here is a simpler explanation. Because God is at His foundational quality love, Jesus is said to glorify God by praising and honoring God and acknowledging God’s love in the good things He does. This is what it means to glorify God. So here is a definition:

To glorify God is to praise and honor God and acknowledge God’s love in the good things He does.

Jesus asks for God to do the same thing. He wants God to praise and honor Jesus and acknowledge Jesus’ love in the good thing He is going to do. Jesus is going to the cross to die as an act of love for GOD – so that God can step in and be with His children.

Without the death of Christ, God cannot reach us. But with the death of Christ, God can truly love us. But the love is first between God and Christ.

Jesus looks forward to the time when He and God can continue sharing in the love and unity that They both had before Jesus came to earth. This is why He says for God to glorify Jesus with God Himself as the Father.

Jesus looks forward to the day when He is back up in heaven, hanging out with God the father, enjoying perfect community. He wants to enjoy the happy times He has had with God before He was on earth.

I don’t think that Jesus is talking about community like the way we may see it on television, or the way we influenced to have community. There is a commercial that has two guys sitting around having a beer and saying: “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

Jesus and God sitting around and enjoying one another is much more. They have been praising, honoring, and acknowledging each other’s love (along with the Holy Spirit) for a long time – actually longer than time in fact.