John 13: 31 – 38
Get your house in order
31 So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man Is glorified, and God Is glorified in Him. 32 If God Is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. 33 Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you. 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” 36 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.” 37 Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.” 38 Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.
If our Lord Jesus sent you this message – get your house in order, what would you do?
Do not think this so strange. Our Lord had told people before to do this. We read in 2 Kings 20: 1, “In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.'?”
Getting your house in order is something that we all know that we need to do but we are sometimes not sure of the best way to go about doing it. Getting your house in order begins with a mind set. You need to make a decision that you are going to do whatever it takes to get your house in order. You have to be on a mission.
So what does it mean to get your house in order? It means to take a hard look at what you are doing and arrange your affairs and solve any lingering problems.
Please make a note that from the remainder of chapter 13.31 through chapter 17.26 our Lord Jesus is putting His earthly house in order. Words spoken on approaching death, and especially on a deathbed, were considered to be particularly potent. There are numerous examples of this in Scripture, like the blessings of Jacob to his sons in Genesis 47.29-49.33, Moses’ farewell words in Deuteronomy 33, the farewell of Joshua to the nation of Israel in Joshua 22-24, and David's farewell speech in 1 Chronicles 28-29. Thus we must see these chapters as essentially spoken to the disciples, although of course we may apply much of what was said more generally as having wider implications. Within them, however, The Lord Jesus gives special promises of unique gifts and blessings which were only for His Apostles in their task of establishing the church.
It is noteworthy that they were not spoken until Judas had left the company. They did not apply to him. He had gone out into the night. These instructions and promises were for those who walked in the light of day.
The opening two verses reflect our Lord Jesus’ awareness of the pivotal nature of the situation. As He thought back to the glory which had been His with the Father before the world was He saw Himself as now returning to that glory. But it was to be a glory achieved by the glory of His self-offering of Himself. He would be glorified on the cross
In eternity our Lord Jesus had equal glory with the Father, and that He had revealed that glory in the Temple to Isaiah as YHWH as described in chapter 12.41. It was a glory which He relinquished in order to live among men, taking a lower place, so much so that He could say ‘(at present) my Father is greater than I’. And yet even then it could not be completely hidden for His life had shown forth that glory. In the end, however, it was a glory to which He would be fully restored so that He would have equal glory with the Father.
This is then followed by an attempt to prepare the Apostles for what was coming, and a stress on their need to love one another in view of His soon departure. He is returning to His former glory and status. They are going forward to battle with the world and with Satan, and love is to be their keyword, both His love and their love.
31 So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man Is glorified, and God Is glorified in Him. 32 If God Is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately.
We have here a whole package of glorification. The Son of Man Is about to be glorified, and God The Father Is to be glorified in Him. Then God will glorify Him in Himself, and will immediately glorify Him. This undoubtedly includes His being glorified on the cross but equally clearly involves His restoration to the glory that had once been His in His eternal existence, by way of resurrection and exaltation.
This glorification of the Son of Man is described in Daniel 7.13-14. ‘I saw in the night visions and behold there came with the clouds of Heaven (out of a period of suffering) One like to a Son of Man, and He came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him, and there was given Him dominion and GLORY and a kingship, that all the peoples nations and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and His kingship that which will not be destroyed.’ Thus The Lamb of God our Lord Jesus had very much in mind His entering out of suffering into the presence of the Father to receive eternal glory and kingship.
But His words here in these verses go even further than Daniel, for they include the thought of His being ‘glorified in God Himself’, something expanded on in His prayer in chapter 17 where He prays to be glorified ‘in the Father’s own self, with the glory which He had with Him before the world was’. Thus He was not only, on behalf of redeemed mankind, to receive the kingship (Acts 2.35), and in His glorified manhood take His place at the right hand of God, but He was also to be glorified with the Father’s essential glory, and take His place upon the Father’s throne (Revelation 3.21; 5.6).
It is significant that as Glorified Man His place was at the Father’s right hand, whilst in His Own divine glory His position was on the Father’s throne.
Please take note that our Lord Jesus’ statement is specifically connected with Judas’ departure to carry out his Satanic purpose. Events of huge significance were now involved, and The Lord Jesus has given permission for them to commence. By His voluntarily allowing Satan’s schemes to go forward our King and Master Jesus has initiated the procedure which will lead to His full glorification, both on the cross, and then in His final Glory. And He was fully aware of the fact.
So by His words to Judas our Lord and Savior Jesus has accepted His destiny on the cross, and by it He Is to be glorified (12.23-27), and God The Father Is also to be glorified in it, for He has willingly given His Son, revealing His love for mankind. In this way God commends His love towards us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5.8). Nothing brings greater glory to Father and Son than the cross and what it was accomplishing.
But it would not end there. For our Father God will further glorify Him. First of all we see in His own being a glory beyond our comprehension, and then by immediate resurrection and exaltation when He will be lifted up to the glory of God. So in each step of humiliation, by washing the disciples’ feet, by bidding Judas to go about his purpose, by willingly taking the way to the cross through humiliation and degradation, our Precious Lord Jesus was being glorified, and Father God was glorified with Him. The Prince of Peace our Lord Jesus had to go through it step by step, and the Father had to stand back and watch, while supporting Him in His actions. And then, ‘immediately’, will come the coronation and the final glory. The Son of Man will receive His kingly rule (Daniel 7.14), and the Lord of glory will receive back His glory.
33 Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you. 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Now in the light of the great events that lay ahead The Son of God our Lord Jesus looked with fondness on His disciples, and called them ‘little children’. He saw them as they will be, facing a terrible new world when He has gone. Soon He will not be there to sustain them. Therefore they must sustain each other by the love that they have for each other. He is going where they cannot at present come, and when they look for Him they will not find Him, for He will not be on this earth. His time on earth is over. So their love for each other, the kind of love that He has had for them, will be very important. It will be the mark that they are His. It is indeed something that replaces all the commandments. It is the new commandment.
If you remember back our Lord Jesus had previously stressed the two great commandments, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul, and mind and strength’, and ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself’. Now is added this third, ‘you shall love one another, as I have loved you’. Love is at the heart of all true ‘religion’ and this special kind of love was to be a distinguishing mark of the true Christian.
A lesson for all of us to think about is the fact that talk is cheap. You can go around telling other brothers or sisters that you love them but if behind the scene you are doing just the opposite toward them you need to examine yourself. We all need to have our talking and walking our Christian life match up. We need The Precious Holy Spirit to help us be able to walk and talk at the same time.
36 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.” 37 Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.” 38 Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.
The disciples were still not sure what was happening, and what our Master Lord Jesus meant, and so Peter asks Him where He is going. The Lord Jesus’ reply makes Peter recognize that perhaps death is involved. That, however, does not put him off. He is ready to die for Jesus, or so he thinks. Yes, immediately. Let them go to death together. It was not a question of later. And he meant it.
How careful we should be in our boasting. We all know what happened with Peter. Just as our Lord Jesus says, he will shortly deny Jesus three times out of craven fear. But at least he would be there. He did his best but it was just too much for him. All the disciples learned a new lesson in humility that night, and the wonder of their forgiving Lord. No wonder then that Jesus recognized the need for His words of encouragement. But when we think of their failure we must also remember the sinister and dark forces that were at work. All the forces of Hell had been gathered for the coming battle.
Yet in contrast with Judas, out of Peter’s failure would come a new beginning. Only his feet would need to be washed. We too may fail Jesus out of weakness. But if we are willing He will restore us so that we have the strength to overcome. Being His is never a guarantee that we will not fail. It is rather a guarantee that we will not finally fail, because He is our shepherd.
Mark has ‘before the cock crow twice’ (14.30). His is probably the more exact rendering. Rarely does a cock crow just once, and The Creator Lord Jesus knew it. The other Gospels are thinking of ‘the cock crow’ as an event of timing each day rather than picturing the actual happening.
