“I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”
John 17:4
As a boy, I always had tremendous respect and love for my father. In my eyes, there was no greater man on earth. There were so many times that my respect for him, and my fear of disappointing him, kept me out of trouble. I regret to say it did not always keep me on the right path, but it did on many occasions. My advice to fathers and sons today would for sons to honor and give heed to the counsel of their fathers, and for fathers to be worthy of that high regard.
As men, we all tend to look at things from our own vantage point. As we become aware of a situation, our first thought is often “How will this affect me?” Therefore, we tend to look at the cross as chiefly something Christ did for us. Rightly, we shall rejoice and sing of this marvelous truth forever. The Bible teaches us that our Lord died on the cross for our sin. Yet, is this the chief reason He went to the cross? Actually, there is a parallel reality that can easily be overlooked. Jesus didn’t simply die because He loved me. He died because He loved and was obedient to His Heavenly Father.
Ephesians 5:2 is striking in the way that it combines His love for us and obedience to His Father: “Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.”
This is even more evident as you look at the Gospel narratives. Near the start of Jesus’ public ministry, He says these words: “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” (John 4:34). As Jesus ministry continued, it becomes evident that the work of the Father is wrapped up with his death on the cross.
John’s Gospel makes it clear that the chief reason that Jesus completes this work is because it will bring glory to the Father: “for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name” (John 12:27-28); “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.” (John 17:1). And, of course, the agony of Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane brings out the same concern for His Father: “Not my will but thine be done” (Luke 22:42).
I always find it moving to see those times in the Gospels when Jesus resolutely sets out to Jerusalem knowing what awaited Him. And it is easy to focus on the fact that He is motivated to do that by love for me. But a true reflection of the New Testament will also have in mind that He was motivated by a desire to obey, please, and glorify the Father that He loves. And this is wonderfully good news for several reasons:
First, the Bible says: “Thou shalt have no gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3). If we regard Jesus’ death on the cross as solely or primarily motivated by love for us, there is a danger that He may be violating this commandment. Jesus Himself said we are to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.” Could Jesus be guilty of violating that commandment? Absolutely not! We see in the life of our Lord that nothing was a greater concern for Him than accomplishing the will of His Father. Jesus wanted to glorify the Father, and He did so by finishing the work He was given.
Second, Jesus’ love for His Father and for us are not at odds. Most of the songs we sing tell of His love for us, His love for the Father is not a major theme of the songwriters and poets. Maybe we have an idea that if Jesus went to the cross chiefly out of obedience to the Father, that perhaps that lessens His love for us. In other words, “It was just a job.”
And yet, the wonderful thing about the cross is that Jesus’ love for His Father and His love for us match up perfectly. How does the cross show Jesus’ love for us? It tells us that He is willing to face agonizing death in order to win eternal life for us. And what is eternal life? It is knowing (and glorifying God) according to John 17:3. This is our highest good. This is the relationship for which we were made and that will give us eternal satisfaction. In other words, Jesus’ death achieves both the greatest good for us and the greatest glory for God all at the same time.
Isn’t it surprising to read in Isaiah’s prophecy that the Father took pleasure in the death of the Son? When Jesus Christ was brutally murdered at Calvary, God did not weep. His heart was not broken. No sigh of inconsolable misery fell from His lips. The day of Jesus’ death was no day of sadness for the Father; instead, it was a day of greatest pleasure. In our humanity this seems unnatural. When Jacob was told of the apparent death of his son Joseph, he “mourned for his son many days,” “he refused to be comforted,” and he purposed to carry his grief “down into the grave” (Genesis 37:34-35). Likewise, when Job learned of the loss of his children, he “rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell upon the ground” (Job 1:20).
Again, when Absalom was killed in battle, David wept. Although Absalom had rebelled against David, driving him from his throne and waging war against him, David wailed at the sad news, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (II Samuel 18:33). The death of a son brings pain to the father. The actions of these men are not surprising, but unlike them, God took pleasure in the death of Christ. The Bible says that He was pleased (the Father) to bruise Him (the Son), and He (the Father) put Him (the Son) to grief (Isaiah 53). And so, when the Son willingly took the suffering of our sin on Himself, every step He took on the way to Calvary echoed through the universe with this message: nothing is more important than doing the will of My Father!
And so, when the Father forsook the Son and handed Him over to the curse of the cross and lifted not a finger to spare Him pain, He had not ceased to love the Son. In that very moment when the Son was taking upon Himself everything that God hates in us, and God was forsaking Him to death, even then the Father knew that the measure of His Son’s suffering was the depth of his Son’s love for His Father, and in that love the Father took deepest pleasure.
Jesus said in John 10:15, 17, “I lay down my life for the sheep. Therefore, doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.” And he prayed in John 17:4, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” In other words, when Jesus died, He glorified the Father’s name as He saved us from our sin. How then shall the Father not delight in the bruising of His Son?
When you see Jesus Christ handed over to the soldiers to be crucified, you see the One who has been chosen of God to stand in our place. When you see Him stretched upon the cross, nailed and lifted up, He does so for the elect of God throughout all ages. He represents them. And when He suffers there upon the cross and He cries out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” He actually, at that very moment, literally and fully, bore the sin of all the elect of God.
On the cross, the exact punishment that our sin deserved was poured out. All the woe, all the grief, all the eternal agony that our sin deserved was inflicted upon Him. And now, there is not so much as a speck, an ounce, an iota, a hair, an atom, a molecule of that sin’s punishment left for those for whom Jesus suffered; all the elect of God. God will never hide His face from us. But He did so from His Son.
If Christ is punished in my stead, then I shall not be punished. Furthermore, the Father was delighted, to show His grace, His justice, and His wisdom in giving His Son as the substitute.
Jesus said in John 10:17, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.” He was pleased because Christ on the cross sought the glory of God. Every step to the cross Jesus echoed the words: “My Father is of infinite worth. His will, His pleasure, His holiness, and His justice are the reality of life.” And every hammer blow driving the nails into His hands and feet on the cross echoed through the universe: “My Father is of infinite value. What He has purposed, is all that matters.” What alone matters is His righteousness and holiness, His justice, and His love. The Father delighted in His Son. His Son delighted in Him. And the Son, and the Father delighted in us out of mere grace.
On the cross, the greatest forgiveness was given (Extended to all sinners), the greatest love was displayed (The Son to the Father), the greatest sacrifice was made (The blood of Christ), and the greatest worship was rendered (Again, the Son to the Father). We worship God when we sacrifice, thus the greatest act of worship would have to be linked to the greatest sacrifice.
So, may I ask, are you a father worthy of your son or daughter’s honor? All of us fail from time to time, but is that your goal in life? Can you affirm that it is your intention to so live that you will display a thirst for God before your children?
But here is the real question, have you been to Calvary? Have you ever considered the heart of the cross? Do you see that God was pleased to give His Son to die in your place? Do you see how glorious God is in His love and grace? Then bow and worship and go forth in in every aspect of your life and praise Him!
Dr. Worthington has been in the ministry for over forty-five years and serves as President of Pathway Ministries and Christian Bible College.