Don't Rob Jesus of His Glory on Good Friday

“…No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name!” (John 12:27b-28).”

Jesus was whipped by a whip that had small pieces of metal or bone at the tips.
He was mocked by the soldiers.
He had a crown of thorns pressed into His skull.
He physically carried the cross that He would die on.
He stared from the cross into the eyes of Mary, His mother as He was dying.
His last words were, “It is finished.”

For this hour Jesus came to be glorified and to glorify the name of the Father. For this hour of deep pain and suffering Jesus came. On this Good Friday we remember that deep pain and suffering. Why?

We embrace the suffering because it leads to glory.

The deeper and more profound the sorrow we feel tonight, the deeper and more profound the joy we will feel on Sunday morning. To experience the jubilant shout of “HE IS RISEN” on Sunday we must cry the prayer of Jesus in the Garden, as he quoted Psalm 22, “My God, my God why have your forsaken me?”

Charles Spurgeon challenges us to never forget the passion of Friday,

“….His glory was to come to him through shame...that the greatest fullness of our Lord’s glory arises out of his emptying himself, and becoming obedient to death, even the death of the cross. It is his highest reputation that he made himself of no reputation. His crown derives new luster from his cross....We must never forget this, and if ever we are tempted to merge the crucified Saviour in the coming King we should feel rebuked by the fact that thus we should rob our Lord of his highest honour.” - “The Corn of Wheat Dying to Bring Forth Fruit: John 12:23-25,” Charles H. Spurgeon, Farm Sermons (c 1875),