On the night of Passover, Yeshua (Jesus) lifted His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You” (John 17:1).[1] We tend to skip over this idea of the glory because we do not understand it. Yeshua continued, “Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5). Yeshua was asking the Father for glory, but not just the glory He had here on earth. He wanted the glory that He had with the Father before the world was created. That is the glory He wanted to manifest and that is the glory that we need.
The glory or presence of God is transformational in our hearts and minds. It also brings oneness and perfection (John 17:22). This glory of God is to be our clothing. It is the garment of the sons. When Yeshua was transfigured before the disciples, His face shone like the sun and His garments became as white as light (Matthew 17:2). He was clothed in the glory of the Father. We are looking for this clothing. After Yeshua’s resurrection, the angel of the Lord descended and rolled away the stone: “And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow” (Matthew 28:3). The angel was clothed in the glory of the Lord.
The glory of the Lord that we are looking for is the glory that transforms us into that same image—the image of Christ who is the radiance of God’s glory (Hebrews 1:3). Paul wrote, “We will all be changed, absolutely transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (see 2 Corinthians 3:18). We want that transformation and the clothing of that glory. We must be clothed in God’s glory.
As we are clothed in His glory, we will be able to release creation from its futility. Yeshua won this on the cross for us. We think in terms of salvation. But think in these terms: Yeshua gave us back the covering and clothing of God that was given to humanity in the Garden. All creation was wrapped in the goodness of God (Genesis 1:31). Then after Adam and Eve’s disobedience, creation was subjected to futility in hope that it will also “be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). Although they lost that original covering of glory, God intended to reestablish it and renew all creation.
When Yeshua said, “My works glorify the Father,” He was saying, “My works are Your glory; they come through that glory” (see John 14:13). We are working too hard. We need to be clothed in the glory of the Lord. He earned it and He gave it. He imparted it to us. Yeshua had to be clothed in the glory of the Father in order to be the Son of God. When Yeshua walked on this earth, He was in the glory of the Father and everything He did, He did through that glory. He said, “I do nothing on My own initiative. It is all from the Father. It is all His glory. The Father put His glory on Me, and I glorified Him” (see John 8:28–29). The hour has come for the Body of Christ to rise, get dressed in the glory of God, and go about setting creation free from futility. It is the time!
[1] Unless stated otherwise, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).