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The Desire of Ages
“If any man serve Me,” said Jesus, “let him follow Me; and where
I am, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him will
My Father honor.” All who have borne with Jesus the cross of sacrifice
will be sharers with Him of His glory. It was the joy of Christ in His
humiliation and pain that His disciples should be glorified with Him.
They are the fruit of His self-sacrifice. The outworking in them of His
own character and spirit is His reward, and will be His joy throughout
eternity. This joy they share with Him as the fruit of their labor and
sacrifice is seen in other hearts and lives. They are workers together
with Christ, and the Father will honor them as He honors His Son.
The message of the Greeks, foreshadowing as it did the gathering
in of the Gentiles, brought to the mind of Jesus His entire mission.
The work of redemption passed before Him, from the time when in
heaven the plan was laid, to the death that was now so near at hand.
A mysterious cloud seemed to enshroud the Son of God. Its gloom
was felt by those near Him. He sat rapt in thought. At last the silence
was broken by His mournful voice, “Now is My soul troubled; and
what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour?” In anticipation
Christ was already drinking the cup of bitterness. His humanity shrank
from the hour of abandonment, when to all appearance He would be
deserted even by God, when all would see Him stricken, smitten of
God, and afflicted. He shrank from public exposure, from being treated
as the worst of criminals, from a shameful and dishonored death. A
foreboding of His conflict with the powers of darkness, a sense of the
awful burden of human transgression, and the Father’s wrath because
of sin caused the spirit of Jesus to faint, and the pallor of death to
overspread His countenance.
Then came divine submission to His Father’s will. “For this cause,”
He said, “came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name.” Only
through the death of Christ could Satan’s kingdom be overthrown.
Only thus could man be redeemed, and God be glorified. Jesus con-
sented to the agony, He accepted the sacrifice. The Majesty of heaven
consented to suffer as the Sin Bearer. “Father, glorify Thy name,” He
said. As Christ spoke these words, a response came from the cloud
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which hovered above His head: “I have both glorified it, and will
glorify it again.” Christ’s whole life, from the manger to the time when
these words were spoken, had glorified God; and in the coming trial
His divine-human sufferings would indeed glorify His Father’s name.