Glorify the Son (John 17:1-5 Jeff Kliewer)

Opening Announcements and Prayer for Worship

Just trying to wake you up.

That's how we summon everybody, yeah.

All right, good morning. We're glad everybody's here. We're gonna go ahead and get started. That music was just a juke to summon you to come sit down.

We're gonna open in prayer,.

But first, two quick announcements. One is that a week from tomorrow, we have a congregational meeting. So Monday night on the 16th at seven o 'clock, everybody's invited. Please come, even if you're not a member, you're welcome to come and hear about what's going on in the church.

We have some big plans, big ideas, so very important meeting. We'd love for you to come. The second is that beginning next week, during second service, now you're second service people, so you would have to come to church first service, but during second service, we're going to start a new believers class.

It will be a pretty long class, just learning the basics of the faith, about the practices of prayer and certain doctrines, and just the basics of Christianity. What are we calling that, Michael?

Foundations in Christianity.

All right, Foundations in Christianity. That goes with the theme of the cornerstone, and yeah, foundations. So there'll be a foundations class beginning next week during second service, and we'll go for a number of weeks.

All right, let's open in prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you so much that we could come into your house. We were glad when we heard, let us go to the house of the Lord. Help us now, Lord, to give you the praise, the glory, the honor that is due your name.

Help us to sing from the heart, help us to listen to the word, and be changed by the hearing of the word. We consecrate, we commit this service to you, God, and we pray that you would be honored and glorified through this hour of worship.

We ask in Jesus' name, amen.

Worship Through Song and Christ's Worthiness

So let's stand together and praise the name of the Lord most high. Heavens of the earth, from the depths of the sea From the heights of heaven, your name be praised From the hearts of the weak, from the shouts of the strong

From the lips of all people, this song we raise, Lord, throughout the endless ages. You will be crowned with praises, Lord, most high. Exalted in every nation, sovereign of all creation, Lord, most high, be magnified.

The ends of the earth, from the depths of the sea, from the heights of the heavens, your name be praised. From the hearts of the weak, from the shouts of the strong, from the lips of all people, this song we raise, Lord, throughout the endless ages.

You will be crowned with praises, Lord, most high. Exalted in every nation, sovereign of all creation, Lord, most high, be magnified. We are here to sing to each other the praises that only God the Father, and God the Son, and Holy Spirit deserve.

It's amazing, during the first service, I mentioned something I was thinking about, about how we celebrate, how we honor celebrities. If you've ever met a celebrity, you feel like, wow, this is an amazing opportunity to meet this wonderful person, the president or a movie person.

It's exciting, and you get to talk to other people about it, say, oh, I met this person, and it was neat because they talked or they did this. We should be honoring and celebrating Jesus Christ even more so than those celebrities.

We come to a place, amen, amen. We need to honor him and glorify him even more than we do the falseness that's out there. It's amazing. Sometimes we turn our eyes to sports or celebrities and honor and talk about them, but we should be talking about our Savior and our Lord, Jesus Christ, the God of all creation.

And I really am encouraged by you singing worship songs to him and him alone because he is worthy. He's all-sufficient. Let's sing together. All-sufficient merit. Shining like the sun. A fortune I inherit.

By no work I have done. My righteousness I forfeit. At my Savior's cross. Where all-sufficient merit. Did what I could not. In love he condescended. Eternal now in time. A life without a blemish. The Maker made to die.

The law could never save us. Our lawlessness had won. Until the pure and spotless Lamb had finally come. It is done. It is finished. No more debt I'm paid in full. All-sufficient merit now my own. Lay down my garments.

Any empty words are all outed By the sinful host. Dressed in my Lord Jesus. A crimson robe made white. No more fear of judgment. His righteousness is mine. It is done. It is finished. No more Efficient merit now.

Efficient merit. Firm in life and death. The joy of my salvation Shall be my final breath. And when I stand accepted Before the throne of God I'll gaze upon my Jesus And thank him for the cross. Yes, I'll thank him for the cross.

It is done. It is finished. No more debt I'm paid in full. All-sufficient merit now my own. It is done. It is finished. No more debt I'm paid in full. All-sufficient merit now my own. Now my merit now my own.

Merit now my own. It is done. It is finished. No more debt I'm paid in full. All-sufficient merit now my own.

It is done. It is finished.

King of kings, O come, adore Our God who reigns for eternity Throughout eternity All hail, shout Throughout eternity Majesty Lord of all Let every throne before him fall The king of kings, O come Who reigns God who reigns forever You're the God who reigns forevermore.

Amen, amen. You may be seated.

Prayer for Israel and the Glory of God in Isaiah

Good morning. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, your word in Psalm 122 tells us, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And so, Lord, we ask for peace in Jerusalem. We pray for the families of those who have lost loved ones.

We pray for your peace to come into their heart that they would most of all come to know the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Father, we pray for a revelation of the Son in Israel and in the surrounding nations and the peoples that surround Israel.

God, that you would bring light to the Gentiles and to Israel that you would save in the midst of this dark hour that Israel is facing. In Jesus' name, amen. Yesterday morning, I woke up early, so I just began to read the book of Isaiah.

And I had a number of hours, so I ended up finishing reading the book of Isaiah and then turning on the TV to see on the news that Israel was under attack. I don't know if you have a chance to see, but Netanyahu has called this attack from Hamas worse than the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

And he even said, this is our 9 -11. They're under attack by militant Muslims who crossed a border fence and mercilessly massacred even families and took hostages and brought them into the tunnels. And still, there are many being held hostage at this time.

It is a very sad development, but having just read the book of Isaiah and seeing how the nations raged against Israel and Israel's God, and then to turn on the TV and see that the surrounding nations are still raging against Israel was quite a surreal experience that Israel has returned to the promised land and there are still surrounding nations that would like to see them destroyed.

I took my introduction to today's sermon and I wadded it up and I threw it in the trash can. It was going to be another one of my stories. I like to open with a relevant story, but this one was like, eh, only so-so.

I thought instead today, what we're going to do is look at this book of Isaiah, which spoke so profoundly to me yesterday, and look at the theme of glory in Isaiah. Take about half the sermon in Isaiah, and then take the second half of the need that Old Testament background.

We need to hear from Isaiah. The word kavod, which means glory, the Hebrew word kavod is used about 200 times in the Old Testament, 50 or so in the book of Psalms, but it is used 38 times in the book of Isaiah.

38 of the 200 uses are in the book of Isaiah, and I would say that that word glory summarizes the book of Isaiah. It is about the glory of God. What is the glory of God? Anybody ever had that question, what is the glory of God?

You want to know what to do if you ever wonder something like that? Take your question, what is the glory of God, and put it in GotQuestions online. I'm not joking. They have a tremendous answer on GotQuestions .com.

What is the glory of God? The glory of God is the beauty of his spirit. It's not an ascetic beauty or a material beauty, but the beauty that emanates from his character, from all that he is. The glory of man, human dignity, and honor fades, but the glory of God, which is manifested in all of his attributes together, never passes away.

It is eternal. So it is the beauty of his character manifested in all of his attributes, his love on the one hand, but also his holiness, his justice, his wrath. The full display of God's attributes is his glory.

It is the beauty of who he is in his character. And this is the theme of the book of Isaiah. I'd like for us to look at three aspects of his glory as revealed in the book of Isaiah. So I'll have you flipping a lot of pages this morning in Isaiah, but if you'd rather just listen, that's also acceptable today because there will be a lot of flipping.

We begin with the first point, the glory of God is revealed in the Son. The glory of the Son of God is revealed way back in the Old Testament. Now that's remarkable because Isaiah was written 700 years before Christ came.

Yet in chapter 2 verses, chapter 4 verses 2 to 6, we see the Son of God presented as the branch. The branch. This imagery of the branch is one who comes from the stump of Jesse. That's Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1, which refers to King David.

David is the son of Jesse and from David will arise a branch. In Isaiah chapter 4 verses 2 to 6, he's described this way, in that day, the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious. A beautiful, glorious branch.

And as you read the rest of chapter 4, you see that he will be like a shade of refuge for Israel. Do you remember Israel in the desert? They traveled by day following a pillar of fire and camped at night under the pillar of fire.

The cloud by day, the pillar of fire at night. And this represented his glory, his Shekinah glory, the presence of God over Israel. Jesus will be that branch, that covering that will come from the stem of Jesse, the root of Jesse, a son of David, as Jesus is a direct descendant from King David.

Next, turn to chapter 7 verse 14. It says, therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel, meaning God with us. The glory of God in a son given to us, who, of course, according to this prophecy, will be born to a virgin.

That is amazing. This is very unlike anything else in the history of the world. Chapter nine, verse one. There will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali.

But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. The light of the world is none other than Jesus Christ, and he will appear and display his glory.

Where will he do his miracles? In Galilee, the northern regions of Israel where Jesus focused his ministry, Galilee of the Gentiles. Dishonored? Has anything good come from Nazareth? Yet the king, the light of the world, will light up Galilee.

And farther down in chapter nine, verse six and seven. For to us, a child is born. To us, a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

This is none other than Jesus Christ, the son of God, displayed in his glory, a son given to the world. This is the son of God. We mentioned chapter 11, verse one, the shoot from the stump of Jesse. This is that branch.

The glory of Israel is the person of Jesus Christ. But turn now to the most famous revelation of the son. You know where to go, Isaiah 53. But this prophecy actually begins three verses earlier in chapter 52, verse 13.

The prophecy is famous because it speaks of the one who is bruised and crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brings us peace is laid upon him. By his wounds, we are healed. But notice the first verse of this prophecy speaks to the glory of the son of God.

Chapter 52, verse 13. Behold, my servant, this is Jesus, the servant of God, shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up. And there is a double meaning here. It speaks to his exaltation. He shall be exalted, the glory of the son.

But the glory of the son, as we shall see today, is in his being lifted up on a cross. The exaltation of the son is in his humiliation that he would be lifted up from the earth, pinned to a cross to suffer shame from those who reject him.

Just a couple of chapters earlier, chapter 50, verse six, we are told that his beard will be ripped from his face and he will be spat upon. There are few things as dishonoring to a man than to spit in his face.

And this is what would be done to the son of God, dishonored. And yet this act of his humiliation would result in his glorification. So the first great theme of Isaiah is the glorification of the son.

The son given to the world, promised, born to a virgin, a son given, the light in Galilee, who would ultimately be rejected, spat upon, his beard pulled from his face, the stripes of a scourging laid upon his back.

In all of this though, verse 13, chapter 52, is the exaltation, the glory of the son. Second point, the nations that glory in themselves will be humbled. The nations that glory in themselves will be humbled.

If the glory of God is the theme of the book of Isaiah, then we are to be on guard against counterfeit glories. Those who exalt themselves and lift themselves up will be humbled. Isaiah chapter two, verse 22, stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?

The nations, although they are only man, will exalt themselves in glory. We look at what is happening in Israel right now, and the best description of it is that there are prideful nations surrounding Israel.

God has placed Israel in the promised land, and surrounding nations that worship false gods are raging against the God of Israel. And so it is now as it has been in the days of Isaiah, and throughout time, that the nations rage Psalm 2.

They rage against the God of Israel. They exalt themselves. They think that the promised land should belong to Allah, yet Yahweh has planted a nation there, ethnic Israel, in the promised land. And they will never stop raging and desiring the destruction of Israel until the prince of peace comes at the second coming.

Notice how the nations exalt themselves in pride. We'll move quickly here. You can look these up later, maybe take note, or you can watch the video later if you want to have a deeper look at any of these nations.

Chapter 10, verse 13, Assyria exalts itself in pride. And in that very 10th chapter of Isaiah, God will humble Assyria. Chapter 13, verse 9, 19, 13, 19, the nation of Babylon. Where is Babylon in modern day terms?

It is Iraq. In the Mesopotamian river valley between the Tigris and Euphrates, the southern part was Babylon, the nation of Iraq. Chapter 13, verse 19,. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.

Pride goeth before the fall. As Sodom and Gomorrah exalted themselves in pride and in sexual sin, God humbled them. And in the same way, those who exalt themselves in pride will be humbled like Babylon.

Babylon exalted itself, glory of the kingdoms, splendor and pomp. The theme here is the glorification of man humbled under God's judgment. Chapter 16, verse 6,. Again, you have now the pride of Moab. Who is Moab?

This is the tribe east of Israel. At the bottom and to the east of the dead sea, just outside of Israel, is a nation called Moab. In chapter 16, verse 6, we have heard of the pride of Moab, how proud he is of his arrogance, his pride, his insolence in his idol boasting.

He is not right. God will humble those who exalt themselves. Chapter 17, verses 3 and 4 have a similar judgment against Syria, Damascus. That, of course, is the nation just north of Israel. And as we look at the map today, just north of Israel, there are peoples intent on the destruction of Israel.

They are called Hezbollah. They issued a statement after Hamas invaded, and they said they are in direct communication with the leaders of Hamas, which is down to the southwest, where the Philistines were.

Remember, Samson, when he was contending with the Philistines, because of his disobedience to God, God allowed his eyes to be gouged out. It says he was taken to Gaza. That's where Hamas launched their attacks from, from Gaza.

But Samson humbled the people by destroying the Temple of Dagon, pushing it down upon them there in southwestern Israel, in the Gaza Strip, in the city of Gaza, the Temple of Dagon fell. In communication with Hezbollah, as they're called today, in the north, Lebanon, we have the judgment also of Syria.

Chapter 17, verses 3 and 4. South of there is the nation of Egypt. Chapter 19, verse 11. The princes of Zohan are utterly foolish. The wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, I am a son of the wise, a son of the ancient kings.

You know what God did to humble that kind of bravado? Egypt, of course, they had their Pharaohs, our sun gods, and their wise counselors considered themselves descendants of the ancient kings in all of their glory, in all of their pride.

God said to Isaiah, brace yourself, strip yourself and walk about naked for three years. Because Egypt will be stripped naked, their buttocks exposed, and carried into captivity in Assyria. Seems very strange, but what is God doing here?

He is shaming them as they parade in their glory, exalting in their pride. God will debase them. He will humiliate them. He will carry them away captive from Egypt to Assyria. Chapter 20, verses 3 to 5.

That's where you find the Egypt judgment. Chapter 21, verse 16. A similar judgment on Arabia. Right now you have the Arabian, Saudi Arabia making pact with Israel. But even so, so much of the population in Saudi Arabia under the house of Saad would like to see the destruction of Israel.

Verse 16 of the 21st chapter. For thus says the Lord to me, within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end. What does God do? Here's our second big point.

He takes the pride of the nations and he debases them. He will not allow his glory to be defiled among the nations. He will debase them. The same of Tyre along the seacoast to the north and to the west, part chapter 23, verses 7 to 9.

Ends this way. The Lord of hosts has purposed it to defile the pompous pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth. Y 'all see it? This judgment of the nations, the table of nations from Isaiah chapter 13 to the 23rd chapter, that section of judgment on the nations, those who exalt themselves in pride, God will humble before the God of Israel.

The Remnant of Israel and the Glory of the Lord Among the Nations

Last point regarding the glory of Israel. The glory of Israel will be restored in a remnant people. And amazingly, this will include the grafting in of Gentile nations, the very ones that wanted to destroy Israel.

Many of them will be part of this remnant, but Israel itself will be established in the land as a remnant people that glorifies God. So we Christians know something that the world doesn't know. When they're watching CNN and Fox News, they don't know that the rebirth of Israel was the very hand of God on May 14th, 1948.

Ethnic Israel reestablished in the land, even though they don't know their God. God is sovereignly doing this. We know where this ends. With the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace appearing to reign for a thousand years on earth from Jerusalem as the center of his kingdom.

So let's look at a few verses that explain this regathering of a remnant people to glorify God in Israel. Chapter 27 verses 12 through 28, 5, beginning at Isaiah 27 verse 12. In that day from the river Euphrates, that's Iraq, that's that Mesopotamian river valley, all the way to the river Euphrates, to the brook of Egypt.

That's the borders of the promised land. That's Israel's inheritance. All the way from the Euphrates to Egypt, hasn't been seen yet, but it will be in the millennial kingdom as the land of Israel. The Lord will thresh out the grain and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel.

There is judgment, the gleaning, the threshing floor, but this ends gloriously. Verse 13 and following, in that day, a great trumpet will be blown. Aren't you waiting for that day? And those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine. Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong.

The Lord has one who is mighty and strong. There is one who can accomplish this. His name is Jesus. Like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty overflowing waters, he cast down to the earth with his hand.

Chapter 11 verses 1 to 5 will talk about him destroying the wicked by the breath of his mouth. He is the king. The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden underfoot. Armageddon and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley, will be like a first ripe fig before the summer.

When someone sees it, he swallows it as soon as it is in his hand. But look at verse 5. In that day, the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory. This is what we need to understand, church. The glory of God is central here.

The very glory of God will be a crown and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people. There will be a remnant Israel that will be a crown, a glory to the king of kings, to Yahweh when he comes in the flesh.

Church, the glory of God is the central theme of scripture. It is not even the redemption of us, a people, for his name. It is the glory of God. Chapter 42, verse 8. I told you we'd be flipping a lot.

We're almost done, but keep up. We're almost there. Then we jump to John. Chapter 42, verse 8, an integrating theme of the book of Isaiah and indeed of all of scripture. I am the Lord, that is my name.

My glory I give to no other. My glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Chapter 43, verses 6 and 7. I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, do not withhold. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth.

Israel was scattered in diaspora. When Babylon crushed the south, they were brought into exile and then returned to the promised land. Again, the Roman Empire, the last of the great empires that Daniel foresaw, they sent Israel into exile, but God brings them back from the north and the south, the east and the west.

Isaiah 43, verse 6, then it says in verse 7, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. Israel is the glory of God displayed on earth, a people called out to be his particular people, a chosen people to represent him.

This is, his design is to glorify himself in this people. But moving along, chapter 48, verses 9 to 11, for my name's sake, I defer my anger. For the sake of my praise, I restrain it for you that I may not cut you off.

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. If I would say there's one verse that summarizes this theme in the book of Isaiah, it's verse 11, Isaiah 48, 11, for my own sake, for my own sake, I do it.

For how should my name be profaned? My glory, I will not give to another. This is Isaiah's theme. And in the regathering of this people Israel to glorify God, we see in chapter 60, verse 1 and 2, we see that he is shining a light to the nations.

And this light is his glory displayed. Arise, shine, for your light has come. Now, notice now it is the people, Israel. And as we're about to see, the remnant includes Gentiles like us grafted in. Although I think we do have one ethnic Jew who's part of this.

Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness the peoples. But the Lord will arise upon you and his glory will be seen upon you.

The nation shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising. We finish in the last chapter, 66. In verse 8, we have prophesied the return of the Jewish people from their captivity. They were brought in exile to Babylon and now they will be brought back to the promised land at the decree to restore, to come back into the promised land.

But it also pictures another fulfillment, which happened in our day 75 years ago when Israel returned to the promised land. Chapter 66, verse 8. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day?

Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she brought forth her children. Isn't that an amazing prophecy? That Israel would be born in a day. And on May 14th, 1948, the nation of Israel was reborn in a day after World War II, signed back into existence and recognized on the world stage and the people returned to the promised land.

The book ends this way, verse 18 and following. Isaiah 66, 18. For I know their works and their thoughts and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. They shall come and see my glory. Church, Israel is this lighthouse to the nations, but God in his design is bringing from all nations a people to worship and glorify him.

The Gentiles also included. The nations gathering, verse 19. And I will set a sign among them and from them I will send survivors to the nations. Missionaries, called out ones, survivors sent out to Tarshish, Poole, Lod, who draw the bow to Tubal and Javan to the coastlands far away that have not heard my fame or seen my glory.

And they shall declare my glory among the nations. Do you see what is that issue in the book of Isaiah? It is the glory of God among the nations. The nations that exalt themselves against God will be humbled, but in the end, God himself will exalt himself in calling together a people that worship him, that know him.

And the book ends with a terrifying picture of judgment. Those who refuse this offer of grace that are not part of this new humanity in Christ, verse 24, and they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me.

For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh. This picture in Isaiah of the glory of God exalts him to the highest place. We learn, first of all, that the son of God is revealed, even in Isaiah, to be the glorious one whom God has sent to rule as the prince of peace.

He is the son given, and the government will be on his shoulders. We learn, second of all, that there will be nations that rage Psalm 2. They will rage against the rule of this king, refuse to kiss the son, lest he be angry.

And God will humble them from their prideful place. Those who attack Israel will be humbled. And we learn, third of all, the third major point is that God will have a people, including Israel, a remnant that is restored in the promised land, in Jerusalem, from the Euphrates River to Egypt, representing him, a remnant that is light to the world, believing Jews, but grafting in from all the nations, from the farthest coastland, together to worship the king.

There will be a light to the world that glorifies God. There will be a people. So turn with me now, we're halfway done the sermon, to John 17, 1 to 5. The glory of the son is the first thing for which Jesus prays.

When you think of John 17, I think we all know that here in the text, he's in the upper room, he's been in the upper room, and he's taught them. That teaching ends at chapter 16. He no longer is addressing them after 1633, but in 17, he begins to address the father.

When you think of the high priestly prayer, in the holy of holies, Jesus addressing the father, what's the first thing that comes to mind? For many, it is the unity of the church, praying for unity, because that is such a theme in John 17.

But I'd like to say to you this morning, that the first thing is the most important thing. The first thing is paramount. The first thing in Jesus's high priestly prayer is the glorification of the son.

Before Jesus prays for the church, his apostles, in verses 6 to 19, and then all of us in this room, future believers, in 17, 20 and following. Before he prays for us, he prays for himself. That sounds very counter-intuitive to the American Western worldview, where we, our individual selves, tend to be at the center.

Jesus puts himself as the first issue of his prayer. Let's read it. John 17, 1 to 5. When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, that the son may glorify you.

Since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. Now, father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. Notice that in verse 1 and in verse 5, like bookends to this section, the prayer is that the father would glorify the son.

Glorify me, says Jesus. This was Isaiah's central concern, that God only would receive glory. And this is the sticking point of human existence. People are happy to be entertained. We love celebrity culture.

We love sports. We love anything and everything that glorifies ourselves or glorifies man. But there is one central concern in Isaiah and in all of scripture, and that is church, the glory of God. Now, the central issue in Jesus's day was the glory of Jesus on display, but rejected by men.

In chapter 12, verses 41 to 43, Jesus quotes, John recounting this, quotes Jesus from the book of Isaiah. I want you to turn back, and this will be our last trip backwards in the scripture. John 12, 41 to 43, Isaiah chapter 6.