As Jesus prepared for His arrest and crucifixion, He lifted up His eyes to God and prayed the most epic prayer. Recorded in John 17, this is often referred to as “The High Priestly Prayer.” In it, Jesus prays for the glorification of God and Himself through the crucifixion, and He prays for His disciples that God would protect and maintain them in His absence.

It is really profound that our Lord, Who was God in flesh, lifted up such a prayer. It teaches us of the role prayer plays in our faith. It is an exercise of faith, and it is an alignment of our thoughts, desires and plans with God’s. To see Christ, Himself, do it is truly powerful.

Jesus opens this prayer in John 17:1 by saying, “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:”

He prays that the plan of salvation, our redemption through the cross, would truly be glorifying to God. And when you discuss the glory of God, truly you must discuss the cross, because it is in the cross that the full righteousness of God is on full display (Romans 1:16-17), and in the cross that God obtains final victory over Satan.

It is in the cross that our hope lies, for without the cross, we have nothing beyond this life to look forward to. Without the cross, we are left as enemies to God, living a life of frustrated divine conflict before a death leading to eternal punishment. However, with the cross, we are redeemed and reconciled to God, made friends of God, blessed to live life in His presence with His provision and guidance, before a death that leads to eternal blessings in His Kingdom.

The glory of the Lord is ubiquitous in scripture, and throughout all of human history. God was glorified in the creation. He was glorified in the creation of man. He was glorified in ejecting Satan from heaven following his revolution there. He was glorified in providing man a way of salvation after man joined Satan in that rebellion. He was glorified in raising up a nation after Himself, then using the enemies of that nation to refine them into the people He intended on them being. He was glorified in how He led them out of Egypt, and how He led them into the promised land.

God was glorified in the birth of Jesus Christ, the ministry of Jesus Christ, and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. His glory is such that, even non-believers have to acknowledge the incredible events that He performed, from the darkness on the earth when Jesus was on the cross, to the resurrection, to the impact Christ had on human history, even from a secular point of view.

And in the Gospel of John, we’ll see that glory come to it’s apex when Jesus pays for our sins on the cross. The glory of the Lord will come full circle when He returns and establishes His Kingdom on earth. This is deliverance for us, which should have us all praying for the glory of God. For it’s only in that glory that we have any hope.