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I. THE FACT. "Father, the hour is come." He does not say "Our Father" as He had taught His disciples to say, for that would have seemed to place Him on a level with them; nor "My Father," as this might seem to suggest separation; but He says simply "Father!" that great name which He alone had fully unfolded as summing up all the grace of His nature and all the mystery of redemption. The "hour" was the hour of —

1. Mysterious suffering.

2. Mortal conflict (John 14:30). Satan's hosts were to be overthrown and the world emancipated from their grasp.

3. Glorious exploit. It was the crisis of the world's history and hope.

II. THE PETITION. Jesus here speaks in the third person — "Thy Son," not "Glorify Me"; as if to indicate still more impressively the relationship between Him and the Father. But this was not all that was meant. The voice from the celestial presence had again and again declared, "This is My beloved Son," &c. The Saviour here, as it were, reminds the Father of this. The words "glory" and "glorify" vary in signification according to circumstances. Glory to a man engaged in earnest conflict would be victory; to a man struggling with poverty affluence; to a man in sickness, health. So Christ has in view the hour of agony, and the completion of His work and His glorification has, therefore, a special relation to that. The petition comprehended —

1. Divine recognition. "Own Me as Thy Son." And this glorification was given Him. Nature sympathized with the mysterious Sufferer, and the Roman centurion was constrained to say, "Truly this was the Son of God." Especially by the Resurrection was He "declared to be the Son of God with power."

2. All-sufficient support, that He might bear up under all and go through all as became Him who had undertaken the work of human salvation.

3. Perfect success. He had come to do a glorious work, and its accomplishment was essential to His glory.

III. THE OBJECT. "That Thy Son also may glorify Thee." Do not these words bear decisive testimony to the Godhead of our Saviour? What mere creature could presume to ask this? The Divine glory would be secured by Christ's suffering, for it was —

1. The vindication of the Divine authority which had been defied. Sin could not pass unpunished in the universe of a holy God. Therefore the incarnate Son gave Himself to the cross as heaven's protest against hellish falsehood and man's iniquity, and to make an end of sin.

2. A new revelation of the Divine character. Evil had darkened the human mind so that the knowledge of God among men became lost. The Creator was looked upon with dislike and distrust. Jesus came to reveal the Father. Men would see in the Cross more gloriously than anywhere besides the perfections of the loving, righteous, and merciful God.

3. The triumph of the Divine grace. Jehovah's highest honour amongst men is in the pardon of sin and the salvation of the lost, and in the bringing of many sons unto glory.

(J. Spence, D. D.)

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KJV: These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

WEB: Jesus said these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;