John 12:27-28
²⁷Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. ²⁸Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
Our Lord in human state, is in the seat of natural feelings and emotions of anguish as the fatal hour approaches. Facing the cross and the burden of our sins, yet without sin. Have you ever felt grief or sorrow so you could not describe it or speak of it? It was less than his. In this passage, we are comforted that our God comprehends ‘suffering’. For we have not a High priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
Jesus’ troubled soul asked God a question or rather God asked God a question ‘What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: Don’t we question God while in our ‘suffering’? Long-suffering can even taint one’s view of God as they begin to ask questions like ‘Are you there God?’, for some it’s even hard to speak to God.
Never try to understand God through the lens of your circumstances, you’ll miss Him. God is best understood through the Cross. Where love was expressed in the truest and purest form. We see His only son being shamed, humiliated, and mocked; his body nailed to the tree for hours. Historians say, that to speak of the crucifixion is to speak of a slave’s death, the Son of God chose and willed himself to submit to death. All because of His love for humanity, for God so loved the world. Blessed be his name that He was willing to endure these sorrows and did not forsake man when he was so near being redeemed!
At the same moment, Jesus responds to his own question saying; ‘But it is for this very purpose that I have come to this hour’. I don’t know about you, but I am amazed by Jesus’ assurance expressed in this passage. He expressed full submission to the will of his Father. This teaches us, that although the weakness of human nature may shrink at the first thoughts of suffering, we ought not to yield, but to fortify ourselves by reflecting on Jesus. In your greatest fear and grief, there is only one solution, go to God.
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers to God, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
Hebrews 5:7
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared.
Jesus’s response to suffering in verse 28 of our theme scripture astonished me; ‘Father, glorify thy name’, Jesus requested God to receive glory from His death; God to glorify Himself through His Son’s death. Let this be your prayer amidst any kind of suffering; ‘Father God, I may not fully understand this situation, but may your name be glorified through it.
Responding to His prayer, God thundered from heaven with a voice stating His glory in Jesus Christ. I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. God had already glorified His name in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ and his remarkable works. And God would further glorify His name in the death, resurrection, and glorification of Jesus Christ. Yes, God has already done so much for you (glorified himself) but that’s not all, it doesn’t end there. He is still glorifying himself in you. You were made for His Glory, for men to see His Glory and be drawn to Him.
Ephesians 1:4-6
⁴According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: ⁵Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Prophetic Utterance:
I’ve been chosen by God to show forth His glory; therefore, I see myself in the glory, walking in the glory, and displaying God’s righteousness to my world.
Guiding text:
Isaiah 43:7
Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
Romans 8:18
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.