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28: EXPLANATION OF VERSE FIVE, CHAPTER SEVENTEEN, OF THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN 116 |
“And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own
self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the
world was.”
1
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There are two kinds of priorities: one is essential and is
not preceded by a cause, but its existence is in itself, as, for
example, the sun has light in itself, for its shining is not
dependent on the light of other stars. This is called an essential
light. But the light of the moon is received from the
sun, for the moon is dependent on the sun for its light;
therefore, the sun, with regard to light, is the cause, and
the moon becomes the effect. The former is the ancient,
the precedent, the antecedent, while the latter is the preceded
and the last.
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The second sort of preexistence is the preexistence of
time, and that has no beginning. The Word of God is
sanctified from time.
2
The past, the present, the future,
all, in relation to God, are equal. Yesterday, today, tomorrow
do not exist in the sun.
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In the same way there is a priority with regard to
glory—that is to say, the most glorious precedes the glorious.
Therefore, the Reality of Christ, Who is the Word of
God, with regard to essence, attributes and glory, certainly
precedes the creatures. Before appearing in the
human form, the Word of God was in the utmost sanctity
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and glory, existing in perfect beauty and splendor in the
height of its magnificence. When through the wisdom of
God the Most High it shone from the heights of glory in
the world of the body, the Word of God, through this
body, became oppressed, so that it fell into the hands of
the Jews, and became the captive of the tyrannical and ignorant,
and at last was crucified. That is why He addressed
God, saying: “Free Me from the bonds of the
world of the body, and liberate Me from this cage, so that I
may ascend to the heights of honor and glory, and attain
unto the former grandeur and might which existed before
the bodily world, that I may rejoice in the eternal world
and may ascend to the original abode, the placeless world,
the invisible kingdom.”
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It is thus that you see even in the kingdom of this
world—that is to say, in the realm of souls and countries—that the glory and the grandeur of Christ appeared
in this earth after His ascension. When in the world of the
body He was subject to the contempt and jeers of the
weakest nation of the world, the Jews, who thought it
fitting to set a crown of thorns upon His sacred head. But
after His ascension the bejeweled crowns of all the kings
were humbled and bowed before the crown of thorns.
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1. | John 17:5. [ Back To Reference] |
2. | i.e., the Reality of Christ. [ Back To Reference] |