Saturday, November 04, 2006

Gods Goal XIII

New Testament

Moving from the Old Testament to the New Testament, we move from an age of promise to an age of fulfillment. The hoped-for Messiah had come, Jesus Christ. But God's supreme goal did not change, only some of the circumstances in how he is achieving it.

Jesus' Life and Ministry

Two texts from the Gospel of John show that Jesus' life and ministry were devoted to glorifying his Father in heaven. In John 17:4 Jesus prayed at the end of his life, "I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work which thou gavest me to do." And in John 7: 18, referring to his own ministry, Jesus said, "He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood." Therefore, we can say with certainty that Jesus' all-consuming desire and deepest purpose on earth was to glorify his Father in heaven by doing his Father's will (John 4:34).

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