Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.
As Jesus continues the introduction to his prayer, he begins by referring to “the hour.” We discussed this in the post titled “H-Hour.” He then goes on to ask that God will glorify him so that he, in turn, may glorify the Father.
Strong’s Concordance defines the Greek word dox-ad’-zo as follows:
“to render (or esteem) glorious (in a wide application):—(make) glorify(-ious), full of (have) glory, honour, magnify”
The word, “glory” is a difficult word to define in English. Like so many words it tends to be used casually or in ways that do not help us understand what Jesus is saying. Returning to Strong’s we can get a sense of the original meaning with the words “magnify” and “honor.” For me, the concept of increasing one’s honor helps me understand what Jesus is saying.
If God will increase or magnify the honor believers have for Jesus, he, in turn, will be able to magnify or increase the honor believers have for God.
This is an important point. The Israelites constantly fell short when it came to honoring God. Throughout their history God is faithful, and they are not. They turn to false Gods over and over again. Even in the days of Jesus, with the Israelites existing under Roman rule, they were more concerned about human laws than they were with God’s law.
After Jesus endured crucifixion to redeem us from sin, his honor, his glory, were magnified again and again in the eyes of those who believe. Because of this, we who believe in Jesus honor God with our lives, our words, and our very thoughts.
Food for Thought: How can you and I magnify how we honor and bring glory to God?
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Great question. There are probably a myriad of ways. Being obedient to His word and being intentional about our testimony may help others to see Him.