How wonderful it is that the Son has brought to us the knowledge of the Father's love. This love is presented in John's Gospel as resting on the Son: "The Father loveth the Son, and has given all things into his hand" (John 3:35). The Son alone is competent to bring to light all that of which the Father is the source, being indeed the perfect expression of the Father, even as He said, "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him and have seen Him … He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (John 14:7, 9). In Him there has been the manifestation of the Father's grace and the Father's love; so that the more we learn of that blessed One in whom these things were revealed, the more shall we know of the Father Himself. But we have been brought into relationship and intimacy with divine Persons, so as to be at home in communion with the Father and the Son about all that has been manifested in the Son.
In John 4 Jesus speaks to the woman of Samaria about the Father, telling her too of the well of water which would be in the believer, springing up into eternal life. Here we have the Holy Spirit as the power for the worship of the Father, so that we can worship Him in spirit and in truth. Brought into the circle of divine affections, it is with deep delight that we pour out our praise and adoration to the Father and the Son.
The glories of the Person of the Son are brought before us in John 5. In equality with the Father He can say, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Being in intimacy with the Father, and having come into Manhood, He can say, "The Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth: and He will show Him greater works than these, that ye may marvel" (John 5:20). Ever in communion with the Father, He comes to tell out the depth of the Father's heart; speaking of the Father's words; manifesting the Father's works which were wrought because the Father dwelt in Him. In His own sovereign right the Son quickens whom He will; moreover, all judgment has been given to Him so that "All should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." Being in Man-hood, the Son has life in Himself, as given of the Father; therefore can He communicate eternal life to His own, even as He says in John 10 "I give unto my sheep eternal life."
The Son asks to be glorified of the Father in John 17 so that He might give eternal life to those whom the Father had given Him. He desired to bring His love ones into the present consciousness of the love wherewith He is loved: and this we now have through the Son dwelling in our hearts. Soon we shall reach the Father's House, to enter into the full blessedness of all that has been marked out for us in the Father's counsels of grace; but the Son is occupied now with bringing us through the Spirit into the present enjoyment of all the love that has been set forth in Him.
R. Duncanson.
How deep, how blest the Father's love!
Revealed in Him, His only Son, Who in His bosom lay.
E'en here its sweetness we may prove,
While waiting for its deepest joys, in everlasting day.