Charles Spurgeon Commentary John 17:4-5

"I glorified thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which thou hast given me to do. And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." — John 17:4-5 (ASV)

I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world was.

In deep humility, Jesus had laid that glory aside for a while. He had tabernacled in human flesh; and when he spoke these words, the time was approaching when, All his world and warfare done, he should go back to his pristine glory with something more added to it.

I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

As Christ had carried out his Father's will, and done the work he had been sent to do, he was justified in going back to the glory which he had voluntarily laid aside for a season. You notice that, although he had not yet died upon the cross, he was so certain that he would complete his great mediatorial work there, that he spoke of it as being already "finished."

I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

This is such a prayer as never could have been prayed by a mere man, and you cannot understand this prayer at all apart from the manhood and the Deity of Christ combined. No human being could have written such a prayer as this, even if it had been proposed to him to write a prayer that should be equally suitable to God and man.

It is only suitable to Christ, the God-man, and it is in itself one of the best evidences of the inspiration of Scripture. I dare take my stand upon this chapter alone, and say that here we have the finger of God, the writing of the Holy Ghost, and here we have the very words of him who was God and man in one person.