The Father's plan will be fulfilled despite all opposition.John 13:31; Heb 2:9-15Under the old commandment the test of love for one’s neighbor was one’s love for oneself. The test under the new commandment was to love as Christ had loved them.
Christ had just demonstrated the kind of love’ that He had as well as the degree of His love (13:1—20). His love had brought Him from heaven’s glory to this earth. His love had brought Him from His’ position at the right hand of the Father to the position of a Servant. His love motivated Him to offer the honor of the morsel to the betrayer.
Therefore, the love of Christ directly motivates sacrifice of one’s own comfort for the benefit of another.
The love of Christ is the loss of one’s own life for the benefit of another.
That love sometimes has to be tough when certain types of giving would only hurt or hinder rather than benefit another.
Christ demanded this kind of love of these men. As His love had made Him a Servant, so their love for each other was to make them servants of one another.
Thus Christ was saying that in fulfilling this commandment to love one another, they would provide for each other what He had provided for them while He was with them. This kind of love would be a sign to all people that the Eleven were His disciples.
This love is the unity of the body of Christ. Its source is mystery doctrine, which every joint supplies so that the body has unity.
Eph 4:14-16 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Doctrine daily and the subsequent virtue love from Christ is the glue that holds the church together.
Each movement in Israel historically had had its peculiar identifying sign. The sign that one was related to Abraham and the Abrahamic covenant was circumcision. The sign that one was related to Moses and the Mosaic law was the observance of the Sabbath. The sign that one was related to John the Baptist and his message concerning the coming Messiah was water baptism. The sign that one was a Pharisee was that he wore a phylactery either on his forehead or upper arm. These external signs all indicated a relationship to a particular movement in Israel.
Christ gave His disciples a new kind of identifying sign. It was not an external sign that could easily be imposed but an inner sign that required a transformation. The sign was mutual love. Their love for each other would not only be a sign of identification with Him, but the exercise of that love would provide for these what He Himself had provided for them while He was with them.
John 13:31 When therefore he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him;
Despite the betrayal and all the forces against the Lord, the Father’s plan must advance.
Now that satan and Judas have departed, the crisis really begins.
“Now” indicates the approaching crisis to which Jesus will go and fulfil the Father’s plan by going to the cross.
“the Son of man” – emphasis on the humanity of Christ; “is glorified” – aorist passive indicative of docazw,[doxazo] which means to honour, to glorify, to magnify, to beautify, to clothe with splendour. This is a constative aorist, a period of time gathered into one entirety, starting with betrayal, the cross, resurrection, ascension, session—from “now” to the ascension.
Passive voice: Jesus Christ receives the glorification. The indicative mood is the reality of the glorification of Christ.
Same concept is found in Hebrews 2:9-15. With the glorification of Christ the angelic conflict shifts gears and enters into an intensified stage.
Heb 2:9-15 But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying, "I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren [john 1:18 – He glorified the father by revealing the father], In the midst of the congregation I will sing Thy praise. [the word of God, the mind of christ, when taught in the congregation, sings the praise of the father’s plan]" 13 And again, "I will put My trust in Him." And again, "Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me.[RFOG is the gift to TLJC in victory]" 14 Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
There are two periods to the intensified stage of the angelic conflict, both of which the Lord described as the mystery of the kingdom in Matt 13: the mystery stage [Church Age]; the overt stage [Tribulation]. The Church Age is the most intensive part of the conflict because it is hidden.
However, satan and the kod have been rendered powerless by the cross of Christ.
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