17 "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, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed."
John 17:1-5
Bishop Ryle interprets the meaning of the words 'Glorify Thy Son...glorify Thee' as follows: 'Give glory to Thy Son, by carrying Him through the cross and the grave, to a triumphant completion of the work He came to do, and by placing Him at Thy right hand, and highly exalting Him above every name that is named. Do this, in order that He may glorify Thee and Thy attributes. Do this, that He may bring fresh glory to Thy holiness, and justice, and mercy, and faithfulness, and prove to the world that Thou art a just God, a holy God, a merciful God, a God that keepeth His word. My vicarious death and my resurrection will prove this, and bring glory to Thee. Finish the mighty work, Glorify Me, and in so doing glorify Thyself. Finish Thy work, not least, that Thy Son may glorify Thee by bringing many redeemed souls to heaven, to the glory of Thy grace'. This may be thought an over-elaborate expansion of our Lord's words, but who shall say that in their general tenor they are not the simple truth. We may also see a connection between these words in 1 and 2 and what the Apostle writes in Hebrews 2:8, 9, where the crowning with glory and honour are clearly linked with the suffering of death. It may well be that the Apostle had Jesus' prayer in mind when he framed his statement.
Christ's second petition, in 5, is not a mere repetition of the first, in 1, because in 4 He speaks of glorifying the Father on earth, whereas in 5 it is a heavenly glorifying. In other words, Christ is asking for a return, as it were, to the glorious position which He had with the Father before the Incarnation. But this is not so much to be regarded in terms of a restoration to the heavenly 'status quo' before all worlds, as an incomparable 'burnishing' of the eternal glory, through the glorifying on earth. The glorification is not exhausted in human history, but has repercussions in eternity. And if it be true that there is joy in the presence of the angels of God in heaven over one sinner that repents on earth, how much more is there blazing brightness in eternity with the fulfilment of the Son's all-glorious work on earth.