Joy to the World - Pt 2

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:24-26 ESV).

Sometimes we hear people say that God created man because he was lonely. So they say, “God created us so that we would be with him.” This is not the teaching of Jesus. He does tell us that he wants us to be with him, but we must consider the rest of our reading today. The reason is not because he was lonely; it was because “he loved us before the foundation of the world” (v. 25). This expresses his concern for the satisfaction of our longing, not his loneliness. Jesus is not lonely. He and the Father and the Spirit are profoundly satisfied in the fellowship of the Trinity. We, not he, are starving for something. And what Jesus wants for Christmas is for us to experience what we were really made for. Jesus made us to see his glory (cf. John 1:3). Just before he goes to the cross he pleads his deepest desires with the Father: “Father, I desire that they … may be with me where I am, to see my glory.” But that is only half of what Jesus wants in these final, climactic verses of his prayer. I just said we were really made for seeing and savoring his glory. His desire is that we not only see his glory but savor it, relish it, delight in it, treasure it, and love it. Consider the last verse in our reading: I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. That is the end of the prayer. So, Jesus’ final goal for us is not that we simply see his glory, but that we love him with the same love that the Father has for him. Jesus’ longing and goal is that we see his glory and then that we be able to love what we see with the same love that the Father has for the Son. And he doesn’t mean that we merely imitate the love of the Father for the Son. He means the Father’s very love becomes our love for the Son, that we love the Son with the love of the Father for the Son. This is what the Spirit becomes and bestows in our lives. What Jesus wants most for Christmas is that his elect be gathered in and then get what they want most. He wants us to see his glory and then savor it with the very savoring of the Father for the Son. What I want most for Christmas this year is to join you in seeing Christ in all his fullness and that we together be able to love what we see with a love far beyond our own half-hearted human capacities. This is the goal in these devotionals leading to Christmas Day. I want us to see and savor this Jesus whose first “advent” (coming) we celebrate, and whose second advent we anticipate. This is what Jesus prays for us this Christmas: “Father, show them my glory and give them the very delight in me that you have in me.” Oh, may we see Christ with the eyes of God and savor Christ with the heart of God. That is the essence of heaven. That is the gift Christ came to purchase for sinners at the cost of his death in our place.