THE GLORY OF CHRIST'S FINISHED WORK

JOHN 17:4-5

FEBRUARY 23, 1997

 

What do you think of when you hear the term salvation?  Such a word will bring to the mind various thoughts, ideas, and convictions.  To some it refers to a deliverance from the cycle of endless karma.  To others it connotes the idea of social upheaval or moral change.  Others, even in evangelical circles, consider salvation to be more of self-improvement, self-fulfillment, happiness in life.  Just because someone mentions the idea of salvation does not mean they understand the biblical teaching on the subject.  So, it is essential that we grasp what salvation involves.

 

But let's take this a bit farther.  What do you believe concerning how a person receives or experiences salvation?  Again, there are all sorts of ideas, ranging from moral change, to doing "works of charity," to observing religious rituals, to being a good person.  Yet, none of these things brings a person into the biblical experience of salvation.  

 

This brings us to the heart of our text.  The gospel is found in these two verses.  Jesus is praying to the Father as the Mediator between God and sinners.  He states that "the hour has come," which we have seen refers to the event of His death, resurrection, and exaltation.  (John typically views all of these together in his Gospel).  Jesus has described eternal life as a relationship with the Father and the Son.  Now He goes back to the roots of salvation.  How can those who are at enmity with God be brought into a right relationship with God--a relationship which the Bible calls "eternal life, salvation," etc.?  

 

The answer to this question is found in the gospel.  The gospel is the good news of what God in Christ has done to save sinners.  It is not a record of what man has done to bring about his own salvation.  These two ideas are poles apart.  We must examine our hearts to make sure that we are not trying to add to what Jesus Christ has already accomplished.  Some are denying the sufficiency of Jesus Christ without realizing it by adding something to salvation other than what Christ has done.  

 

Jesus Christ so completed the work of salvation that we cannot in the least add to it.  How is this so?

 

I.  A work given to the Son

 

Salvation is not man's idea.  When you go back to the book of Genesis and take a look at the first humans, you do not find them groping for salvation.  Adam and Eve were placed in the perfect setting of the Garden of Eden.  God had given them one prohibition, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  We know the story of how the serpent tempted Eve and she succumbed to his shrewdness by viewing the sin of eating the forbidden fruit as something which would be pleasurable to her and would elevate her to the level of God.  So she gave to Adam and both ate, losing their natural righteousness and breaching the righteous law of God.

 

Condemnation fell upon them and upon all humanity, for Adam represented the entire human race.  When Adam fell, we all fell.  All of humanity sinned "in Adam" and therefore, all must die under the wrath of God "in Adam" (cf. Romans 5:12-21).  Interestingly, you do not see Adam and Eve seeking salvation or deliverance from the curse of their sin.  They tried to hide from God.  They tried to cover up their sin and excuse their sin.  It was God Himself who sought them out to deliver them from their sin and bring them back into relationship to Himself.

 

We must understand that salvation is always initiated by God.  Romans 3:11 reminds us, "There is none who seeks for God."  The depravity of our hearts drives us away from God, not to Him.  Unless God Himself takes action, sinners will perish according to their own desires.  We must see that salvation is a work which the Father purposed before He created the world, so that it might be all of God and all for His glory.

 

1.  The purpose of the work

 

"I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given me to do."  What kind of work did the Father give to the Son to do?  To understand this puts us right at the heart of salvation and grasping the gospel, so some background is necessary.  When God created the world, He did so with all of the radiance of His perfections.  Man was created in the image of God, so that he was sinless, perfect in his desires, pure in his imaginations, righteous in his nature, with the capacity for making moral choices.  He was not made to be a robot, but "a living soul."  He was not just flesh and bones, but a spiritual being, even as God Himself is a spiritual being.  Out of the dust of the ground God formed the physical being of man, but out of His own divine breath, God breathed life into man, imparting to him spirit, so that man is both body and soul:  one from the dust by God's hand, the other from the being of God Himself by God's breath.  So the first man stood in moral perfection, righteousness, able to commune with God freely and openly.

 

Then sin entered the world and spiritual death with it.  This perfect and righteous creature forfeited the purity of his relationship to God and the holiness of his nature by violating God's law.  His nature was corrupted with sin so that he fell from a state of righteousness and entered a state of depravity.  Every part of his being was affected by his sin.  Tragically, he could not mend his relationship with God, nor did he even desire to do so.  His nature began to crave the idolatrous things of this world.  His only hope for reconciliation with God and a moral change in his nature was for God Himself to take redemptive  action on behalf of Adam and his race.

 

None of this caught God off guard.  He did not create man and find Himself shocked over man's fall.  In the wisdom of God, He created man a perfect, moral creature.  And in His providence, He allowed man to fall.  This placed man under God's wrath and judgment because the breach of sin was an offense directly against the holy character of God.  Why did God allow all of this to happen?  So that He might display His glory by showing forth His mercy and grace in Jesus Christ to those He would redeem.  He is glorified by redeeming the elect.  And He is glorified by judging the rest of the world for their sin against Him.

 

Listen to how Paul put it in Ephesians 1:3-6.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.  In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.


God gave His Son a work to do, that only He could do, so that God's glory might be displayed throughout the universe for all eternity!  This work involved a reconciliation between God and man.  Man's relationship with God was broken by that first sin.  It was not just a little problem.  It was an infinite separation between God and man.  So, the purpose of the work the Father gave to the Son was relational, to bring about a just reconciliation of God and sinful man.

 

2.  The demand for the work

 

Man's sin demanded this work by the Son of God.  Not that man himself came up with the redemptive idea for God;  nor that man could demand that God do something to correct this problem.  No, the nature of man's spiritual condition of enmity with God demanded that the Son do His work if man was to be righteous before God.  This was humanity's only hope.

 

All humanity is under the condemnation brought about by the fall.  None of us has escaped.  We all stand guilty before God.  We all justly face the severe judgment of God.  Our natures are corrupt and sinful, bent on rebellion against God.  Once we become old enough to choose right from wrong, we demonstrate--everyone of us--that we follow our sinful nature in choosing to disobey the law of God.  So we stand doubly condemned: by nature and by choice.  Because of this we are hopelessly lost, separated from God, a spiritual time-bomb waiting to explode under the judgment of God.

 

Some people think that if you can just get a person to go to church and begin living right, then all will be well.  But that cannot change man's nature.  Nor can it deliver him from condemnation before a holy God.  Man is a law-breaker and as such, he deserves the severity of divine judgment.

 

As One whose character is just, God must level His holy wrath upon the sinfulness of man.  He has established His law for man to obey, a law which is a reflection of His moral character.  Just as Adam disobeyed the one law established for him in the Garden of Eden, we disobey the 10 moral laws God has given to us.  God's nature is so pure and holy that for us to break even one law puts us in the position of offending His character and deserving eternal punishment.  As a righteous, just God, He must exercise judgment upon us for the sinfulness of our natures and the consequent disobedience we display.

 

But we also know that God is full of love and mercy.  He desires to show forth His grace to undeserving sinners.  However, God's actions never contradict His essential being and character.  By this I mean, in simple terms, God cannot sweep sin under a cosmic rug and just forget about it.  He cannot justly declare a man to be forgiven of his sin without divine retribution upon that sin.  God's justice demands that He punish every sinner.

 

You may say, 'I wish God was not like that.  Wouldn't it be nice if God could just forgive without any kind of justice taking place?'  My friend, you would not want a God like that!  He would be nilly-willy, changing from day to day, with no unchanging character and with uncalculated actions.  If God was not immutable [unchanging] in His character and actions then you would in a constant state of worry, anxiety, and doubt!  You would not know what God was going to do or how He was going to act.  But the God of creation is not like this!

 

He gave His Son a work to accomplish to bring about the redemption and reconciliation of His chosen ones.  All was planned.  Every detail of the unfolding of history, the fulness of times in Christ coming, the ministry of Christ, the passion of Jesus Christ, all of it was divinely planned for the salvation of sinners.

 

II. A work accomplished by the Son

 

Jesus declared to the Father, "I have glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do."  The task of redeeming sinners was given to the second-person in the Trinity, the Son--Jesus Christ the Lord.  The Father planned and purposed this redemptive work; the Son accomplished it by His righteousness life, death, and resurrection on our behalf; and the Holy Spirit applies it in regenerating, sanctifying power to the sinner.  The Godhead is involved in the work of saving sinners!  Peter expressed it like this:  "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood" (I Peter 1:1-2).

 

1.  A demonstration of His love

 

The Father is glorified in what Jesus Christ has done.  All that Jesus did on the earth displayed the infinite love and mercy of God toward sinners.  Imagine, the One who was infinitely offended by man's sin showed infinite love and mercy to the ones who offended Him!  We would think that someone was magnanimous if he showed mercy to a thief who had robbed him.  But in this case it is the whole race of humanity that has broken every law of God, blasphemed His holy name, worshipped vain idols, spurned every overture of His love, rebelled against His kindness, and turned away from His holiness.  To this human race God has come in love and mercy!

 

The first thing that Jesus did toward our redemption was become a human being.  There was never a time when Jesus Christ has not been God; but there was a time when He was not man.  He became a man, born of a virgin, born in time.  He who is Infinite became subject to time and all the limitations of humanity, yet without sin.  There was no confusion of the divine nature and human nature of Jesus.  It was not a mixing of these two natures, but the totality of the divine and the totality of man, together in one Person, Jesus Christ.  At one and the same time He was both wholly God and wholly man.  Do you believe this?  I agree with the ancient Athanasian Creed that states that if a person does not believe this truth concerning Christ he cannot be saved.  For to reject the deity and the humanity of Jesus Christ is to deny the teaching of Scripture and to deny the necessity of the Incarnation for our salvation.

 

As a man Jesus Christ could suffer the wrath due to man for his sin.  Deity cannot suffer divine wrath, so it was necessary for our Lord to take on humanity.  Just as Adam represented humanity in the fall, Jesus Christ became man's representative before the wrath of God.  Being God gave infinite, eternal value to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on behalf of the elect.  This means that Jesus could suffer once for all on behalf of all who would be saved.  [cf. Boice, Abstract of Systematic Theology, 290-291]

 

The writer of Hebrews expresses this clearly.

Therefore, when He comes into the world [here is the Incarnation], He says, "SACRIFICE AND OFFERING THOU HAST NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY THOU HAST PREPARED FOR ME; IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN THOU HAST TAKEN NO PLEASURE.  THEN I SAID, 'BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE ROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO THY WILL, O GOD.'"[here is the testimony that Jesus 'glorified' the Father by His obedience]...By this will we have been sanctified [this speaks of the elect] through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all [so nothing can be added to it]....but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time [here is the infinite value of His sacrifice], SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET.  For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified [10:5-7, 10, 12-14].


2.  A satisfaction of His justice

 

The cross of Jesus Christ, this work He said that He accomplished, and all of His suffering really makes no sense without understanding something of the judicial aspect of our salvation.  For instance, if you are involved in a judicial matter at the federal building in downtown Memphis, then it implies that a law has been broken, someone has broken the law, and justice must be rendered to satisfy the breaking of the law.  The one who broke the law, upon a rendering of a guilty verdict, will have to suffer the consequence of breaking the law.  This sort of action is necessary for our society of maintain a semblance of justice, order, and morality.  We have all had a sense of moral outrage when a criminal (or lawbreaker) does not have to suffer the consequence of his breaking the law but is allowed to go free.  When this happens, there is usually an outpouring from the society at large for justice.  In other words, a crime was committed, a person was guilty for the crime against the stated laws of our society, so for justice to be served the criminal must be punished or else it is injustice.

 

The "work" which the Father gave Jesus to do involved a satisfaction of God's justice.  The law had been broken:  first by Adam as the representative of humanity, then by all of Adam's posterity in our breach of the Ten Commandments.  Can God, who reigns supreme over the universe in unapproachable light (holiness!), be just while letting law-breakers go free without being punished for their crime?  My brethren, the holy, righteous character of God is at stake in the punishment of sinners!  Because of who God is in His being, character, and office, He cannot let sin escape unpunished.  David expressed it like this in Psalm 37:37-38,

 

       Mark the blameless man, and behold the upright;

       For the man of peace will have a posterity.

       But transgressors will be altogether destroyed;

       The posterity of the wicked will be cut off.

 

Isaiah adds to this (Isaiah 1:27-28):

 

       Zion will be redeemed with justice,

       And her repentant ones with righteousness.

       But transgressors and sinners will be crushed together,

        And all those who forsake the Lord shall come to an end.

 

Jesus Christ became the satisfaction for God's justice when He bore our sins on the cross.  Isaiah prophesied of Him, "Because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors, yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors" (Isa. 53:12; cf. Mark 15:28; Luke 22:37).  Our Lord did this work at the Father's pleasure to satisfy divine justice.  This was necessary for God to be able to justly pardon sinners while at the same time punishing their sins.

 

(1)  pardon for sinners

 

Why do we need pardon?  We dare not take our chances at the judgment of God!  For we have all become lawbreakers, deserving God's judgment.  "Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God" (Rom. 3:19).  The word for "accountable" means 'liable to judgment or punishment'.  The Law of God stands as His holy standard for all humanity.  We have broken all of His laws.  Yes, all of them, for James wrote, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all" (2:10).  So, every last one of us is guilty of breaking all of God's laws.  We deserve the full measure of His wrath against sinners!  My friend, we desperately need pardon, don't we?!

 

God cannot pardon you without justice, for that would contradict His character, as we have seen.  But through the substitutionary death of Christ, as a propitiatory sacrifice, He can forgive us of our transgressions and pardon us for our iniquities!  

Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.  This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus [Romans 3:24-26].


God can pardon because Jesus Christ has satisfied His justice through His bloody death on the cross.  This is a just pardon because the crimes of our breaking God's law were fully paid in the Person of Jesus Christ as our substitute.  Sinclair Ferguson sums this up well in his little book, The Pundit's Folly:

God's incarnate Son has identified himself with us in such a way that he is able to represent us, indeed substitute himself in our place before God's judgment and under his wrath.  He changes places with us, takes the guilt of our sin to himself, and accepts the divine judgement against us.  On the cross he bore the full weight of God's wrath.  His Father turned his face away from him.  In the outward darkness of Golgotha, the Son of God experienced the inner darkness of his own Father's rejection.  Utterly alone he entered the dark night of death as sin's penalty.  He bore that for us [p. 58].


(2)  punishment for sins

 

And so we have pardon as sinners because Jesus Christ received the punishment for our sins.  That is what He meant by the statement, "having finished the work which Thou hast given Me to do."  All of the thundering pronouncements of Sinai against sinners were fulfilled at Golgotha for those who have faith in Christ.  The arrow of God's wrath that was aimed at you has been hurled at God's own Son.

 

Have you trusted the God-man, Jesus Christ, and His perfect, satisfying work on your behalf?  Have you truly repented of your own way of life, turned from your sin, and cast yourself wholly upon the Prophet, Priest, and King of salvation, Jesus Christ?

 

Have you, being pardoned for your sins, tried to assume some claim of credit for such pardon?  Have you looked to yourself or your abilities or your efforts or your service to better your position before God?  Do you have an eye upon yourself and your own failures so that you are living in condemnation before God, while failing to set your eye singularly upon Jesus Christ and His satisfaction for your sins?

 

III. The glory deserved by the Son

 

"And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was."  What did Jesus mean by this request?

 

1.  A finality of the work of salvation

 

First, He had already stated that He had "glorified Thee upon the earth," that is, Jesus had done everything that the Father had told Him to do.  There was not one moment that He disobeyed.  There was not one failure in the fulfillment of God's redemptive plan that Jesus left undone.  He had done His work, so now He was ready to return to that exalted position at the Father's right hand.

 

We must not slide over this truth.  For if Jesus Christ has truly finished the work, if He has truly done all that was necessary to save sinners, then why would any of you consider your own merits or performance as necessary to bring you into a right relationship to God?  How can you think that anything you do, whether a decision you make, a prayer you pray, walking down an aisle, being baptized..., how can any of this add to what Christ has already completed?  

 

I point this out because so many have the idea that if I just "pray the prayer" or "walk the aisle" then that saves me.  NO!  Christ alone saves by the grace He gives due to the work He has accomplished.  There are multitudes who have by-passed trusting in Jesus Christ and His merits for a substitute of repeating a prayer with someone or raising their hand.  They believe that because they have done those things they are saved.  You are saved only because of what Christ has done.  That saving work is applied to you only when you turn from your own self-righteousness, self-trust, and sin, and trust Jesus Christ to be your Prophet, Priest, and King.  Trust in what Christ has already done at the cross, affirmed by the resurrection, as all that is necessary to save you from your guilt and the wrath of God.

 

2.  A recognition of the exalted, God-man

 

When Jesus Christ became God-Incarnate, it was permanent.  When He ascended back to heaven He did not get de-incarnated, so that He left his humanity on earth.  He returned to heaven as the exalted God-man.  He who is fully Man, though fitted for eternity, sits bodily at the right hand of the Father.  So Jesus' prayer is that the same glory He had before He came to earth, He now wants as God-Incarnate.  What Adam lost, Jesus Christ restored: the glory of God in man.

 

3.  A declaration of the essential glory of our Redeemer

 

For the Father to restore the glory which our Lord laid aside in His humanity (not His deity) is to declare that all of the perfections of God, all of His righteousness, all of His justice, all of His goodness, all of His wisdom has been displayed in the death, resurrection, and exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Now, all of those perfections of God and the radiance of His attributes will be plainly viewed in the exalted humanity of Jesus Christ.  That's why we will be able to "behold" His glory (v. 24) in heaven.  Jesus Christ is worthy of all our praise, all our honor, all our glad submission, all our worship, for He is full of glory as the obedient Son, our Redeemer!

 

Conclusion

 

There are two ways to view this study of God's Word.  First, if you are a believer, you should have a better glimpse of the worthiness of Jesus Christ, the absolute sufficiency of His work, the amazing grace shown to you by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Trinitarian work of salvation.  There is assurance for you in going back to what Christ has done and the Holy Spirit has applied within you.  Rest in that assurance.  Take your eyes off of your own righteousness, cling only to Christ.

 

Second, if you are not a believer, then you have been confronted by the Law and the Gospel.  The Law exposes your heart as a sinner, justly deserving God's eternal condemnation.  But the Gospel is the good news that God Himself has taken on your guilt and punishment so that you might be pardoned justly, declared to be righteous before Him.  Can you by-pass the good news of Christ, my friend?  I plead with you to repent of your sins and trust only in Jesus Christ as your Redeemer and Lord.

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