Day 2: ‘…which God gave Him…’

God gives. He gives His Son to mankind. He promised to do so from the very beginning of the Bible.1 The seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent, the devil. The serpent will snap at this Child’s heel and He will also die. However, in and through His death, the devil will be dethroned. This is how He will free mankind from the fear of death.2

The Lord humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’3

After the incredible suffering comes the tremendous glorification. Hannah sang about this prophetically in her song of praise,4 and Mary continued that jubilation in her beautiful ‘Magnificat’.5 She declared at the end of her praise ‘He has given help to Israel His servant, in remembrance of His mercy. As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.’ David saw His Kingdom from afar,6 and the prophets of the Old Testament looked for it with great longing. Christ Himself, during His life, in humility already knew that the victory will be through suffering. He was able to allow Himself to be nailed to the cross and despise the shame because He knew what joy awaited Him.7

The Father puts everything into the hands of the Son. John bears witness to this truth in the Book of Revelation and again when writing his Gospel. He recalls the words of Jesus – words such as: ‘The Father loves the Son and has placed everything into His hands’8 – everything: the judgment and the raising of the dead,9 the teachings He gives,10 and even now: all authority, all power in Heaven and on earth.11 And the public revelation, the unveiling of His Glory will soon follow.

It is almost inconceivable, but Jesus longs for us to share in all this as well. He really wants us be where He is, to reign with Him, to share in His Glory.12 This will also mean, in our lives, that we will pass through the depths, just like He did – through suffering to Glory. But we may fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, as stated in Hebrews 12:1-2! God gives, and in Him, we have an unshakable hope that one day, we, too, will be in glory with Him. The love proceeding from the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of eternal salvation.13

• The meaning of this verse can also be understood grammatically, as: the revelation of the mysteries concerning the future and the coming glorification of Jesus, which God has made known to Him. This, for example, is how some modern translations translate this verse.
• There are things that only the Father knows and gives. Compare Mark 13:32. But the depth of what the Father gives the Son (for that is the meaning of the verb the Greek uses, i.e. not: to make known) is the revelation, the unveiling of His glory as a reward for His humiliation.
• Because God gives Jesus to us, we can and are allowed to receive Him.

Bible References:

1.Genesis 3:15 2.Hebrews 2:14–1 3. Philippians 2:8–11 4.1 Samuel 2:10b 5.Luke 1:46–55 6.Psalm 2:7–97 7.Hebrews 12:2 8.John 3:35 9.John 5:19–30 10. John 7:16 and 8:28 11.Matthew 28:18 12. John 17:22 and 24