After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
Jesus was glorified in the cross, and through His obedience and death on the cross He glorified His Father. And it was all planned. This was not an accident. God planned that His Son would die a cruel death at the hands of mockers, because it was what was necessary in order to redeem mankind and give us eternal life.
Eternal life doesn`t just mean that we live forever. We will live forever - everybody will live forever. But we will either live it in the blessed presence of God or away from the presence of God. And it starts now!
When we become a Christian, our eternal life starts immediately. When we know the one and only true God, when He dwells within us, when we experience relationship with Him, we experience eternal life. Our physical death doesn`t change that fact - but it allows us to experience it in its fullness, without the constrictions and limitations and hindrances of sin.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: John 17:6-19
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